FIRST LOOK: ROSSELLINI’S IL GENERALE DELLA ROVERE

HOLLYWOOD, CA – RaroVideo and The Museum of Modern Art in New York are set for two
first-ever U.S. screenings of the restored version of Roberto Rossellini’s
award-wining classic IL GENARALE DELLA ROVERE during the 10th anniversary of MoMA’s
International Festival of Film Preservation. The film is presented for the first
time ever since its premiere at the 1959 Venice Film Festival, where it won the
Golden Lion (for this original uncut version.) This is Rossellini’s original edit
for one of his most commercially and critically successful dramas—ten minutes longer
than the original Italian theatrical release. IL GENERALE DELLA ROVERE marked a
return to WWII themes of treachery and courage for the director of such landmarks as
Rome Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), and Germany Year Zero (1947). Rossellini
grudgingly accepted the project after the commercial failure of his India Matri
Bhumi (1958) and cast his friend and Neorealist contemporary Vittorio De Sica as a
conman compelled by the Gestapo to impersonate a partisan hero. “I don’t believe
that the feelings that move men are solely ambition, desire for power, violence and
sex,” said Rossellini. “I think they are interested in and motivated by nobler
motives as well.” The film was restored by La Cineteca Nazionale, Rome, and
RaroVideo in collaboration with Il Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin, and La
Biennale di Venezia.

The Museum of Modern Art will host two screenings of IL GENARALE DELLA ROVERE
featuring a brand new 35mm print (sponsored by the MoMA film archive) beginning on
Monday, October 22 at 6:45pm in Theater 1, T1 (this screening will include an
introduction to the film by Stefano Curti, President of RaroVideo) with the second
following on Friday, October 26 at 4:00pm in Theater 2, T2. (The Museum of Modern
Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019). Both screenings are open to the public.