Directing
Elvira Notari was an Italian film director.
Elvira Notari(Italy's earliest and most prolific female filmmaker)'s first film
Despite directing hundreds of silent films that captivated audiences from Naples to New York, Elvira Notari was relegated to the margins of film history for half a century. A pioneer of Neapolitan cinema, she created over sixty features blending popular culture and unvarnished realism. Silenced by Fascist censorship and the advent of sound, her work slipped into obscurity. Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence traces her legacy and the artists now bringing her vision back to life.
In order to conquer Margaretella with expensive presents, a young man called Tore steals his mother's jewels but Margaretella seems to prefer Carluccio who challenges Tore to a duel and wounds him. Forgiven by his mother just before she dies, Tore takes revenge by killing Margaretella, but even in prison he can't stop thinking to his victim.
Maria, a destitute madwoman dies in a fire at the insane asylum. The unwanted corpse of her is donated to the academy for an anatomy lesson. The film ends in the anatomy dissection theatre, where the female body lies on the table surrounded by male doctors and students.
Nanninella, a young girl, is exploited and abused by her father, whom she maintains with her waitress salary. She falls madly in love with Tore, a handsome and upright man, whose friend Carluccio plots to have Nanninella for himself. Based on a popular Neapolitan song, ‘A Santanotte is the earliest extant feature film by Elvira Notari, Italy's first and most prolific female filmmaker.
Only a fragment of this film survives (175m from the original 1820m).
A feature film by Elvira Notari, Italy's earliest and most prolific female filmmaker.