Preceded at 6:30PM by a wine and light bites reception for all MAMMA ROMA ticket holders, hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago.
“Remains a delicate and at times beautiful work.” - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
“A key transitional work for the cinematic subversive, a seriously damning portrait of maternal martyrdom and, in a killer final shot, upward mobility.” - David Fear, Time Out
September 7, 7:30pm | After working as a prostitute for years, Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) dreams of a better life for herself and her teenage son, whom she abandoned when he was an infant - even when he seems destined for a life of crime. Banned in Italy upon its release, MAMMA ROMA is a neorealist classic, an early chapter in Pasolini’s exploration of the marginalized and the oppressed. Preceded at 6:30PM by a wine and light bites reception for all MAMMA ROMA ticket holders, hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago.
Pier Palo Pasolini - Poetry, Passion & Provocation: One hundred years after his birth and nearly fifty years after his death, the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini continue to shock and provoke audiences, a filmography defined by powerful imagery and thematic juxtapositions: the sacred and the profane, the pious and the perverse, the personal and the political. One of the most distinctive filmmakers of the 60s and 70s, and one of cinema’s most venerated auteurs, Pasolini challenged the boundaries of filmmaking, self expression, and censorship, leaving him with a legacy of distinctive and singular work. Content consideration: films in this series contain sexual themes and imagery. View full series here.
This series is made possible by, and presented with generous support from, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago. 
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