Tradition and Modernity. The Italian Corporate Cinema between Documentary and Tecnofilm (1950-1970) Walter Mattana To cite this version: Walter Mattana. Tradition and Modernity. The Italian Corporate Cinema between Documentary and Tecnofilm (1950-1970). Cahiers d’histoire du Cnam, Cnam, 2019, Le cinématographe pour l’industrie et dans les entreprises (1890-1990), 12 (12), pp103-132. hal-03040295 HAL Id: hal-03040295 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03040295 Submitted on 4 Dec 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 103 Tradition and Modernity Italian Corporate Cinema between Documentary and Tecnofilm (1950-1970) Walter Mattana Design Department, Politecnico di Milano La période entre les années 1950 et les The period between the Fifties and the Abstract années 1970 représente l’âge d’or du cinéma Seventies represented the golden age of Italian industriel italien, qui, sous l’impulsion de la industrial cinema, which, under the impetus reconstruction d’après-guerre et du boom of post-war reconstruction and the economic Résumé économique, a commencé une vaste production boom, began a vast production of technical de films techniques et des documentaires films and corporate documentaries. This d’entreprise. Cet article vise 1) à offrir une article aims 1) to offer an overall description description globale du cinéma d’entreprise of Italian corporate cinema through the italien à travers l’analyse de ses principaux analysis of its main models of production and modèles de production et de distribution ; 2) distribution; 2) to propose a deepening of the proposer un approfondissement du débat theoretical critical debate about the concept critique et théorique sur le concept de of tecnofilm through a textual analysis of films “tecnofilm” à travers une analyse textuelle by three different companies: Edisonvolta, des films de trois sociétés différentes : Olivetti, Fiat. Edisonvolta, Olivetti, et Fiat. Keywords: industrial cinema; corporate Mots-clés : cinéma industriel ; film films; tecnofilm; Olivetti; Cinefiat. d’entreprise ; tecnofilm ; Olivetti ; Cinefiat. Introduction1 It may be stated that such is the common destiny of all industrial cinema Until a few years ago, industrial cine- throughout the world, similarly to other matography was the great absentee of Italian forms of so-called minor or specialized cinema history. Its productive activity, cinema such as amateur cinema films, which began in the early twentieth century, ethnographic or anthropological docu- survived until the 1980s, when the inform- mentaries. These particular genres rep- ative predominance of television and the resent an unexplored visual territory that spread of video-magnetic recording decreed lives on the fringes of cinema and its of- its extinction (Slide, 1992, pp. IX-X). ficial historiography. Yet, in the years of its greatest expansion, Italian corporate Out of circulation and relegated to cinema as a whole reached the size of the shadow of corporate archives, it seemed a real audiovisual industry, which pro- destined for complete oblivion. Neglected duced around 30,000 titles throughout its by critics and historians, Italian industrial history. A cinematography with its own cinema represents a genre of cinema little studios and equipment, it gathered spe- studied in its own country and almost com- cialized directors and qualified technical pletely unknown abroad. Scarce evidence of crews. Moreover, there were distribu- the productivity of Italian industrial cinema tion and rental film networks and many resides in movies related to famous authors: support activities, such as festivals, exhi- directors who had made their debut in the bitions, and specialized press. film sections of large companies before moving to art films (like Ermanno Olmi) The history of Italian industri- or well-known personalities who had made al films between the fifties and seven- some sporadic foray into the corporate doc- ties constitutes therefore a rich field of umentary (such as Michelangelo Antonio- study and analysis, even very particular, ni2, Joris Ivens3, Bernardo Bertolucci4). as demonstrates the work carried out by Laura Clemenzi (2018) on the dialogues and linguistic texts of an odd thirty busi- 1 [The Editor would like to extend her thanks to Madelaine Fava for her proofreading.] ness films of that period. 2 In 1949, Michelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) directed the short documentary Sette canne, un vestito, produced for the chemical company SNIA Viscosa (Società Nazionale Industria Applicazioni – Viscosa). The film screenwriter and film producer. Son of the poet Attilio describes the production of artificial silk from reeds Bertolucci (who was also the director of ENI’s house grown in reclaimed marshes. organ “Il Gatto Selvatico”) directed his first film, La commare secca (1961), at the age of 21 and with the 3 Joris Ivens (1898-1989), Dutch director of more than subsequent Prima della rivoluzione (1965) he established fifty documentaries exploring leftist social and political himself as one of the most important directors of his concerns, among which: De brug (1928), Regen (1929), generation. Later he became an internationally master Borinage (1933), Zuiderzee (1934), Spanish Earth thanks to films such as: Il conformista (1970), Last (1937), Pueblo en armas (1961), Pour le Mistral (1965). Tango in Paris (1972), Novecento (1976), The Last 4 Bernardo Bertolucci (1941-2018) is a director, Emperor (1987), The Dreamers (2001). 104 105 The so far limited interest in this Furthermore, work, as a subject phenomenon does not solely rely on the of cinematographic stories, can be con- will of scholars, but on other problematic sidered a problematic item; as Comolli issues as well. First of all, industrial films warns: “work [...] is a world only are ephemeral subjects: they are not de- weakly enchanting, and little suscep- signed to last for a long time, and their tible of being in its turn enchanted by conservation is thus negatively affected. cinema, if not in the form of a night- As with other secondary sources – mag- mare” (Comolli, 2000, pp. 27-286). azines, documents, prints –, historians To him, cinema is used to distract the often work with fragmented materials, audience from their job, but industrial sometimes difficult to reach, with lacking cinema could have been used to distract information and incomplete data that the public from the fatigue of work, can only be reconstructed by hypothesis. from its dangers, from its alienation, to Such a condition also creates a certain im- propose at the end an acceptable image balance. Studies focus mainly on the cor- of the efforts which must to be endured porate groups that possess a rich archive in the name of industrial and economic documentation – Olivetti, Eni, Edison, development. This is a valid statement, Pirelli – while for other companies, inter- which can easily be verified in many est is generally lower. industrial films. It would be simplistic, however, to dismiss the entire corporate Secondly, it is believed that indus- cinema as a mere propaganda expres- trial cinema is a “plain” genre, less rich sion of the industry – it would be like in stimuli than art cinema or documen- accusing fictional cinema of being only taries. Italian industrial cinema is often a mechanism of spectacular evasion. It blamed for its lack of originality and of would be equally wrong to exalt only interest in working conditions: a cinema those industrial films that bear a prestig- that only seems to deal with machines ious signature, as if they were not facing and almost never with workers (Bertozzi, 2008, p. 130). Some criticisms are partly true if we look at the overall production (SIC). Istituto Luce – whose first history is linked to the of industrial films, especially those of the Italian Fascist Party – was aimed at political propaganda and information through newsreels and documentaries fifties, when a flat and descriptive style shown in movie theaters [URL: http://www.treccani.it/ of directing, combined with a didactic enciclopedia/istituto-nazionale-l-u-c-e_(Enciclopedia- sound commentary were still influenced del-Cinema)/]. Incom (Industria Nazionale CortiMetraggi) was founded in 1938 by journalist Sandro by the rhetoric of the Luce and Incom Pallavicini to produce information documentaries. Since newsreels5. 1946 his newsreels, called “La settimana Incom” (The Incom Week), replaced those of Istituto Luce in cinema scheduling. Up to 1965 were produced 2555 Incom newsreels [URL: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ 5 Istituto Luce (L’Unione Cinematografica Educativa) incom_(Enciclopedia-del-Cinema)/]. was established in 1924 on the basis of another film organization, the Sindacato Istruzione Cinematografica 6 All translations from Italian to English by the author. the same communication needs as many nies began making films commissioned by other anonymous films. leading industrial manufacturing compa- nies. To date, it is estimated that between Despite a still limited and sectoral 1905 and 1914 more than fifty industrial