Ciak...si parla italiano by Piero Garofalo and Daniela Selisca. Designed for courses in which outstanding films from the Italian speaking world are used as springboards for classroom discussion. Ciak si parla italiano is a new text designed specifically for courses in Italian conversation that focus on cinema as the context for discussion. This text covers sixteen films ranging from Pietro Germi's Divorzio all'italiana (Divorce Italian Style, 1961) to Pupi Avati's Il cuore altrove (The Heart is Elsewhere, 2003). They cover a broad range of genres: comedy, drama, science fiction, historical, political, social. They are films that students and instructors find interesting and engaging. Exercises include vocabulary building, character analysis, narrative comprehension, scene analysis, advanced grammar, imaginary interviews, creative script writing, further research suggestions, and poetry analysis. Brief readings accompany each film.
Readings accompany each film. The readings vary and augment the film screenings and class discussions. There are five types of readings: background information on the director and film, cultural explications, scene transcriptions, director's comments, and poetry. While the first two serve to orient and contextualize the films for the students, the transcriptions allows for a more detailed linguistic analysis of a particular scene. The director's comments provide an insightful interpretation to stimulate discussion. The poetry readings were inspired by filmic references and inspire students to expand their insights beyond the specific film.
The text is entirely in Italian. The films may be assigned in any order. Each chapter provides a wealth of exercises and activities (both individual and group) from which to choose depending on the abilities of the students.
1. Introduzione
2. Le parole del cinema
3. Divorzio all’italiana / Divorce—Italian Style (Pietro Germi, 1961)
4. C’eravamo tanto amati / We All Loved Each Other So Much (Ettore Scola, 1974)
5. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso / Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988) Buy the dvd
6. Ladri di saponette / The Icicle Thief (Maurizio Nichetti, 1989)
7. Io speriamo che me la cavo / Ciao Professore (Lina Wertmüller, 1993)
8. Fiorile / Wild Flower (Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 1993)
9. Il postino / The Postman (Michael Radford, 1994)
10. La vita è bella / Life is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997) Buy the dvd
11. Nirvana (Gabriele Salvatores, 1997)
12. Baci e abbracci / Kisses and Hugs (Paolo Virzì, 1999)
13. Pane e tulipani / Bread and Tulips (Silvio Soldini, 2000)
14. I cento passi / The Hundred Steps (Marco Tullio Giordana, 2000)
15. La stanza del figlio / The Son’s Room (Nanni Moretti, 2001) Buy the dvd
16. L’ultimo bacio / One Last Kiss (Gabriele Muccino, 2001) Buy the dvd
17. Le fate ignoranti / The Ignorant Fairies (Fernan Ozpetek, 2001)
18. Il cuore altrove / The Heart is Everywhere (Pupi Avati, 2003)
Paperback, 290 pages.