Between Intimacy and Search of the Self: Pia Epremian and Experimental Cinema in Italy between the Sixties and Seventies

Abstract

The essay intends to analyze some specific aspects of the filmography of Pia Epremian De Silvestri, a film-maker born in Chivasso in the province of Turin in 1942. Through the analysis of her films it is possible to retrace the story of experimental cinema in Italy that flourished in the second half of the Sixties. At this time new spaces of sharing and collaboration were born including collectives of artists, students, feminists and filmmakers such as the Independent Cinema Cooperative (1967-1971). Among the few women filmmakers active at that time, Empremian’s works reflect the richness of this historical moment between production and artistic experimentation, where the subjective and personal dimension is predominant. This is a cinema shot in first person that characterizes its production and that has contributed to the creation of a new female identity.