Publications
Editorial Work
Editor, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, published by Intellect, Ltd.
(1: 1, 2, 3, 2012-2013).
Guest Editor for a special issue of Studies in European Cinema.
Issue Topic: "Cinematic Journeys of Italian Women Directors." 8: 2, 2011.
Books
Visions of Struggle: Women's Filmmaking in the Mediterranean. Flavia Laviosa (Ed.) Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Focusing on countries in the Mediterranean rim, as the general unifying geo-cultural location for a contemporary discussion on women’s human, civil and social rights, this book elaborates a trans-cultural definition of being a woman in struggle. This provocative collection situates feminist arguments on questions of women’s identity, roles, psychology and sexuality. Such issues are examined through the films of women directors from Mediterranean countries, whose cinema is relevant to the discourse of women’s studies. Though their methodologies are diverse, these artists unite in their use of cinema as a means of intervention, taking on the role as outspoken and leading advocates for women’s problems. Their cinematic art reproduces and structures the discourses of realism, recreating prototypical characters and figurations and magnifying the complex and unambiguous truths about women’s political, class, war, and gender struggles. Contributors examine representations of women’s unresolved issues and violated rights in films that are expressions of cultural challenges and socio-political commitment for Mediterranean women’s collective experience of struggle.
Visions of Struggle engages with long-standing feminist issues in new ways. Moving around the Mediterranean basin, together these essays form a multi-colored patchwork that encompasses documentary, feature-length fiction, and hybrid, experimental film. In their essays, the ten contributors explore the ways the region’s female inhabitants experience, confront, and counter terrorism, abuse, forced marriage, sex trafficking, honor killings, and war. A critical assessment not only of female vulnerability in the twentyfirst century but also of resilience, creativity, and strength, Visions of Struggle provides a sorely needed and eminently strategic update to questions facing both women and film.
Chris Holmlund
President, Society of Cinema and Media Studies
Professor of Film
Department of Film
University of Western Ontario
Essays and Chapters in Books
"'Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate' nella ThyssenKrupp. La messa in scena della realta'." A New Italian Political Cinema? Emerging Themes. William Hope, Luciana D'Arcangeli and Fabiana Stefanoni (Eds.) Troubador Publishing (Forthcoming, 2012).
"New Directions in Italian Women's Filmmaking: 1990-2010." The Italian Cinema Book. Peter Bondanella (Ed.) BFI-Palgrave Macmillan (Forthcoming, 2012).
"Tarantula Myths and Music: Popular Culture and Ancient Rituals in Italian Cinema." & "Women's Drama, Men's Business: Sexual Violence against Women in Italian Cinema and Media." In Cinema and Culture in Twentieth Century Italy. Reinventing the Popular: Genre Cinema of the Post War. Flavia Brizio-Skov (Ed.) Tauris Academic Publications, 2011, pp. 153-187 & 229-255.
"Dalle periferie alla world music: ritmi e danze del Sud." And "'L'angustia, l'asfissia di un unico modello culturale che pensa di poter fare da parametro a tutto il mondo...' Flavia Laviosa incontra Franco Cassano." In (Ri)Narrare il Meridione. Antonio Vitti (Ed.) Metauro Edizioni, 2012, pp. 527-540 & pp. 643-650.
"'Il lavoro di raccontare il nostro tempo' Il cinema di Francesca Archibugi." In Zoom 'd'oltreoceano': istantanee sui registi italiani e sull'Italia. Daniela De Pau and Simone Dubrovic (Eds.) Vecchiarelli, 2010, pp. 203-220.
"Introduction." And "'Death is the fairest cover for her shame': Framing Honor Killings." In Visions of Struggle in Women's Filmmaking in the Mediterranean. Flavia Laviosa (Ed.) Palgrace Macmillan, 2010, pp. xxv-xxxii, & pp. 185-212.
"Cristina Comencini, Novelist and Filmmaker: From La bestia nel cuore to Don't Tell." In Watching Pages, Reading Pictures: Cinema and Modern Literature in Italy. Daniela De Pau and Georgina Torello (Eds.) Cambridge Scholars Press, Cambridge, 2008, pp. 127-143.
"A Visual Socio-Cultural Studies Approach to Italian Women's Studies." In New Approaches to Teaching Italian Language and Culture: Case Studies from an International Perspective. Emanuele Occhipinti (Ed.) Cambridge Scholars Press. Cambridge, 2008, pp. 342-365.
"Francesca Archibugi: Families and Life Apprenticeship." In Italian Cinema-New Directions. William Hope (Ed.) Peter Lang AG, 2005, pp. 201-227.
"ESTestica: la Puglia nel cinema." In La Scuola Italiana di Middlebury (1996-2005) Passione Didattica Pratica. Antonio Vitti (Ed.) Metauro Edizioni, 2005, pp. 233-263.
"Intervista con Francesca Archibugi: la famiglia postmoderna nella sua firma d'autore." In Incontri con il Cinema Italiano. Antonio Vitti (Ed.) Sciascia Editore, 2003, pp. 375-386.
Selected Articles in Journals
"Il cinema-documento di Giovanna Gagliardo. Intervista." Rivista di Studi Italiani, 2012, XXX, 1, 2012, pp. 327-337.
"Apulia and its Filmmakers after 1989: A Mediterranean Frontier." California Italian Studies, 1, 1, 2010, pp. 1-9.
"Cristina Comencini: scrittrice, scenografa e regista. Intervista." Italica, 86, 3, 2009, pp. 539-554.
"Modern Routes of Hope and Journeys of Faith in the Mediterranean: Apulia and Saint Nicholas of Bari." Journal of Mediterranean Studies, 19, 2009, pp.197-212.
"Humanizing Interpersonal Speaking in the Foreign Language Classroom." Special Focus, College Board. Elvira Di Fabio (Ed.) 2008, pp. 10-25.
"Benigni: giocoliere di parole in La vita e bella." Italica , 2-3, 2007, pp. 509-526.
"Francesca Archibugi's Cinema: Minimalism or Micro-History?" Studies in European Cinema, 4, 2, 2007, pp. 99-110.
"Feelings and Private Conversations: an Interview with Director Cristina Comencini." Rivista di Studi Italiani, 2, December 2005, pp. 96-105.
"Archibugi's Cinematic Representations of the Socio-Cultural Changes in the Modern Italian Family." Italica, 80, 4, Winter 2003, pp. 540-549.
"Themes and Motifs in the Cinema of Francesca Archibugi." Kinema , 20, Fall 2003, pp. 43-54.
"Cinema as a Social Mirror: Flavia Laviosa in Conversation with the Italian Director Francesca Archibugi." Kinema, 20, Fall 2003, pp. 55-60.
"The Listening Processes and Strategies of Learners of Italian: a Case Study." Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, 2, 2000, pp. 129-159.
"Life Beyond Sound: Liliana Cavani's Film Dove siete? Io sono qui! " Special Issue on Contemporary Italian Cinema, American Journal of Italian Studies , 22, 59, 1999, pp. 52-65.
"The Challenge of Italian Women in the 1980s and 1990s: Resolving the Paradox of Legislation on Affirmative Action in a Reality of Unequal Opportunity." Italian Politics and Society, 48, Fall 1997, pp. 61-70.
"1970s: a Decade of Legislative Reforms for Italian Women's Protection and Equality." Italian Politics and Society, 47, Spring 1997, pp. 57-63.
"How to Test and Evaluate Oral Proficiency in Italian." Tuttitalia, 13, June 1996, pp. 3-15.
"A Process-Product Approach to Writing in Italian." Italica, 71, 4, 1994, pp. 484-504.
"Reading Strategies in Italian Language Courses." South African Association for Language Teaching, 28, 3, 1994, pp. 234-257.
"L2 Listening Strategy Training." Italiana, V, 1993, pp. 295-302."A Psycholinguistic Approach to Reading Comprehension in Italian." Il Forneri, 7, 1, 1993, pp. 3-23.
"Why and How to Teach L2 Listening Comprehension Strategies." South African Association for Language Teaching, 25, 3, 1991, pp. 17-29.
flaviosa@wellesley.edu
781-283-2618
Updated: April 10, 2012