Women in Italian film production (1949-1976): mid-management roles as seen through Anica data and oral history

This contribution offers an overview of women’s labour in the Italian film industry between 1949 and 1976, the chronological span examined by the PRIN 2017 project Modes, Memories and Cultures of Film Production in Italy. It applies a thematic criterion to organise data from the Anica database, which aggregates the credits of all feature films and documentary films produced and co-produced in Italy from 1930 onwards. Moving from an overview of women’s below-the-line labour, this analysis examines the remarkably scarce female presence in production mid-management roles (such as production supervisors and production and unit managers) in the postwar years. Highlighting the challenges of doing historical research on below-the-line roles, particularly when these are held by women, the article discusses the careers of some of the few women active in mid-management positions such as Jone Tuzi, Anna Davini, Bianca Lattuada, Mara Blasetti and Cecilia Bigazzi. Finally, the quantitative analysis performed on Anica data is complemented by a micro-historical analysis based on interviews conducted with unit manager and production supervisor Rosalba di Bartolo, who worked in the Italian film industry for four decades between the 1960s and the early 2000s.