Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Almost no English scholarship addresses Cesare Zavattini, the screenwriter of some of the best known films in the history of world cinema?-including Sciusciáa , Miracle in Milan , and Bicycle Thieves ?-and the scholarship that does presents only the narrowest of views on the multi-dimensional Zavattini. In Cesare Zavattini's Neo-realism and the Afterlife of an Idea , David Brancaleone instead presents a vital portrait of the screenwriter for the first time, exploring his history as an active Neo-realist organizer, Modernist writer, political protestor, and celebrated filmmaker in the light of unprecedented access to archival material. Through a multidisciplinary lens that examines Zavattini's cultural politics, interventions into press, television, and journalism, experimental filmmaking, and personal history, Brancaleone reconstructs the extent of Zavattini's contribution to cinema and culture."-- Provided by publisher.