An Extraordinary Filmmaker: Elvira Notari

Learn about Italy's most prolific female silent filmmaker who was censored by the Fascists but finally is getting attention she deserves.
About this Event

Get ready for a very special Extraordinary Woman session on Sunday, Nov. 15, starting at 11:30 am at the Revue Cinema. The subject: Italy’s first woman film director, Elvira Notari.

We are screening the award-winning 2025 documentary Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence. We are thrilled that the film's director Valerio Ciriaci will attend and take part in a Q&A after the film (1hr 34min).

The Organizers and Sponsors:

Thanks to Dr. Teresa Valentini and Associate Professor Alberto Zambenedetti for organizing the screening.

It is presented in partnership with the University of Toronto’s Department of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese and Latin American Studies and the Cinema Studies Institute with support from the Instituto Italiano di Cultura, the Munk School and the Jackman Humanities Institute.

The screening is part of Back Lane Studios' Extraordinary Women series and is supported by the Revue Cinema.

Tickets:

Book your seat. Tickets are by a VOLUNTARY donation ($16 suggested). Any proceeds will support the Revue Cinema and Back Lane Studios.

A Panel Discussion:

The event will begin with a panel discussion at 11:30 am with Professors Alice Maurice, Damien Pollard, Luca Zamparini and Dr. Valentini. They will explore different aspects of Notari’s life and work, including her relationship with feminist movements in Italy and Europe, the impact of the transition to sound cinema on her career, and the broader history of women in silent film.

About the Film:

Film director Valerio Ciriaci learned about Notari while he was finishing a documentary on an Italian American theatrical impresario and the immigrant audiences who frequented his theatres in the early 1900s. Among the most popular shows were silent films from Naples, and one name, he says, stood out: Dora Film, a family-run company directed by Elvira Notari.

Scant records remain to document her life -- no papers or letters and only a few photos. Of the more than 60 films she wrote, directed and produced, only three features, two short documentaries and some fragments now exist.

But, Ciraci says, "Along the way, we realized we weren’t alone in this search. The very elements that once led to her silencing—her position as a woman in a male-dominated industry, her outsider approach to filmmaking, and her connection to street life and the migrant experience—resonate powerfully in today's cultural landscape."

More than a biography, Elvira Notari: Beyond Silence is a portrait of a recently rediscovered artist who continues to inspire new creative pathways 150 years after her birth.

Watch the trailer here.

About Elvira Notari (1875-1946):

Little remains of the filmography of Elvira Notari, Italy’s first woman film director. But while her life remains largely a mystery, her work has now become the focus of a renewed interest that is lifting her from obscurity.

A leading figure in the golden age of Neapolitan silent cinema, Elvira created some 60 feature films that, weaving the passions of popular drama with unflinching depictions of urban life, captivated audiences from Naples to the Little Italies of America.

Undermined by Fascist censorship and family strife, she withdrew from filmmaking in 1930. Her name slipped into silence, and most of her work was lost. Today Elvira returns to centre stage thanks to the efforts of scholars reclaiming her place in history and artists revisiting her legacy through new forms.

Read more about her here.