Italian Cinema Forum 2026. Workshop # 4. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola).
Italian Cinema Forum 2026, presented by Dr Mark Nicholls (The university of Melbourne).
Thursday 28 July 2026, 6.30-8pm
CO.AS.IT., 199 Faraday St, Carlton
Free event. Registration essential here:
https://www.coasit.com.au/icf-4-2026
☛ Selected clips from the movie will be shown during the forum as a basis for group discussion. For a more engaging conversation, we encourage you to watch the full movie beforehand.
In our previous workshops on "Looking for Alibrandi" (Woods, 2000), "Ninety Nine Per Cent" (Mangiamele, 1963), "Moving Out" (Pattinson/Sardi, 1982), "They’re a Weird Mob" (Michael Powell, 1966) and "Italianamerican" (Scorsese, 1974) we considered the way Italian and non-Italian filmmakers have represented the experience of Italians in the diaspora. In this workshop we continue the theme by looking at the most popular and most controversial film about italianità of all time, Francis Ford Coppola’s "The Godfather". Riddled with images and sounds of trivialisations of Italian American life, as well as a variety of offensive criminal stereotypes, after fifty years this gangster picture and its sequels still hold a general fascination for screen audiences everywhere. In the film community they remain stubbornly sacrosanct. It is high time we had a sophisticated conversation about everything that is wrong with The Godfather and all the things that make it one of the most important works of film art every attempted.
ITALIAN CINEMA FORUM
Following the successful classic and contemporary Italian cinema workshops chaired by Mark Nicholls at CO.AS.IT. (2019-2026), we continue the discussion with new instalments for 2026. Join us for this year’s forum. Our aim – as always – is to stimulate you to watch these films and television programs, again or for the first time, and to bring your ideas and insights to our always lively discussion.
Dr Mark Nicholls is Senior Lecturer in Cinema Studies at the University of Melbourne, where he has taught film since 1993. Mark has worked as a film journalist for ABC Radio and The Age, and has a list of over twenty stage credits as a playwright, performer, producer, and director.
Image: Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone (public domain).
Thursday 28 July 2026, 6.30-8pm
CO.AS.IT., 199 Faraday St, Carlton
Free event. Registration essential here:
https://www.coasit.com.au/icf-4-2026
☛ Selected clips from the movie will be shown during the forum as a basis for group discussion. For a more engaging conversation, we encourage you to watch the full movie beforehand.
In our previous workshops on "Looking for Alibrandi" (Woods, 2000), "Ninety Nine Per Cent" (Mangiamele, 1963), "Moving Out" (Pattinson/Sardi, 1982), "They’re a Weird Mob" (Michael Powell, 1966) and "Italianamerican" (Scorsese, 1974) we considered the way Italian and non-Italian filmmakers have represented the experience of Italians in the diaspora. In this workshop we continue the theme by looking at the most popular and most controversial film about italianità of all time, Francis Ford Coppola’s "The Godfather". Riddled with images and sounds of trivialisations of Italian American life, as well as a variety of offensive criminal stereotypes, after fifty years this gangster picture and its sequels still hold a general fascination for screen audiences everywhere. In the film community they remain stubbornly sacrosanct. It is high time we had a sophisticated conversation about everything that is wrong with The Godfather and all the things that make it one of the most important works of film art every attempted.
ITALIAN CINEMA FORUM
Following the successful classic and contemporary Italian cinema workshops chaired by Mark Nicholls at CO.AS.IT. (2019-2026), we continue the discussion with new instalments for 2026. Join us for this year’s forum. Our aim – as always – is to stimulate you to watch these films and television programs, again or for the first time, and to bring your ideas and insights to our always lively discussion.
Dr Mark Nicholls is Senior Lecturer in Cinema Studies at the University of Melbourne, where he has taught film since 1993. Mark has worked as a film journalist for ABC Radio and The Age, and has a list of over twenty stage credits as a playwright, performer, producer, and director.
Image: Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone (public domain).
Where is it happening?
189-199 Faraday Street, Carlton, VIC, Australia, Victoria 3053, 189 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia, Melbourne
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