September 24 (Tuesday) 7:00 pm - Hofstra University, Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library, 779 Hempstead Turnpike, Hempstead, NY. The Italian-American Experience Lecture Series presents Look Again: Old and New Films in Italian Studies in fall 2019. The first lecture in the series will be a screening of Assunta Spina (1915) and will feature a live musical score performed by John T. La Barbera, guitar, and Susan Aquila, violin.  

Assunta Spina (1915) is a silent black and white film classic from Naples, based on the play by Salvatore DiGiacomo, starring the queen and diva of the Italian silent cinema, Francesca Bertini. The operatic tale of love and sacrifice in working class, turn-of-the-century Naples is considered to be one of the first films of Italian neorealism. Bertini’s performance set a new standard for Italian cinema.