Cinema of Italy

The Cinema of Italy comprises the films made within Italy or by Italian directors. Since the development of the Italian film industry in the early 1900s, Italian filmmakers and performers have, at times, experienced both domestic and international success, and have influenced film movements throughout the world. As of 2014, Italian films have won 14 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, the most of any country, as well as 12 Palmes d'Or, the second-most of any country.

Early Italian films were typically adaptations of books or stage plays. By the 1910s, Italian filmmakers were utilizing complex set designs, lavish costumes, and record budgets, to produce pioneering films such as Enrico Guazzoni's Quo Vadis (1912) and Giovanni Pastrone's Cabiria (1914). One of the first cinematic avante-garde movements, Italian Futurism, took place in Italy in the late 1910s. After a period of decline in the 1920s, the Italian film industry was revitalized in the 1930s with the arrival of sound film. A popular Italian genre during this period, the Telefoni Bianchi, consisted of comedies with glamorous backgrounds.