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Italian Directors - Ermanno Olmi

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Welcome to our foreign films page, featuring foreign movies in video and DVD format in languages from a host of countries. Note: unless stated otherwise, all videocassettes are in VHS and NTSC format, and all DVDs are for players that support Region 1 encoding (United States and Canada) and are in NTSC format. Check our DVD Compatibility FAQ for more information about region encoding, television formats, and other specifications. If you can't find what you need, please email us.

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Featured Selection


The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Ermanno Olmi
A passionate, moving film, an epic celebration of an Italian family's indomitable spirit, winner of the Grand Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. The subject of the film is peasant life in northern Italy at the turn of the century, focusing on about a year in the life of three families living on a feudal estate. "A quiet masterpiece" (Newsweek). "The movie, which runs slightly more than three hours, is an accumulation of dozens of experiences of children, adults, old people, village idiots, of harvest times and plantings, of moments of boredom and jealousy, celebrations, fatigue, brief pleasures and mysterious ones. It moves so effortlessly, often with great humor and always with compassion, it seems much shorter than most 90-minute films" (Vincent Canby, New York Times). Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1978, 185 mins.
DVD | $44.95  


Italian Directors - Ermanno Olmi


Genesis: The Creation and the Flood
Ermanno Olmi
Ermanno Olmi's visual depiction of the events described in the first book of the Old Testament utilizes a cast of native Bedouins and a Moroccan desert setting. The film begins with the story of Creation and describes all events leading to the covenant made between man and God. The film was originally aired on Italian television as the first episode in a series of 20. In English (dubbed). Italy, 1994, 93 mins.
DVD | $37.95  

I Fidanzati (The Fiances)
Ermanno Olmi
Ermanno Olmi's (Tree of the Wooden Clogs) brilliant second feature is the simple story of a young man from Milan who takes a welding job in Sicily that takes him away from his fiancee, because he thinks the separation will be good for their relationship. But loneliness and the strange environment make him turn back to her. Olmi's deep humanism is evident in his moving depiction of the lives of simple people, played by non-professionals. One of the truly great Italian films of the 60's. The DVD is a Criterion Collection Edition, and includes interviews with Olmi and Tullio Kezich and an essay by Kent Jones. In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1963, 84 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

Il Posto
Ermanno Olmi
This semi-autobiographical film by Italian director, Ermanno Olmi (The Tree of the Wooden Clogs), confronts the perils and depersonalization of the business world. A shy young man gets his first job in a large office in Milan and finds his life slowly drained away by the conformity required of his position. Olmi used real office workers for the cast in this humorous, yet sad, work of Italian neo-realism. The DVD is a Criterion Collection editio, and includes a rare deleted scene, interviews with Olmi and Tullio Kezich, an essay by critic Kent Jones and more. Italy, 1961, 98 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

Keep Walking
Ermanno Olmi
A magnificent and powerful retelling of the story of the three wise men. Three men from across Europe and Asia follow signs in the heavens, ultimately leading them to Bethlehem and the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Directed with devotion and compassion by the great Ermanno Olmi. "...humorous, moving, magical and irreverent..." (Faber Companion to Foreign Films). In Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1982, 171 mins.
DVD | $44.95  

Tickets
Abbas Kiarostami/Ken Loach/Ermanno Olmi
Three of the world's most celebrated directors--Abbas Kiarostami, Ken Loach, and Ermanno Olmi--join together to direct a trilogy of interwoven stories set aboard a train traveling from Central Europe to Rome. The characters connect through casual encounters but the stories are related through their themes of social status, the mystery of chance, and sacrifice. With Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Blerta Cahani, Martin Compston, Sanije Dedja, and Carlo Delle Piane. In Italian, English, Albanian, and Farsi with English subtitles. Italy/Great Britain/Iran, 2005, 115 mins.
DVD | $37.95  

The Tree of Wooden Clogs
Ermanno Olmi
A passionate, moving film, an epic celebration of an Italian family's indomitable spirit, winner of the Grand Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. The subject of the film is peasant life in northern Italy at the turn of the century, focusing on about a year in the life of three families living on a feudal estate. "A quiet masterpiece" (Newsweek). "The movie, which runs slightly more than three hours, is an accumulation of dozens of experiences of children, adults, old people, village idiots, of harvest times and plantings, of moments of boredom and jealousy, celebrations, fatigue, brief pleasures and mysterious ones. It moves so effortlessly, often with great humor and always with compassion, it seems much shorter than most 90-minute films" (Vincent Canby, New York Times). Italian with English subtitles. Italy, 1978, 185 mins.
DVD | $44.95