Elvira Notari and the others: the “invisible” women of the cinema on display in Rome

Thirty women who imagined, directed, interpreted, produced and transformed the seventh art, leaving a deep and lasting imprint, too often removed from the official narratives. From 16 May to 28 September 2025, the central institute for the graphics of Rome will host the show Invisible. The pioneer of cinemapromoted by Ministry of Culture and created and organized by Cinecittà light archive. The initiative was born from the urgency to return visibility and recognition to those women who, since the origins of cinema, have written the first pages.

In an era in which the cinematographic language was still forming, the female presence was widespread and decisive. The pioneer of Italian and international cinema were not simple extras in the history of a nascent, but authentic protagonist industry, capable of occupying creative and entrepreneurial roles with a freedom that anticipated the battles of emancipation of the second half of the twentieth century.

Elvira Notari, first Italian woman director, It is only the starting point of a story that winds through the lives and works of extraordinary figures such as Giulia Cassini Rizzotto, Adriana Costamagna, Daisy Sylvan, Bianca Guidetti Conti And many others, whose contributions have long been ignored or forgotten. The exhibition is divided into 30 sectionseach dedicated to a pioneer, and recovers unpublished materials, found films, vintage magazines, archival documents, private letters, scripts, photographs and sketches, to return a new perspective on the genesis of cinema, in which women were an active part in every phase of the production process. Not only in the spotlight but central in the creation mechanisms, these professionals have held the most diverse roles, passing eased from writing to direction, from assembly to production, from costume to distribution. Some founded production houses, such as Bertini Film or the Dora Film, others have directed breaking films, facing controversial issues, in full contrast with the social conventions of the time. Many have distinguished themselves for the ability to innovate tongues and narrative models, building free female archetypes, unconventional and surprisingly modern.

The exhibition intends to bring to light a female genealogy canceledoffering a new look at the history of cinema, which has never been just a story of men. In a path that crosses the pioneering productions of silent cinema to the post -war thresholds, a choral story is made up which, for the first time, returns the right centrality to an entire generation of filmmakers.

The project, enriched by a catalog published by Mondadori Electa and edited by Archive Luce Cinecittà, is not limited to being a historiographic operation: it is a cultural and symbolic gesture, which fills a void in collective memory and returns space, voice and name to extraordinary figures, capable of reinventing its time and role in the world through the image in motion. The catalog itself becomes an integral part of this process of rewriting, thanks also to the presence of a precious unpublished signed by Margaret Mazzantini, Combined with contributions of prestigious signatures of Italian journalism, which expand and deepen the gaze on the protagonists of the exhibition, offering unpublished readings and contemporary reflections.

Invisible It is so a Powerful and necessary tribute to the visionary force of women who have chosen cinema as an instrument of affirmation, freedom and transformation, and which today finally return visible.

The exhibition is created with the collaboration of Experimental center of cinematography, of the National Cinema and Cineteca di Bologna Museumwhose contribution made this important work of rediscovery and enhancement possible.