Staff Profiles

Books

• Russo P, Ed., Nero su Bianco. Sceneggiatura e sceneggiatori in Italia, Quaderni del CSCI (2014)
  ISBN: 1885-1975
  
• Russo P, Storia del cinema italiano, Lindau (2008)
  ISBN: 9788871806921
  Abstract Ampliato rispetto alla precedente edizione e aggiornato al 2007, questo saggio propone un panorama ampio e documentato di oltre un secolo di cinema italiano, facendo luce sui molteplici, concomitanti fattori - di diversa natura, dal contesto politico al dato economico, ad esempio - che hanno contribuito al suo sviluppo e alla sua diffusione. I diversi capitoli approfondiscono temi e protagonisti di tutti i momenti significativi, dagli esordi nel 1896 ai divi del muto, dalla rinascita degli anni '30 al neorealismo, dai nuovi autori degli anni '60 alla crisi degli '80, fino alla proclamata ripresa degli ultimi anni. A conclusione di ogni capitolo, una cronologia evidenzia i principali fatti della vita politica, sociale, artistica e culturale del paese, mentre la bibliografia, aggiornata ai contributi più recenti, segnala anche titoli che hanno avuto un ruolo pionieristico nella pubblicistica sul cinema fin dagli anni '30.

Journal articles

• Russo P, 'Storylining engagement with repulsive antiheroes: Towards a cognitive poetics of TV serial drama narrative: The case of "Gomorrah : The Series"'
  Journal of Screenwriting 8 (1) (2017) pp.5-21
  ISSN: 1759-7137 eISSN: 1759-7145
  Abstract The unprecedented success of Italian crime drama serial Gomorrah – The Series has spurred much interest in the industry as well as a lively critical debate. Little attention, however, has thus far been paid to the creative process behind the series. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating the branding strategies and the writing strategies that have informed the development process. Particular emphasis is given to the analysis of the storylining techniques employed in the development of the arcs of Season 1 with a view to unpacking how, in turn, these determine mechanisms of the viewers’ engagement with characters. As typical of much contemporary serial dramas, these are predominantly antiheroes and therefore our allegiance to them is questioned when problematic issues are raised, as in the case of violent actions and dubious moral choices. The investigation combines three interplaying methodologies – i.e. a genetic approach, close textual (quantitative and qualitative) analysis and a cognitive theoretical framework – to offer a general poetic model for analysing serial narrative. While the article deals with one particular case study, the more general aim is to contribute to developments in the field of cognitive studies of serial drama, with a specific focus on creative development and writing practices.Website 
• Russo P, Steenberg L, 'Imagining the Post-forensic Landscape: The Crime Drama on Transnational Television'
  New Review of Film and Television Studies 14 (3) (2016) pp.299-303
  ISSN: 1740-0309
  Abstract EditorialWebsite 
• Russo P, Anthony C, Bertolio JL, 'Gian Luigi Rondi: Vita, Cinema, Passione'
  Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies 4 (2) (2016) pp.307-322
  ISSN: 2047-7368
  Abstract Gian Luigi Rondi: Vita, Cinema, Passione, Giorgio Treves (2014) Rome: Iterfilm/Luce/Lazio Film Commission
   
  A Portrait of a Nation and the Future of its Cinema: 50 Anni di David 1956–2006, La storia per immagini (Project headed by Massimo Mascolo. Released by Ente David di Donatello – Accademia del Cinema Italiano, AGIS, ANICA, thanks to Rai Cinema and Istituto Luce, 76 min., DVD – Rome, Italy, 2007)
   
  The literary substance of The Great Beauty (2013)
  Website 
• Russo P, 'Il dolore nella mente, il corpo nella narrazione: puzzle scripting in 'Inception''
  Imago. Studi di cinema e media 12 (2016)
  ISSN: 2038-5536
  
• Russo P, 'Beyond Perverse Allegiance: The Problem of Viewers’ Engagement in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s "Salò or The 120 Days of Sodom"'
  Senses of Cinema 2015 (77) (2015)
  ISSN: 1443-4059
  Website 
• Russo P, 'The 'De Santis case': Screenwriting, political boycott and archival research'
  Journal of Screenwriting 5 (1) (2014) pp.101-123
  ISSN: 1759-7137
  Abstract In the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s writer-director Giuseppe De Santis was the most successful Italian film-maker worldwide, thanks to box-office hits like the Oscar-nominated Riso amaro/Bitter Rice (1949). However, endless rows with producers, distributors and censorship soon forced him into professional exile until his creative voice was completely silenced. Over the years De Santis denounced a systematic boycott against him because of his social and political commitment. All scripts needed the central government film office approval; this system enforced a form of pre-emptive censorship by controlling the writing and packaging process. This article unveils the findings of comprehensive research conducted at the De Santis Fund in Rome. While De Santis’s official filmography lists only one title in the last 33 years of his life, his archive contains dozens of treatments and full scripts (and the film-maker’s correspondence) adding up to a total of almost 50 projects that were never made. The materials analysed here not only allow a thorough re-write of De Santis’s career, but also shed light on the intricate relations between politics and the Italian film industry in the post-war years.Website 
• Russo P, 'La politica come sistema produttivo'
  Rivista di Politica (2014)
  ISSN: 2037-495X
  
• Russo P, 'De Santis. 'I fatti di Andria' e tanti altri'
  Quaderni del CSCI (2014)
  ISSN: 1885-1975
  
• Russo P, 'Nord-Sud. Cinema italiano e migrazione interna'
  Quaderni del CSCI 7 (2011) pp.120-124
  ISSN: 1885-1975
  

Book chapters

• Russo P, '"If you have to do it, you can do it": Mildred Pierce come modello di self-made woman nell'America della Grande Depressione' in Giorcelli C, Morbiducci M (ed.), M/Other. Scansioni di alterità, Guida editori (2015)
  ISBN: 978-88-6866-138-0
  
• Comand M, Luciano B, Russo P, Selbo J, Tompkins B, 'A short History of Italian Female Screenwriters' in Nelmes J, Selbo J (ed.), Women Screenwriters, Palgrave Macmillan (2015)
  ISBN: 978-1-137-31236-5 eISBN: 978-1-137-31237-2
  Website 
• Russo P, 'Suso Cecchi d'Amico' in Nelmes J, Selbo J (ed.), Women Screenwriters: an International Guide, Palgrave Macmillan (2015)
  
• Russo P, 'Migration Told Through Noir Conventions in 'La sconosciuta' and 'Gomorra'' in Bond E, Bonsaver G, Faloppa F (ed.), Destination Italy. Representing Migration in Contemporary Media and Narrative, Peter Lang (2015)
  ISBN: 978-3-0343-0961-5 eISBN: 978-3-0353-0657-6
  Abstract In Part 3: CinemaWebsite 
• Russo P, '"Sorvegliato speciale". Il dibattito su terrorismo e rieducazione tra politica e società civile attraverso i progetti televisivi di Giuseppe De Santis' in Jansen M, Urban MB (ed.), Televisionismo. Narrazioni televisive della storia italiana negli anni della Seconda Repubblica, Edizioni Ca' Foscari (2015)
  ISBN: 978-88-6969-044-0 eISBN: 978-88-6969-046-4
  
• Russo P, 'Gimme (Tax) Shelter: The Politics of the Production System' in Lombardi G, Uva C (ed.), Italian Political Cinema. Public Life, Imaginary, and Identity in Contemporary Italian Film, Peter Lang (2015)
  ISBN: 9783035395419
  Website 
• Russo P, 'Puzzle narrative in inception and shutter island' in Hollywood puzzle films, Routledge (2014)
  ISBN: 9780415622462
  
• Russo P, Zagarrio V, 'Struttura e modelli narrativi nell'ultimo Moretti' in Nanni Moretti: Lo sguardo morale, Marsilio (2012)
  ISBN: 9788831712583
  
• Russo P, 'Paranoid androids. Per una teoria del film italiano de genere' in Istantanee sul cinema italiano, Rubbettino (2012)
  ISBN: 9788849834642
  
• Russo P, ''Verso Sud': la poetica del displacement nel cinema italiano' in Urban MB, de Rooy R, Vedder I, Scorretti M (ed.), Le frontiere del Sud. Culture e lingue a confronto, CUEC (2011)
  ISBN: 978-88-8467-723-5
  
• Russo P, 'Body vs technology? myths and identity in gabriele salvatores's nirvana' in Italy on screen: national identity and italian imaginary, Verlag Peter Lang (2010)
  ISBN: 9783039114160
  
• Russo P, 'Corpi d'argento. Sadismo e masochismo nella trilogia delle madri' in Zagarrio V (ed.), Argento vivo. Il cinema di Dario Argento tra genere e autorialità, Marsilio (2008)
  ISBN: 88-317-9506