LA SCOPERTA DELL'ATTORE CINEMATOGRAFICO IN EUROPA.ATTORIALITÀ, ESPERIENZA FILMICA E OSTENTAZIONE DURANTE LA SECONDE ÉPOQUE

The researches on cinema performer have increased in the last years. During the silent era the actor was a central issue of the theorists agenda, but after the Second World War it has been studied almost merely as a sociological or iconographic matter. The actor, still nowadays, strongly conditions the choice of seeing a movie, but the scholars have often preferred to focus on style, authorship, direction and other subjects. My project intends to analyze the difference between the 1910s European performers and the Early cinema actors, but primarily I would give attention to the 1910s and avant-garde performers of the European cinema as distinguish feature in relation to Hollywood cinema. The Italian silent cinema of the 1910 is one of the historical contexts of the analysis, while the 1920s reflection on cinema performing is the theoretical reference to formulate new hypothesis on European silent actor. My work aims also at putting the study of the actor into a perspective including the relation between cinema and the other arts, the stardom and the anthropological matters. Asta Nielsen has been the first female star of world cinema. Her name is strictly connected with the advent of the long feature film and the introduction of the star system. Asta Nielsen’s international film career started in Germany with the introduction of the Monopolfilm, the monopoly rental system, in late 1910 and continued in many country. Starting from the analysis of the incredible success of Asta Nielsen’s films in the local context of Zürich, considering the presuppositions and consequences of this popularity, also in comparison with other contexts, I will examine the emergence and the strengthening of film actor in Europe as the main component of the cinematic experience since 1910. Experience that should be understood as a particular way with which the cinematographic institution make a film consumable for a spectator. Consequently, my research aims to study the aspects of cinema going, film aesthetic and film reception during 1910s, which involves directly the discovery of film actor and film acting.