Introduced by John MacKay, Yale University

People of the Po Valley (Gente del Po)
1943–1947, 9 mins. Antonioni’s first film depicts the life of fishermen in Porto Tolle, on the River Po. “My only presumption: to have opened the road to neorealism. It was 1943. Visconti was filming Ossessione on the Po, and near the same river, I was filming my documentary.”

N.U. (Nettezza urbana)
1948, 9 mins. N.U. chronicles the lives of street cleaners in Rome, with a jazz-blues soundtrack by longtime collaborator Giovanni Fusco. “I attempted to realize a montage that was completely free, poetically free, searching for some expressive values.”

Lies of Love (L’amorosa menzogna)
1949, 10 mins. Antonioni depicts the emergence of a new postwar popular culture, exemplified by the fotoromanzi (photographic comic-strip novels). He follows the stars to the studio, and outside when they wear their working clothes. This short was the inspiration for Federico Fellini’s film The White Sheik, made a few years later.

Superstizione
1949, 9 mins. A study of the rites and beliefs in the world of superstitions.

Seven Reeds, One Suit  (Sette canne, un vestito)
1949, 9 mins. Made when Italian fashion was establishing itself, Antonioni’s film shows the different stages in the process of producing rayon: from the plant, the reed, the raw material, and the transformations leading to the textile, to a fashion show featuring beautiful elegant gowns.

Vertigo (Vertigine)
1950, 4 mins. A fragment from a tourist documentary about a famous ski resort.

The Villa of Monsters  (La villa dei mostri)