Throughout the history of film, Italian cinema has been at the forefront of some of the most fascinating movements in all motion pictures. Be it socio-political neo-realism or the equally boundary-pushing giallo, or even the genre-defining Spaghetti Western, Italian films have become some of the most influential and culturally important in the whole of film history.

However, what with foreign language cinema being pushed further and further into the world of art houses and speciality cinemas, much of modern Italian cinema has gone rather under-appreciated. That is unless you’re privy to a festival like Open Roads: New Italian Cinema.