Introduction

This chapter investigates trade stories of independent filmmaking in Italy in the new millennium as presented in DVD bonus materials and in documentaries on Italian cinema. In particular, it examines trade stories which feature ‘against-all-odds’ narratives, including tales of success and/or frustration when facing a variety of challenges, such as: securing adequate funds for a film's production, shooting on a low-budget and in a short number of weeks, and initiating and promoting a film's theatrical run. Expanding upon recent scholarship by Jonathan Gray on media paratexts and John Caldwell on trade stories in Hollywood, this chapter analyses the role that ‘against-all-odds’ tales play in the independent Italian film scene.

In Production Culture, Caldwell analyses different genres of trade stories and their cultural functions. He states that the different genres are not reserved for any particular production community, but he does note a tendency of ‘below-the-line’ workers (camera operators, editors, grips and the like) in Hollywood to utilise ‘war stories’ and ‘against-all-odds allegories’ in an effort to celebrate their strength, ingenuity and persistence. Caldwell identifies four major themes in the ‘against-all-odds’ trade story genre. First, such narratives often highlight the ‘humble, unexceptional origins [of film workers] needed to create the rising action and dramatic arc of the classical myth of heroism’. Second, this genre places an emphasis on the ‘tenacity of the worker’ and how his or her persistence resulted in a ‘well-earned success’.