Accattone (1961)

Accattone, a lazy Roman pimp and thief, lives on the fringes of society. He recruits women, scrapes together a living and exploits others. When his best prostitute, Maddalena, is arrested and imprisoned, his earnings plummet and he is forced to face up to his circumstances.

Pier Paolo Pasolini struck a chord straight away with his feature film debut, ACCATTONE (1961). His use of Catholic iconography to paint a cruel yet stunningly beautiful portrait of the Roman underclass immediately sparked controversy.

Dr Linde Luijnenburg, Senior Lecturer in the Cultural History of Migration and Coloniality at the University of Amsterdam’s Department of European Studies, will be delivering a five-part film lecture series from October onwards on the work of the legendary Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975). In a short lecture preceding each screening, Dr Luijenburg will introduce and contextualise each film, drawing in part on her own research into cinematic and literary representations of ‘italianità’ (Italianness).