N.U. (film)

N.U.
N.U.
Directed by	Michelangelo Antonioni
Produced by	Vieri Bigazzi (production manager)
Cinematography	Giovanni Ventimiglia
Music by	Giovanni Fusco
Production; companies	I.C.E.T., Milan
Distributed by	Lux Film
Release date	1948
Running time	11 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

N.U. (short for Nettezza urbana, Italian urban cleansing service)^[1]^[2] is a 1948 Italian documentary short film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. The film examines a weekday from morning until evening of Italian road sweepers, captured at work on the streets of post-World War II Rome.

Style[edit]

In a 1961 discussion with film students, Antonioni explained that he wanted to achieve a contrast to the then dominating neorealist documentary style with his film by use of a "poetically free montage".^[3]

Awards[edit]

1948 Nastro d'Argento for Best Documentary^[4]

Legacy[edit]

N.U. has been screened as part of retrospectives on Antonioni at various festivals and institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art,^[5] the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive,^[6] and the Cinémathèque Française.^[7] It has been released on home media as part of The Criterion Collection's release of Antonioni's Red Desert.^[8]

References[edit]

^ "Nettezza urbana". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
^ "Nettezza urbana". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2023.
^ Kotulla, Theodor, ed. (1964). "Die Krankheit der Gefühle. Ein Gespräch mit Studenten des Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rom 1961". Der Film. Manifeste, Gespräche, Dokumente. Vol. 2. Munich: Piper.
^ Marrone, Gaetana, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Vol. 1. Routledge. p. 58. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
^ "Reinventing Neorealism: Antonioni's Documentaries of the 1940s and '50s". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ "Short Films by Michelangelo Antonioni". BAMPFA. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ "N.U. (Nettezza urbana)". Cinémathèque Française (in French). Retrieved 10 September 2023.
^ "Red Desert". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

External links[edit]

N.U. at IMDb

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[1] "Nettezza urbana". Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 9 September 2023.

[2] "Nettezza urbana". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 9 September 2023.

[3] Kotulla, Theodor, ed. (1964). "Die Krankheit der Gefühle. Ein Gespräch mit Studenten des Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rom 1961". Der Film. Manifeste, Gespräche, Dokumente. Vol. 2. Munich: Piper.

[4] Marrone, Gaetana, ed. (2007). Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies. Vol. 1. Routledge. p. 58. Retrieved 9 September 2023.

[5] "Reinventing Neorealism: Antonioni's Documentaries of the 1940s and '50s". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[6] "Short Films by Michelangelo Antonioni". BAMPFA. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[7] "N.U. (Nettezza urbana)". Cinémathèque Française (in French). Retrieved 10 September 2023.

[8] "Red Desert". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 10 September 2023.

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v t e Films directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Feature films	Story of a Love Affair (1950) I Vinti (1952) The Lady Without Camelias (1953) Le Amiche (1955) Il Grido (1957) L'Avventura (1960) La Notte (1961) L'Eclisse (1962) Red Desert (1964) Blowup (1966) Zabriskie Point (1970) Chung Kuo, Cina (1972) The Passenger (1975) The Mystery of Oberwald (1980) Identification of a Woman (1982) Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Short films	Gente del Po (1947) N.U. (1948) Lies of Love (1949) "Attempted Suicide" in Love in the City (1953) "The Screen Test" in The Three Faces (1965) "The Dangerous Thread of Things" in Eros (2004)