During his last film Hollywood sul Tevere (Hollywood on the Tiber) Italian journalist and film critic Marco Spagnoli realised the scope of footage lost in time. Being aware through practice what these images could show the world about historical events and developments, he approached NBC and asked to be set free in their archive where hours and hours of footage on the rich and famous of Hollywood lay gathering dust. His final selection highlights the mutual cultural invasion of American cinema’s arrival in Europe and shows us how both continents created an image of the other based on footage from and about the film industry.
“On the one hand, there was the story of how some of the great American productions were made in Europe, and on the other there was also the love and attention for some European talents who had become stars in America capable of influencing the new generations,” says Spagnoli.
“In this sense, the Americans’ view of Italians and Europeans was not only very interesting, but definitely singular for its accuracy and intelligence compared to what, in general, today we often see as clichés in some Hollywood productions.”
Marco Spagnoli, director of Hollywood Invasion
In the film we see images that illustrate the social and political scene of these decades, such as the Civil Rights rallies with Martin Luther King, Yves Montand and Harry Belafonte, and the women’s rights movement.
Other clips show unique footage of a very young, and still unknown, Clint Eastwood and intimate footage of Sofia Loren in Paris.
Unlike other films nowadays, which release their trailers as early as possible in order to get maximum exposure, there is no trailer available for this documentary due to copyright issues. In short, this is NBC’s first go at a project like this and the lawyers have not figured out how to do deal with the legal matters.
However, due to the uniqueness Spagnoli has managed to get the exposure he wanted.
“I’ve been blessed that I was allowed to enter the archives for Cinecittà Luce for my first documentary and less than two years later was allowed access to the NBC archives.
“My hope is that these documentaries become artistically and financially successful not just for obvious reasons, but also in order to convince the archives around the world to open themselves up to film makers. We have zillions of footage, unseen, unedited, rare, almost destroyed, and all this is kept in cellars because of financial reasons.”
Spagnoli explains what many documentary makers have unfortunately already found out first hand at some stage of their film making process; one minute of footage cost around 900 to 3000 Euros. “Who the hell can pay this kind of money if documentaries, in fact, pay very little?” he asks.
And the message he has is as simple as that. “For the sake of cinema, for the sake of our past and our collective memory, I hope the people who own the rights realise that they can produce quality work while earning money if they just open up their treasures to the world.”
Hollywood Invasion will premiere 8th September at the Venice International Film Festival, where it has been selected as the special event.

Marco Spagnoli, director of Hollywood Invasion