About us

The Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Experimental Cinematography Centre) Foundation is the most important institution in Italy for teaching, research and experimentation in the field of cinematography. Here, "cinematography" should be understood in its widest sense, to include film, documentaries, fiction and animation.
The aims of the Centre encompass the development of cinematographic and audiovisual arts and techniques to the highest possible level. This work is carried out by the two distinct arms of the Foundation:
 
 
The Scuola Nazionale di Cinema (National Film School) has its principal headquarters in Rome and separate centres in Piedmont, Lombardy and Sicily. Its mission is to develop cinematographic art and technical expertise to the highest possible standards, by means of research, experimentation, production and teaching programmes. The school acts as a cultural hot-house, where all kinds of specialists from the world of cinema come together: producers, directors, cameramen, scriptwriters, set-designers, actors, editors, musicians and sound-technicians, as well as experts in digital filming, teachers, students and scholars from all over the world.   

The Cineteca Nazionale (National Film Archive) preserves the heritage of Italian cinema (consisting of about 80,000 films, of which 2000 are available for circulation) and concerns itself with the conservation, restoration and enlargement of the archive. It also undertakes the role, both in Italy and abroad, of developing and promoting this national heritage, by agreement with state bodies, institutions and cultural associations, schools and universities.