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Italy’s Cineteca di Bologna film archives have unearthed a small treasure trove of shorts documenting the early career of late icon Gina Lollobrigida, who was hailed as a major European sex symbol of the post-World War II era.

The prominent archives, known globally as a prime film preservation entity, have found and restored three vintage clips dated between 1947 and 1948 in which Lollobrigida – who died at 95 in January – sings Italian folk songs billed under the name Diana Lori.

Described by the archives as precursors to MTV-style music videos, the shorts were directed by Pietro Francisci, later known for hit swords-and-sandals titles such as 1958’s “Hercules” starring Steve Reeves as its titular hero. In the shorts Lollobrigida appears to sing (she may have been dubbed) Italian folk songs “O sole mio!”; “Na sera ‘e maggio”; and “Stornellata Romana.”

Lollobrigida, which is her real name, was born on July 4, 1927, in Subiaco,...

Above: Pedro Costa's Horse Money

The Locarno Film Festival has announced their lineup for the 67th edition, taking place this August between the 6th and 16th. It speaks for itself, but, um, wow...

"Every film festival, be it small or large, claims to offer, if not an account of the state of things, then an updated map of the art form and the world it seeks to represent. This cartography should show both the major routes and the byways, along with essential places to visit and those that are more unusual. The Festival del film Locarno is no exception to the rule, and I think that looking through the program you will be able to distinguish the route map for this edition." — Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director

Above: Matías Piñeiro's The Princess of France

Concorso Internazionale (Official Competition)

A Blast (Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands)

Alive (Jungbum Park, South Korea)

Horse Money (Pedro Costa,...

I recently watched a short documentary by Andrea Marks called Freedom on the Fence. Made in 2009, and only 40 minutes long, it is a nice introduction to the world of Polish movie posters which concisely explains the particular set of circumstances that gave rise to the incredible flowering of creativity that was the Polish poster of the 1950s and 60s. An audio interview with Henryk Tomaszewski, the father of the modern Polish poster, explains how the systematic destruction of Warsaw by the retreating Nazis in 1945, which left 80% of the city in ruins, gave rise to a landscape of rubble and fences which basically created an open-air art gallery for posters.

At the same time, at the end of the war, there was a six year backlog of American and other foreign cinema that was waiting to be seen in Poland. Tomaszewski remembers being told by the woman in charge of film...