La terra trema

In the fishing village of Aci Trezza, Sicily, the Valastro family dream of a better life. Living modestly thanks to merciless wholesalers, eldest son Ntoni takes matters into his own hands and - with the help of a bank loan - starts fishing alone. The venture is initially a success but an unexpected shipwreck means the family must soon fend for themselves. Originally commissioned as propaganda by the Communist Party, master filmmaker Luchino Visconti (The Leopard, Death in Venice) used the real villagers of Aci Trezza as his stars to craft a docu-fictional melodrama about the difficulties of rural life post-World War II. La terra trema was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 1948 Venice Film Festival and is considered one of the finest examples of Italian neorealist cinema.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• 4K restoration by Cinecittà
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio 
• Interview with critic and programmer Adrian Wootton (2025, 23 mins)
• Letters From Rome: Luchino Visconti - archival programme featuring Visconti interviewed in Rome by André S. Labarthe (1963, 33 mins)
• Archival interview with actor Marcello Mastroianni (1977, 4 mins)
• Le notti bianche: An Appreciation - archival interviews with Visconti collaborators and La notti bianche crew (2003, 17 mins)
• Audiobook reading of Dostoyevsky’s original short story ‘White Nights’ (2010, 108 mins)
• Trailer
• Stills gallery
• Newly improved English subtitle translation
• Sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow

Year: 1948
Country: Italy
Cert: U
Format: Blu-ray
Region: B
RAD122BD
EAN: 5060974682423
Release date: 14/09/2026

Press:

"[A] directorial tour de force... the work of a born moviemaker" - The New York Times