In December 1934, the Ministry of Press and Propaganda centralized all cineclubs, film associations, and independent cinema organizations under the Fascist University Groups (GUF). This new associative structure was named CineGUF. Its objective was to reform amateur filmmaking, steering it toward a committed, rationalized, and hierarchical avant-garde. CineGUF filmmakers referred to their practice as cinema sperimentale—experimental cinema—as reflected in the title of their manifesto book, Cinema Sperimentale (Paolella, Cinema Sperimentale. Naples: Editrice Moderna, 1937). Through this framework, they engaged with and appropriated film theory from a highly specific perspective. This essay examines the genealogy of that particular theory of film within the experimental context of CineGUF.
