2013 Essays

Elvira Notari

Tomadjoglou, Kim

According to her son Eduardo, who described her in interviews as having an authoritarian attitude or piglio, Elvira Notari was called “The General.” She earned the nickname from the strong will and determination she exhibited as head of the Dora Film Company in Naples, Italy (Masi and Franco 49). Director, actress, screenwriter, producer, and distributor, Elvira Notari is now celebrated as Italy’s first and most prolific film director. Over the course of 25 years in which she made 60 feature films and hundreds of shorts and actualities, she led Dora Film to become one of Naples’s leading production houses.