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While certainly best-known for Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica’s vast, varied body of work is worth diving into. This June, those in NYC can experience quite a taste of it with four films by the director at Film at Lincoln Center’s Sophia Loren retrospective, immediately followed by the release of the new 4K restoration of Shoeshine at Film Forum. Restored by The Film Foundation and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata, in association with Orium S.A. Restoration, the new trailer from Janus Films has now arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “One of the greatest achievements in the cinematic revolution known as Italian neorealism, Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine stands as a timeless masterpiece of trenchant social observation and stirring emotional humanism. In postwar Rome, street kids Giuseppe (Rinaldo Smordoni) and Pasquale (Franco Interlenghi) shine the shoes of American servicemen in hopes of saving enough money to purchase a beautiful horse.

The recipient of an honorary Academy Award and from Vittorio De Sica, director of The Bicycle Thief, Shoeshine is the heartbreaking tale of two brothers growing up on the street and sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. Shoeshine stars Franco Interlenghi and Rinaldo Smordoni as the young shoe shining brothers Pasquale and Giuseppe. It's a beautiful film from an incredible director, and Entertainment One released it on DVD on May 17th. We've got one copy to giveaway, so if you want to win it, this could be your lucky day.

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A story of lost innocence in the rubble of post-World War II Rome, Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine isn’t short on heartbreaking moments, but one of the most heartbreaking doesn’t directly involve tragedy at all. Sitting in a courtroom late in the film, Rinaldo Smordoni, one of the two young shoeshine boys at the center of the film, looks away from his trial to a group of children watching it progress. Spotting a girl he’s sweet on, he shoots her a smile, and for just a moment, he looks like any untroubled kid his age. Then the ...