Francesco Casetti

In 1970 he earned an MA at the Catholic University of Milan, where in 1974 he also received an "advanced degree" in Film and Communication Studies. His positions include Assistant Professor at the University of Genova (1974–1980), Associate Professor at Catholic University of Milan (1984–1994), Full Professor at the University of Trieste (1994–1998) and then at Catholic University of Milan, where he served also as the Chair of the Department in Communication and Performing Arts.

He taught as "professeur associé" at University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle (1977) and as visiting professor at the University of Iowa (1988, 1991 and 1998) and at the Harvard University. In 2000 he was awarded with the Chair of Italian Culture for a distinguished scholar at the University of California – Berkeley (2000). He got fellowships at the Otago University (Summer 2011), at the Bauhaus University-Weimar (Summer 2012), and at the Freie Universtität Berlin (Fall 2019 and Spring 2023).

His research moves from film and visual media, and addresses their spectatorship, their relation to the cultural forms of modernity, and their impact on space. Raised as semiotician, Casetti’s early works were mostly devoted to film analysis, with essays on Visconti’s The Earth Trembles and The Leopard, De Sica’s Sciuscià, a book on Bernardo Bertolucci (1975), and an innovative approach to the Tv series (Un’altra volta ancora, 1984). He also co-authored a textbook on the topic, Analisi del film (1990), followed by Analisi della televisione (1998, both co-authored with Federico Di Chio), largely used in Italian and Spanish universities. After an expansive study on the implied spectator in film (Inside the Gaze, Indiana, 1999, or. 1986) and in television (Tra me e te, 1988), Casetti combined in an original way close analysis of media messages and ethnographic research of actual audiences (L'ospite fisso, 1995), defining the notion of "communicative negotiations" (Communicative Negotiation in Cinema and Television, 2002). The notion inspired the subsequent extensive exploration of the role of cinema in the context of modernity; Eye of the Century: Film, Experience, Modernity (Columbia, 2008, or. 2005) reflects on the “negotiated” gaze that characterizes cinema compared with the Twentieth century Arts, and The Lumière Galaxy. Seven Key Words for the Cinema to Come (Columbia, 2015) analyses the reconfiguration of cinema in a post-medium era. In 2016-18, research funded by The Mellon Foundation, led with Craig Buckey and Rudiger Campe, and published as Screen Genealogies. From Optical Device to Environmental Medium (Amsterdam University Press, 2019) has allowed Casetti to further expand his interests towards screen-based media and their impact on our physical and social space. His last book, Screeneng Fears. On Protective Media (Zone Books, 2023) analyses the way media shelter us from the alleged threats from our environment and in this way become part of governmental practices. Casetti has also written extensively on film theories: he authored the book Theories of Cinema, 1945-1995 (Texas, 1999, or. 1993), and more recently he edited Early Film Theories in Italy. 1896-1922 (AUP, 2017). His books and essays are largely translated in foreigner languages (French, Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, Chinese, Korean, Slovenian).

With Jane Gaines (Columbia University, Film and Media Studies Graduate Chair), Casetti is the co-founder of the Permanent Seminar on Histories of Film Theories, an international network of film scholars aimed at a systematic exploration of the field of film and media theories.

• Casetti, Francesco (2023). Screening Fears. On Protective Media. New York: Zone Books
• Casetti, Francesco (2015). The Lumière Galaxy: Seven Key words for the Cinema to Come. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Casetti, Francesco (2008). Eye of the Century. Film, Experience, Modernity. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Casetti, Francesco (2002). Communicative Negotiation in Cinema and Television. Milan: Vita e Pensiero.
• Casetti, Francesco (1999). Theories of Cinema, 1945-1990. Austin: University of Texas Press.
• Casetti, Francesco (ed.) (1995). L'ospite fisso. Televisione e mass media nelle famiglie italiane. Milan: San Paolo.
• Casetti, Francesco (ed.) (1988). Tra me e te. Strategie di coinvolgimento dello spettatore nella neotelevisione. Rome: Eri-VQPT.
• Casetti, Francesco (1986). Dentro lo Sguardo. Il Film e il suo Spettatore. Milan: Bompiani.

• Personal web site
• Personal page in Yale University's web site
• Muscio, Giuliana; Zemignan, Roberto (1991). "Francesco Casetti and Italian Film Semiotics". Cinema Journal. 30 (2): 23–46. doi:10.2307/1224977. JSTOR 1224977.