I come from the country of film Neorealism
I used that style before those male filmmakers
Some say my work was a sort of activism

First Italian female cineaste of shakers
Actress, writer, producer, distributor
I most preferred non-professional actors

My scenes portrayed the humble, mundane factor
Village festivals, iris shots, cross-fades
I also recreated deviant behaviour

Form and reverie came from the female gaze
Why should a lady settle for one suitor?
Ardent ‘sceneggiata’ drama was my craze

Neapolitan songs too, I liked to secure
Piedigrotta helped our record industry
With the film press connections I held allure

I handled posters in synchronicity
A spectator once tried to kill a villain
Those were effects of my authenticity

My modest background had a studious fill-in
As a milliner I first started working
A passion that thrived in my films deep within

As Elvira Coda I was hardworking
When I was wed to Nicola Notari
I found him ever so dearly supporting

Our film production company was glary
It was named after our sweet daughter Dora
It was really evolutionary

We built a stage set, or ‘teatro di posa’
We braved the crisis of the Giolitti Age
My spouse was the camera, I the aura

Eduardo or Gennariello on stage
Our son played the ‘scugnizzo,’ the street urchin
He even went through the ‘guaglione ‘e core’ stage

He was a good-hearted kid without a sin
I was the ‘Marescialla,’ the General
My harsh attitude allowed no underpin

True emotions made acting so empyreal
I banned glycerin for artificial tears
I had marvellous performers on my reel

Tina Pica and Capannelle for years
Dora Film also arrived in Manhattan
Gennaro Capuano was in high gears

Little Italy folks our films would demand
I felt the urge to create an Acting School
To enter the characters’ minds and expand

I was told by someone with a time capsule
That later on, child-actor Enzo Staiola
Used my cognitive method as acting tool

It was in a film about a bicycle…
Times change, and the arts succumb to politics
The return of dictators is cyclical

My strong heroines went against their optics
The Fascist Regime was for the patriarchy
I was censored and could no longer pull tricks

To them my work was absolute anarchy
Women could only be angels of the hearth
America showed my films clandestinely

Cinema was centralised to Rome
henceforth I tried to adapt to Hollywood style
Our film company perished with no rebirth

Eduardo tried Great Britain for a while
But soon returned to the Parthenopean land
With Nicola we then kept a low profile

Cava de’ Tirreni became our dreamland
Far from the horrors of the war I wondered
Will this Cinema Mamma in future stand?