Enrico Cocozza

A documentary exploring the life and work of experimental Scots-Italian filmmaker Enrico Cocozza through excerpts from his films and interviews with those who knew him. Cocozza gained recognition on the amateur film circuit during the 1940s and 1950s, but his work was largely forgotten in later years. In old age, he became deeply anxious that The Golden Fry—the chip shop beneath his flat, in premises that had once housed his family’s café—might catch fire and destroy the films he kept in storage. This fear ultimately led to his collection being deposited in what is now the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive, allowing his remarkable body of work to be preserved and rediscovered. Created with limited resources but extraordinary visual ambition, Cocozza’s films were, in the best sense, “cheaply extravagant.”

28 minute long short film by Enrico Cocozza from 1950.

A steamer trip from Wemyss Bay through the Kyles of Bute to Inveraray.

Glasgow's docklands; its workers, transportation and daily life. Filmed by Enrico Cocozza for Educational Films of Scotland.

A fictional story of a Dracula-type character who terrorises the Coltness Estate in Wishaw.

A golfer who finds a magical ring dreams that he falls in love with a lady trapped in a ruined house.

28 minute long short film by Enrico Cocozza from 1950.

A steamer trip from Wemyss Bay through the Kyles of Bute to Inveraray.

Glasgow's docklands; its workers, transportation and daily life. Filmed by Enrico Cocozza for Educational Films of Scotland.

A fictional story of a Dracula-type character who terrorises the Coltness Estate in Wishaw.

A golfer who finds a magical ring dreams that he falls in love with a lady trapped in a ruined house.

The story of a group of people trying to survive after an atomic war, by propitiating their Gods.

A dark, fictional story filmed in Enrico Cocozza's flat about a young flat bound artist, Bruno, who is tormented by his two other selves, which manifest themselves as young boys.

A short abstract film with a theme of narcissism. Note there are two versions of this film preserved at the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive. The black and white sound version is the one transferred for viewing purposes. There is also a black and white and colour version preserved.

A grim scientist orders his third robot to destroy the male of two humanoid creations after they unexpectedly fall in love. But his plan backfires when the female robot seduces her creator into drinking from a poisoned cup before making her escape. Robot Three received both the Victor Saville Trophy for Most Outstanding Film and the Alfred Hitchcock Cup for Best Fiction Film at the 1952 Scottish Amateur Film Festival, cementing its place as one of the era's most celebrated Scottish amateur productions.

20 minute-long short film by Enrico Cocozza from 1956.

A man's experience with a living ghost

The adventures of a young boy in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.

A young boy and his dog on holiday with his grandmother.

Incubo (Nightmare) is a haunting, surrealist portrait of alienation set against the industrial landscapes of 1950s Glasgow. Following a lonely café worker drifting through parks, streets and wastelands in the grip of depression and emotional exhaustion, the film blurs the line between reality and dream. Encounters with strangers offer only fleeting moments of connection as his journey moves inexorably toward tragedy, accompanied by meditative Buddhist chants that lend the film an almost hypnotic, existential quality. One of Enrico Cocozza's earliest surviving works, Incubo transforms the city into a bleak psychological landscape where despair and isolation become inescapable.

Scenes around West Cross, Wishaw. Enrico Cocozza interviews local people as they go about their daily business and captures the various goings on of the street his flat overlooks.

A love story inspired by a poem of Wilfred Rowland Childe.

the story of a young author and a magic trumpet

Scottish footballing stars of 1960 demonstrate their skills, including Alex Scott from Rangers FC and Bertie Peacock from Celtic FC, at Cathkin Park in Glasgow. Sponsored by Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, whose Rocky Mount cigarettes are shown in film.

Fictional story of a young man and woman who fall in love on a ferry trip to Anglesey.

An English boy, Cecil, on holiday in Scotland and his holiday friends playing in Wishaw's streets and in a park.

A girl, perhaps on her birthday, lives out her subconscious passions. A stylish and surreal concoction of dance, theatrics, flirtation and solitude.

A devilish, surreal nightmare of bisexual lust.

Bryan Welcomes Raffles is about World War 2 airman being greeted by his family on his return home on leave.

A brief scenic tour of Alassio, capturing the essence of this Italian town.

An amateur film experimenting in low key lighting

A black cat that turns into a man and kills its owners.

A man is strangled to death and then dumped in a car.

The story of two teenagers given a job in a cafe