La Terra Trema (Italian, Sicilian, DVD)

Winner of a Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1948, Luchino Visconti's neo-realist drama is set in the small fishing village of Aci-Trezza and employs a cast made up entirely of local fishermen and villagers. The film tells the story of one fishing family who try to break out of the cycle of poverty and exploitation at the hands of fish market entrepeneurs by buying a boat of their own.