The institute, based in Rome, was involved in the production and distribution of films and documentaries intended for being screened in cinemas.

Famous for having been a powerful propaganda tool of the fascist regime, it is considered as the oldest public institution devoted to production and distribution of cinematographic materials for didactic and informative purposes in the world.

[1][2][3] Istituto Luce was founded in 1924 as a stock company, and then Benito Mussolini through the Royal Decree Law no.

[4] After the war the company continued to engage in production of numerous documentaries and films (directed, among others, by Pupi Avati, Marco Bellocchio, Claude Chabrol, Liliana Cavani, Mario Monicelli, Ermanno Olmi, and Ettore Scola).

[5] As of July 2012, a large collection of movies (about 30,000) was made available to the public through a YouTube channel, thanks to an agreement with Google.