Neo-Realism – a moment in art is always a product of historical conditions in different societies. It is seen that a certain set of beliefs or an ideology is shared between creative minds of the period. Every school of thought has its rise and fall.A moment call Neo-Realism emerged in Italy during World War II and the fall of fascism. Popular cinema in 1940s was completely divorced from real life. They presented super rich, luxurious lifestyle of characters that the audience could not relate to. Many of these films were full of curios like the white telephone on which characters were often seen chatting at length. To present the reality Neo-Realism brought authenticity of a documentary reality to stories, characters and situation. This authenticity was achieved through new means like casting non actors even in lead roles, casting stars in non-glamorous roles, shooting on actual locations, and by filming simple stories with simple characters. Prominent directors were – Luchino Visconti (The Earth Trembles) and Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves)Expressionism – „the reality of the inner world projected‟. German expressionism was a movement that ran parallel to the soviets in 1920‟s. But there mood and preoccupation were totally different. Germans were recovering from a shattering defeat in the World War I. The humiliation of Treat of Versallies added insult to the injury. Germany was being bled of its income and resources. The existential angst of those times was reflected in the films of that period. Most films dealt with realities that were nightmarish.Expressionism is a break from the reality with imagined landscape. Thus to move away from reality of the everyday life, filmmakers constructed a symbolic one. This movement got its name from the term expressionism that had existed invisual and dramatic arts. An expressionist does not see but has „Visions‟. Eg – Vincent Van Gogh (Netherlands), Edvard Munchi (Norway) etc.