CINEMA MADE IN ITALY hits town again from 9-13 March with its annual box of delights giving audiences the chance to catch what’s new in Italian cinema. Many of the films will be having their UK premiere. There are award winners, animation, documentaries and also the traditional cult classic screening, this year Luciano Salse’s Fantozzi, an ‘everyman’ tale from 1975.
As in previous years the event is hosted by South Kensington’s Ciné Lumière, working with Cinecittà and the Italian Cultural Institute, and is curated by CEO of Film London and British Film Commission, Adrian Wootton. Special guests will be at hand for introductions and Q&As throughout. (And what fun these can be!)
Highlights include:
L’immensità, Emanuele Crialese’s family drama set in 70s Rome starring Penelope Cruz and Crialese regular Vincento Amato; Il Signore delle formiche (Lord of the Ants) by Gianni Amelio,based on real events, a hard look at homophobia in 60s Italy, centring on a courtroom drama; Notte fantasma (Ghost Night) by Fulvio Risuleo, a teenager’s nightmare experiences on one terrifying night, seen in the Orizzonti selection at Venice; Spaccaossa (The Bone Breakers) by Vincenzo Pirrotta, where in the bleak streets of Palermo criminal gangs use violence on willing participants to stage fake accidents for insurance payouts: Le otto montagne (The Eight Mountains) by Felix van Groeningen (Beautiful Boy) & Charlotte Vandermeersch, a portrait of a continuing friendship of two men from very different back grounds, winner of the Jury prize at Venice last year; and Siccità (Dry) by Paolo Virzì, award winner at Venice, an apocalyptic story of life in Rome where terrible drought brings together all sections of society.
Documentaries are represented by Mark Cousins’ searing documentary on the rise of Mussolini, The March on Rome, and Italy’s leading documentary maker Gianfranco Rosi’s In Viaggio, his intriguing and immersive portrait of Pope Francis’s as he travelled the world over the last 9 years. And there’s animation in the form of Interdit Aux Chiens et Aux Italiens (No Dogs Or Italians Allowed) by Alain Ughetto, a tale of immigration spanning the 20th century, winner of European Film Award for Best Animation.
For more details and to book, see Ciné Lumière
A seat in the dark 