QUICK SELECT
LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL
For the first time we welcome the Lavazza Italian Film Festival, one of Australia’s major touring national cinema showcases, to Arc Cinema. In its tenth year, the festival remains an event for Australians, Italo-Australians, Italophiles and cinephiles alike. Showcasing the best of new Italian cinema, the festival features highly acclaimed and multi-award-winning contemporary films sourced from the festivals at Cannes and Berlin, plus Italy’s major Rome and Venice Film Festivals. Highlights include new films from auteurs like Marco Bellccohio (Vincere), Marco Risi (Fortàpasc), Gabriele Salvatores (As God Commands) and Pupi Avati (Giovanni’s Father), major works from rising talents like Gianni Di Gregorio (Mid-August Lunch) and Maria Sole Tognazzi (The Man Who Loves), and some of the new films Italian audiences are flocking to the cinema to see (like the box office hit Many Kisses Later).
Presented by Palace Cinemas, in association with the NFSA. With the support of the Embassy of Italy, the Italian Consular Network and the Italian Institutes of Culture.
Special Ticket Prices:
Opening Night - $20.00
General Admission - $16.00 Adult / $13.50 Concession*
(*Eligible Concessions include Palace Movie Club members, excludes Max Passes. Group discounts for 20 or more available).
Tickets can be arrange BY PHONE by calling the National Film and Sound Archive on 1800 067 274 between 10am - 5pm, have your credit card details ready (tickets are not posted and can be collected from reception before the screening; or IN PERSON, at the National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Circuit, Acton 10am - 5pm.
VINCERE
Dir: Marco Bellocchio, Italy, 2009, 128 mins, video, (unclassified 18+)
The new, Cannes-nominated, film from acclaimed auteur Marco Bellocchio is based on the little known story of Benito Mussolini's first wife Ida Dalser and the relationship begun in 1914 when she was a well-to-do beauty salon owner and he an impoverished young Socialist. As in Bellocchio's recent masterpiece, Good Morning, Night, it's a study of how political ideology can be as seductive as love. But as ever, Bellocchio's baroque and magic realist style gives the politics an emotional force, in its combination of archival footage and what's best called 'cinematic oratorio'.
THE 1000-EURO GENERATION
(Generazione 1000 Euro) Dir: Massimo Venier, Italy, 2009, 101 mins, Digital, (unclassified 18+)
Matteo works in the marketing department of a telecommunications company. His career prospects seem to be looking up. However modern life's surprises never stop, and most of them are female. A new Assistant Marketing Director has taken a shine to him. Meanwhile, the sexy Beatrice suddenly appears in his flat, moved in by best friend Francesco despite their 'no female roommates' policy. A hit Italian blog about twenty-something professionals becomes a box-office hit Italian relationship comedy, with a cast including Alessandro Tiberi, Valentina Lodovini and Carolina Crescentini.
GIOVANNA’S FATHER
(Il papa di Giovanna) Dir: Pupi Avati, Italy, 2008, 104 mins, video, (unclassified 18+)
Michele Casali (Silvio Orlando) is a Bologna artist and a teacher. Teenage daughter Giovanna is shy and insecure, and matters are not helped by attending her father’s school - especially when father uses his authority to favour a handsome male student because he’s the first boy to pay Giovanna any attention. Prolific and always affecting writer/director Pupi Avati’s new drama is a showcase for actors Silvio Orlando (awarded Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival) and Alba Rohrwacher.
KODACHROME
90 mins, 16mm, (unclassified 18+)
On world Home Movie Day we mark the passing of Kodak's most famous colour film stock: for 70 years intrinsic to amateur filmmaking and to Home Movie making's very special, frozen-in-time and unfading heritage. We look at milestone documentary and experimental films made in sympathy to Kodachrome's immediacy and hyper-real reversal colour, including William Wyler's The Memphis Belle (USA, 1943, 23 mins) and The Flute of Krishna (1926, 7'): a unique record of choreographer Martha Graham, shot in early 2-colour Kodachrome. NFSA curators also introduce Kodachrome gems from our Home Movie collection.
MID-AUGUST LUNCH
(Pranzo di ferragosto) Dir: Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy, 2009, 75 mins, digital, (PG)
On a sweltering Roman summer holiday weekend, middle-aged Giovanni finds himself playing nursemaid, servant and entertainer, not only to his own bossy mother, but also the mamas of his doctor, his landlord and the landlord's aunt as well! Over a day and a night, this assortment of ill-tempered elderly ladies reveal the vulnerability, peculiarities and charms of their age-bracket, with great spontaneity. Gomorrah screenwriter Gianni Di Gregorio's actor-director debut feature was the surprise of the 2008 Venice Film Festival, garnering three awards for its ensemble of amateur actors.
MANY KISSES LATER
(Tanti baci dopo) Dir: Fausto Brizzi, Italy, 2009, 120 mins, digital (unclassified 18+)
This year's Italian box office champion is a brisk new romantic ensemble comedy about how love affairs end. We follow six couples over the weeks between Christmas and Valentine's Day - episodes that intertwine and revolve around the turning of love into friendship, hatred and sometimes back into romance. Brizzi mixes clever social observation, entertaining dialogue, comic situations, a sprinkling of drama and a dash of sex, with a stellar cast including Claudio Bisio, Silvio Orlando, Malik Zidi and Cécile Cassel.
FORTAPÀSC
Dir: Marco Risi, Italy, 2009, 108 mins, digital, (unclassified 18+)
Marco Risi re-creates the last four months in the life of 26-year-old Neapolitan stringer journalist Giancarlo Siani (Libero De Rienzo). Stumbling upon a conversation between local kingpin Valentino Gionta and Camorra boss Carmine Alfieri, Siani seizes the chance to write what he hopes will be the exposé that will make his career; with the enthusiasm, courage and foolishness of youth. Fortàpasc is a hard-hitting fable of the murder of idealism. The film’s title is dialect for “Fort Apache” – a hint of the lawlessness in the city which is its subject.
THE LAST PULCINELLA
(L'ultimo pulcinella) Dir: Maurizio Scaparro, Italy, 2009, 89 mins, digital, (unclassified 18+)
Massimo Ranieri (one of Italy’s greatest pop singers) stars as Michelangelo, a struggling Naples actor living as a street artist by performing the commedia dell'arte stories of Pulcinella. His son Francesco flees to Paris after being caught up in the Camorra, and Michelangelo follows him, hoping to reinvigorate their strained relationship. Based on an unrealised script by Roberto Rossellini and directed by acclaimed theatre maestro Maurizio Scaparro, this was the Closing Night film of the 2008 Rome International Film Festival, and is a powerful fable of the healing power of theatre and performance.
THE EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM
(Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca) Dir: Francesco Patierno, Italy, 2008, 100 mins, 35mm, (unclassified 18+)
This is a story familiar to Australians – the rise and fall of Italy’s famous radio presenter Marco Baldini. Locked into a banking career, Baldini impulsively took a job with a Milan radio station and then, almost by accident, becomes one-half of Italy’s most popular morning show comedy duo. But with celebrity, luck and long afternoons to kill, a casual gambling habit starts to become an addiction. Loosely adapted from Baldini’s autobiography, Patierno’s film is an acidic and ironic comedy, unfolding against the good times of the 1990s.
AS GOD COMMANDS
(Come dio comanda) Dir: Gabriele Salvatores, Italy, 2008, 103 mins, digital, (unclassified 18+)
The new film from the Oscar-winning director of Medditerraneo, Gabrielle Salvatores, is an Of Mice and Men story, a portrait of masculine affection and unconventional family. Rino, his son Cristiano and his brain-damaged friend Quattro live by doing odd jobs amidst strip malls and warehouses on the outskirts of a northern Italian city. Rino’s racism, drinking and financial problems spark the attention of a social worker, although he is determined to keep this odd family together. But when Quattro begins stalking Cristiano’s girlfriend the real tragedy of their situation is exposed.
BRAVE MEN
(I galantuomini) Dir: Edoardo Winspeare, Italy, 2008, 100 mins, 35mm, (unclassified 18+)
In Brave Men, writer/director Edoardo Winspeare (The Miracle) presents a sweeping saga about three former childhood friends from the slums of Lecce. Years later, esteemed judge Ignazio (Fabrizio Gifuni) returns to the city to investigate the sudden death of his friend Fabio. At the funeral he meets up with childhood sweetheart Lucia (Donatella Finocchiaro) who despite outward appearances now works for the feared Sacra Corona Unita, the Pugliese mafia. Winspeare creates a tantalizing blend of melodrama and investigative cinema, firmly built on the rare figure of the female Mafioso.
GIULIA DOESN'T GO OUT AT NIGHT
Giulia non esce la sera) Dir: Giuseppe Piccioni, Italy, 2009, 105 mins, digital, (unclassified 18+)(
Giulia is a swimming teacher, amongst her pupils the young daughter of Guido (Valerio Mastandrea), a successful writer whose latest book is shortlisted for a prestigious literary prize, but who grapples with feelings of futility. When teacher and parent meet, the charming Guilia immediately intrigues Guido, who’s drawn by her grace and finesse in the water. But Guilia keeps her distance, harbouring a dark secret. Director Giuseppe Piccioni’s intriguing psychological thriller stars luminous Hollywood-Italian star Valeria Golino.
THE SICILIAN GIRL
(La siciliana ribelle) Dir: Marco Amenta, Italy 2008, 110 mins, 35mm, (unclassified 18+)
In November 1991, 17-year-old Rita Atria approached the chief prosecutor of Palermo, intent on vindicating her father and brother, recent victims of Mafia-related slayings. It was the first time that a daughter of The Families had openly rebelled against the male-dominated organization, and she well knew her days were numbered. With a palpable, angry passion and a mercurial title performance by Veronica D’Agostino, The Sicilian Girl recounts a major turning point in Sicily’s war against organised crime, with filmmaker Marco Amenta dramatising his own groundbreaking 1999 documentary.
THE MAN WHO LOVES
(L’uomo che ama) Dir: Maria Sole Tognazzi, 2008, 102 mins, digital, (unclassified 18+)
Pharmacist Roberto is living two different love stories; one with Sara, a hotel manager in Torino, the other with Alba (Monica Bellucci), a chic art gallery curator. The game of love has Roberto assuming opposing roles in each relationship, experimenting with sweetness and cruelty. The Man Who Loves offers a rarely-seen woman's take on a man's experience of love and heartbreak. Maria Sole Tognazzi is the daughter of the great actor/writer/director Ugo; but her new film stands by itself as a fascinating work from an emerging new talent.
GENOVA
Dir: Michael Winterbottom, UK/Italy, 2009, 94 mins, 35mm, (M)
Chicago widower Joe (Colin Firth) relocates himself and two young daughters to Genova in Italy’s north, to accept a university teaching position and the rekindled friendship with a former colleague Barbara (Catherine Keener). His daughters’ adjustment is more painful: 16-year-old Kelly is drawn into a dangerous new world, while the younger Mary begins to have visions of her dead mother. Michael Winterbottom’s (Tristram Shandy, 24 Hour Party People) new UK/Italian co-production uses what initially seems like mere travelogue to captures the challenges and strengths of a family in grief.
