Posts Tagged ‘Italian cinema’

Cinema made in Italy

LINE-UP FOR CINEMA MADE IN ITALY 2026

Over five days, this year’s mini festival at the BFI will screen ten of the latest contemporary Italian films, including biopics, period drama, historical epics. These are not necessarily prize-winners or those picked up for general distribution so this is possibly the only opportunity to catch them outside Italy.


PRIMAVERA      

Director: Damiano Michieletto

Cast: Tecla Insolia, Michele Riondino, Andrea Pennacchi, Fabrizia Sacchi, Valentina Bellè, Stefano Accorsi, Hildegard De Stefano, Cosima Centurioni, Federica Girardello, Rebecca Antonaci, Chiara Sacco, Miko Jarry

Running time: 110 mins

Venice, early 18th century. Renowned for its exceptional music programme, the Pièta orphanage is home to Cecilia, a 20-year-old violin virtuoso. Despite her extraordinary talent, Cecilia remains confined within the orphanage and like all the girls there, her only escape seems to be to get married. Yet, her life changes dramatically when Antonio Vivaldi, a brilliant and ambitious composer, is contracted as the new violin teacher. Through a complex artistic relationship with Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable.

UK release date: 24 April 2026 (Curzon Film)


GRASSHOPPERS (Cavallette)

Director: Bruno Bozzetto

Running time: 9 mins

Multi-award-winning Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto, known for his witty, satirical, and often thought-provoking animation, tells the story of human history, from cavemen to the modern age, focusing on cycles of war, love, power, and survival. This featurette about war in the history of humanity received an Oscar® nomination for Best Animated Short in 1991.

 A YEAR OF SCHOOL (Un Anno di Scuola)

Director: Laura Samani

Cast: Stella Wendick, Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolisi, Samuel Volturno

Running time: 90 mins                                            

It is September 2007 and Fred, a sassy 17-year-old Swedish girl, arrives in Trieste and starts at a new school, enrolling in an all-male class. She quickly becomes the centre of attention for the three friends Antero, Pasini, and Mitis. Fred’s arrival puts their longstanding friendship to the test. Each of them secretly desires Fred for himself, whereas all she wants is to be accepted by this close-knit group.Small Body director Laura Samani’s second feature is an enchanting coming-of-age tale, adapted from the novel by Giani Stuparich.


HEADS OR TAILS? (Testa o Croce?)

Directors: Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis

Cast: Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Alessandro Borghi, John C. Reilly, Peter Lanzani, Mirko Artuso, Gabriele Silli, Gianni Garko

Running time: 116 minutes                      

Against the backdrop of a legendary rodeo contest between American cowboys and Italian butteri, Rosa, the young wife of the local landowner, falls in love with Santino, the buttero who wins the challenge. After Rosa’s husband is murdered, she runs away with Santino, and a hefty bounty is placed on his head. This delightfully playful Euro-western draws inspiration from Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci’s films, delivering a highly original and spellbinding caper which never ceases to surprise.

A BRIEF AFFAIR (Breve Storia d’Amore)

Director: Ludovica Rampoldi

Cast: Pilar Fogliati, Adriano Giannini, Andrea Carpenzano, Valeria Golino

Running time: 98 mins 

In A Brief Affair, Lea meets Rocco in a bar and becomes his lover. Their clandestine affair, confined to a hotel room, takes a sinister turn when Lea begins to infiltrate Rocco’s life beyond their secret encounters. The lives of the two couples in question gradually become intertwined, with calamitous consequences. Ludovica Rampoldi, one of Italy’s leading screenwriters, known for her work on films such as Marco Bellochio’s The Traitor and Gabriele Salvatores’ The Invisible Boy, makes her impressive debut as a feature film director with this thrilling, sophisticated drama addressing themes of adultery, obsession and revenge.

THE LAST ONE FOR THE ROAD (Le Città di Pianura)

Director: Francesco Sossai

Cast: Filippo Scotti, Sergio Romano, Pierpaolo Capovilla, Roberto Citran, Andrea Pennacchi

Running time: 100 mins

Carlobianchi and Doriano, two broke, bar hopping, fifty-something oddballs, embark on a chaotic road trip through the beguiling Venetian plains, befriending Giulio, a shy and adrift architecture student, along the way. Bad advice, hangovers, and unexpected friendship redraw Giulio’s plans for life and love. Beautifully shot on film stock, the down-to-earth demeanour and effortlessly off-the-cuff rhythms of the script constitute a whimsical, soulful gem with a wistful, heartwarming, undertone.

UK release date: spring 2026 (Bulldog Film Distribution)

ELISA                                                                                                         

Director: Leonardo Di Costanzo

Cast: Roschdy Zem, Barbara Ronchi, Diego Ribon, Valeria Golino, Giorgio Montanini, Hippolyte Girardot, Monica Codena, Roberta Da Soller, Marco Brinzi, Nadia Kibout, Josepha Yang, Federico Di Costanzo, Adeline Tayoro, Antonio Buil, Jasmin Mattei, Roberta Fossile

Running time: 105 mins

Elisa, 35, has been in prison for over ten years, convicted of murdering her older sister and burning her body, seemingly without motive. She claims to remember little or nothing of the crime, as if she had drawn a veil of silence between herself and the past. But when she agrees to meet criminologist Alaoui and take part in his research, memories begin to resurface. In confronting the pain of fully acknowledging her guilt, Elisa may glimpse the first step towards a possible redemption. This realistic, sensitively directed film is part-psychological thriller, part-prison drama.

FUORI                                                                                                       

Director: Mario Martone

Cast: Valeria Golino, Matilda De Angelis, Elodie, Corrado Fortuna, Stefano Dionisi, Antonio Gerardi, Francesco Gheghi

Running time: 117 mins                             

Fuori is a moving drama about friendship in adversity, female solidarity, and anti-conformism, inspired by the life of noted Italian feminist writer and political activist Goliarda Sapienza. After her magnum opus The Art of Joy is rejected by all the Italian publishers she sends it to, Goliarda Sapienza ends up in prison for stealing some jewellery. Her encounter with some of the young inmates turns out to be a life-changing experience. After their release and over the course of a sweltering summer in Rome in 1980, the women continue to meet, and Goliarda forms a deep bond with Roberta, a repeat offender and political activist. A connection that no one on the outside can truly understand, but through which Goliarda rediscovers the joy of living and the impulse to write again. The film features a stunning central performance by Valeria Golino, who previously directed the recent, acclaimed television adaptation of Sapienza’s epic novel The Art of Joy (L’Arte della Gioia).

 

GIOIA (La Gioia)                                                                                     

Director: Nicolangelo Gelormini

Cast: Valeria Golino, Saul Nanni, Jasmine Trinca, Francesco Colella, Betti Pedrazzi

Running time: 108 mins

Gelormini follows his formidable debut feature, Fortuna – The Girl and the Giants, with this gripping noir, adapted from a theatre piece. Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known any other love than the oppressive bond with her own parents, with whom she still lives. When she is seduced by one of her pupils, the delinquent teenager Alessio, a fragile relationship ensues. Their liaison is forbidden fruit, and inexplicably, one they can’t do without. Still, Alessio’s desire for social and human redemption is a silent killer that prevents him from ultimately accepting Gioia’s unwavering affection for him, resulting in a devastating finale.

THE FACTS OF MURDER (Un Maledetto Imbroglio)

Director: Pietro Germi

Cast: Claudia Cardinale, Pietro Germi, Franco Fabrizi, Cristina Gaioni

Running time: 115 mins

Adapted from Carlo Emilio Gadda’s 1957 novel That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana (Quer Pasticciaccio Brutto de Via Merulana), The Facts of Murder is a classic detective thriller about the investigation of two crimes committed in the same Rome apartment block. Presented in a ravishing digital restoration, it is the perfect tribute to the late, great Claudia Cardinale.

4K restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata at Cineteca di Bologna

 

SWEETHEART (Gioia Mia)

Director: Margherita Spampinato

Cast: Aurora Quattrocchi, Marco Fiore, Camille Dugay, Martina Ziami, Clara Salvo, Renata Sajeva, Concetta Ingrassia, Giuseppina Cardella, Giuseppina Cammareri, Rosaria Oddo, Gaspare Gruppuso

Running time: 90 mins 

Nico, a lively, stubborn, and impertinent young boy from Milan, used to living in a modern, hyper-connected world, is forced to spend the summer in Sicily with his belligerent and devoutly religious elderly great aunt. She lives alone, without Wi-Fi or any other form of modern technology, a place completely frozen in time. The clash between modernity and the past, reason and faith, speed and slowness marks the beginning of a stormy relationship. Yet, little by little, a deep bond grows between them, one that neither of them knew they needed. The veteran actor Aurora Quattrocchi deservedly won the Pardo for Best Performance at the 78th Locarno Film Festival for her leading role in this powerful film which offers many layers for reflection.

 

THREE GOODBYES (Tre Ciotole)

Director: Isabel Coixet

Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Elio Germano, Silvia D’Amico, Galatea Bellugi, Francesco Carril, Sarita Choudhury

Running time: 120 mins         

After what seemed like a trivial quarrel, Marta and Antonio split up. Marta reacts to the breakup by withdrawing into herself. The only symptom she cannot ignore is her sudden lack of appetite. Antonio, a rising chef, immerses himself in his work, but despite being the one who ended things with Marta, he can’t seem to forget her. When Marta discovers that her loss of appetite has more to do with her own health than the pain of separation, everything changes: the taste of food, music, desire, her view of the choices she once made… Adapted from Michela Murgia’s partly autobiographical, best-selling novel, Three Goodbyes is a heartrending love letter to life.

CINEMA MADE IN ITALY 4-8 MARCH 2026

Partenope (2024)

Dir/Wri: Paolo Sorrentino | Cast: Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Daniele Rienzo, Dario Aita, Isabella Ferrari, Luisa Ranieri, Peppe Lanzetta, Marlon Joubert, Silvia Degrandi, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Biagio Izzo, Nello Mascia, Alfonso Santagata | Italy 137′

Paolo Sorentino’s second love letter to his home of town of Naples is predictably gorgeous to look at and the sun always shines. The Greeks gave the city the name Partenope in the 8th century BC, and the bay of Naples is certainly magnificent. But after the first twenty minutes my attention started to drift away from the prize-winning pretty images to consider the vacuous protagonist at the centre of it all who was increasingly failing to engage my interest. How was Partenope going to enthrall me for another two hours? Well it didn’t.

It’s 1950 and baby Partenope is born in the sea in front of her family’s villa gradually growing up to be a feminine siren representing the modern Italian woman, independent and free, in a checkered existence that revisits a tragic family episode the past, but swerves away from lasting love or motherhood (but not for lack of options).

Monza-born actor Celeste Dalla Porta, who also appeared in The Hand of God, does her best to be alluring. Beautiful in a classic Italian way, she drifts around in immaculate trouser suits or skimpy bikinis, tossing her tousled chestnut locks and casting ‘come hither’ glances. But after a while it all feels more like a glamorous fashion shoot. Interestingly Saint Laurent Productions is involved in the drama’s making.

Men and women waft in and out of this charmed female’s life projecting their desires onto her and she just smiles enigmatically and smokes another cigarette, an emotional vacuum. Throughout Partenope remains an underwritten cipher, excelling academically until Stefania Sandrelli steps in to her role, in the film’s finale, bringing Partenope, now in her 70s, up to date with a bittersweet return to Naples.

A cast of well-known Italian actors fill out the serpentine storyline: her university professor (Orlando); an acting coach called Flora Malta (Ferrari); a Naples-born star Greta Cool (Ranieri) and a ghastly raddled priest (Lanzetta). And where is Gary Oldman? He gets a brief vignette  as the bibulous writer John Cheever.

This intensely personal film may chime with Sorrentino’s fellow Neapolitans but has difficulty engaging others in reflecting a cherished memory of youth, time and place through the vapid story of a woman who fails to convey anything more than her own vanity. @MeredithTaylor

NOW IN CINEMAS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM.

Italian Films at the BFI London Film Festival 2021 | 6-17 October

Italian cinema has had a good summer so far. So expect to see a good selection at this autumn’s BFI London Film Festival, courtesy of Cinecittaluce.

SMALL BODY is a delicate fantasy drama from Laura Samani and had its premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week. MARX CAN WAIT is Marco Bellocchio’s documentary tribute to a much loved twin brother, and also screened at Cannes, where the veteran director was awarded the 2021 Honorary Palme D’Or for his body of work.

Paolo Sorrentino was on the Lido with his latest lush drama THE HAND OF GOD which took the Grand Jury Prize, its lead, Filippo Scotti, was awarded the Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young actor. Meanwhile, Michelangelo Frammartino’s Special Jury Prize winner IL BUCO captured the hearts and minds of Italian and international critics at Venice: Il Buco is his long-awaited follow-up to Le Quattro Volte.

ITALIAN FILMS | BFI FILM FESTIVAL 2021 

Festival Focus: Bergamo Film Meeting 2019 | 9-17 March 2019

Bergamo Film Meeting unveils its 37th edition from March 9 – 17, 2019 in the mountain side venue just north of Milan in the Italian Dolomites. Bergamasco is one of Italy’s most intriguing dialects and the town boasts a wealth of gourmet restaurants and bars where you can savour saffron-flavoured risottos and a legendary pancetta laced pasta dish called casonelli alla bergamasca in a rich butter sauce accompanied by the local wines, including the famous red Moscato di Scanzo. Local handmade ice creams are based on regional ingredients, with stracciatella a speciality.

To open this year’s festival there will be a live performance of Fritz Lang’s  METROPOLIS on Friday 8th March, 20.30, Ex Chiesa di Sant’Agostino – P.le Sant’Agostino, Bergamo.

During the nine screening days and more than 180 films among feature films including world premieres, docs and short-films

COMPETITION EXHIBITION

Dedicated to new auteurs, the International competition will premiere 7 feature films, which will compete for the Bergamo Film Meeting Award (the audience will grant 5,000 euros to the best three films) and, from this year, for the Best Director Award (the International Jury will grant 2,000 euros to the best director). The competition line-up includes three debut features: British director Jamie Jones’ Obey; Holy Boom, which won an award at Zaragoza festival for Greek filmmaker Maria Lafi; Hadrian Marcu’s A Decent Man and Balkan feature Raindrops, Borders from Nikola Mijovic. Also in competition are two winners from last year’s San Sebastian festival: Benjamin Naishtat’s gripping Argentinian thriller Rojo. The Snatch Thief from Agustin Toscano. Richard Billingham’s multi-awarded biopic Ray & Liz, 

CLOSE UP

Dedicated to documentary cinema. Two awards will be assigned: the Best Documentary CGIL Bergamo – Close Up Section (the audience will grant 2,000 euros) and the CGIL Jury Prize (the CGIL Bergamo trade union delegates will grant 1,000 euros).

EUROPE, NOW!

The complete works of two filmmakers who, in the last few years, have portrayed Europe’s varied  aspects through a uniquely personal vision: the Norwegian BENT HAMER (10001 Grams) and the Spanish director ALBERTO RODRÍGUEZ (Marshland) along with his collaborator RAFAEL COBOS, will be guests of the Festival from March 13 to 16.

RETROSPECTIVES 

JEAN-PIERRE LÉAUD. The renowned actor will be a guest of the Festival to mark this tribute to his film canon. The retro includes I Hired A Contract Killer; La Chinoise; L’amour en Fuite, La nuit americaine, Le depart, Les quatre cent coups, Masculin et Feminin, Porcile, La mort de Louis XIV, La mama et le putain. 

Also joining the celebration will be Macedonian director and cinematographer Karpo Godino as part of THE YUGOSLAVIAN BLACK WAVE: Retro of his work.

Polish director, animator, painter, cartoonist and performer MARIUSZ WILCZYŃSKI will also join to take part in the festival.

TRIBUTE to PETER MULLAN

PASOLINI AND THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, special event consisting of a photo exhibition, a panel discussion and the screening of three restored films: Il fiore delle Mille e una notte (Arabian Nights, 1974), Le mura di Sana’a (The Walls of Sana’a, 1971) and Appunti per un film sull’India (Notes for a film about India, 1968)

https://www.bergamofilmmeeting.it/

 

Flesh Out (2019) *** Berlinale 2019

Dir.: Michela Occhipinti; Cast: Verida Deiche, Amal Oumar, Aichetou Najim, Sidi Chiglay; Italy/France 2018; 94 min

Governments in the Western world are desperately urging people to lose weight. Not so in Africa. In her second feature Italian filmmaker Michela Occhipinti (Letters from the Desert) travels to  Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott where it turns out that Islam is at the root of the situation. And once – as in FGM – the matriarchs are in control. Occhipinti uses a non-professional cast to explores the conflict between Verida and a repressive tradition with lyric poeticism.

Young beautician Verida (Deiche) is expected to gain a great deal of weight so she will meet the requirements of her arranged marriage to Amal. Verida’s husband-to-be Amal (Oumar), is well off and drives a Mercedes, the usual car in North Africa. Her best friend, Aichetou (Najim) dreams of going to Cairo, and is proud of her rudimentary English, which includes phrases such as ‘good-bye’ and ‘fuck-off’. Both young women are clearly enjoying their life in the 21st century, and Verida is readying .Bonjour Tristesse’. But three months before the wedding, Verida’s mother Sidi (Chiglay) makes her gain weight, as is customary in the region. The intention is to gain a more imposing stature, and lend gravitas to their new family. Verida is totally against the idea and starts taking pills to counteract the gain – but to no avail. She finally challenges her mother, kicking over a bowl of food. Her mother reacts by taking her off into the desert, where she is force fed a mixture of milk and cereal, the same method for producing foie gras. When Verida spews out the brew, the women force her to eat her own vomit, and Verida’s mother condones their actions. After arguing with Amal, she decides to take charge of her life.

Flesh Out has a languid pace, Occhipinti takes her time introducing the main protagonists. Verida and Aichetou are very close, they daydream and have pillow fights, and although work is the centre of their life, but the family elders think differently, the men’s wishes enforced by the senior women in their community. A worthwhile and well-crafted experience, enlivened by DoP Daria d’Antonio fabulous desert scenes. AS

BERLINALE FILM FESTIVAL | 7-17 FEBRUARY 2019

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