Cinema Italian Style, 2014 returns to the American Cinematheque Nov 13-28, 2014, Egyptian and Aero Theatres.
This annual celebration of Italian cinema, opens with Italy’s official Oscar submission for Best Foreign-Language Film, Paolo Virzì’s masterful HUMAN CAPITAL, a sharp social critique cloaked in an engrossing neo-noir mystery. Virzì’s David di Donatello winner is set among the upper-class enclaves of Northern Italy, while the family that’s the focus of director Alice Rohrwacher’s impressionistic THE WONDERS has moved to the central heartland for a simpler life as farmers. Francesco Munzi’s gripping BLACK SOULS is set in Calabria, where three brothers are caught in the ’Ndrangheta’s criminal web.
The documentary ITALY IN A DAY offers scenes from the entire country – it was assembled from more than 600 YouTube videos shot in a single 24-hour period as a snapshot of contemporary Italian life. BEAUTIFUL THINGS, a Nastro d’Argento winner for Best Documentary, looks at the changes a decade makes to four lives in Naples. Edoardo Winspeare’s narrative film QUIET BLISS follows four women in lower Salento during the economic recession. A long marriage tested by a cancer diagnosis forms the basis for Ferzan Ozpetek’s romantic drama FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS.
Comedy looms large in this year’s Cinema Italian Style lineup – particularly crime comedies. TV host Pif makes an assured debut behind the camera with THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER, which traces the life of an Everyman who comes of age in organized crime stronghold Palermo. The Manetti brothers’ hilarious SONG ‘E NAPULE salutes both Naples’ neomelodico singers and ’70s cop dramas by following a musician sent undercover to infiltrate a mob wedding. And director Sydney Sibilia’s I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT milks the economic downturn for laughs as underemployed university graduates go into the designer-drug business.
The series also looks indirectly at Italy’s place in the film world both past and present. Pupi Avati’s dark drama A GOLDEN BOY profiles a writer (Riccardo Scamarcio) in the shadow of his father – a B-movie screenwriter. And closing this year’s Cinema Italian Style is a new restoration of Giuseppe Tornatore’s CINEMA PARADISO made possible by main supporter Dolce & Gabbana, with Luce Cinecittà and Cineteca di Bologna. The Oscar winning film, produced by Franco Cristaldi, is a heartening reminder of the strong spell movies can cast upon their viewers.
Opening NIght Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028
Thurs, Nov 13, 2014 6:30pm
CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE 2014
Opening Night! Free Screening! Director Paolo Virzì & actress Matilde Gioli In Person! CIS Awards to Giuseppe Tornatore & Vogue’s Franca Sozzani!
HUMAN CAPITAL
Presented by the American Cinematheque and Luce Cinecittà, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture-Film Department, Bonato Milano 1960 and Leading Hotels of the World. Technical Sponsor: Rossano Ferretti. In collaboration with the Italian Trade Commission and the Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles, under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles. Opening night co-presented by AFI FEST.
Tickets are free but only available through AFI FEST.
Red-carpet arrivals begin at 5:45 PM. The evening starts at 6:30 PM with the Cinema Italian Style opening ceremony, including presentation of CIS awards to Franca Sozzani (editor in chief of Vogue, Italy) and Giuseppe Tornatore. Feature starts at 7:00 PM. Director Paolo Virzì and actress Matilde Gioli will introduce the screening.
Italy’s Official Oscar Submission!
HUMAN CAPITAL
IL CAPITALE UMANO
2013, Film Movement, 110 min, Italy, Dir: Paolo Virzì
Produced by Indiana Production, Coproduced by Manny Films (FR); with Rai Cinema and Motorino Amaranto. Director Paolo Virzì relocates Stephen Amidon’s novel from Connecticut to Northern Italy for this stylish neo-noir social critique, winner of seven David di Donatello Awards including Best Film, Screenplay (Pasquale Bruni), Leading Actress (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), Supporting Actress (Valeria Golino) and Supporting Actor (Fabrizio Gifuni). Two families – the rich Bernaschis and the middle-class Rovellis – are tied together by an accident on the road in a dramatic night. “A chic thriller! A top-flight cast gives the character-driven drama depth and conviction.” – Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter. In Italian with English subtitles. CRITIC’S NOTE: Set in up-scale Brianza, Varese , in the north of Italy, Paulo Virzi’s handsome, disturbing morality play/thriller offers a marvelous role for the nuanced actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. Her wry performance as the wispy voice, cosseted yet invisible wife of powerful fund manage Giovanni Bernaschi (Fabrizio Gifune), moves and surprises, The strong ensemble also features Fabrizio Bentivoglio as the desperate arriviste Dino Ossola who mortgages his home and business to buy into the Bernaschi family hedge fund.
Aero Theatre Fri, Nov 14, 2014 – 7:30pm
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS / THE WONDERS
Double Feature! Los Angeles Premieres!
Director Ferzan Ozpetek & Actor Francesco Scianna In Person!
Introduction and Q&A between films with FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS director Ferzan Ozpetek and actor Francesco Scianna.
A segment of 9 X 10 NINETY, drawn from Italian historical footage in the Luce Archives, begins the program.
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS (ALLACCIATE LE CINTURE)
2014, Pathè International, 110 min, Italy, Dir: Ferzan Ozpetek
As director Ferzan Ozpetek notes of his luminous romantic drama, “In life, sooner or later, everything happens turbulently, exactly like in an airplane.” The bumps in this flight occur to Elena (Kasia Smutniak) and Antonio (Francesco Arca), whose long marriage faces challenges when Elena is diagnosed with cancer. Kasia Smutniak and Paola Minaccioni received the Nastro d’Argento (Silver Ribbon) award for best actresses of the year from the Italian film critics organization. In Italian with English subtitles.
THE WONDERS (LE MERAVIGLIE)
2014, The Match Factory, 111 min, Italy, Dir: Alice Rohrwacher
Pre-teen Gelsomina (Maria Alexandra Lungu) is the oldest of four sisters in a family that’s fled the city in pursuit of a simple life of beekeeping. But country life isn’t always idyllic; the arrival of a German boy and a summertime contest put a strain on Gelsomina’s relationship with her strict father (Sam Louwyck). This impressionistic domestic drama earned the Grand Prix at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. In Italian, French, and German with English subtitles.
Aero Theatre Sat, Nov 15, 2014 – 7:30pm
THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER / SONG ‘E NAPULE
Introduction and Q&A between films with THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER director Pierfrancesco Diliberto, aka Pif.
A segment of 9 X 10 NINETY, drawn from Italian historical footage in the Luce Archives, begins the program.
THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER (LA MAFIA UCCIDE SOLO D’ESTATE)
2013, Distrib Films, 90 min, Italy, Dir: Pierfrancesco Diliberto
This remarkably assured portrait of organized crime’s long grip on Sicily is the feature debut from TV host Pierfrancesco Diliberto, better known as Pif. He stars as Arturo, an Everyman who has grown up in a community where acceptance of La Cosa Nostra violence is alternately hilarious and poignant. Clever use of archival footage (with characters inserted à la FORREST GUMP) brings to life the decades before high-profile assassinations in the 1990s roused the country to action against the Mafia. In Italian with English subtitles.
SONG ‘E NAPULE
2013, Rai Com, 114 min, Italy, Dir: Antonio Manetti, Marco Manetti
When Paco (Alessandro Roja) can’t find work as a pianist, he gets a low-level job on the police force – and is soon reassigned to undercover work as a keyboardist in a band set to play at the wedding of a crime boss’s daughter. The Manetti brothers’ hilarious homage to ’70s cop films and Naples’ neomelodico singers earned four Nastro d’Argento awards, including Best Comedy. In Italian with English subtitles.
Aero Theatre Sun, Nov 16, 2014 – 7:30pm
BLACK SOULS / I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT
Double Feature! Los Angeles Premieres! Director Francesco Munzi In Person!
Introduction and Q&A between films with BLACK SOULS director Francesco Munzi.
A segment of 9 X 10 NINETY, drawn from Italian historical footage in the Luce Archives, begins the program.
BLACK SOULS (ANIME NERE)
2014, Rai Com, 103 min, Italy, Dir: Francesco Munzi
Calabria’s ‘Ndrangheta is among the world’s most powerful criminal organizations, yet Luciano (Fabrizio Ferracane) has turned his back on it to herd goats. But his teenage son Leo (Giuseppe Fumo) would rather spend time with his drug-running uncles, and his reckless actions ignite a long-simmering feud with another local clan. “Munzi focuses on incongruous leftovers from a benighted past, where kinship and blood feuds in a marginalized corner of rural Italy fester until entire communities are drawn into a whirlpool of intimidation and violence. This is the film’s strong suit, uncovering the feudal nature of honor and the ways in which a rash act precipitates not just one murder but a never-ending string of killings passed from generation to generation.” – Jay Weissberg, Variety. In Italian with English subtitles.
I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT
SMETTO QUANDO VOGLIO
2014, Fandango, 100 min, Italy, Dir: Sydney Sibilia
With 10 David di Donatello nominations and the 2014 Best Producer Silver Ribbon award, this biting comedy of life from director Sydney Sibilia with a cast of brilliant new Italian actors moves with the sleek assurance of a classic heist film. When research assistant Pietro (Edoardo Leo) loses his university job in Rome due to cutbacks, he recruits six other brilliant but underemployed friends to join him in the designer-drug business. In Italian with English subtitles.
Aero Theatre • Mon, Nov 17, 2014 • 7:30pm
BEAUTIFUL THINGS / A GOLDEN BOY
Double Feature! Los Angeles Premieres! Director Agostino Ferrente In Person!
A segment of 9 X 10 NINETY, drawn from Italian historical footage in the Luce Archives, begins the program.
BEAUTIFUL THINGS (LE COSE BELLE)
2013, 88 min, Italy, Dir: Agostino Ferrente, Giovanni Piperno
In Naples, time doesn’t exist. This is a popular belief, a superstition, a good luck charm, a trick, a song. In Naples, you spend your time waiting and then, all of a sudden, you spend it just remembering. So will the beautiful things arrive? Or have they already happened? The lives of four people, full of hope, in 1999 Naples are studied and compared with their experiences in the capital today. Winner, Nastro d’Argento Best Documentary, 2014. In Italian with English subtitles.
A GOLDEN BOY (UN RAGAZZO D’ORO)
2014, Rai Com, 95 min, Italy, Dir: Pupi Avati
Aspiring writer Davide Bias (Riccardo Scamarcio) looks with disdain at his father’s career penning B-movie screenplays. But his dad had begun an autobiographical novel before his death, and Davide’s attempts to complete it become increasingly obsessive. In the edgy lead role, Scamarcio leaves a strong impression, as does Sharon Stone, who plays a publisher with a personal connection to the unfinished book. In Italian with English subtitles.
Screening format: DCP | Unfortunately, co-director Giovanni Piperno is unable to attend as previously announced.
Aero Theatre Sun, Nov 16, 2014 – 7:30pm
Double Feature! Los Angeles Premieres!
ITALY IN A DAY / QUIET BLISS
A segment of 9 X 10 NINETY, drawn from Italian historical footage in the Luce Archives, begins the program.
ITALY IN A DAY
2014, Rai Com, 75 min, Italy, Dir: Gabriele Salvatores
Like its 2011 predecessor, LIFE IN A DAY, this documentary distills hundreds of YouTube videos shot during a 24-hour period to capture the rhythms and occurrences of a typical day. Here the focus is on Saturday, October 26, 2013 in Italy, and the footage ranges from the mundane to the magical, with plenty of striking Italian scenery (as in the eruption of Mount Etna). Executive produced by Ridley Scott. In Italian with English subtitles.
QUIET BLISS (IN GRAZIA DI DIO) Aero Theatre • Tue, Nov 18, 2014 • 7:30pm
2014, Intramovies, 128 min, Italy, Dir: Edoardo Winspeare
Filmed in the Finibus Terrae in locations dear to director Edoardo Winspeare – Giuliano di Lecce, Corsano, Tricase and other areas in Salento – and acted by non-professional actors (director Winspeare’s wife, Celeste Casciaro, plays the lead), QUIET BLISS is the story of four women from the same family in a small town in lower Salento during the economic recession. The shutdown of their small business and the repossession of their house ruin everything, including family ties. The only way out is to move to the country, work the land and live by trading their products. This forced choice leads the main characters to reconsider their lives and relationships. Berlin International Film Festival 2014 official selection, and a Nastro d’Argento nominee for Best Direction. In Italian with English subtitles.
Screening format: DCP
Aero Theatre Sun, Nov 30, 2014 7:30pm
CINEMA PARADISO (NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO) Newly Restored 4K DCP!
1988, Miramax, 123 min, Italy, Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore
A young Sicilian boy who loses his father to war strikes up a friendship with an aging projectionist; eventually, the boy takes over his mentor’s job and becomes a filmmaker himself – but he loses the love of his life along the way. A gloriously romantic and unabashedly sentimental love letter to the romance of the movies. With Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin. In Italian with English subtitles.
Restoration main supporter Dolce & Gabbana in collaboration with Luce Cinecitta’ and Cineteca di Bologna.
All films presented by the American Cinematheque and Luce Cinecittà, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture-Film Department, Bonato Milano 1960 and Leading Hotels of the World. Technical Sponsor: Rossano Ferretti. In collaboration with the Italian Trade Commission and the Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles, under the auspices of the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles.
Fore more information, please go to http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/cinema-italian-style-2014