| Under the Sign of
Antonioni Cinema Italian Style:
New Films From Italy
Presented by American Cinematheque and Cinecittą Holding - Rome:
There will be screenings in this series at the Egyptian Theatre October 6 - 16.
www.cinemaitalianstyle.org
Presented in association with A.I.P. FilmItalia and the
Italian Film Commission, with the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Culture, and in
collaboration with the Italian Consulate and the Italian Cultural Institute.
Continuing in the glorious tradition of such filmmakers as
Michelangelo Antonioni (whose complete retrospective in new prints from Cinecittą Holding
screens at the L.A. County Museum in September), Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luchino Visconti and
Bernardo Bertolucci, contemporary Italian cinema remains among the most vibrant and
unpredictable anywhere in Europe, examining and celebrating an Italy both ancient and
modern, pastoral and urban.
This two-week showcase of the best and most challenging in new
Italian filmmaking opens with the bittersweet comedy MANUAL OF LOVE from director Giovanni
Veronesi, the biggest Italian box office hit of the past year.
The series closes with the L.A. Premiere of director Pupi
Avati’s SO WHEN ARE THE GIRLS COMING?, a jazz-themed portrait of the friendship
between three "Gen X" Italian youths.
The series features recent films from acclaimed directors including
Cristina Comencini’s gripping emotional drama, DON’T TELL; Marco Tullio Giordana
(BEST OF YOUTH), with his latest ONCE YOU ARE BORN …, about the collision between a
wealthy Italian family and a boatload of illegal immigrants; Ettore Scola’s loving
portrait of one of Neorealist Italian Cinema’s greatest screenwriters, Sergio Amidei;
and Academy Award-winning director Gabriele Salvatores (MEDITERRANEO) with the offbeat,
female private eye thriller QUO VADIS, BABY?
Emerging filmmakers in the series include director Roberto Faenza,
with the hard-hitting Mafia drama COME INTO THE LIGHT; Giuseppe Piccioni, with THE LIFE I
WANT, a surprising, behind-the-scenes romance about an actor and actress who fall in love
both on-screen and off-; Michele Placido, with the hotly-anticipated crime epic ROMANZO
CRIMINALE; plus a program of the best of "New Italian Short Films."
The series will also feature several classics of Italian Cinema,
including Vittorio De Sica’s YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW, starring Sophia Loren
and Marcello Mastroianni, and De Sica’s legendary Neorealist classic SHOESHINE, along
with the Los Angeles Premiere of Michelangelo Antonioni’s lost, 3-1/2 hour
documentary on modern China, CHUNG KUO-CINA from 1972!
We are thrilled to welcome as our guests for
the "Cinema Italian Style" Series directors Giovanni Veronesi (MANUAL OF LOVE),
Cristina Comencini (DON’T TELL), Marco Tullio Giordana (ONCE YOU ARE BORN …),
Gabriele Salvatores (QUO VADIS, BABY?), Giuseppe Piccioni (THE LIFE I WANT), and Pupi
Avati (SO WHEN ARE THE GIRLS COMING?). For more information on the series please go
to: www.cinemaitalianstyle.org.
[All films in Italian with English subtitles.]
Friday, October 7 - 7:30 PM
QUO VADIS, BABY?, 2005, Colorado Films,
102 min. The latest film from Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores
(MEDITERRANEO), QUO VADIS BABY? is the story of a female private investigator who leads a
self-destructive, almost Bukowski-esque life. Suddenly one day, her past comes knocking
violently on the door as she’s forced to re-confront her long-dead sister’s
apparent suicide. A uniquely atmospheric and surprising film noir. Starring Gigi Alberti,
Angela Baraldi, Luigi Maria Burrano and Elio Germano. Discussion
following with director Gabriele Salvatores.
>>Also showing at the Egyptian Theatre on October 8.
Saturday, October 8 - 5:00 PM
LA BESTIA NEL CUORE (DON’T TELL),
2005, Cattleya, 122 min. Director Cristina Comencini’s (THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY
OF MY LIFE) dark and gritty drama, fresh from the Venice Film Festival official selection,
is based on her own acclaimed novel. The notion of "beast" in the film and in
the novel are linked to a dark and uncontrollable side of the human mind and behavior.
When Sabrina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno, FACING WINDOW), a happily engaged-to-be-married young
woman, finds out she’s pregnant, terrible secrets from her family’s past start
to re-emerge. Also starring Alessio Boni (BEST OF YOUTH, ONCE YOU’RE BORN…),
Giuseppe Battiston, Angela Finocchiaro. Director Cristina
Comencini will not be able to appear as was previously announced.
>>Also showing at the Egyptian Theatre on October 7.
Saturday, October 8 - 7:30 PM
ROMANZO CRIMINALE, 2005,
Cattleya, 150 min. One of the most hotly anticipated Italian films of the year, from
actor/director Michele Placido, ROMANZO CRIMINALE traces the "underground
history" of Rome’s organized crime from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. The
cast includes some of the freshest and most gifted Italian talents: Kim Rossi Stuart,
Stefano Accorsi, Luigi Angelillo, Toni Bertorelli, Pierfrancesco Favino, Anna Mouglasis
and Jasmine Trinca. Based on the novel by Giancarlo De Cataldo and written by Sandro
Petraglia (ONCE YOU ARE BORN…, BEST OF YOUTH).
>>Also showing at the Egyptian Theatre on October 9.
Sunday, October 9 - 5:00 PM
QUANDO SEI NATO NON PUOI PIU’
NASCONDERTI (ONCE YOU ARE BORN …), 2005, 01 Distribuzione/TF1 Int’l, 115
min. Director Marco Tullio Giordana (BEST OF YOUTH) returns with another
tremendous, powerfully-acted drama of hearts and souls in turmoil, yearning for some place
of safety. The son of well-to-do parents falls overboard while arguing with his father,
and is miraculously saved by a boat filled with illegal immigrants. Giordana has the power
to master difficult, deep and delicate stories without running into over-the-top
melodramatic pathos. Starring Alessio Boni (BEST OF YOUTH), Michela Crescon, Rodolfo
Corsato (MANUAL OF LOVE) and Matteo Gadola..
>>Also showing at the Egyptian Theatre on October 15.
Thursday, October 13 – 7:30 PM
Classic Italian Films:
SCIUSCIA (SHOESHINE), 1946, 93 min. Dir. Vittorio
De Sica. A dramatic and touching statement on the human and social conditions of
Italian youth during the depressed years following WWII. Written by Sergio Amidei
and performed by non-professional young actors, this is the story of "sciuscia"
boys (the malapropism they use to lure wealthy foreigners that need "their shoes
shined") in Rome and how their needs grow up quickly in order to survive. Starring
Franco Interlenghi (ROMANZO CRIMINALE), Rinaldo Smordoni, Annielo Mele, Bruno Ortenzi,
Emilio Cigoli. >>Also showing at the Egyptian Theatre on October 15.
IERI, OGGI, DOMANI (YESTERDAY, TODAY AND
TOMORROW), 1963, 118 min. Dir. Vittorio De Sica. The Academy Award winner for
Best Foreign Language Film, YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW solidified Marcello
Mastroianni and Sophia Loren’s status as icons of Italian cinema, and
offered Loren a delicious trio of comic roles: as Anna, a pregnant black marketeer in
Naples; as Anna, a bored rich girl in Milan who cares more for her Rolls Royce than her
current loverboy; and Mara, a Rome prostitute who collides with a young seminary student
and his outraged granny! Introduction to screening by Brando
De Sica, Vittorio De Sica’s grandson.
>>Also showing at the Egyptian Theatre on October 14. |
