Films
New Italian Cinema
A beautifully balanced blend of the spectacular and the intimate, this stunning debut starring Stefano Accorsi delivers a moral lesson that is both identifiable and strikingly moving.
Luciano Pavarotti’s charm, charisma, and ability to hit the High-C earned him a level of renown on par with the biggest pop stars, in Ron Howard’s inspiring documentary, it is easy to see why.
The most talked-about LIFF opener in the festival’s 20-year history is back, with Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s director’s cut, which looks at media tycoon-turned-politician Silvio Berlusconi and those who surrounded him.
Edoardo De Angelis follows up his acclaimed drama Indivisible with this powerful, award-winning new film portraying a woman fighting to escape the criminal underworld she has been born into.
The world premiere of this 70s-set romantic drama reveals that love, like life, can never be perfectly arranged. Starring Paul Mercurio and Tina Arena.
A frazzled father finds himself in hot water as he tries to hide his daughter from his new girlfriend in this hilarious comedy-of-errors starring Fabio De Luigi and Micaela Ramazzotti.
New Italian Cinema
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (Like Crazy) and Marcello Fonte (Dogman) star in this affecting drama about a neglected village and the townspeople’s fight to build a connecting road to the neighbouring town.
Recently selected to screen in the Panorama Section of the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival, Dafne is a poignant and feel-good portrait of a delicate family struck by a tragedy.
A boy torn between his bond with his troubled mother and his desire to break free is the subject of this intimately affective drama which premiered at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival.
Direct from its Locarno Film Festival premiere, Ginevra Elkann’s Italo-French co-pro stars Alba Rohrwacher and Riccardo Scamarcio in an 80s-set sentimental comedy about three children of divorced parents.
Screen heavyweights Ricardo Scamarcio and Edoardo Pesce star in this super stylish murder mystery that reveals itself piece by piece up to a stunning conclusion.
What happens when a 23-year-old runs for mayor in one of the biggest cities of Southern Italy and records his entire campaign with a hidden camera?
In this poignant drama, warmly received at the Venice Film Festival, Sergio Rubini plays the last remaining inhabitant of an Italian ghost town that has been destroyed by a devastating earthquake.
Based on the bestselling graphic novel Zerocalcare, this melancholy comedy cleverly embodies a generation faced with uncertainty through its depiction of a young man’s friendship with an imaginary armadillo.
Sergio Rubini directs and stars in this offbeat dramedy alongside southern favourite Rocco Papaleo (Basilicata Coast to Coast), as two men whose unexpected run-in results in the unlikeliest of friendships.
In this clever thriller by Stefano Mordini, a slick businessman (Riccardo Scamarcio) employs an undefeated veteran attorney to prove his innocence after he wakes up next to his murdered mistress.
This exceptional Italian remake of the award-winning Spanish-Argentinian favourite Truman follows a bittersweet reunion of two friends (Marco Giallini and Alessandro Gasmann) as they wander the streets of Rome and ponder the future.
This nuanced and profound drama set against the beautiful Sardinian landscape is an exploration of companionship, lost innocence, and shared destiny as two troubled teenagers journey towards a new life.
Comedy, Italian Style
Italian comedy royalty reunites in Alessandro Genovesi’s hilarious new comedy about a father (Fabio de Luigi) left in charge of his three children while mum goes away on holiday! What could possibly go wrong?
A stunning Mediterranean backdrop and an all-star cast including Alessandro Gassmann and Fabrizio Bentivoglio feature in this delightful comedy about two very different families who spend a chaotic seaside holiday together.
A romcom with a huge heart, promising director Phaim Bhuiyan’s debut is a fresh and spirited portrait of the complications of young love caught between very different beliefs. Winner – Best Comedy, Nastri d’Argento Awards.
Dynamic duo Paola Cortellesi and her husband, director Riccardo Milani, team up to deliver this Bond-style comedy in which an international spy sets out save her friends from their boring lives.
A frazzled father finds himself in hot water as he tries to hide his daughter from his new girlfriend in this hilarious comedy-of-errors starring Fabio De Luigi and Micaela Ramazzotti.
Daniele Luchetti (Those Happy Years) transforms the short stories of Francesco Piccolo into a charming metaphysical comedy starring Pierfrancesco “Pif” Diliberto (The Mafia Kills Only in Summer).
Peppino (Claudio Bisio) must return to Rome to win back his love and defeat a plot that could ruin Italy in the sequel to 2013’s box-office smash hit Welcome, Mr President.
Paola Cortellesi plays a famous Italian folklore character, La Befana, with a feminist twist in this Italian box office hit that is pure fun for the whole family.
Films On Art
This extraordinary biopic marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death and stars Italian A-lister Luca Argentero (Eat Pray Love, 2010) as the incomparable artist and inventor.
Director Emanuele Imbucci’s evocative film on Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti is testament to the legend’s rich and varied artistic works which made an everlasting mark on the history of art.
Gems from the Past
Peppino (played by Luigi Lo Cascio in his breakthrough performance) is an outspoken young man whose rebellion against the Sicilian mafia rocks his town’s stifling tradition of silence, in Marco Tullio Giordana acclaimed drama.
In Academy Award-winning director Paolo Sorrentino’s acclaimed, award-winning psychological thriller, we meet Titta di Girolamo (Toni Servillo) a secretive Italian businessman mysteriously living in a Swiss hotel and hiding a dark secret.
As relevant today as upon its release in 2001, this Sundance Film Festival audience award-winner is a romantic drama that shows a perspective of love in its darkest shades. Stars Stefano Accorsi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno.
Retrospective
Bernardo Bertolucci’s visually intoxicating adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel about an upper-class follower of Mussolini returns to the big screen in a restoration supervised by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
Bernardo Bertolucci's nine-time Oscar winning masterpiece centres on the intense relationship between two friends, played by Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu, set in fascist 20th-century Italy.