Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
The 2017 edition of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is keeping with tradition in featuring a number of contemporary Italian films.
The very first edition of the festival took place on August 23, 1946, with a screening of Giacomo Gentiloma’s “’O sole mio” on the lawn of the Grande Hotel. In the years that followed, programmers embraced the great movement of Italian Neo-Realism and today, the cinema of Italy continues to be a leading protagonist of the festival.
This year’s Italian selections include Andrea Magnani’s “Easy,” the story of a depressed race car driver missing his days of glory; Marco Tullio Giordana’s “Due soldati” will be shown in a pre-festival screening; and Daniele Gaglianone’s short film “Granma” will be shown in the Fuori Concorso (Out of Competition).
One film which is receiving a lot of buzz is Francesca Comencini’s “Amori che non sanno stare al mondo” (Stories of Love that Cannot Belong to This World). Adapted from her own book, the film has been described as a drama that takes an ironic but lucid look at the way in which women deal with the end of a relationship. The story follows Claudia and Flavio, a couple deeply in love. When the relationship comes to end, they each react differently. For Claudia, it was like placing someone at the door hoping that it would suddenly open. At fifty years of age, she has within her a fury because she wants to move forward but she feels to be stuck in a deep well. To her, saving oneself would mean forgetting. But she never wants the memory to disappear. Flavio meets Giorgia. She, with the energy and freshness of a thirty-year-old, and the coltish body of someone who does not wish to grow old, has already shown him solid ground. He, burdened by life, has abandoned himself to his desires. The film is a portrait of two generations. The cast includes Lucia Mascino, Thomas Trabacchi, Carlotta Natoli, Iaia Forte, Valentina Bellè and Camilla Semino Favro. “Amori che non sanno stare al mondo” will be shown in the Piazza Grande on August 6.
The Locarno Film Festival will take place August 2-12, 2017. For more information, visit Locarno online at www.pardo.ch.
