Fourteen contemporary Italian films took center stage at the 24th annual Open Roads: New Italian Cinema series, hosted by Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà from May 29 to June 5. The event featured several North American premieres along with a delegation of filmmakers who introduced their works and engage in discussions. The series kicked off at the Walter Reade Theatre with Francesca Comencini’s “The Time it Takes,” a film that explores her experiences growing up with her father, Luigi Comencini, a prominent director of the commedia all’italiana genre. Following the screening, the film’s star, Fabrizio Gifuni, participated in a …
Read More »A conversation with actress Lucia Mascino
Actress Lucia Mascino presented Francesca Comencini’s “Stories of Love that Cannot Belong to This World” at the 18th edition of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. Adapted from Comencini’s book, the film offers an intimate look at how one woman deals with the end of a relationship. Although many would not have the same seemingly desperate reaction, it’s the delusional or even hopeful motivation for which she stayed that we can all understand on some level. The film follows Claudia (Lucia Mascino) and Flavio (Thomas Trabacchi), two very different people but deeply in love nonetheless. Their …
Read More »Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival to feature Italian titles
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 …
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