CIS 2018
Cinema, fashion, food excellence and social commitment will be protagonists at the 14th edition of Cinema Italian Style, the Los Angeles showcase for the best Italian movies of the year, supporting the Italian entry to the Academy Awards® 2019 – Best Foreign Language Film, DOGMAN, the return of director Matteo Garrone to the gritty underworld milieu of GOMORRAH, as he follows a dog groomer (Cannes Best Actor winner, Marcello Fonte) whose side business as a cocaine dealer puts him in league with a brutal thug (Edoardo Pesce). The screening will be held at the historical Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and is part of the official AFI FEST 2018 presented by Audi program.
In a week full of events, the Los Angeles audience will have the opportunity to be immersed in Italian culture by discovering 8 of the best movies of the year, selected by Artistic Curator Laura Delli Colli with American Cinematheque’s Director of Programming Gwen Deglise, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, together with directors and actors.
First-time feature directors Damiano and Fabio D’ Innocenzo deliver a superbly crafted crime drama in BOYS CRY as a pair of young friends on the margins of Rome get in over their heads when they become enforcers for a local boss. The Sicilian mafia figures into THE STOLEN CARAVAGGIO but only tangentially: much of the action takes place in the movie industry as a screenwriter and his ghost writer try to spin a tale about the purloined painting. Mystery also courses through Ferzan Ozpetek’s NAPLES IN VEILS as a medical examiner in that coastal city discovers the corpse of a lover at her mortuary – only to spot him alive and well shortly thereafter.
In Gabriele Muccino’s heart-warming ensemble dramedy THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME, three generations converge in Ischia, an island close to Capri, to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of founders of the family, and discover how difficult it is to live with one another when they are unexpectedly
stuck there for days. The title of Riccardo Milani’s LIKE A CAT ON A HIGHWAY refers to the short lifespan of a young romance, but as the hilarious film shows, it can create enduring connections between very different families. Famed actress and HONEY filmmaker Valeria Golino returns with a story of mismatched brothers drawn together by fatal illness in EUPHORIA.
Recent scandals provide the inspiration for two eye-opening dramas. Director Paolo Sorrentino reunites with his THE GREAT BEAUTY star Toni Servillo for LORO, a biopic of disgraced ex-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his rapacious entourage. Cristiana Capotondi stars as a woman who takes a stand against sexual harassment in the workplace in Marco Tullio Giordana’s NOME DI DONNA.
The series also includes the shorts BISMILLAH by Alessandro Grande and MAGIC ALPS by Andrea Brusa and Marco Scotuzzi.
Cinema Italian Style is introducing a student short film contest. Students from Santa Monica College, University of Southern California, Chapman University, and New York Film Academy Los Angeles were prompted to create shorts, under 5 minutes, inspired by, or paying homage to classic Italian cinema. The short films will be screened between November 15th and November 17th, preceding the feature film(s). Three finalists will be chosen by audience ballot to move forward to the final round. In the final round, the CIS ’18 Contest Finalist Committee, will select the first, second and third place winners from among the finalists. The winning short will be screened ahead of the closing night film on November 18th.
As in every year, the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles will support Cinema Italian Style, hosting a series of initiatives that will enrich the program at the American Cinematheque theatres. On November 14th, the photographic and multimedia exhibition La Dolce Vitti, dedicated to the Italian star and actress Monica Vitti, will be inaugurated in the elegant spaces of the Institute on Hilgard Avenue.
Other events across Los Angeles will explore the link between cinema and cuisine, as part of worldwide events organized for the third edition of the EXTRAORDINARY ITALIAN TASTE – Italian Cuisine in the World Week.
Cinema Italian Style, created in 2004 by Gwen Deglise, Dennis Bartok (American Cinematheque) and Camilla Cormanni (Luce Cinecittà), is co-presented by the American Cinematheque and Luce Cinecittà, under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles, the Italian Trade Agency and the Italian Cultural Institute. Supported by The Leading Hotels of the World.