CIS 2021

The 17th edition of Cinema Italian Style, coproduced by Cinecittà and American Cinematheque, puts the spotlight once more on what the Italian cinema currently has to offer, proposing in Los Angeles (and in much of the United States, using a partially virtual version) some of the most interesting titles of the year. Two of these films will be shown in theaters as Italy races towards the next Oscars®.

Cinema Italian Style will proudly present Ennio on December 8th and The Hand of God on December 10th at Aero Theater in Santa Monica, where Paolo Sorrentino will personally participate while promoting the launch of his new movie in the United States. During this event, Cinecittà together with American Cinematheque and Netflix, will pay homage to Sorrentino; a precious tribute with a retrospective of some of his most valued titles, that will be screened in Los Angeles’ theaters: Il Divo, La Great Beauty, 2014 Oscar®, The consequences of Love and Youth.
As for the other movies on the agenda, Cinema Italian Style offers some of the most interesting titles shown during major Film Festivals: The Macaluso Sisters by Emma Dante, Il buco by Michelangelo Frammartino,  Ariaferma by Leonardo Di Costanzo, Lovely boy by Francesco Lettieri, La macchina delle immagini di Alfredo C by Roland Sejko, Occhi blu, Michela Cescon’s debut film, Come un gatto in tangenziale-Ritorno a Coccia di morto by Riccardo Milani, and Ezio Bosso Le cose che restano by Giorgio Verdelli and Futura by Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher, for Documetary category.

Cinema Italian Syle is organized by Cinecittà, American Cinematheque, supported by MiC Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo, in collaboration with Consluate General of Italy in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Italian Cultural Institutes of Los Angeles and San Francisco and Italian Trade Agency in Los Angeles.

The Great Beauty of Italian Cinema

By Laura Delli Colli*

The great beauty of Italian cinema: imagination, quality, and a creativity that seems to be going in a new direction, during one the most difficult time for everyone. The selection brought to Los Angeles by Cinema Italian Style 2021, from Cinecittà to Hollywood, expresses a sign of vitality aligned with what happened during the major Film Festivals: now more than ever, Italian cinema is going through a huge renaissance and incredible international visibility.

The core of the selection comes straight from the last edition of the Venice International Film Festival, that stood up even to the unbeatable Cannes.

Cinema Italian Style 2021 presents an eclectic selection to the audience of Seattle and Los Angeles including, as always, the title chosen to represent Italy at the Academy Awards, the most awaited competition of the year: the movie from the Oscar®-winning director Paolo Sorrentino “The Hand of God” is the most emotional, surprising, and intimate movie of his filmography. The film received unanimous consensus by both press and audiences during the Venice Film Festival, confirmed by the Italian public which is still celebrating it in theaters.

Together with the premiere of the film, Cinecittà joins the American Cinematheque and Netflix to bring, from December 9^th to 13^th in two prestigious Los Angeles’ theaters, a tribute dedicated to Sorrentino with four of his titles: “Il Divo”, “The Consequences of Love”, “Youth” and of course his “The Great Beauty”, Oscar® winner and loved by American audiences. The public will have the chance to meet the director during these events.

The work odf another Maestro of Italian cinema, Giuseppe Tornatore, will be back to Los Angeles and to the Academy Awards with his tribute “Ennio”, a journey through seventy years of the music of the great Ennio Morricone, narrating it himself together with colleagues and friends (from Gianni Morandi to Quentin Tarantino). The movie retracts the amazing story of a genius composer, reminding the simplicity of an extraordinary character that never forgot the relationship between the cinema and his most beloved authors, not even on the most prestigious theaters’ podiums.

Sorrentino, Tornatore and his tribute to Ennio Morricone: is there a more outstanding way to begin this edition’s journey? The current times and the pandemic risk, for sure, are depriving us once more of the pleasure of close encounters, but Cinema Italian Style lights up the spotlight on this films and authors’ season. A season that, despite the hard times, never forgot their public and brought the cinema back on set, on festivals screens and now in the States, thanks to a selection that highlights authors, genres, and interesting debut films.

A partially live event with an audience that recognize to our cinema his absolute primacy.

We can’t forget, indeed, that Italy is the country with the largest amount of Best International Film Oscar® awards: 28 Oscar® nominations, 14 Awards, 3 Lifetime Achievement Awards. An absolute primacy that makes Sorrentino and Tornatore’s await very important, this year.

*President of Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani (Sngci) and of Fondazione Cinema per Roma curates the artistic selection of Cinema Italian Style