CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE 2019
CIS 2019
Cinema, fashion, food excellence and social commitment will be protagonists at the 15th edition of Cinema Italian Style, the Los Angeles showcase for the best Italian movies of the year, anticipated, on November 16th, by the screening of The Traitor, (2019, 145 min.), the true story of the Sicilian Mafia and its legendary mobster Tommaso Buscetta.
Directed by acclaimed film director Marco Bellocchio (Fists in the pocket, Good Morning Night, Dormant Beauty) the movie is the Italy’s official submission for the international feature film category to the Academy Awards® 2020. The screening will be held at the historical TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, co-presented with Sony Pictures Classic. Director Marco Bellocchio and lead actor Pierfrancesco Favino will be in attendance. For info and free tickets click here
This special occasion will anticipate a long weekend of events and movies, selected by Artistic Curator Laura Delli Colli with American Cinematheque’s Director of Programming Gwen Deglise, at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
Cinema Italian Style is dedicated this year to Lina Wertmüller, Honorary Oscar® 2019, who pioneered the career of female directors and earned the first ever nomination for a woman as director in 1977 for SEVEN BEAUTY.
The 15th edition of Cinema Italian Style kicks into gear with Italy’s official Oscar submission for Best International Film, THE TRAITOR by veteran director Marco Bellocchio, who received a prestigious Palme d’Or nomination at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for the ambitious reconstruction of the true story of mob leader Tommaso Buscetta, one of the “Godfathers”, active in Sicily, South America and the US. Equally prominent is director Pietro Marcello’s critically acclaimed MARTIN EDEN, which sets Jack London’s classic novel in post-WWII Naples. The film was a major hit at TIFF 2019 and earned Luca Marinelli the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival.
This year’s lineup also includes its fair share of big-budget blockbusters, such as director Matteo Rovere’s historical epic ROMULUS & REMUS: THE FIRST KING, which tells the legend of the founding of Rome with a startling attention to period detail. In THE INVISIBLE WITNESS, director Stefano Mordini crafts a pulse-pounding Hitchcocking nightmare, with actors Riccardo Scamarcio and Maria Paiato at its center. Graphic novelist-turned-director Igort plunges us deep into one of his highly stylized neo-noir worlds in 5 IS THE PERFECT NUMBER, which stars Toni Servillo as a retired hitman with a serious bone to pick.
2019 was also a strong year for intimate films with indie budgets. Director Valerio Mieli took home the People’s Choice Award at the Venice Film Festival 2018 for his sophomore feature RICORDI?, which follows the highs and lows of a romantic relationship. VIVERE, from established filmmaker Francesca Archibugi, follows an average middle class family thrown into crisis by the arrival of a mysterious au pair. The notion of family is further challenged in Edoardo De Angelis’ stunning social drama THE VICE OF HOPE, which explores the nefarious enterprise of human trafficking through an uncompromising, yet ultimately hopeful lens.
Rounding out our line-up, Gabriele Salvatores strikes the perfect balance of comedy and drama in VOLARE, a road movie following the unlikely reunion of an estranged father and son, played by Claudio Santamaria and Giulio Pranno. Similarly, Daniele Luchetti navigates the bitter and the sweet in ORDINARY HAPPINESS, a touching comedy about a husband and father’s last 93 minutes on earth.
Cinema Italian Style is glad to announce its first edition in San Francisco, from Nov 22 to 24th at the Vogue Theatre, in collaboration with the local Italian Cultural Institute (schedule and information are here) and to continue its partnership with the Seattle International Film Festival for its 11th edition, from Nov 7th to 14th.
Cinema Italian Style is co-presented by the American Cinematheque and Luce Cinecittà, under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles, the Consulate General of Italy in San Francisco, the Italian Trade Agency and the Italian Cultural Institutes of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
PROGRAM
November 16th
Pre-Opening CIS 2019: Screening of The Traitor, (2019, 145 min.) the true story of the Sicilian Mafia and its legendary mobster Tommaso Buscetta, by acclaimed film director Marco Bellocchio (Fists in the pocket, Good Morning Night, Dormant Beauty), the Italy’s official submission for the international feature film category to the Academy Awards® 2020. The screening will be held at the historical TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, co-presented with Sony Pictures Classic. Director Marco Bellocchio and lead actor Pierfrancesco Favino will be in attendance. For info and free tickets click here
From November 21st to 24th
Screenings of some of the best Italian films of the year at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, introduced by Italian directors and actors. Schedule will follow in the next few days.
SCREENINGS
November 16-24, 2019 at the Chinese and Aero Theatres
AT TCL Chinese Theatre
Co-presented with Sony Pictures Classics: Italy’s Official Oscar® Submission! THE TRAITOR (IL TRADITORE), 2019, Sony Pictures, 152 min. Dir. Marco Bellocchio. From veteran Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio (FISTS IN THE POCKET, GOOD MORNING, NIGHT) comes the true life story of Tommaso Buscetta, former made mobster turned mafia informant. Set in Sicily in the 1980s, THE TRAITOR begins amid an all-out war between two Sicilian mafia bosses. Feeling the escalating pressure as his allies begin to be picked off, Buscetta flees to Brazil, where he faces a decision that will change the entire history of the Italian mob. Pierfrancesco Favino, Luigi Lo Cascio and Fausto Russo Alesi star in this riveting crime drama, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. “THE TRAITOR is big, bold, confident film-making.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian. In Italian with English subtitles.
Director Marco Bellocchio and lead actor Pierfrancesco Favino will be in attendance.
AT AERO THEATRE
Los Angeles Premiere! 5 IS THE PERFECT NUMBER (5 E’ IL NUMERO PERFETTO), 2019, Playtime, 100 min. Dir. Igor Tuveri (Igort). Based on Igort’s (née Igor Tuveri) most famous graphic novel, 5 IS THE PERFECT NUMBER is a hyper-stylized noir thriller set in crime-ridden 1970s Naples. Toni Servillo stars as retired hitman Peppino Lo Cicero, who is devastated by the sudden murder of his only son. Unable to trust anyone in this criminal underworld, Peppino returns to his violent trade and embarks on a bloody quest for revenge. Nominated for Best Film (Venice Days) at the Venice Film Festival 2019. Starring Valeria Golino, Toni Servillo In Italian with English subtitles.
Discussion between films with 5 IS THE PERFECT NUMBER director Igor Tuveri (Igort).
Los Angeles Premiere! ROMULUS & REMUS: THE FIRST KING (IL PRIMO RE), 2019, Well Go, 123 min. Dir. Matteo Rovere. The legend of the founding of Rome has been told for millennia, but never before like this. With gritty realism and a shocking attention to detail, Matteo Rovere’s ROMULUS & REMUS: THE FIRST KING is an immersive journey into 8th century BC Old Latium, where two 18-year-old twin shepherds dream of ruling an empire bigger than the world has ever seen. Spoken entirely in an authentic proto-Italic dialect and featuring committed performances by Alessandro Borghi (Remus) and Alessio Lapice (Romulus), the film is both a violent and bloody sword-and-sandal epic, as well as a surprisingly touching drama about the explosive collision of human will and destiny. With English subtitles.
AT AERO THEATRE
Los Angeles Premiere! MARTIN EDEN, 2019, Kino Lorber, 129 min. Dir. Pietro Marcello. Based on Jack London’s classic novel of the same name, MARTIN EDEN transports the turn-of-the-century Oakland-based tale to postwar Naples, where class conflict is even more prominent. Caught between his working-class upbringing and the bourgeois world of his love interest, Elena (Jessica Cressy), Martin (Luca Marinelli) hopes to climb the social ladder by becoming part of the literary elite. Winner of the Platform Prize for Directing at the Toronto International Film Festival 2019 and the Best Actor Award for Marinelli at the Venice Film Festival 2019. “The tense, emotional energy behind Martin’s archetypal European hero’s journey (think: Faust, Hamlet) is expressive, dynamic, and experimental at times. Marinelli’s performance is immaculately layered and positions him in the spotlight as the upcoming sensation he is.” – Luke Hicks, The Playlist. In Italian with English subtitles.
Los Angeles Premiere! THE VICE OF HOPE (IL VIZIO DELLA SPERANZA), 2019, True Colors, 100 min. Dir. Edoardo De Angelis. A follow-up to Edoardo De Angelis’ 2016 critically acclaimed INDIVISIBLE, THE VICE OF HOPE follows Maria (Pina Turco), a young woman involved in human trafficking. Maria’s job within the criminal enterprise is a grim one: she shepherds pregnant African prostitutes, whose babies are sold as soon as they are born. Given her own gruelling past as a hustler, Maria is largely resigned to her miserable work – until an unexpected circumstance offers a glimmer of hope. Set in the same Camorra-infested Neapolitan coastal towns as such films as GOMORRAH and DOGMAN, THE VICE OF HOPE is an uncompromising, yet ultimately optimistic look at some of the darkest corners of society. “While dealing with actual social problems of criminality and gendered poverty, [the film] manages to avoid the dull, prescriptive social realism so typical of ‘issue pictures’” – Michael Sicinski, Cinema Scope. In Italian with English subtitles.
AT AERO THEATRE
Los Angeles Premiere! RICORDI?, 2018, Le Pacte, 106 min. Dir. Valerio Mieli. Director Valerio Mieli (TEN WINTERS) returns with this sophomore feature about a pair of lovers (Luca Marinelli and Linda Caridi) who experience universal feelings ranging from joy to despair as their relationship evolves over the course of several years. Blending past and present and alternating between the two perspectives, Mieli delivers a contemplative portrait of the nature of memory and its ever-complicated relationship to fleeting emotions. A poetic collage reminiscent of Terrence Malick’s work, RICORDI? will touch anyone who has gone through the emotional turmoil of being in love. Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Venice Film Festival 2018 and the Best Cinematography Award at the 2019 Italian Golden Globes. “An ambitious tour-de-force about love, time and memory” – Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter. In Italian with English subtitles.
AT AERO THEATRE
Los Angeles Premiere! VOLARE (TUTTO IL MIO FOLLE AMORE), 2019, Rai Com, 97 min. Dir. Gabriele Salvatores. Sixteen years have passed since Vincent was born and those years have not been easy for anyone – not for the boy, immersed in a world of his own, nor for his mother Elena and her partner, Mario. Missing from the picture is Vincent’s biological father, Willi, who has spent his life pursuing music rather than settling down with a child. The dour situation changes when Willi finally musters up the courage to meet his son; what awaits the two of them is a spontaneous 3-month motorbike journey from the U.S. to South America. Starring Claudio Santamaria, Valeria Golino, Diego Abatantuono and Giulio Pranno. In Italian with English subtitles
Discussion between films with VOLARE actor Claudio Santamaria.
Los Angeles Premiere! ORDINARY HAPPINESS (MOMENTI DI TRASCURABILE FELICITÀ), 2019, Rai Com, 93 min. Dir. Daniele Luchetti. In this touching comedy, husband and father Paolo is busy with his morning routine when unthinkable tragedy strikes at a traffic light. Waking up in what appears to be a post office, Paolo realizes that he has died and now awaits his eternal fate in the afterlife. A clerical error, however, affords him 93 minutes back on earth. How will he spend it? Starring Pif, Thony, and Renato Carpentieri. In Italian with English subtitles.
AT AERO THEATRE
Los Angeles Premiere! VIVERE, 2019, Intramovies, 103 min. Dir. Francesca Archibugi. On the surface, the Attorres are as average as they come: they reside in a decorous suburb of Rome, get by comfortably with middle-class jobs and have an adorably imaginative 6-year-old daughter. Beneath this cozy façade, however, is a family unit on the verge of crisis. Family patriarch Luca is failing as a freelance journalist, wife and mother Susi finds herself teaching ballet exclusively to overweight women and daughter Lucilla, suffering from extreme asthma, is frequently neglected. When Mary Ann, an Irish Catholic au pair, arrives and starts to pry into the family’s affairs, tensions quickly rise to the surface. Starring Micaela Ramazzotti, Adriano Giannini, Massimo Ghini and Marcello Fonte (Palm d’Or Cannes 2018 for Best Actor). In Italian with English subtitles.
Los Angeles Premiere! THE INVISIBLE WITNESS (IL TESTIMONE INVISIBILE), 2018, True Colors, 97 min. Dir. Stefano Mordini. When millionaire entrepreneur Adriano (Riccardo Scamarcio) wakes up in a hotel room to find his lover brutally murdered, he finds himself in a Hitchcockian nightmare when police finger him as the sole suspect. Charged with the killing and put under house arrest, Adriano calls upon veteran criminal attorney Virginia Ferrara (Maria Paiato), who is tasked with assembling his defense in a single night. As Adriano proceeds to tell her his story piece by piece, it becomes clear that the case is far more complicated than his lawyer could ever have expected. Stefano Mordini directs this dark mystery thriller with refreshing energy, taking the audience through unexpected twists every step of the way. In Italian with English subtitles.
FILMS
THE TRAITOR
5 IS THE PERFECT NUMBER
ROMULUS & REMUS…
MARTIN EDEN
THE VICE OF HOPE
RICORDI?
VOLARE
ORDINARY HAPPINESS
VIVERE
THE INVISIBLE WITNESS
SHORT VIDEO CONTEST
Cinema Italian Style celebrates Federico Fellini’s 100th Birthday with a short video contest ‘TWO WEEKS IN FELLINI’S SHOES.’
Students from Chapman University, Ghetto Film School, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles Film School, New York Film Academy, NYU of Los Angeles, Occidental University, Santa Monica College, University of California Los Angeles, and University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, are prompted to create short videos, under 2 minutes, inspired by the universe of Federico Fellini set in Los Angeles. Participants will apply from November 4th through November 18th.
The short videos selected by a jury will be screened between November 21st and November 24th, preceding the feature films of Cinema Italian Style. Three finalists will be chosen by audience ballot to move forward to the final round, and will see their short videos screened at selected events for Federico Fellini’s Centennial worldwide and on social media platforms, and will be invited to the opening night of the Federico Fellini’s celebration in Los Angeles, at the new Academy Museum, in 2020.
Please click here to download the Official Application of the CIS ’19 Short Video Contest
PHOTO CREDITS: ARCHIVIO STORICO LUCE
PARTNERS
