10 Unmissable films at Cinema Made In Italy 2019

Riveting, heart-wrenching and poignant—these are just some of the words to describe what’s instore for you at Cinema Made in Italy 2019, and they don’t even cover it. Taking place from February 26-March 3, the screenings will be followed by film-maker Q&A sessions, giving viewers the chance to become engaged in lively discussions, but which films are in store?

Loro
February 26

Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Intro and Q&A: Elena Sofia Ricci (actress)

Paolo Sorrentino skewers Italian politics in this satirical, profane, and imaginative fictionalisation of controversial Italian tycoon and politician Silvio Berlusconi and his inner circle.

Euforia
February 27

Director: Valeria Golino

Intro and Q&A: Valeria Golino

Matteo and Ettore are two brothers who could not be more different. Matteo is a successful entrepreneur leading a decadent lifestyle in central Rome, whereas Ettore is a down-to-earth teacher in their provincial hometown. When Matteo learns that his brother has an incurable brain tumour, he insists that he stays with him in his glitzy apartment, a world away from the surroundings Ettore is accustomed to. Unaware of just how ill he is, Ettore finds it hard to accept his younger brother’s well meaning help and fit in with his hedonistic lifestyle. Screening in Un Certain Regard in Cannes last year, Euforia features excellent central performance and offers moments of tenderness at times interspersed with humour, all the while examining the trials and tribulations of brotherly love.

Ricordi?
February 28

Director: Valerio Mieli

Intro and Q&A: Valerio Mieli

Ricordi? is the follow-up to Valerio Mieli’s highly acclaimed Ten Winters, which won numerous Best First Film awards. Luca Marinelli and Linda Caridi are perfectly cast as a young couple grappling with the ups and downs of a modern love affair. A story of young love lost, told using the sophisticated intercutting of past, present and future events and recollections. Slow motion, superimposed images and constant back and forth editing, convey a sense of the fluidity of time and the fleeting nature of memory.

Lucia's Grace (Troppa Grazia)
February 28

Director: Gianni Zanasi

Intro and Q&A: Gianni Zanasi

Single working mother Lucia is trying to find the right balance between life with her teenage daughter, a complicated romance, and her career as a land surveyor. Lucia’s future is jeopardized when she realises that an ambitious new building project will be environmentally dangerous due to the council’s inaccurate maps of the area. As she is pondering whether to voice her objections or remain forever silent, a mysterious woman appears, claiming to be the Madonna. She endeavours to convince Lucia to stand up to her superiors, saying that the only solution would be to build a church on the site. Lucia’s Grace provides a strong showcase for the range of Alba Rohrwacher’s talent, who once again shines in this sun-dappled comedy which closed Directors’ Fortnight at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival.

The Guest (L'Ospite)
March 1

Director: Duccio Chiarini

Intro and Q&A: Duccio Chiarini

Having received a Special Mention at the 2014 Venice International Film Festival for his debut film Short Skin, Duccio Chiarini returns with a highly entertaining dramedy. Guido (Daniele Parisi) is a 38-year-old academic is completing a book on Italo Calvino, which he seems to have been working on forever. When Guido’s girlfriend (Silvia D’Amico) tells him she is having doubts about their relationship, he is forced to move out of his comfort zone. Unable to be alone, he surfs from one couch to the next, witnessing the everyday lives of his friends and family and their various romantic tribulations, desperately seeking the roots for a new beginning. The Guest offers a perceptive insight into how today’s generation of people in their late 30s and early 40s are afraid of commitment, and even decision-making in general.

The Man Who Bought The Moon (L'Uomo che compró la Luna)
March 1

Director: Paolo Zucca

Intro and Q&A: Jacopo Cullin (actor)

The whole world is thrown into turmoil when word starts spreading that an anonymous Sardinian has laid claim to the moon. The Italian Intelligence set about selecting a secret agent who they can dispatch to the island to investigate. Although the Sardinian-born paratrooper Kevin Pirelli (Jacopo Cullin) is deemed a suitable candidate, he has been away from his homeland for far too long and needs to be taught the ins and outs of Sardinia’s customs and mannerisms. Expat Badore (Benito Ugo) is just the man for the job, and the pair strike up a rapport which is as comical as it is endearing in their quest to get to the bottom of this outlandish mystery.

Where You Are (Ovunque Proteggemi)
March 2

Director: Bonifacio Angius

Intro and Q&A: Bonifacio Angius

Alessandro (Alessandro Gazale) is a fifty something singer with a drinking problem, who has never left home. When his mother refuses to lend him yet more money, he loses it. He has a mental breakdown and is taken to hospital, where he meets Francesca (Francesca Niedda), a young mother with drug issues. Alessandro instantly falls for her and makes it his mission to help Francesca reclaim her five-year-old son who has been taken into care. Together, they set off on a spontaneous road trip full of exuberance, despair, bitterness and irony.

Notti Magiche
March 2

Director: Paolo Virzì

Intro and Q&A: Paolo Virzì

On the night of an unfortunate football defeat the renowned film producer Leandro Saponaro is found dead in the River Tiber. The main suspects are three young aspiring screenwriters, who were the last people to see the producer alive that night. They are summoned to the police station, and soon their far-fetched tales bring to life the bygone era of the golden years of Italian cinema. In this black comedy, Paolo Virzì takes us on a tumultuous, emotional and ironic journey through the chaotic streets of Rome. Magical Nights was the closing night film at the 13th Rome International Film Festival.

The Conformist (Il Conformista)
March 3

Director: Bernardo Bertolucci

Adapted from a novel by Alberto Moravia, this gripping, edgy thriller shows the late Italian maestro at his peak. Set in 1938, it tells the story of an aristocratic would-be fascist who is sent to Paris to murder his former, anti-fascist philosophy tutor. Jean-Louis Tritignant is supremely sinister in the role of Marcello Clerici, whose demeanour is an eternal reminder of the banality of evil. It was an instant hit when it was released in 1970, and some say it is one of the most poetic and influential films ever made, beloved by film-makers the world over.

We'll be young and beautiful (Saremo Giovani e Bellissimi)
March 3

Director: Letizia Lamartire

Intro and Q&A: Alessandro Piavani (actor)

In the early Nineties 18-year-old Isabella (Barbora Bobulova) released an album which became an instant hit, and it was all over the radio and TV for an entire summer. Her fame was short-lived…. fast forward 20 years and Isabella is still singing the same old tunes which once made her famous in small town bars, now accompanied by her young son Bruno (Alessandro Piavani), who writes songs and plays the guitar. Bruno and Isabella seem more like brother and sister than mother and son and the two are inseparable, sharing a ramshackle but happy life of unpaid bills and midnight strolls around the city. The connection is broken however when Bruno meets Arianna (Federica Sabatini), a hip rock chick who asks him to join her band. Light touches of comedy and music document the reluctant but inevitable separation between mother and son, which has its fair share of painful moments, just like the end of any other love story.