Cinema Made In Italy Film Festival Programme Announced

The ninth edition of Cinema Made In Italy will launch at the Ciné Lumière in South Kensington on Tuesday 26th February, showcasing nine new Italian productions plus the 1970 expressionist masterpiece The Conformist (Il Conformista), in memory of the late Bernardo Bertolucci. This year’s six-day event will kick off with Loro, from the director of The Great Beauty, and centres on Silvio Berlusconi and his entourage. The film stars Paolo Sorrentino’s long-standing collaborator Toni Servillo as the controversial and larger-than-life former Italian prime minister. It will be released in the UK by Curzon Artificial Eye on 19th April 2019.

Another highlight is Valeria Golino’s Euforia, with Riccardo Scamarcio in the lead role, and Alba Rohrwacher once again shines in Gianni Zanasi’s comedy Lucia’s Grace (Troppa Grazia). Both films screened at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival, in Un Certain Regard and Directors’ Fortnight respectively. Two films in the line-up were in the Venice Days and International Critics’ Week sections at last year’s Venice International Film Festival. Valerio Mieli’s long-awaited Ricordi? starring Luca Marinelli, and We’ll Be Young And Beautiful (Saremo Giovani e Bellissimi) by talented first-time director Letizia Lamartire. Bonifacio Angius, who won the Junior Jury Award at the
2014 Locarno International Film Festival with Perfidia, will present his compelling second feature Wherever You Are (Ovunque Proteggemi).

Festival goers can look forward to seeing Duccio Chiarini’s The Guest (L’Ospite), the entertaining follow-up to his Venice Biennale College debut Short Skin, and Paolo Virzì brings us a darker kind of comedy with Notti Magiche, which was the closing night film at last year’s Rome International Film Festival. Paolo Zucca, who was in London with The Referee in 2013, this time delivers an absurdist farce with The Man Who Bought The Moon (L’Uomo che compró la Luna).

As in previous years, film-makers will be attending the festival to introduce their films and participate in audience Q&As. The six-day annual event is organised by Istituto Luce-Cinecittà’s promotional department in Rome (Filmitalia), with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in London, the official agency for the promotion of Italian language and culture in England and Wales. The films were selected by Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London and the  British Film Commission. Cinema Made In Italy is an event for cine enthusiasts, fans of Italian film, UK media, distributors and anyone else with an interest in film.

John McArthur
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