Series 2010-2011 – Sixth Edition by Robert Cargni, Program Curator
Mamma Mia, che ironia!
La Commedia all’Italiana
On selected Thursdays, 6:00 p.m., at the AIS’s office. All films have English subtitles.
“Italian comedy is a labyrinth in which it is easy to get lost, a kind of flea market that sells everything… So we have to single out various species inside this form. For example, the Italian comedy that came right after neorealism, light neorealism that wanted to counterbalance neorealism…. Then there was the class of comic films in which Toto’ played a very special part, since he did not fit into the deceptive portrait of Italy ; just the opposite, given the fact there are more violations of that portrait in his films than in Italian comedy. There was also a slightly more mature kind of Italian comedy, of which I think Il Sorpasso was one, its aim being not only to pacify and please the audience but also to present themes slightly more aggressive than the public of those days was used to. Italian comedy has slowly died over the years for various reasons. For example, the ever more difficult definition of “the enemy”, who’s face, got increasingly hard to put into focus, more evasive…. Some Italian film writers tried to get away from comedy to avoid this invasion… So they tried to copy other types, or resemble foreigners, or become more provincial, finally ending up in realms not ours, such as symbolism, expressionism, and catastrophe.” Ettore Scola
We were presented with quite a challenge when thinking about this series. We knew that such an expansive topic might be difficult to sum up in only nine films. Then we remembered the above quote by Ettore Scola. The eminent Italian comedy writer and director had such great truth, concision and pith in what he said it was clear that we should follow the trajectory of his thinking. We subsequently attempted to connect each film selected to one of the passages in his quote. What follows is a short history of Italian comedy by many of Italy’s finest comedic writers/directors. The after film discussions will begin with a discussion of what Scola proposed and move onwards from there.
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New season introduced by Leonard Guercio, Temple University
September 16, 2010:
La macchina ammazzacattivi. dir, Roberto Rossellini, Italy , 1952, DVD, 80mins, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles. Introduced by Leonard Guercio, Temple University
“The satiric vein of The Machine to Kill Bad People …was an unusual departure for Rossellini…Yet the film not only works as a surprisingly deft comedy, but its allegorical narrative actually delineates the philosophic attitudes of the Neo-Realist filmmakers to the photographic image. The camera was not a passive instrument for them, but rather a powerful weapon. The gaze of the lenses was not impassive, but rather a forum for moral judgment and political determination. Neither film nor photography were neutral, but rather loud voices in the greater struggles of the society.” Dennis Toth
October 14, 2010:
L’imperatore di Capri
dir, Luigi Comencini , Italy , 1949, DVD, 90mins, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles
“Toto made over one hundred films following World War ll, for the most part with directors who simply operated the camera… Toto wore a mask that fought to adapt to determined roles: his strength and his genius derived from the unpredictability of his gestures and vocabulary, the elements that allowed him to break all the rules, to reveal the absurdity of bureaucratic rigmaroles, laws, and regulations, forms of injustice and dissimulation achieved through the use of superior language skills or a uniform and title. Toto depicted a gallery of Italian characters without ever abandoning his own. They were poor, always hungry, often scheming, but deep down they were honest victims of a history to which they were forced to pay a heavy personal toll.” Gian Piero Brunetta
November 18, 2010:
Il Sorpasso dir, Dino Risi, Italy , 1962, DVD, 105mins, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles.
Introduced by Stefania Benini, University of Pennsylvania
Dino Risi’s Il sorpasso… takes the theme of social norms being contested, assaulted, and perhaps ousted by a Modernity and runs with it, literally so in this “road trip” of bombastic behavior and an even more explicit selfishness. Here, impulsive and self-absorbed Bruno (Vittorio Gassman) meets quite by accident Roberto (Jean-Louis Trintignant), A naïve, good-natured, young law student. After some convincing, Bruno takes Roberto with him on what amounts toan episodic odyssey through modern life and its struggle against nearly all normative notions of social behavior and existence.
No Movie in December: Happy Holidays!
January 27, 2011:
Vogliamo i Colonnelli, dir, Mario Monicelli, Italy , 1973, DVD, 102mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles.
Introduced by Nicoletta Marini Maio, Dickinson University
The director of this movie Mario Monicelli…gives us an insight into Italian politics by presenting this satire of an attempt of a coup d’etat by some fascist officers… The state pensioners of the glorious war sing their old songs as if Mussolini was still alive. They do not understand that their actions will be considered as pranks. However Italian politicians can turn the events into their favour and at least democracy will be saved in a rather crumbly way…In the end they will succeed but things do not happen as they had foreseen.
February 24, 2011:
La Messa e Finita dir. Nanni Moretti , Italy , 1985, DVD, 94mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles.
Introduced by Victoria Kirkham, University of Pennsylvania
“Nanni Moretti takes his self-reflexive anxiety one step further in The Mass Is Over as a priest named Giulio…Here…he demands that parishioners and friends alike view marriage and friendship as indissoluble unions and again they disappoint him bitterly…Giulio is one of a long line of childish, self-absorbed men who hungrily observe other people’s relationships…They display a tender fragility that makes them deeply sympathetic… ‘I believe in happiness,’ states Giulio at his mother’s deathbed, ‘but no man can be loved the way his mother loved him.’ The frustration of watching early Moretti films, mixed with the pleasure of their humor, is that the viewer is continually faced with this
seemingly unsolvable Freudian dilemma”. Deborah Young
March 17, 2011:
Ratataplan, dir, Maurizio Nichetti , Italy , 1979, DVD, 95mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles.
Introduced by Nicoletta Marini Maio, Dickinson University
This is comic writer-director-performer Maurizio Nichetti’s first feature…and the poetically skewed view of the modern world has a quirky flavor all its own. The diminutive, cartoonish Nichetti plays a character named Colombo who alternately works as a waiter and tries to organize a theatrical group with friends; he also builds a precise replica of himself to go disco dancing in a club…Hiding his mouth under a thick moustache, (he) uses visual expressions, body language, gestures, music, and film editing to convey the message…It displays the intense creativity of a young Nichetti.
April 28, 2011:
Viva Zapatero! dir, Sabrina Guzzanti, Italy , 2005, DVD, 80mins, color, Italian, with English subtitles.
Introduced by Nicola Gentili, University of Pennsylvania
“Comedian Guzzanti had a popular evening show that satirized the world of Italian politics. When RAI canceled the show—which frequently featured Guzzanti doing a wicked Berlusconi imitation—she decided it was time to take a stand…Not only was Guzzanti’s show taken off the air; broadcasters redefined the meaning of “satire” so they could deem the show libelous. Guzzanti takes the debate to other nations, interviewing some of their most trenchant satirists…These humorists discuss the necessity of satire as a tool not simply for laughs but for forcing people to think, which is where the threat to thin-skinned politicos and right-wing governments comes into play. Guzzanti clearly understands the ramifications of her argument… As the docu shows, the comparison was all too accurate.” Jay Weissberg
May 26, 2011:
Pranzo di ferragosto dir, Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy , 2008, DVD, 75mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles.
Introduced by Leonard Guercio, Temple University
“Imagine offering the following storyline to a film producer: depressed middle-aged man looks after his mother and three other old women in a deserted city in the middle of summer…Given all this, some Italian critics have, not surprisingly, resurrected the ever returning mantra: a return to neorealism…What is original about Mid-August Lunch is its gentle fusion of a lyrical approach towards the quiet desperation of the protagonists’ lives…This is the delicate balance on which the entire film rests…For a country such as today’s Italy , dominated by the politics ofwealth and appearance embodied by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a film such as this is almost revolutionary.It is an ode to the mundane and to our mortality: a convincing feat of minimalist cinema.” Guido Bonsaver
preceded by
Tiramisu`
dir, Leonard Guercio, USA , 2002, DVD, 16mins, b/w
“Like the Italian dessert, TIRAMISÙ is a semi-sweet cinematic contrivance with a twist ending. The film tells an uplifting story of love, responsibility and commitment through the lives of an Italian-American family and their friends. TIRAMISÙ opened the 2007 Pesaro International Film Festival in Pesaro , Italy in a retrospective of new Italian-American Cinema with the films of John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Nancy Savoca, and others.” Leonard Guercio
June 23, 2011:
Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l’angolo come un brigante da strada
dir, Lina Wertmuller , Italy , 1983, DVD,105mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitle
“The Italian Minister of Finance is on his way to a press conference, riding in the back of his new, Japanese-manufactured, state-of-the-art, computer- controlled limousine, equipped with every known device designed to thwart Italy’s state-of-the-art terrorists. Suddenly disaster strikes. The great vehicle lurches to a stop in the middle of the street, brought to heel, so to speak, not by terrorists but a malfunctioning computer. When the chauffeur tries to get out of the car to check the engine, he finds that he and his V.I.P. passenger are locked in. In this way, Lina Wertmuller’s new political farce, A Joke of Destiny, gets off to a flying start… . The film looks good and the members of the cast, most of whom are unknown to me with the exception of the gracefully funny Mr. Tognazzi, are an attractive crew.” Vincent Canby
Parking facilities: The Double Tree Garage, at Broad and Locust Street (access from Broad Street) at a reduced rate.
Contemporary Italian Cinema
Series 2010-2011 – Sixth Edition by Robert Cargni, Program Curator
Mamma Mia, che ironia! La Commedia all’Italiana
On selected Thursdays, 6:00 p.m., at the AIS’s office. All films have English subtitles
“Italian comedy is a labyrinth in which it is easy to get lost, a kind of flea market that sells everything… So we have to single out various species inside this form. For example, the Italian comedy that came right after neorealism, light neorealism that wanted to counterbalance neorealism…. Then there was the class of comic films in which Toto’ played a very special part, since he did not fit into the deceptive portrait of Italy; just the opposite, given the fact there are more violations of that portrait in his films than in Italian comedy. There was also a slightly more mature kind of Italian comedy, of which I think Il Sorpasso was one, its aim being not only to pacify and please the audience but also to present themes slightly more aggressive than the public of those days was used to. Italian comedy has slowly died over the years for various reasons. For example, the ever more difficult definition of “the enemy”, who’s face, got increasing hard to put into focus, more evasive…. Some Italian film writers tried to get away from comedy to avoid this invasion… So they tried to copy other types, or resemble foreigners, or become more provincial, finally ending up in realms not ours, such as symbolism, expressionism, and catastrophe.” Ettore Scola.
We were presented with quite a challenge when thinking about this series. We knew that such an expansive topic might be difficult to sum up in only nine films. Then we remembered the above quote by Ettore Scola. The eminent Italian comedy writer and director had such great truth, concision and pith in what he said it was clear that we should follow the trajectory of his thinking. We subsequently attempted to connect each film selected to one of the passages in his quote. What follows is a short history of Italian comedy by many of Italy’s finest comedic writers/directors. The after film discussions will begin with a discussion of what Scola proposed and move onwards from there.
September 16, 2010: La macchina ammazzacattivi – dir. Roberto Rossellini, Italy , 1952, DVD, 80mins, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles
October 14, 2010: L’imperatore di Capri – dir. Luigi Comencini, Italy, 1949, DVD, 90mins, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles
November 18, 2010: Il Sorpasso – dir. Dino Risi, Italy, 1962, DVD, 105mins, b/w, Italian w/ English subtitles
No Movie in December: Happy Holidays!
January 27, 2011: Vogliamo i Colonnelli – dir. Mario Monicelli, Italy, 1973, DVD, 102mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles
February 24, 2011: La Messa e Finita - dir. Nanni Moretti , Italy, 1985, DVD, 94mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles
March 24, 2011: Ratatplan - dir. Maurizio Nichetti 1979, DVD, 95mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles
April 28, 2011: Viva Zapatero! – dir. Sabrina Guzzanti, Italy, 2005, DVD, 80mins, color, Italian, with English subtitles
May 26, 2011: Pranzo di ferragosto – dir. Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy, 2008, DVD, 75mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles
preceded by: Tiramisu` dir. Leonard Guercio, USA, 2002, DVD, 16mins, b/w
June 23, 2011: Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l’angolo come un brigante da strada – dir. Lina Wertmuller, Italy, 1983, 105mins, color, Italian w/ English subtitles
Series 2009-2010 – Fifth Edition
By Robert Cargni, Program Curator, Film@international House
On selected Thursday, at 6:00 p.m. All films have English subtitles
The Age of Migration
The Cinema all’Italiana film series at The America-Italy Society of Philadelphia this year will probe The Age of Migration; that portion of contemporary Italian cinema which has evolved into an examination of alternative histories. These histories have become the thematic thread which collapses physical distances and accentuates emotional connections. The world is extraordinarily richer and more complicated today than it was a hundred years ago. National wealth has not been evenly distributed globally. Income disparities between countries now far overwhelm the disparities within individual countries. In the previous century, the fact that an Italian worker could earn four times as much for equivalent work in the United States as well the promise of a brighter future are thought to be a key factors in explaining the turn of the century migration. Alas, in a global economy, the causes for migration and return have now become social and cultural as well as economic. There are the asylum seekers; people looking for a new and more self fulfilling home life; those drawn outside of Italy by the relative ease of transportation, along with the refugees from poverty.
While postwar social change seemed to have homogenized Italian society, it also seemed to have hidden its underlying diversity. By the 2000’s waves of foreigners transformed Italy to a new country of immigration. At the same time, the Italian population had begun to decline and age. These changes raised critical issues of labor markets and economic vitality, citizenship and identity, and human rights. A study of minorities and immigrants in contemporary Italy unveils much about the Italian society, its historical development, social transformation and challenges in an age of globalization. Although national authorities have barely begun debate on critical issues raised by the multi-ethnic dimensions of the Italian nation, local governments, NGOs, minority activists and filmmakers have spearheaded these dialogues seeking ameliorative policies.
From the rural landscapes of Piemonte, to the multi-cultural communities within Rome and throughout Italy, unprecedented migrations of exiles, laborers, and adoptees intersect with the legacies of war, global capital, and terror. There are also those who meet similar trials as they move beyond Italy to countries in which they find themselves unprepared, where travelers encounter identity in relation to the migration of ideas, religions and local cultures. Join us as we map these timely modern movements through the film screenings, guest speakers and in-depth conversations, and explore the relationship between migration, conflict and understanding within contemporary Italian cinema.
The Missing Star/La stella che non c’e’
Thursday – 6pm – September17, 2009 at the AIS office. Awards: 3 wins & 1 nomination.
Introduced by Leonard Guercio,Temple University
Language is the key to cultural understanding, and without the means of communicating in a new country, one leaves oneself open to a bewildering series of mistakes. Vincenzo Buonavolonta (Sergio Castellitto), a maintenance man in an Italian iron works, angrily criticizes a young foreign interpreter, Liu Hua (Tai Ling). She does not know how to make clear the design flaw in the older Italian blast furnace being bought by her Chinese employers. She is fired by the brokers who, of course, speak no Italian, and Vincenzo is left with a potentially dangerous situation in a furnace that has been shipped swiftly to China. Vincenzo is a bit of a dinosaur. He has worked with his hands all his life and has complete faith that his hands can solve the problem. They do. Now he must get the part to the Chinese. He sets off on a journey to a new country knowing nothing of what to expect there and with no means of communicating what he needs. He is, indeed, a stranger in a strange land. Vincenzo tracks down Liuand and persuades her to accompany him on part of his search. The journey goes through the less familiar sights of China; steel mills and nuclear plants, cottage industries with women working long hours, and children seemingly left alone to raise themselves. Director Gianni Amelio, coupled with cinematographer Luca Bigazzi’s gliding panoramas, has crafted a film that is a treat for the eyes and a warm, poetic gift for the heart.
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.:
THE UNKNOWN WOMAN – LA SCONOSCIUTA
dir. Giuseppe Tornatore, 2006, Italy, 118 min., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles. Guest speaker: Leonardo Guercio, Temple University. Awards: 13 wins & 15 nominations.
Director Giuseppe Tornatore is best known in the United States for his lush romance Cinema paradiso, but don’t expect lush romance from The Unknown Woman. In fact, it’s best to suspend all expectations and go along for a fascinating, suspenseful ride. A Ukrainian girl, Irina (Xenia Rappoport), is first seen as a youthful blonde prostitute in an audition for an unknown peeping eye. Skip to the present, and Irina, now in her thirties, with a wad of unexplained currency, is applying for an apartment in northern Italy, one that gives her constant surveillance of a home directly opposite. She is now on a forced migration, away from the Ukraine, searching for something in Italy. But what is behind her migration? The obvious reasons for leaving one’s home and seeking a new start in another country don’t seem to lie behind her quest. Her focus seems to be the Adachers (Claudia Gerini and Pierfrancesco Favino) and their young adopted daughter, Thea (Clara Dossena), who live across the way. Her sinister investigations into the Adacher’s life are accompanied by an ominous score by Ennio Morricone and the gothic cinematography of Fabio Zamarion. Irina is haunted by her past, by the sexual brutality in her life as a prostitute, and particularly by her bald sadistic pimp, Mold (Michele Placido). Even she indulges in some distastefully violent actions. Her nuanced performance, however, manages to keep the audience on her side as the film winds to its appropriately spellbinding ending.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
La tigre e la neve -The Tiger and the Snow
dir. Roberto Benigni – 2005, Italy, 114 min., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles. . Speaker Stefania Benini, University of Pennsylvania. Awards: 3 wins & 4 nominations.
The Tiger and the Snow, director Roberto Benigni’s most recent film, is defined by its title: part fantastic and part threatening reality. Vittoria (Nicoletta Braschi) archly responds to Atillio De Giovanni’s (Roberto Benigni) frenetic attempts to woo her by saying that she’ll never come to him until there is a tiger in the snow. Any average lover would be put off by this remark, but since when is Benigni an average lover? Atillio is a ditzy college professor who is so in love with Vittoria that he follows her to Iraq in an effort to save her life. Set in the period at the start of the Iraq war, Benigni has once again placed his love story against a background of life threatening reality (Life is Beautiful). The brutality of the war is seen in only in outside events for Atillio is so focused on Vittoria that he is barely aware of what is going on around him. Atillio is a tourist, not a typical migrant to a foreign land. He finds himself unprepared to adapt his identity in relation to the new ideas and cultures he encounters, so he makes the reality of the war a counterpoint to his own unique humor thereby lessening the deadly gravity of his situation with zany improvisations. Atillio/Benigni, in his typically bizarre fashion, has managed to turn a few of the horrors of the Iraqi war into sheer laughter.
December 2009 – NO Film. Happy Holyday!
21 January 2010, at 6:00 p.m.
L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio – The orchestra of Vittorio Square
dir. Augustino Ferrente – 2006, Italy, 93 min., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles. Speaker Daniela DePau, Drexel U. WEB SITEMusician Mario Tronco and documentarian Agostino Ferrente are residents of Rome’s Piazza Vittorio neighborhood, a working-class section that’s home to a diverse group of migrants. The historic Apollo Theater is due to be turned into a bingo hall, but Mario and Agostino realize that it’s the perfect place for a multi-ethnic community music theater. Migration to Italy, as to many other parts of the world today, is not simply for economic gain: people are seeking a more self fulfilling life. They are leaving their ancestral homes but are hoping to transplant their culture to new soil where they will be able to continue that part of their lives which has given them identity. Mario and Agostino’s idea is to take this rich diversity and turn it into an orchestra which will preserve the separate ethnic traditions of the neighborhood yet at the same time create a new and remarkable sound. Their first attempts to find musicians in the area meet with a constant succession of no’s. At last one singer is found who has a friend who has a relative who’s heard of another musician and so on and so on. Immigrants come from all parts of Italy: a Cuban trumpet player from here, an Arab oud player from there, and a pair of smiling Indian tablas players with visa problems. With Mario’s persistence and patience, the various musicians form a remarkable orchestra using heretofore totally unrelated instruments and languages. We, the audience, are treated to an exceptional lesson in musical and social diversity.
25 February 2010 – CANCEL; SNOW STORM !!!!
25 March 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
Lezioni di volo -Flying Lessons
dir. Francesca Archibugi -2007, Italy, 106 min., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles. Guest Speaker Nicoletta Marini-Maio, Dickinson Univ. David di Donatello Awards
There is another type of “immigration” that is yet to be considered: adoption. Many married couples who find themselves unable to bear children have gone to foreign countries and adopted one of the numerous lone children. These adoptive parents generally belong to a social class where the race and color of their children are of little consequence. Does the child, however, wonder what the place of his origin is like? Does he think about his birth mother? Which culture is truly his own? Francesca Archibugi’s Flying Lessons explores one young man’s desire to find how he would connect with his birth-culture. Marco, aka “Curry” (Tom Karumathy), and his best friend Apollonio, aka “Pollo” (Andrea Miglio Risi), persuade their parents to allow them to travel to India to learn what Curry’s native land is like. Their baggage is stolen by their cab driver, but they are fortunate enough to meet an Italian doctor, Chiara (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who takes them along to her clinic in the desert. Like many immigrants, Curry neither knows the customs nor the language of the place in which he finds himself. He is not truly sure whether this place has made him what he is, or whether Italy has made him say with certainty, “I am Italian.” Archibugi neither glamorizes nor drowns us in India’s poverty and it is therefore easy to see why Curry is won over by the Indian culture. It also becomes apparent, however, that home may in fact be the place where one has been truly loved for a lifetime.
22 April 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
Saimir
dir. Francesco Munzi, Italy, 2004, 35mm, 88mins., Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles – Speaker: Nicola Gentile, University of Pennsylvania
There are numerous reasons why people will move from the country in which they were born to a place in which they have no legal right. For many it is a matter of life or death. For others it is a matter of finding work. Whatever the case, some do not consider what this move will mean to their children whose future may be placed in jeopardy. Edmond (Xhevdet Feri) has entered Italy illegally from Albania and makes a sparse living bringing truckloads of other aliens into the country. His son, Saimir, (Mishel Manoku) is a teen age boy without a teen age past. He does help his father, but spends the rest of his time riding around on his motor bike picking up cash from stolen purses. He has no future except for his occasional fantasy of going to Milan or Rome and finding some sort of job. The young, pretty Italian girl he meets on the beach finds him attractive-until he tells her how his friends earn their money from stealing. Instead of being impressed, she is horrified and leaves him. Saimir can only express his rage and particularly his puzzlement. His father has plans to marry an Italian woman and get his citizenship; certainly it’s better than whatever life Edmond’s left in Albania, but he has no plans for his son’s future. When Edmond brings a friend a fifteen-year old girl to be used as a prostitute, Saimir lashes out in the only way left to him.
20 May 2010
The Wind Blows Round - IL VENTO FA IL SUO GIRO
dir. Giorgio Diritti, Italy, 2005, 110 mins in Italian and Occitano w/ English subtitles. Guest speacker: Letizia Modena, Villanova UniversityIn this new world-wide economy, the impetus for migration frequently has become a desire to live a different lifestyle, a lifestyle that is perhaps less financially rewarding, but one that will allow one’s family to live an older way. Perhaps this mode is not accepted by one’s modern urban neighbors. Some of us, indeed, wish to go back to a simpler time, a time in which we can be free from the stresses of today’s madness, but such places have become harder and harder to find. Giorgio Diritti’s first feature, The Wind Blows Round, takes us to a small mountain hamlet near the French border, where the Provençal or Occitan language is still spoken. In the name of cultural preservation, it has become an attraction for seasonal tourists who then leave for their warm homes and jobs when the cold weather sets in. The native population has begun to age. Their children have moved away seeking new employment. At first, the older Italian inhabitants look upon the coming of permanent neighbors as the start of what could be an all year round beginning for the town. The villagers, set in their ways though, are shaken when French goatherd Philippe (Thierry Toscan), his young wife Chris (Alessandra Agosti) and their children decide to move in, for the foreigners have strange new ways; perhaps their ways are even older than the villagers. The warm welcome of the townspeople soon turns to distain and even fear, and their distain and fears are soon returned by the Frenchman.
24 June 2010
Tornando a Casa – Going Home
dir, Vincenzo Marra, Italy, 2001, DVD, 88 mins, Italian w/ English subtitles
A superb example of the new trend in European cinema, writer/director Vincenzo Marra’s film debut deals unsentimentally with workers and, working life both in Italy and abroad. Tornado a Casa is one of a growing number of recent Southern Italian independent films that are firmly rooted in local culture and dialect. A group of Italian fishermen crosses the Tunisian Sea to fill their nets in illegal waters. The Tunisian police intercept the boat at sea, but the sailors manage to escape. They return home to Naples, but find no safe harbor in the increasing competition and boycotts by other Italian fisherman. Young Franco discovers that even his marriage is no longer a source of comfort. Tired and defeated, the men are forced to return to sea. In an act of desperation, Franco jumps overboard and eventually is rescued by a ship carrying North African refugees. When the Carabinieri board the boat, he remains mute and is mistaken for one of the aliens. Now labeled an illegal immigrant, Franco is sent with the refugees back to North Africa perhaps, to forge a new life in a completely foreign land. Shot in semi-documentary style with hand-held cameras and a non-professional cast, Tornando a Casa develops as a melancholy, contemplative drama that builds steadily to its poignant conclusion.
July 29 2010
Once You’re Born You Can No Longer Hide/Quando sei nato non puoi piu nasconderti
dir. Marco Tullio Giordana, 2005, Italy, 115 minutes, in Italian with English subtitles
Speaker: Victoria Kirkham, University of Pennsylvania.
Director Marco Tullio Giordana follows his Best of Youth success with a look at another aspect of modern Italy’s social history- the increasing dilemma of clandestine immigration. Italy’s enormous coastline makes it an easy target for refugees; those seeking employment, those seeking freedom from repression, and those whose motives are less scrupulous. Giordana gives us a view of the people who have been apprehended by the immigration authorities from the standpoint of a child who is by chance caught up in their difficulties. Sandro (Matteo Gadola) is the son of a well-to-do factory owner Bruno Lombardi (Alessio Boni) and his wife Lucia (Michela Cescon.) On a yachting trip with his father and uncle (Rodolfo Corsato), Sandro accidentally falls from the boat. His absence is not noted immediately. Sandro is about to sink, unconscious, beneath the waves when he is rescued by Radu (Vlad Alexandru Toma), young Romanian passenger on a rickety barge, crowded with other illegals. The boat is abandoned by the men in charge and is picked up by the Italian coast guard who takes them to a transit site for illegal aliens. Here it becomes increasingly clear to Sandro that there is no easy answer to the immigrant problem, that his childish belief that all refugees should be treated as equals has no place in the adult world of laws and protective restraints. Giordana seems to imply that the only perfect world is that of a child and that once you’re born, you no longer can hide from grim reality.
Past seasons:
A Seasonal Program of Italian Films
2008-2009 Series
On selected Thursday at 6:00 p.m. – Admission Free.
For more information and RSVP at: 215-735-3250.
Door close at 5:50 p.m.
Is Italian cinema really dead?
The America-Italy Society this year will offer to members and students an informative and stimulating series of programs showcasing Italian film, consistent with its past practice of presenting a wide range of exhibits and discussions on Italian art, music and literature.
The film program at the America–Italy Society will be closely tied to the Italian language classes. Films shown as an enhancement of classroom activities provide an excellent mode of developing listening skills and exposing students to current idioms and regionalisms in the target language. The concerns expressed in films also provide topics for classroom discussions, thus stimulating speaking skills while providing an understanding of history and current cultural developments.
Each presentation in Cinema All’Italiana will be preceded by a short period during which beverages and confections will be available. A presenter, or a guest speaker invited for the occasion, will then give a brief introduction to the film and provide historical, regional, or technical information to facilitate a complete viewing experience.
This year we will present a series of contemporary films whose purpose is to dispute the all too common lament that Italian cinema is dead. Indeed, Italian cinema is not only alive and well, but is vigorously addressing the most vital realities in Italy today. Recently, several powerful Italian films were chosen in Cannes’ major sections, films that called upon the great traditions of the past: effective use of locations, canny insight into the political and visual techniques that confound the difference between mental and physical space. The young directors and writers in our program now have taken on the varied genres which express the current human condition. They have made as their common theme the present preoccupations, from the biting political questions raised in Nanni Moretti’s The Caiman, to the post-9/11 paranoia which pervades society in Melliti’s Io,l’altro, to the formation of new “family” ties created by our mobile youth as in Ozpetek’s Saturno contro . The nine features we are presenting will use the familiar and the startling in fresh and exciting ways to tell stories, describe portraits, articulate statements and initiate discussions. At the end of each presentation, the attendees will be invited to remain to exchange opinions, should they wish to do so.
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We invite you to join us on selected Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m.
BECOME A MEMBER OR A STUDENT AND ENJOY THE “CINEMA ALL’ITALIANA”
| September 11, 2008 � at 6:00 p.m. |
The Caiman/Il caimano - dir. Nanni Moretti, 2006, Italy/France, 112 min | Guest Speaker and series introduction by Curator Robert Cargni |
| October 9, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. |
Me, The Other/Io, l’altro- Dir. Moshem Melliti, 2007, Italy, 78 min. | Guest Speaker: Leonardo Guercio, Temple University |
| November 6, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. |
Saturn in Opposition/ Saturno contro-dir. Ferzan Ozpetek, 2007, Italia, 110min | Guest Speaker: Stefania Benini University of Pennsylvania |
| January 8, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. |
In Memory of Me/In memoria di me-� dir.Saverio Costanza , 2007, Italia, 115 mins., |
Guest Speaker: Robert Cargni, Program Curator |
| February 19, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. |
The Miracle/ Il miracolo- dir.Edoardo Winspeare, 2003, Italia, 93 min | Guest Speaker: Nicola Gentili, University of Pennsylvania |
| March 12, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. |
The Lark Farm/La masseria delle allodole- dir. Paolo e Vittorio Taviani, 2007, Italia, 122 min. | Guest Speaker: Vicky Kirkham, University of Pennsylvania |
| April 16, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. |
Stolen Childhood/Certi bambini- dir. Andrea & Antonio Frazzi,07, Italia, 94min | Guest Speaker: Daniela DePau, Drexel University |
| May 7, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. |
Secret Journey/Viaggio segreto- dir. Roberto Ando’, 2006, Italia, 107 min | Guest Speaker: Nicola Gentili, University of Pennsylvania |
| June 11, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. |
My Brother-in-law/Mio cognato- dir. Alessandro Piva, 2007, Italia, 90mins. | Guest Speaker: Leonardo Guercio, Temple University |
September 11, 2008
The Caiman – Il Caimano
dir. Nanni Moretti, 2006, Italy/France, 112 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker and series introduction by Curator Robert Cargni
Actor, writer and director Nanni Moretti is best known in this country for his films Dear Diary and The Son’s Room, but the overwhelming bulk of his productions are the comedic political satires which have had little or no distribution in the United States. Moretti says, “Through cinema, I try to recount a reality that we are no longer able to see, to perceive. I think that our problem is one of habit: we grow to accept people and situations which, in fact, should be truly unthinkable in a democracy.” In 2002, Moretti was an organizer of a series of national protests against the Berlusconi regime and its attacks on democratic rights. Twelve months later he started work on The Caiman, a critique of then (and now again) Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It is piece whose narrative line lampoons the contemporary art of film-making and adds a pointed political message. Bruno Bonomo (Silvio Orlando), at best a C-grade has-been, is caught in a financial melt down. At the same time he is going through the breakup of his marriage to Paola (Margherita Buy). A young director (Jasmine Trinca) hands him a script, which Bruno at first thinks is a thriller, then later discovers, to his horror, is a thinly disguised attack on the Prime Minister. The Caiman is an acerbically funny, nostalgic film about loss, both personal and political, and how both can be found deeply ingrained in Italian society of the last decades.
October 16, 2008
Me, The Other/Io, l’altro
dir. Moshen Melliti, 2007, Italy, 78 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Leonardo Guercio, Temple University
First time director Moshen Melliti has been concerned with social issues and the consequences of cultural differences. In today’s post 9/11 world, these differences result in a global paranoia, which affects even the most insular relationships. Giuseppe, (Raoul Bova) a young Sicilian fisherman, and Yousef Ben Ali, (Giovanni Martorana) a Tunisian émigré, have been best friends for ten years. Their lives have been hard, but their good natured comradery has helped bring them through the tough times. Recently, they have struck out on their own, and now are one payment away from owning their boat. Their former boss has been a constant hindrance, bad-mouthing Giuseppe to his friend and lowering the price paid for their catch so that the payments on the boat have become more difficult to make. Giuseppe has become increasingly stressed out over the boss’s interference. Yousef warns that he’s becoming obsessive. Giuseppe slept only two hours the night before they set sail. “Take some Xanax,” suggests the solicitous Tunisian. On their journey to the fishing grounds, Giuseppe overhears a radio report of the search for a terrorist, Yousef Ben Ali, wanted in the Madrid train bombing. The first humorous responses to the similarity of names soon erode the veneer of trust between the two men, and undisguised personal attitudes begin to emerge. The sea, object of their life long love and respect, insidiously becomes a trap in which their over-heightened emotions explode.
November 6, 2008
Saturn in Opposition/Saturno contro
dir. Ferzan Ozpetek , 2007, Italy, 110 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Stefania Benini, University of Pennsylvania
Ferzan Ozpetek has had as his central theme the formation of strong family ties among people who are neither related by blood, nor even by social class. His films have become an examination of how such a group copes with crises. In his previous pictures, Ignorant Fairies, Facing Windows, and Sacred Heart the protagonists come to grips with personal tragedy with the help of those with whom they have formed tight knit relationships. Such friendships, rather than family ties, carry them through upheavals and life changes. Saturn in Oppositioncontinues Ozpetek’s inquiries into these enduring relationships. Lorenzo (Luca Argentero) and Davide (Pierfrancesco Favino) happily spend their lives together with their circle of intimates: Antonio (Stefano Accorsi) and his wife, Angelica (Margherita Buy); Roberta (Ambra Angiolini), who works for Lorenzo; acerbic Neval (Serra Yilmaz) and her young policeman husband, Roberto (Filippo Timi); Davide’s former lover, Sergio (Ennio Fantastichini); and newcomer, Paolo (Michelangelo Tommaso). They meet regularly to talk, to confide in each other, and, of course, to eat wonderful meals in Davide and Lorenzo’s kitchen. When illness strikes Lorenzo, it becomes clear that family is formed among friends and lovers, rather than in the strangling bonds that often defines kin. Ozpetek captures the feel of contemporary reality with his masterful portraits of the characters. As always, his work brings with it a desire to explore new aspects of Italian society which has made him one of the most noteworthy directors of the decade
No film screening in December
January 08, 2009
In Memory of Me/In memoria di me
dir. Saverio Costanza , 2007, Italy, 115 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Robert Cargni, Program Curator
What is it that causes a young man to enter the priesthood? Is it a calling from God? Is it a desire to turn ones back on the confusing possibilities of the world and seek the Truth? Is it faith – or is it pride? “Who am I and why have I come here?” asks novitiate Andrea (Christo Zhirko) as he enters the austere Venetian seminary that becomes the start of his spiritual quest. The immense vaulted corridor of the Renaissance building houses the rooms of the monks-in-training. It soon becomes clear to the viewer, however, that the imposing corridor also reflects the conflict within Andrea. It is both his conscious and unconscious mind, at times telling of the real happenings in his life, and at times suggesting the murky workings of his interior world. Andrea becomes silently drawn to the troubled novice Fausto (Fausto Russo Alesi), who rooms next door, and the rebellious Zanna (Filipo Timi), whose sincere beliefs make Andrea’s own struggle seem feigned. Director Saverio Costanzo comments, “ Andrea’s condition is similar to my own and also that of my generation…We have followed our desires, only to end up in a limbo of never ending adolescence…I think initiation into religious life can be a metaphor for any big life choice which involves a major commitment… Anyone aspiring to solid, perfect faith must take into account his own human nature and the demons always ready to tempt one astray.”
February 19, 2009
The Miracle/ Il miracolo
dir. Eduoardo Winspeare, 2003, Italy, 93 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Nicola Gentili, University of Pennsylvania
Tonio (Claudio D’Agostino) is a twelve-year-old boy who is troubled by the increasing arguments between his parents. One day, while riding his bicycle, he is struck by a car. The driver of the car, stops, gets out, glances at him, and then leaves the scene. As he lies there in a semi-conscious state he sees a bright light, and then passes out. Later Cinzia (Stefania Casciaro), the driver, comes to the hospital to see if Tonio is all right, but flees when he recognizes her. That night, Tonio can’t sleep. As he wanders the wards, he comes upon a room where an elderly patient begins to flatline. He touches the old man’s chest, and suddenly the man revives. Was it a miracle? Did Tonio gain the power to heal when he saw the mysterious light? His father, Pietro (Carlo Bruni) explores the financial gain from his son’s experience, while his mother, Annalisa (Anna Ferruzzo), exploits the media’s interest. Tonio and Cinzia, meanwhile, are drawn together in a bond that rests on their disillusionment and hope. Director Edouardo Winspeare’s The Miracle is neither fraught with miraculous happenings, nor is it overtly religious. It is a film about the power of love and the beauty that happens every day. The Miracle is bathed in the light of southern Italy, tempered with the industrial contradictions of coastal Taranto. As Winspeare says, “…it is Puglia’s most beautiful and most wounded city. Taranto…is symbolic of the search for a lost identity.
March 12, 2009
The Lark Farm/La masseria delle allodole
dir., Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, 2007, Italy, 122 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Vicky Kirkham, University of Pennsylvania
In 1915, as the war in Europe edged closer to home, the cry of “Turkey for the Turkish” had an increasingly broad appeal, feeding the nation’s paranoia and uniting the various Fascist elements within Turkish society. The Armenians living inside the Ottoman Empire’s borders felt reasonably safe. Many of the families were successfully integrated. They were, to all intents, spared political shifts in opinion. Yet, between 1915 and 1917, more than a million Armenians were killed. In the wealthy home of Aram Avakian (Tcheky Karyo) and his wife, Armineh (Arsinee Khanjian), the advancing threat of a holocaust is ignored. They are readying their country estate for the arrival of Aram’s brother, Assadour (Mariano Rigillo). Before he arrives, however, Lark Farm becomes the scene of a horrid massacre. The men are mutilated, the male children are murdered, and the women begin their forced march into the desert where they are used as prostitutes and then left to die. Directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani have made an unforgettable indictment of what has recently become the subject of global concern. Known for their imaginative treatment of history in such films as Padre Padrone and Chaos, the Tavianis do not spare any of the heart-wrenching details of the Armenians’ suffering. The directors bring with them their fine technical staff; Giuseppe Lanci’s remarkable cinematography, Lina Nerli Taviani’s costumes, and Andrea Chrisanti’s sets, all of which breathe life into a past which still must haunt us today.
April 16, 2009
Stolen Childhood/Certi bambini
dir., Andrea & Antonio Frazzi 2007, Italy, 94 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Daniela DePau, Drexel University
From the Favelas in Rio to the outskirts of Marseille to the inner cities here in the United States, we are shocked and dismayed to learn of the crimes committed by the very young, crimes done with cold dispassion and no remorse. Eleven year old Rosario (Gianluca Di Gennaro) and his aging grandmother (Nuccia Fumo) live in a slum on the outskirts of Naples where his belonging to a gang is his means of survival. In the opening scene ofStolen Childhood, Rosario and his friends play a harrowing game in which they dare each other to race across a busy highway. He performs with the same indifference acts of crime and those of generosity. There is no black versus white in his universe; the street provides the law, and survival of the fittest is the only truth. Rosario’s story is told in a series of flashbacks as he rides on the metro, ostensibly to a football match. The implications of his future become clearer and clearer as we see him being groomed for the local camorra. At the same time, however, he volunteers for his friend Santino (Arturo Paglia) to help out at a local home for battered women. There he meets Caterina (Miriam Candurro) on whom he develops an ill-fated crush, for love is something that only disappoints and friendship is a lie. Stolen Childhood is not a didactic film. It tries to explain nothing. We are shown only a violated childhood and its problematic conclusions.
May 7, 2009
Secret Journey/Viaggio segreto
dir., Roberto Andò, 2006, Italy, 107 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Nicola Gentili, University of Pennsylvania
There is no journey more secret than that which undertakes to uncover the hidden recesses of the human mind. Perhaps that is the reason why Leo (Alessio Boni) has chosen psychoanalysis as his field, or, perhaps it is his way of keeping his own secrets carefully hidden. As children, Leo and his sister, Ale (Valeria Solarino), were witnesses to the fatal shooting of their mother, Adele (Claudia Gerini). Their father, Michele (Marco Baliani), spent 12 years in prison, and the children spent the remainder of their childhood with relatives, far from their home in Sicily, far, it was hoped, from the memories of that tragic event. Ale, however, has now met a Serbian artist who hopes to marry her. As a wedding gift, Harold (Emir Kusturica) has decided to buy her the home in which she once lived. He secretly employs Anna (Donatella Finocchiaro), a Sicilian realtor, to investigate the history of what had occurred there. Leo discovers the potential sale and is forced to visit the home and the dark and hidden memories that are shrouded only by a thin veil of forgetfulness. Director Roberto Ando and screenwriter Salvatore Marcarelli worked closely together on the script because both felt personally very connected to the theme. Ando says, “The journey of the characters in this film is, in fact, a journey in answer to the irresistible call of feelings and emotions…the indestructible, unalienable desire to rebuild…a geography of the soul, whose elements we search for all our lives.”
June 11, 2009
My Brother-in-law/Mio cognato
dir. Alessandro Piva , 2007, Italy, 90 mins., DVD, Color, In Italian w/ English subtitles
Guest Speaker: Leonardo Guercio, Temple University
Vito Quaranta (Luigi Lo Cascio) is an ordinary guy with an ordinary life. He is invited to Bari by his wife’s brother, Toni Catapano (Sergio Rubini), to attend the christening of his baby. Vito is angered by the fact that he was not chosen as the child’s godfather. His anger grows into helpless rage when he discovers that his car has been stolen, and in its place, the thieves have left a large, yellow, metaphorical, lemon. Vito reports the theft to his insurance company. He quickly learns, however, that this is a big mistake in the world he has entered. His brother-in-law is astounded. One doesn’t officially tell the insurance company anything until the affair is manipulated behind the scenes. Vito is in Toni’s underworld now, a Bari governed by codes with which Toni is absolutely familiar and Vito, with his proper behavior and pure Italian is constantly being mistaken for a tourist. They set off in Toni’s flashy red sports car to search the dark streets for the missing vehicle, and Vito begins his education. He learns another way of life, a way he finds somehow seductive, somehow liberating – somehow more like Toni’s. Director Alessandro Piva, whose first work, La Capagira, has returned to Bari to create this fond homage to the great tradition of Italian comedy. My Brother-in-law/Mio cognato both recalls and updates the commedia all’italiana in a portrait of a marginal world that is the true mirror of reality.
If would like to know which movies we already displayed please consult our archive
Seating will be limited. R.S.V.P.
The America Italy Society of Philadelphia
1420 Walnut Street Suite 310
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Tel (215) 735-3250�
Fax (215) 735-7604
info@aisphila.org
