Italiano
Tomorrow, Monday, October 21st at 7 pm in the Sala Sinopoli dell’Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, the Film Fest hosts the premiere of Miss Fallaci by Luca Ribuoli, Giacomo Martelli, and Alessandra Gonnella. The eight-episode TV series brings to the screen the passions, loves, and modernity of Oriana Fallaci, played by Miriam Leone, and is based on the first two books by the author, I sette peccati di Hollywood and Penelope At War, and her interviews.
At 9:30 pm in the Sala Sinopoli, the premiere of Emilia Pérez, brings to the Fest a film for the new millennium that draws on all the cinematic and visual masterpieces of the 20th century, written and directed by Jacques Audiard, who seems to have capitalized on the torment, intuition and vision of the many genres he has tackled over his career. This is probably “the” film of 2024, winner of the Cannes Jury Prize and the award for best actor, split between its four female leads.
At 4:30 pm in the Sala Petrassi, Chiara Mastroianni will treat Fest audiences to a masterclass. After making her acting debut at a very young age in the film Us Two by Claude Lelouch, alongside her mother, Catherine Deneuve, the actress was nominated for a César Award for her role in Ma saison préférée by André Téchiné and won the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Cannes Film Festival, for the film Chambre 212 by Christophe Honoré. Her lengthy collaboration with the French filmmaker continued into 2024 with the film Marcello mio, also presented at Cannes, as she stepped into his shoes to look like him, displaying an uncommon talent, extraordinary courage, and an irresistible irony.
At 6:30 pm, the Sala Petrassi holds the premiere of Polvo serán by Carlos Marqués-Marcet. Between Pina Bausch and All That Jazz: Polvo Serán turns a unique, daring and significant gaze on our inevitable death. It is both a musical and a brave choral drama that dances with death and never provokes sadness.
Following in the Sala Petrassi, at 9 pm, the premiere of Nasty by Tudor Giurgiu, Tudor D. Popescu, and Cristian Pascariu. “Nasty” was the perfect nickname for the enfant terrible of tennis: Ilie Năstase, the Romanian champion who became a legend in the 1970s for his countless victories on the sport’s most prestigious courts. The film gives us a portrait of the champion in the round, with all his generosity, extravagance, and brash theatrical style.
There will be three screenings tomorrow in the Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna. At 3:30 pm, in Under a Blue Sun, by Daniel Mann, Bashir Abu Rabia is today a 75-year-old Palestinian/Bedouin painter who lives in the Negev Desert. In 1988, he participated, as a special effects technician, in the making of Peter MacDonald’s Rambo III, in which Sylvester Stallone fought alongside the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviet colonialists. The documentary by Daniel Mann begins as an essay on the archaeology of film sets, but soon dismantles a series of falsehoods, beginning with the presumed Third-worldism of the 1988 film, showing how, since then, the fiction of film sets and the real-life training sets of the Israeli army have become disturbingly intertwined.
At 6 pm, the same theater holds the screening of Sunlight by Nina Conti, a comedy constructed on the absurd, where crazy characters, surreal jokes and moments of tenderness that explode into humour overlap. The real protagonist here is Monkey and, inside the costume, its creator, the multi-award-winning English actress (above all in theater), comedian and ventriloquist Nina Conti, here at her feature directorial debut, co-written with her co-star Shenoah Allen. Then at 8:30 pm, About Luis is the second film by Genoese director Lucia Chiarla, produced entirely in Germany and in German, penetrates with great lucidity and the suspence of a thriller many of the unresolved issues of our time: the fragility of couples, job insecurity, the inadequacy of the school system, and cultural conditioning.
Tomorrow, at 6 pm at the Teatro Olimpico, the Film Fest and Alice nella città hold a screening of Blitz, directed by Steve McQueen. The Oscar®-winning filmmaker has turned out a film that is at once a celebration of the resilience of London’s working class at that terrible time and a universal meditation on the struggle to survive in crisis situations, pitting, as it does, innocence against barbarity. All underscored by Hans Zimmer’s vibrant compositions.
Following at 9 pm at the Teatro Olimpico, Musicanti con la pianola by Matteo Malatesta is a documentary about the lives and careers of Pivio and Aldo De Scalzi, composers whose music has been a fixture of the last twenty five years of Italian cinema.
Four films will be screened at the MAXXI on Monday.
At 2 pm, the film Estado de silencio by Santiago Maza explores the stories of four journalists who testify to the endangered state of freedom of the press in Mexico, immersing themselves in the terrible violence perpetrated by corrupt local governments and the narcopolitical system.
And at 4 pm, the film Si dice di me by Isabella Mari is a celebration of the power of theater as an instrument for change. For thirty years, Marina Rippa has organized theater workshops in the most troubled neighbourhoods of Naples. Through theater, mothers, wives and daughters overcome their cultural restrictions, merging body and voice to reveal their inner strength.
At 6:30 pm, Aspettando Re Lear, directed by and starring Alessandro Preziosi, is the film of a new stage version of the Shakespeare masterpiece, in which the characters move within sets entirely composed of works by the great artist from Biella, Michelangelo Pistoletto.
Lastly, at 9 pm the Maxxi hosts Duse, the Greatest by Sonia Bergamasco. On the 100th anniversary of the death of Eleonora Duse, the filmmaker takes us on an investigation into the actress who forever changed her profession, inspiring Lee Strasberg, the founder of the Actors Studio, and subsequent generations of actors.
The program of the Storia del Cinema section kicks off at 4:40 pm at the Casa del Cinema, with Private, the feature directorial debut of Saverio Costanzo. Based on real-life events, the film hones in on the military occupation of Palestine from the intimate, private point of view of a Palestinian family forced to share their home with Israeli soldiers who have occupied the second floor. It’s a work that is not formulaic but has the rare ability to convey a universal meaning which earned it the Pardo d’Oro at the Locarno Film Festival. The filmmaker will share with Fest audiences stories of his earliest experiences behind the camera on Wednesday, October 23rd, at 4:30 pm in the Sala Sinopoli at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.
At 6:45 pm, the Casa del Cinema hosts a screening of Mario Verdone: il critico viaggiatore by Luca Verdone, a rediscovery of a fundamental figure in the history of film criticism, but also the portrait of a generation that invented a democratic and anti-fascist Italy. On hand to introduce the film, alongside the director, there will be Carlo Verdone, Christian De Sica, and the producer Laurentina Guidotti.
Last up at the Casa del Cinema, at 9 pm, audiences can catch Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore by Lina Wertmüller, in the restored version by the National Museum of Cinema in Turin in collaboration with Minerva Pictures, Imago VFX, and Audio Innova – Università di Padova | Spin off. The film will be introduced by Carlo Chatrian (director of the National Museum of Cinema), Gabriele Perrone, and Roberto Flamini (the Film Restoration Laboratory at the National Museum of Cinema).
Tomorrow, Monday, October 21st at 10 am, the Casa del Cinema holds the annual Cinedays of Rome UNESCO City of Film, a fixture of the Rome Film Fest calendar.
The first part of the event is the presentation of a new Roma Capitale project, “Roma Smart Tourism”, made possible by UNESCO funding, launched in response to the Italian Ministry of Tourism’s public call for “the identification of projects that raise the profile of citieof high cultural and touristic interest that contain UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as cities belonging to the UNESCO Creative Cities network.” On stage to discuss the project, Miguel Gotor (Cultural Counselor to Roma Capitale), Gian Luca Farinelli (Director of the Cineteca di Bologna), and Bruno Pellegrini (CEO & Founder LOQUIS). Moderated by Lucio Argano, Project Manager, Rome City of Film UNESCO.
The second part of Cinedays concentrates on city-wide festivals – cultural events that unfold at different venues across a city, a new format for cultural policy and events that gets local communities involved and use resources sustainably. These festivals may be held in city squares, parks, museums, stations, prisons or hospitals, making culture accessible to a broader and more diverse public. They probe the new opportunities that this kind of event offers for turning ordinary everyday spaces into cultural and creative venues.
Speakers on hand to discuss this new format for festivals include Gian Luca Farinelli (Director of the Cineteca di Bologna, Bologna UNESCO Creative City of Music), Andrea Minetto and Silvia Tarassi (authors of the book I festival diffusi. Un nuovo formato organizzativo per le politiche culturali, Milan UNESCO Creative City of Literature), Federica Rocchi (director of the Periferico Festival, Modena UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts), and Marco Genovese (LIBERA. Associazione, nomi e numeri contro le mafie). With a video contributed by Wellington UNESCO City of Film. Moderated by Lucio Argano.
At 11:30 am, there will be a premiere of the film La Città Macchina, the latest film in the Italia Novecento series produced by Diego Biello for Filmedea, in collaboration with Cinecittà, MAXXI, and ANRCA. The ‘Città Macchina’ is Verona 900, a UNESCO World Heritage site due to its urban structure and architecture. The film, directed by Dario Biello, is the story of a photographer and architectural researcher, played by Alessandro Preziosi, who seeks out the city of Verona’s futuristic identity, as embodied by a 1927 Lancia Lambda Siluro driven by a mysterious woman.
Before the screening of La Città Macchina, the film’s star Alessandro Preziosi, the director Dario Biello, and the producer Diego Biello will greet Fest audiences, with representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the local administrations of the UNESCO sites in attendance.
After the screening, there will be a Q&A featuring Monica Marangoni (journalist, with a role in the film), Alba Di Lieto (Politecnico di Milano, making a special appearance in the film), Pier Francesco Nocini (Università di Verona, making a special appearance in the film), and Orazio Carpenzano (Sapienza Università di Roma).
At 11:30 am, the Teatro Gianni Borgna will host a panel, “Film, Music and Social Platforms: The Future of Artists’ Compensation”. The panel, promoted by Nuovo IMAIE, a leading voice on the front lines in protecting the rights of artists and performers, will explore the mechanisms behind the functioning and monetisation of these platforms, with a focus on measures and strategies to ensure fair compensation for the artists. Speakers include Federico Mollicone (president of the 7th Commission of the Chamber of Deputies), Andrea Miccichè (president of NUOVO IMAIE), Matteo Fedeli (general director SIAE), Diego Ciulli (Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy of Google), Gianmarco Tognazzi (actor and spokesman for the audiovisual sector NUOVO IMAIE), Noemi (musician and delegate for the music sector NUOVO IMAIE), Giulio Gaudiano (host of “Strategia Digitale” and president of ASSIPOD). Moderated by Alvaro Moretti (deputy director of Il Messaggero).
The 19th edition of the Rome Film Fest returns to the prisons of Lazio with a program of screenings and talks that involve inmates and city residents alike. Tomorrow, Monday, October 21st at 2 pm, Rebibbia Prison’s Women’s Ward “Germana Stefanini” will screen Il treno dei bambini by Cristina Comencini. The Roman filmmaker and screenwriter has made an epic, stirring film based on Viola Ardone’s novel of the same name, a journey into poverty, ignorance, and prejudice, but also solidarity and renewal in post-war Italy, as seen by a boy torn between two mothers.
Tomorrow, Monday, October 21st, the program of repeat screenings at the Cinema Giulio Cesare gets underway in Sala 1 at 4 pm with 100 di questi anni by Michela Andreozzi, starring Massimiliano Bruno, Claudia Gerini, Edoardo Leo, Francesca Mazzoleni, Rocco Papaleo, and Sydney Sibilia, and continues at 6 pm with McVeigh by Mike Ott and at 8:30 pm with Liliana by Ruggero Gabbai. In Sala 3, the screenings are La Vallée des fous by Xavier Beauvois (4:30 pm), Polvo serán by Carlos Marqués-Marcet (7 pm), and About Luis by Lucia Chiarla (9:30 pm), while in Sala 7, the complete series of Bellas Artes by Mariano Cohn and Martín Bustos will be screened (2:30 pm).
Repeat screenings continue at the Teatro Olimpico, with the first two episodes of La Máquina by Gabriel Ripstein at 12 noon and Il treno dei bambini by Cristina Comencini at 3:30 pm.
At 9 pm at the Teatro Palladium, there will be the screening of a title in competition in the Progressive Cinema section: The Trainer by Tony Kaye, a surreal indie comedy with an outstanding cast featuring Stephen Dorff, Gina Gershon, Berverly D’Angelo, Steven Van Zandt, Julia Fox, Lenny Kravitz, Paris Hilton, and Gus Van Sant.
