Italiano
Tomorrow, Thursday, October 20th, Film Fest audiences can get a sneak peek at the TV series There’s No Place Like Home – the series by Gabriele Muccino; the first episode of the Roman filmmaker’s latest effort will be screened at 10 pm in the Sala Sinopoli at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. “The series features the same characters as the eponymous film played by a new cast of actors,” the director explains. “The trigger of the series is the inability to be happy together. The family is a ring in which it is hard to stay on your feet long without sooner or later coming up against some form of intolerance, conflict, provocation, or betrayal.” In the series, The Ristuccia family owns a famous Roman restaurant. Carlo and his sister Sara help their parents run it. Carlo has a daughter, an ex-wife and a partner whom the family dislikes. Sara has an unfaithful husband. The other brother, Paolo, who has lived in France for a long time, and is divorced and penniless, comes back to raise his son. One day the Marianis, another branch of the family that wants a share in the business, threatens to reveal a Ristuccia family secret.
At 7 pm, the Sala Sinopoli hosts a title from the Official Selection: the premiere of I Am Zlatan by Jens Sjögren, the story of the education of a young soccer champion, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in a rough Swedish neighborhood. The son of immigrants from the Balkans, he seized on soccer as a way to escape from a difficult environment. Ibrahimovic’s formidable talent, combined with the self-confidence he acquired, catapulted him, against all odds, to the highest echelons of international football. He would go on to play on teams like Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Milan, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester United; he has won thirty-one trophies to date and has become the first footballer to play on seven different Champions League teams.
Another premiere from the Official Selection on Thursday is C’mon C’mon by Mike Mills (at 7:30 pm in the Sala Petrassi). In the film, Johnny is a good-hearted yet emotionally blocked radio journalist on his latest story: traveling around the United States to interview children from the whole country and find out what they think of the world and the future. One day his sister Viv asks him to look after her eight-year-old son Jesse while she takes care of Jesse’s father, a man with mental health issues. Johnny agrees to spend time with the child, and somewhat unexpectedly, uncle and nephew form a close bond, full of tenderness, that will change them both, as they set off on an unforgettable road trip to Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans.
Following in the Sala Petrassi, Belfast by Kenneth Branach will be premiering at 10:30 pm. The film, an autobiography of the filmmaker who won the audience award at Toronto this year, is set in Northern Ireland in the late 1960s. Nine-year-old Buddy lives in a world marked by class struggle and cultural revolutions. When the Troubles flare up – the clashes between Republican Catholics and Unionist Protestants – Buddy dreams of a future away from the violence, in the comfort of his cheerful family. But the turmoil gets worse, and Buddy’s family must decide whether to wait till it blows over, or start a whole new life.
At 4 pm, the Sala Sinopoli hosts the screening of Stories of a Generation with Pope Francis by Simona Ercolani. Pope Francis is our engaging storyteller in this docuseries in four episodes, featuring men and women aged 70+ from across the globe, sharing their incredible life stories. Through the eyes of young filmmakers under 30, ordinary people and big names alike – names like Martin Scorsese and Jane Goodall – tell stimulating and moving stories. The Pope also shares anecdotes from his own life story. A Fest preview of the first episode, titled “Love”.
At 4:30 pm in the Sala Petrassi, there will be a screening of Scalfari: A Sentimental Journey, a documentary devoted to Eugenio Scalfari, the now ninety-six-year-old journalist, intellectual, and founder of the newspaper ‘La Repubblica’. This documentary reveals his private side through the eyes of his daughters, Enrica and Donata, in a dialogue with their father that retraces his memories, the family dynamics, newsworthy events, politics and history, examining the interweave of public and private, his old age, and his friendship with Pope Francis.
At 9:30 pm, the MAXXI hosts a screening of The Will To See by Bernard-Henri Lévy, with the director and cast on hand. An old-time war reporter, philosopher and writer, Bernard-Henri Lévy is sent by a group of newspapers (Paris Match, La Repubblica, The Wall Street Journal, Der Stern, and others) to bear witness and report from places in the world where suffering and misery is at its peak: where wars are going on under our noses, the world’s fate is being determined, and no one, it seems, is paying attention. An unflinching look at the most urgent humanitarian crises around the globe.
The collaboration between the Film Fest, MediCinema Italia Onlus, and the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, now in its fifth year, continues on Thursday at 4 pm with a second screening in the hospital’s screening room for its patients: Crazy for Football. All Covid-19 health protocols for this event will be in place.
The Film Fest continues to host the Rebibbia Festival, with screenings, talks and workshops that involve the inmates of Rome’s Rebibbia prison and take place in the prison’s auditorium and the Sala Cinema “Enrico Maria Salerno”. On October 21st, at 4 pm, the film Sleepless Nights, Kisses for Breakfast will be screened. Access of the general public to the venue at the penitentiary will be limited in compliance with the anti-Covid public health measures. The event is promoted by La Ribalta – Centro Studi Enrico Maria Salerno, the Fondazione Cinema per Roma, and the Regional Superintendency of the Prisons of Lazio, Abruzzo and Molise, with the support of the Lazio Region and Roma Capitale. Info and reservations at: rebibbiafestival@gmail.com.
On October 21 at 9 pm, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma once again meets the Film Fest with the second of three evening events in which Rome’s Opera House is turned into a giant screening venue. This second date is devoted to a remarkable performance: In questa storia che è la mia, the total opera-concert recorded in 2021 at the Opera House, with words and music by Claudio Baglioni, the artistic direction of Giuliano Peparini, the television direction of Luigi Antonini, and the the artistic ensembles of the Teatro dell’Opera. This production is streamed exclusively on ITsART, the platform for Italian art and culture promoted by MiC.
The Fest’s Arthur Penn retrospective curated by Mario Sesti continues on Thursday with a screening of Target at the Casa del Cinema at 8:30 pm.
Patakin (¡Quiere Decir Fábula!) by Manuel Octavio Gómez is the Film of Our Lives chosen by RIchard Peña. The film will be screened at 6 pm at the Casa del Cinema. “The movie’s charm is simply contagious: one feels as if the rich musical tradition of Cuba is bursting onto screens.”
At the Teatro Palladium at 8 pm, Festgoers can catch the film Crazy for Football by Volfango de Biasi. And the screenings continue at Rome’s independent bookshops on Thursday: Nel mio amore by Susanna Tamaro is the one to watch at the Teatro San Leonardo, courtesy of Acilia Libri, at 8:45 pm.
Last but not least, the repeat screenings of Fest titles tomorrow: at 5 pm and 9 pm respectively, at SCENA, Rigoletto 2020 and Ciao Libertini! Gli anni ottanta secondo Pier Vittorio Tondelli; at 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm respectively, at My Cityplex Savoy, Vitti d’arte, Vitti d’amore and The Lost Leonardo in sala 2; and at 6 pm and 9 pm respectively, in sala 1, Caterina Caselli – Una vita, cento vite and Terrorizers.
