Italiano
Viggo Mortensen, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th edition of the Rome Film Fest, will be handed the award tomorrow, Friday, October 18th, at 6:15 pm in the Sala Petrassi at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, on the occasion of the premiere of his new film, The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he wrote, directed, and stars in. Set in the mid-nineteeth century, the title (Mortensen’s second directorial turn since Falling) is a sophisticated feminist western starring Mortensen himself and Vicky Krieps as two immigrants trying to make a life for themselves in a corrupt city in Nevada.
On Saturday, October 19th, at 4pm in the Sala Petrassi, the American actor, artist, director and producer will be on hand for a masterclass with Fest audiences. Tomorrow, Friday, October 18th at 6:45 pm, the Sala Sinopoli hosts the premiere of Fino alla fine (Here Now) by Gabriele Muccino. The director’s latest film is a multi-layered action movie: thriller, love story, survival tale, and redemption, all in the space of twenty-four hours. The film is also a meditation on the role of fate, the transition to adulthood, and the weight of personal choices, and features an international cast headed by the film’s star, Elena Kampouris. “The film invites us to our lives without regrets,” Muccino declares, “exploring the new and challenging the past, in a passionate meditation of life, liberty, and love.” Next up in Sala Sinopoli, at 9:30 pm, the first two episodes of the series Avetrana – Qui non è Hollywood, directed by Pippo Mezzapesa (Il bene mio, Ti mangio il cuore), who also co-wrote the series with Antonella Gaeta and Davide Serino.
And at 4:30 pm, the Sala Sinopoli hosts La Valanga Azzurra by Giovanni Veronesi. Interviewing the protagonists of a truly unique era first-hand, the director evokes its epic moments (from the unforgettable rivalry between Gustav Thöni and the Swede Ingemar Stenmark to the triumphant 1975 Olympic Games at Innsbruck), but does not overlook the darker times (the fatal accidents and private tragedies).
At 9:30 pm in the Sala Petrassi, the film Saturday Night by Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air,
Ghostbusters: Legacy) reconstructs the frenetic ninety minutes ahead of the first episode of one of the most revolutionary TV shows the world has ever known: Saturday Night Live, which first aired on NBC on October 11th, 1975.
The Film Fest’s masterclass lineup kicks off at 4:30 pm in the Sala Petrassi courtesy of one of the world’s best-loved novelists, Dennis Lehane, the author of bestsellers turned into hit films and even cult films, such as Mystic River, brought to the screen by Clint Eastwood; Shutter Island, adapted for the screen by Martin Scorsese; and Gone, Baby, Gone; and Live By Night, both adapted by Ben Affleck.
Four screenings will be held tomorrow in the Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna.
At 5pm, Arsa, the first feature-length fiction film by the artistic duo Masbedo (Nicolò Massazza and Iacopo Bedogni) is set on Stromboli, which has previously featured in some of their works and video installations. The film is an extraordinary coming together of imagery and words (thanks to the collaboration with author Giorgio Vasta), a foray into cinema that does not resemble anything else, exploring whole new ways of telling stories through images.
Next up, at 7:15 pm, is the premiere of Le Choix de Joseph Cross by Gilles Bourdos (Afterwards, Renoir, and Vulnerabili). Obsessed, tense, and anxiety-producing, Le Choix is a remake of Locke, the story of a life that is transformed into a claustrophobic thriller, with Vincent Lindon as the protagonist. At 9:15 pm, Jazzy by Morrisa Maltz is a sensitive coming-of-age story, which accompanies its protagonists from the age of six to twelve, deftly describing the curiosity and difficulty of growing up, without ever being invasive or banal.
The Teatro Studio program gets underway at 3 pm, with Watermark by Jennifer Baichwal and
Edward Burtynsky, a title in the retrospective of films about water, “Gocce di cinema”, organized by the Fondazione Cinema per Roma in collaboration with Acea. Another film in the showcase screens on Friday as well: Lifeboat by Alfred Hitchcock (at 4 pm at the Casa del Cinema).
And tomorrow, Friday, October 18th, at 6 pm at the Teatro Olimpico, on the occasion of its eightieth anniversary, ANICA treats the Film Fest to a screening of the restored version of Ricomincio da tre by Massimo Troisi. The evening event will also pay homage to one of Italy’s greatest film producers: Fulvio Lucisano.
At 9 pm, the Teatro Olimpico nexts hosts a preview of Mike by Giuseppe Bonito, a two-episode mini-series starrying Elia Nuzzolo and Claudio Giosé, playing the TV personality Mike Bongiorno in his youth and in his maturity respectively. Structured as flashbacks which reconstruct in reverse the life of the television host, from his childhood in New York to his wartime experience in Italy and the later developments in his career, the story explores even the lesser known aspects of Bongiorno’s character and his private life. Four screenings are being held at the MAXXI on Friday. At 2pm, first up is Pellizza pittore da Volpedo by Francesco Fei, about the painter of one of the most iconic paintings of the 20th century, The Fourth Estate. Since it was painted in 1901, it has become the emblem of the working classes rising up to take their rightful place in history. Francesco Fei lets the locations speak for themselves, taking the camera inside paintings of extraordinary beauty in which psychological analysis and the sense of belonging to the rural world are obtained through a surprisingly complex and modern technique.
At 4 pm, next up is Ferrari: Fury & the Monster by Steve Hoover, a documentary that evokes, through historical materials and recent interviews, the story of a truly timeless legend, indelibly imprinted on the collective imagination.
Third, at 6:30 pm, the documentary L’isola della cura by Alex Grazioli reconstructs the many thousand-years-old history of the island, with appearances by Giuseppe Fiorello, the art historian Filippo Cosmelli, the architect Ilaria Delsere, and Father Raphael Barbato.
The last title on the MAXXi lineup, at 8:30 pm, is Italo Calvino nelle città by Davide Ferrario, a perfect homage to one of the most important literary lights in Italian culture, featuring Violante Placido in the role of Calvino’s muse, alongside Valerio Mastandrea and Filippo Scotti, with Alessandro Vassallo as the writer’s alter ego. Tomorrow, Friday, October 18th, the program at the Casa del Cinema gets underway at 12 noon, with a talk with Renato Casaro, arranged by Gian Luca Farinelli (free admission). The legendary Italian poster artist who ‘drew’ the world’s films, Casaro will meet audiences for a look back over his career as an illustrator, on the occasion of the retrospective of his art, “L’uomo che ha disegnato il cinema” (15-17 October, Casa del Cinema).
The Casa del Cinema’s program of documentaries in the Storia del Cinema section includes, at 5:45 pm, in the Sala Cinecittà, L’Homosexualité au cinéma, les chemins de la victoire by Sonia Medina: the director will introduce the screening and tackle the theme of how homosexuality is depicted on the big screen, probing the reasons why this new art form, emblem of modernity, found itself a prisoner of moralism. At 7:15 p.m., the second title on the program is C’era una volta Napoli. Offbeat and entertaining, this on-the-road documentary revolves around an “odd couple”: producer, director, screenwriter and actor Ciro Ippolito and film critic Marco Giusti. The duo will chat with Fest audiences before the screening.
They will also be on hand at 9:30 pm to present the restored version of Arrapaho by Ciro Ippolito. The program of repeat screenings from the 2024 Film Fest held at the Cinema Giulio Cesare continues on Friday. In Sala 1, at 4 pm, festgoers can catch I Am Martin Parr by Lee Shulman, at 6 pm Pierce by Nelicia Low, and at 9 pm En fanfare by Emmanuel Courcol. Sala 3 will hold screenings of La Pie voleuse by Robert Guédiguian (4:30 pm), Le Choix de Joseph Cross by Gilles Bourdos (7:30 pm), and Jazzy by Morrissa Maltz (9:30 pm). Over in Sala 7, there will be a 4:30 pm screening of the documentary Antidote by James Jones. The Teatro Olimpico will also feature two repeat screenings on Friday: Natale fuori orario by Gianfranco Firriolo (at 12 noon) and U.S. Palmese, introduced by the directors Antonio and Marco Mainetti (3:30 pm)
