ICFF co-founders Cristiano de Florentiis and Maurizio Magnifico announced the line-up of films that will screen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the AMC 30 Interchange Cinemas in Vaughan and the Royal Cinema. The 16 Canadian and North American premieres include comedies, dramas, documentaries and shorts.
Woody Allen’s eagerly awaited TO ROME WITH LOVE will have its Canadian Premiere as the closing night film for the ICFF on June 30, 2012. Six days of screenings and receptions will be capped with the Closing Night Ceremony on July 1, 2012 at 9:00 PM at the TIFF Bell Lightbox where the ICFF will announce the winners of two inaugural awards.
ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP
FEATURE FILMS
TO ROME WITH LOVE - Canadian Premiere
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Monica Nappo
Talent Attending: Actress Monica Nappo
- TO ROME WITH LOVE is a story about a number of people in Italy — some American, some Italian, some residents, some visitors — and the romances, adventures and predicaments they get into. The film is being released in Canada by Mongrel Media
LA KRYPTONITE NELLA BORSA (KRYPTONITE!) - North American Premiere
Director: Ivan Cotroneo
Cast: Valeria Golino, Cristiana Capotondi, Luca Zingaretti, Libero de Rienzo.
Talent Attending: Director Ivan Cotroneo
- Warmly received by the public and critics at the Rome International Film Festival, KRYPTONITE! is the directorial debut of highly regarded novelist and screenwriter Ivan Cotroneo (I Am Love). Set in 1970s Naples, it is ultimately a film that “entertains you with intelligence and depth.” (Vogue Italia, Francesca Felletti).
LA SCOMPARSA DI PATÒ (THE VANISHING OF PATÒ) - Canadian Premiere
Director: Rocco Mortelliti
Cast: Flavio Bucci, Maurizio Casagrande and Danilo Formaggia
Talent Attending: Director Rocco Mortelliti
- Rocco Mortelliti’s adaptation of Andrea Camilleri’s Sicilian novel starts as a simple detective story, but becomes an incisive social commentary on Italy’s class system and the true nature of power. This period drama revolves around the disappearance of local banker Antonio Patò. A squabbling Sicilian Carabiniere, Marshal Giummero (Nino Frassica) and a Neapolitan police officer, Inspector Ernesto Bellavia (Casagrande) are forced to work together to solve the mystery.
POSTI IN PIEDI IN PARADISO (A FLAT FOR THREE) – North American Premiere
Director: Carlo Verdone
Cast: Pier Francesco Favino, Carlo Verdone, Marco Giallini
- Talent Attending: Actor Pier Francesco Favino
This sharply observed comedy revolves around the complicated lives of three divorced men whose serious economic problems force them to share an apartment in Rome. However, living under the same roof also brings every possible problem each of them has with ex-wives, young or grown-up children and capricious new partners.
IL GIOELLINO (THE JEWEL) - Canadian Premiere
Director: Andrea Molaioli
Cast: Toni Servillo, Remo Girone, Sarah Felberbaum, Lino Guanciale
- This film is a well-crafted drama inspired by one of Italy’s biggest financial scandals, the 2003 meltdown of food and beverage corporation Parmalat. The latest in a string of Italian films that take an unvarnished look at Italy’s dark side (Il Divo, Gomorrah), The Jewel is Andrea Molaioli’s follow-up to his acclaimed 2007 debut The Girl By The Lake.
CHE BELLA GIORNATA (WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY) - Canadian Premiere
Director: Gennaro Nunziante
Cast: Checco Zalone, Nabira Akkari, Michele Alhaique
- CHE BELLA GIORNATA made Italian box office history in 2011 by becoming the most successful Italian film of all time. This crowd-pleaser stars popular stand-up comic Zalone as an exuberant mamma’s boy who lands a job guarding the Madonnina, the uppermost statue of Milan’s Duomo cathedral. Unbeknownst to him, the beautiful young Arab woman Farah (Nabira Akkari) who befriends him is actually planning to plant a bomb atop the cathedral.
IMMATURI, IL VIAGGIO (IMMATURE, THE TRIP) - North American Premiere
Director: Paolo Genovese
Cast: Raoul Bova, Ambra Angiolini, Luca Bizzarri, Barbora Bobulova
- This hilarious comedy is the sequel to the highly successful 2011 box office hit Immaturi (The Immature) a comedy about a group of thirty-something former high-school friends, who, 20 years after their graduation, are forced to retake their final exam in order to graduate from high school. The sequel centres on the same seven friends, this time organizing a trip to Greece that they never managed to take while at school.
BASILICATA COAST TO COAST
Director: Rocco Papaleo
Cast: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Rocco Papaleo, Alessandro Gassman, Max Gazzè
- Rocco Papaleo’s indie sleeper hit was honoured with several prestigious Italian film awards, including best first feature for the actor turned writer-director. The beautiful, untouched region of Basilicata stars in this engaging road movie. Nicola (Papaleo), the leader of an unassuming band, enters his group in a music festival on the other side of Basilicata and then comes up with the idea of walking there in ten days, partly as a publicity stunt and partly as a bonding journey.
ANNA, TERESA E LE RESISTENTI – International Premiere
Director: Matteo Scarfò
Cast: Nick Mancuso, Paolo Turrà, Antonella Civale, Patrizia Furfaro, Mariano Rigillo
Talent Attending: Director Matteo Scarfò and Actor Nick Mancuso
- Teresa Talotta Gullace was shot by a Nazi soldier during the 1943 occupation of Rome. Her tragic story inspired the great actress Anna Magnani’s unforgettable portrayal of Pina in Roberto Rossellini’s Neorealist milestone Roma, Città Aperta, (Rome, Open City). ANNA, TERESA E LE RESISTENTI is a docudrama told through the eyes of an American soldier (played by Italian-Canadian actor Nick Mancuso) and other personalities of that time.
HABEMUS PAPAM (WE HAVE A POPE)
Director: Nanni Moretti
Cast: Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Jerzy Stuhr
- Nanni Moretti’s comedy takes an imaginary, satirical peek behind Vatican walls at Melville (Michel Piccoli), a cardinal surprisingly elected pope by his peers. At a critical moment before he must address his new flock, Melville insists he can’t take the job.
TERRAFERMA
Director: Emanuele Crialese
Cast: Filippo Pucillo, Beppe Fiorello, Donatella Finocchiaro, Mimmo Cuticchio
- Filippo, whose father was lost at sea years ago, lives with his mother and grandfather on a small island off the coast of Sicily in this lyrical moral tale for our times. Emanuele Crialese (Respiro, The Golden Door) combines the dreamy, magical-realist quality that runs through his work with a hard-hitting social critique. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Venice Film Festival.
LA GIUSTA DISTANZA
Director: Carlo Mazzacurati
Cast: Giovanni Capovilla, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Giuseppe Battiston, Valentina Lodovini, Ahmed Hafiene, Ivano Marescotti.
- This film revolves around the lives of an immigrant Tunisian mechanic (Hassan), a substitute teacher hoping to work in Brazil (Mara), and an 18-year old aspiring journalist (Giovanni). A romance blossoms between Hassan and Mara, but Giovanni, a friend of Hassan’s, is also infatuated with her. Hassan spies on her at night, as she sleeps, while Giovanni hacks her email account. Then tragedy strikes, affecting the friendship between the two men.
DOCUMENTARY/SHORTS – “ITALIAN VOICES”
CANADIAN WEST COAST
Talent Attending: Director Cristiano de Florentiis
- From the Bay of Vancouver, a journey winds across the mountains and the ocean, traveling through a land that reminds the observer of the Garden of Eden. A documentary, a road movie, about British Columbia narrated by members of the Italian community living in B.C.
LETTER ONE
Director: Tony Nardi
Talent Attending: Tony Nardi
- This film is based on letters sent to “middle-men” of the Canadian cultural scene: a film/television producer and two theatre critics. ICFF presents the first letter, Letter One, which articulates an actor/writer’s struggle with cultural stereotypes in Canadian theatre/film/TV. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Italian Canadian actors, directors and film critics.
PIZZA BAGEL (short) – International premiere
Director: Joe Mari
Talent Attending: director Joe Mari and actor Michael Pillarella
- Pizza Bagel takes a comedic look at intercultural dating while poking fun at Mediterranean cuisine and unabashedly patriotic soccer celebrations.
PIAZZA PETAWAWA – THE PARADOX
Director: Rino Noto
Talent Attending: Rino Noto
- This documentary honours the experiences of individuals who were interned during World War II in the Petawawa concentration camp for being ‘enemy aliens.
AWARDS
The following awards will be announced at the Closing Night Ceremony on July 1, 2012 at 9:00 PM at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
The People’s Choice Award will be chosen by the audience, which will cast ballots for Best Feature. The winner will be announced at the Awards Ceremony.
ANGELA BALDASSARRE AWARD
The Toronto Film Critics Association will present the Angela Baldassarre Award to the “Best Film” of the ICFF in memory of Angela, a gifted Toronto film critic who lost her battle with cancer on November 15, 2007. Angela was a member of the TFCA.
About The Italian Contemporary Film Festival
Founded in 2012, the Italian Contemporary Film Festival is a non-profit cultural organization which provides a showcase for the best in new Italian cinema. Each year, the festival will present international, national and local Italian films to celebrate the diversity of Italian culture.
Tickets for all venues go on sale Friday, June 1, 2012 online and in person at:
TIFF Bell Lightbox Box Office
Reitman Square
350 King Street W.
(416) 599-TIFF (8433).
For the complete film line-up and ticket information visit http://www.icff.ca/
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