17 NOVEMBER - 4 DECEMBER 2006

Marcello: A Sweet Life (15)

Dir: Mario Canale, Annarosa Morri

Directors Mario Canale and Annarosa Morri bring together a who's who of collaborators but the biggest treat comes from Antonello Branca's 1965 roving interview that helps reaffirm Mastroianni's discreet seductiveness and gentility. Talking heads include daughters Barbara and Chiara discussing Marcello as father, and co-stars Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimee, the latter especially glowing. Directors such as Ettore Scola and Mario Monicelli recall his consummate professionalism as well as his maddening telephone addiction. Also included are archival interviews with Fellini, Visconti and Zurlini, exposing Mastroianni's legendary laziness as a protective pose covering insecurities.

With: Barbara Mastroianni, Chiara Mastroianni, Armando Trovaioli, Ettore Scola, Philippe Noiret, Lina Wertmuller, Mario Monicelli, Alfredo Bini, Claudia Cardinale, Giuseppe Rotunno, Anouk Aimee, Luigi Magni, Marco Bellocchio, Liliana Cavani, Jean Sorel, Angela Anzimani, Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Vittorio Taviani.
2006. 98mins

La Dolce Vita / The Sweet Life (15)

Dir: Federico Fellini

A series of nights and mornings along the Via Veneto in Rome as seen through the eyes of its main character, a jaded society reporter named Marcello (played by Marcello Mastroianni). Marcello is a man who commits to nothing, as in his dealings with his simple, jealous lover (Yvonne Furneaux), a sophisticated woman (Anouk Aimée) with whom he has an episodic relationship, a beautiful bombshell (Anita Ekberg) whom he follows in her wanderings through Rome (including the notable scene of her night bath in the Fontana di Trevi), and a multitude of other characters that inhabit the thoroughfare. Marcello wants to quit his job as a gossip columnist and become a novelist, but he never seems to be able to concentrate long enough to make any progress on his serious writings.

Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Yvonne Furneau, Anouk Aimée.
1960. 180mins

CENTENARY TRIBUTE TO ROBERTO ROSSELLINI

The son of a wealthy Roman architect, Roberto Rossellini was as well known for his love affairs as his cinema. On the one hand, his neorealist films - in particular Rome Open City (1945) - caught the attention of many of the biggest producers, critics, and stars. However, the director's affair with one such star, Ingrid Bergman, nearly ruined his career, causing audiences to shun subsequent near-masterpieces like The Flowers of St. Francis (1950). To celebrate what would have been his 100th birthday earlier this year (he was born 8 May 1906) the Italian Film Festival screens Journey to Italy, a key film in the Rossellini-Bergman relationship. A separate double bill pairs a humourous homage by Isabella Rossellini (his daughter with Bergman) and a touching documentary about the making of his masterpiece Rome: Open City.

Journey to Italy / Viaggio in Italia (PG)

Dir: Roberto Rossellini

Voyage To Italy has been hailed as one of the finest films ever made and wasrecently described by one critic as “ awkwardly great”. Harshly treated on its initial release, it is now recognised as one of Rossellini’s most masterful works. The final film in a trilogy that began with Stromboli(1949) and Europa 51 (1952), it is a deceptively simple portrait of amarriage in crisis. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders are a quiet English couple who travel to Naples seeking a buyer for a property that has been left to them by a relative. Separated from the social whirl and hectic days of their life in London, they are forced to confront a relationship that hascrumbled into weariness, mistrust and mutual disdain.
Juxtaposing the emotional reserve of the unhappy couple with the beauty and vitality of their Italian surroundings, Voyage To Italy is a film with little plot but a profound understanding of the human condition. The world-weary, self-loathing at the heart of George Sanders screen character has never been better used and Ingrid Bergman is exceptional at conveying the emotional turmoil beneath her civilised veneer. A subtle, haunting film that has grown in stature over the past half century, Voyage To Italy has an allure that was best summed up by Rossellini expert Peter Brunette: “ It is a film composed of elements as tiny as barely perceivable emotional textures, and as immense as the meaning of life and death.”

Cast: Ingrid Bergman, George Sanders, Paul Muller, Anna Proclemer, Maria Mauban
Producer: Marcello D’Amico.
Scr: Roberto Rossellini, Vitaliano Brancati.
Ph: Enzo Serafin. Ed: Jolanda Benvenuti.
Mus: Renzo Rossellini. 1953. 52mins

 

Children of Rome, Open City / Figli di Roma Citta' Aperta (15)

Dir: Laura Muscardin

Offering a rare glimpse into the making of a masterpiece from 1945-Roberto Rossellini's classic of Italian neo-realism, Rome Open City. This fascinating documentary emphasises Rossellini's desire to do something useful in the wake of the Second World War and to find a reason for the Italian people's sacrifices

2005 52mins

      showing with

My Dad Is 100 Years Old (15)

Dir: Guy Maddin

SCREENING TIMES

Written by and starring Isabella Rossellini, My Dad is 100 Years Old is at once whimsical and profoundly serious. It considers, among other things, Rossellini’s father Roberto’s troubled career and, in a very special, luminous moment, the relationship between her parents. It pairs wonderfully with Roberto Rossellini’s canonical Rome, Open City, the film that so clearly displays his impact on cinema.
Rossellini’s consideration of her father and his work in My Dad ends on a somewhat poignant note, as she wonders what will become of his considerable legacy. Ms Rossellini’s playful, elegant wish that her father be remembered is a first step in celebrating the œuvre of this giant.

Cast: Isabella Rossellini, Isaac Paz Sr.
2005. 16mins.                                                  (right: Guy Maddin and Isabella Rossellini)

PAOLO SORRENTINO Spotlight

He’s only 36, yet Paolo Sorrentino already is being hailed as one of the high hopes of new Italian cinema. With The Consequences of Love and this year’s The Family Friend he has quashed all questions of whether Italian cinema has lost its visual flair. Sorrentino always has displayed classy, cinematic eye right from his first feature, the cleverly conceived One Man Up in 2001. He is part of what has become known as the Neapolitan school, as he and other directors including Mario Martone and Stefano Incerti are making the sensual seaside city a hotbed of Italian cinematic creativity. The Italian Film Festival UK is delighted to throw the spotlight on such an original and emerging key player.

The Dust Of Naples / Polvere Di Napoli (15)

Dir: Antonio Capuano

In this anthology film with five episodes about modern-day Naples, director Antonio Capuano updates Vittorio De Sica's The Gold of Naples (1954) and gave a first major screenwriting opportunity to Paolo Sorrentino. In Seven Part Scopa a young card-player gambles against local butchers; in Charlie and Jerry two sax players minus instruments entertain at a wedding by reviving old routines of Eduardo De Filippo and Toto; The Wedding tells the story of impoverished newlyweds; Fred follows Argentine tourists in Pompei; and in Richard Gere an aspiring actor has a vision of his hero. Originally shown at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Cast: Gigio Morra, Antonio Iuorio, Gianni Ferreri, Alan De Luca, Teresa Saponangelo
Scr: Paolo Sorrentino. 1998. 104mins

One Man Up / L'uomo In piu (15)

Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

Two men learn firsthand about the cruel twists of fame and fortune. In the early '80s, Tony Pisapia (Toni Servillo) and his younger brother, Antonio (Andrea Renzi), have each risen to the peak of their chosen professions. Tony is a nightclub singer who after years of struggle has achieved nationwide fame, and Antonio is a soccer player who becomes a star after scoring the game-winning goal in the European championship match. However, a few years down the line both men are experiencing a sharp reversal of their good fortune. Tony has developed a devastating cocaine addiction, and after it's revealed he's become sexually involved with an underage girl, it doesn't seem likely that the public will ever forgive him. Meanwhile, a leg injury has put an end to Antonio's career as an athlete, and he finds himself starting from zero as he tries to launch a new career in coaching; he faces another personal crisis when his wife, frustrated by Antonio's career decline, leaves him. L'Uomo in Piu was loosely based on the true stories of two Italian celebrities, musician Franco Califano and football star Agostino Di Bartolomei.

Cast: Toni Servillo, Andrea Renzi.
2001. 103mins

Showing with: The Long Night / La notte lunga (15)

Cast: Roberto De Francesco, Chiara Caselli, Giovanni Esposito Dir: Paolo Sorrentino. Scr: Paolo Sorrentino,
Anna Mittone. Ph: Mario Amura Ed: Cristiano Travaglioli. 2001. 15 mins.

The Consequences of Love / Le Conseguenze dell'amore (15)

Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

In a Swiss hotel, an Italian businessman named Titta Di Girolamo sits silently, alone in the window of the café as he's done every day for eight years. So what, exactly, is he doing? Consequences Of Love stars Toni Servillo as the mysterious 50-year-old resident. He sits apart, impeccable and impenetrable; he smokes and he waits. And so do we - but not for long as Signore Girolamo has secrets everywhere. The plot unfolds itself with such elegance that it would be a crime to give anything away. Even the genre remains a mystery for almost an hour - and then plays out with a brilliant flair for the unexpected. Along the way you are swept up in some dazzling filmmaking. The camera moves with precision, grace and constant invention, gliding between striking angles in the spotless, neutral hotel. Crisp editing and an involving, dynamic soundtrack steer the mood with equal panache. And Servillo is utterly remarkable as Di Girolamo; poker-faced, witty, gaspingly rude and preposterously cool. A uniformly splendid supporting cast surround him; even the most incidental characters just ooze credibility and depth.

Cast: Toni Bardem, Luis Tosar, Celso Bugallo, Nieve de Medina, Enrique Villón
2005. 104 mins

Showing with: Love Knows No Bound / L’amore non ha confini (15)

Dir: Paolo Sorrentino. Scr: Paolo Sorrentino. 1998. 15mins

The Family Friend / L'Amico di Famiglia (18)

Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

Two men learn firsthand about the cruel twists of fame and fortune. In the early '80s, Tony Pisapia (Toni Servillo) and his younger The Family Friend deals with an odious moneylender whose services come with exorbitant interest and a repulsive pretence of intimacy. When the 70-year-old Geremia (Giacomo Rizzo) finds himself alone with a beautiful bride, Rosalba (Laura Chiatti), on her wedding day, she responds to his creepy lust in order to reduce the interest on her father's loan of the money that's paying for the wedding. Rizzo gives a remarkable performance as the repellent usurer. Even a bride entering marriage without conviction might recoil at such skin-crawling lechery, but Rosalba suggests immediately that for a reduction in the 100 per cent interest the old man is charging her father, something could be worked out. As the man's drooling increases, she gets him down to 10 per cent although at a moment of heightened excitement he insists on twelve-and-a-half. Two plot developments then ensue with Geremia, whose loans have always been moderate, tempted by a "sure thing" chance of doubling his money if he loans a businessman €1 million. To his surprise and joy, Rosalba reveals that not only is she in love with him but she is carrying his child. For the first time in his life, Geremia is smitten, and his judgment goes out the window.

Cast: Giacomo Rizzo. Frabrizio Bentivoglio, Laura Chiatti, Gigi Angelillo, Clara Bindi, Barbara Valmorin, Marco Giallini, Alina Nedelea, Roberta Fierontini, Elias Schilton, and Lorenzo Gioielli.

2006. 110 mins.