Italian Film Festival

Italian Film Festival

The Italian Film festival opened this week with “Tutta la vita davanti” (Her whole life ahead).The film follows Marta (Isabella Ragonese) who is a brilliant philosophy graduate but can't manage to get work in the academic field. Her chance encounter with a young single mother to do babysitting leads her to work as a telemarketer at a call centre promoting a useless home appliance.

The workplace is organised by an over enthusiastic manager who goes in for motivational exercises and horrendous work place practices. But Marta, while appalled at the place finds she is a brilliant telemarketer earning everyone s respect.

The centre is located in the surreal commercial area of EUR on the outskirts of Rome and there is a contrast between the flashy new world of Italy and the old Rome, just as there is a contrast between Martas desire to publish her philosophical treatise and her meaningless job.

The film and its various story lines intersect in a comic but pointed critique on contemporary Italian society.

The seventeen films in the festival illustrate the rich variety of Italian cinema, including thrillers, documentaries, drama, comedy and historical drama.

There is the documentary "Biutiful Cauntri" which looks at the problem of illegal dumping in Italy where the disposal of waste is big business earning the Mafia, enormous amounts of money while corrupt officials a and politicians do nothing to stop o the problem

There are hardly any checks, but there are victims. Sheep breeders see their animals dying of dioxin poisoning from the factory next door. And without being aware of it, people eat poisonous crops.

The film "Vicere" (The Viceroys) is an historical film based on a novel by Federico De Roberto that set off a scandal at the end of the nineteenth century and that was banned for 100 years. The film recounts the history of Sicily through the history of one its noble families, along the lines of Visconti’s great classic, ‘The Leopard’.

Set in the mid 1800's, in the last years of the House of Bourbon reign in Sicily, and the eve of Italian reunification. The funeral of Princess Teresa brings together the members of the Uzeda family, descendents of the Viceroys of Spain. Through the eyes of a boy, Consalvo (Alessandro Preziosi), the last heir to the Uzeda dynasty, the mysteries, intrigues and complex personalities of the other family members are brought to light as they fight over the Princess’s inheritance. So Consalvo grows up in a family at war with itself.
His father, a superstitious tyrant, consumed by his desire for power and money repeatedly ostracises his rebellious son and deprives his daughter even of the right to love.

The Viceroys is a deeply satisfying and overtly political film, with many contemporary resonances. There is even a rumour that the Rome film festival declined to screen the film in 2007, concerned that it was too direct a critique on contemporary Italian politics.

The thriller "La Ragazza del lago" (The Girl by the Lake) is set an idyllic town in the Italian Dolomites where a young girl is murdered, found naked at the edge of a lake with no signs of sexual assault or struggle. Inspector Giovanni Sanzio (Toni Servillo) is called in from the provincial capital to solve the crime, but the victim proves as mysterious as the crime itself.

Suspicion first falls on village simpleton Mario, then transfers to Anna's lay-about boyfriend, Roberto, and even her father, Davide, whose home movies of his daughter pay more attention to her body than would seem appropriate. Indeed, the more Inspector Sanzio and local cop Siboldi (Fausto Sciarappa) dig, the more questions arise.

Servillo, is an inspired depiction of Sanzio radiating depth while maintaining a hardened exterior. The beautiful Italian scenery is an additional bonus in a film that reveals the disturbing elements that lurk not so far beneath the surface of quiet provincial life.

In "Bianco e Nero" (Black and White) Elena (Ambra Angiolini) and Carlo (Fabio Volo) seem happily married, if not a little mismatched. Elena comes from a wealthy family and is dedicated to her job at an African aid organization, while husband Carlo, a computer engineer, comes from a more modest background. One day Carlo meets Nadine (Aissa Maiga), the dissatisfied wife of one of Elena's colleagues (Eriq Ebouaney). Their love at first sight wreaks havoc upon their marriages and, more importantly, brings to light a series of prejudices and clichés from the betrayed spouses.

Defying political correctness, Black and White is a comic look at infidelity, bigotry and the possibility or impossibility of racial integration and cross-cultural harmony in Italy.