O Italian Film Festival reaches its 18th edition to bring dozens of films for free to more than 50 cities spread across all regions of Brazil between November 8th and December 9th.
The program includes 32 productions from “Beautiful country“, with a selection of 16 contemporary films and a retrospective with 16 classic features to pay homage”Italian comedy”, in a menu that includes works shown at important festivals, such as Berlin, Cannes and Venice.
The films will be shown in 91 cinemas, cultural centers and university film clubs throughout Brazil, but will also be available via streaming on a platform on the event's official website.
The hybrid format has been maintained since the Covid-19 pandemic, when the organization needed to reinvent itself to overcome social distancing, and today it is also a way of “democratizing” access to Italian culture, according to the festival's curator and director, Erica Bernardini.
“The festival knows the limitations of the country where it lives. There are cities that don’t even have movie theaters yet,” she told ANSA.
The selection includes four films that were pre-selected by Italy to seek a spot at the Oscars, such as “Grazie Ragazzi” (“Thank You, Boys”), a comedy by Riccardo Milani.
Other highlights are “Il Ritorno di Casanova” (“The Return of Casanova”), a drama by Gabriele Salvatores; “La Terra delle Donne” (“The Land of Women”), by Marisa Vallone; “L'Ultima Notte di Amore” (“The Last Night of Amore”), by Andrea Di Stefano and starring Pierfrancesco Favino; and “L'Ombra di Caravaggio” (“The Shadow of Caravaggio”), a drama that explores the episode in which the painting genius was investigated by the Catholic Church after being associated with a crime.
“One of the pearls of this festival, one of the most beautiful films, talks about one of the most emblematic artists of Italian culture, which is Caravaggio, a genius who changed the form of painting throughout the world,” said Bernardini.
The curator added that the public can expect an “intense” exhibition, with “a lot of good things” and a touch of “hope”.
“While last year we had films produced during the pandemic, a very depressing, difficult period to film, this year we have a batch of feature films that talk a lot about hope, love, overcoming,” he highlighted.
According to Bernardini, the menu also includes black and white films from award-winning, independent and debut filmmakers, as well as works that address current issues, such as female empowerment.
“Every year we bring the best in cinematography, I can guarantee that. We have a very creative country, which is Italy. Working with Italian cinema means always reinventing yourself. The country is the one that has won the most Oscars in the foreign film category”, recalled the curator.
On the occasion of the 18th edition of the event, the organization launched a manifesto that exposes an “open window to the world” and represents artificial intelligence through a thinking cinema camera interacting with the human mind. “Cinema is a window of 'Made in Italy', as well as fashion, design and gastronomy”, said Bernardini.
The festival is promoted by Italian Chamber of Commerce of São Pauloo (Italcam), with the support of Embassy of Italy and the European country's consular network in Brazil. The film most watched by the public during the event will receive the “Pirelli Italian Cinema Award". (Ansa Brasil)
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