Discoveries from Italy World Cinema

Genoa, 1945. The war is over but not for 4 partisans who still try to capture the remaining fascists. They are not satisfied with the concept of justice that the new born Italian Republic tries to instigate.

Following the death of her grandfather, Valentina settles with her husband Pierre, a sculptor, in the old family villa which she partly inherited (half of it belongs to her cousin Marta, who already resides there). Co-habitation proves to be awkward: Valentina is unscrupulous and uninhibited, while Marta is austere and virtuous - at least, on the surface. In fact, when Valentina suddenly dies, the woman initiates a seduction which eventually coaxes Pierre into her arms. The cosy situation soon changes when a police officer turns up to investigate Valentina's death...

A Milanese shop assistant becomes an overnight film sensation when fate lands her the leading role in a prominent producer's romantic drama.

A game of paintball turns deadly when three unhinged and deranged ex-soldiers play a twisted mind game of catch and release with their unsuspecting victims. This quickly leads to a bloody man hunt where everyone is a target and no one is safe.

Carlo is a doctor that has recently lost his wife. Affected by the loss, he is supported by his family and friends, and, above all, for the love he feels towards his little daughter. And then, one day, he meets Camille.

Remigio, a young foundling, lives on the farm run by his impoverished foster parents and then is sold to an old musician.

Andrea Zaccardi has returned home from hunting. He and his wife Luisa are very close. Their young son Giulio develops a cough. The doctor recommends the seaside. Luisa leaves with Giulio for several weeks. Andrea stays to work at the metal shop.

First staged at the Teatro La Fenice in 1846, Verdi’s ninth opera, Attila, returns to the stage of La Scala on December 7th. Following the inauguration of the 2015-2016 Season with Giovanna d’Arco and in anticipation of Macbeth, with Attila Musical Director Riccardo Chailly continues his study of Verdi’s early works, renewing a successful collaboration with creative director Davide Livermore that began with his acclaimed production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale for La Scala. In this complex opera Verdi experiments with fresh perspectives, featuring spectacular historical settings, introspective angles and moral uncertainties. Attila demands of its performers not only passion and confidence, but also the ability to find subtle accents and psychological nuances.

An upbeat and humorous account of the hard life under police protection led by Italian writer Roberto Saviano since the publication in 2006 of Gomorrah, his controversial book about the Camorra, the ruthless organization that has dominated the criminal underground in Naples for centuries.

A number of sketches based on the songs from the Uccelli d'Italia album

For having suffered the violence of seven Himalayan Sherpas, the Countess Valentina Contarini has fallen ill of "fallophobia" and consults a healer, a supposed extraterrestrial who is actually a young Swedish man who "works" for certain American psychologists.

Clips, a bounty killer, is after one John Coler, who has fooled him, keeping all of a loot he should have shared with him. He finally catches his prey only to discover that the man is a Coler all right but not the expected one.

Paola, a double bass player at the last concert of her band's tour, discovers she's pregnant. But that's not the only problem she's forced to face. The relationship with her parents is problematic: his father is lost in alcohol and the future grandmother is becoming a mother for the second time. To complicate things further, the friends who play with her have just signed a contract for a series of concerts in Europe.

Mozart and Da Ponte use the theme of "fiancée swapping", which dates back to the 13th century; notable earlier versions are found in Boccaccio's Decameron and Shakespeare's play Cymbeline. Elements from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew are also present. Furthermore, it incorporates elements of the myth of Procris as found in Ovid's Metamorphoses, vii.[10] Place: Naples Time: the 18th century

Franco and Ciccio embark on a journey to find Pirate Flint's lost treasure, hunted by the fearsome Pirate Blackbeard.

A crack team of Italian naval divers plan to attach high explosives to the hulls of Royal navy warships anchored in Gibraltar harbour.

Miguel, a poor young man living in Franco's Spain becomes a bull fighter to escape starvation.

Gerhard is a young technical in Düsseldorf who works in a factory of security devices for banks. In agreement with Nicola, Mario and Hans, they prepare and carry out a robbery which, however, will have consequences for all of them.

Maciste is captured and forced to work as a slave in an African mine.

Explore the life and work of acclaimed Italian filmmaker Carlo Mazzacurati, who passed away in 2014. It delves into his distinctive poetic style, blending genres, and portraying rarely seen parts of Italy with empathy and dignity.

Sports comedy film inspired by a 5–0 victory by A.S. Roma against their rivals Juventus in 1931.

In 1967 the director Vittorio Cottafavi produces the TV movie Le Troiane from Euripides. He uses the classical Italian translation by Enzio Cetrangolo, but creates an original way of film adaptation, inspired by the Brechtian conception of staging the ancient theater. He does not use costume or set design, but is based only on the simple performance of the actors, highlighted by the shooting technique. The absolute sense of tragedy is perceived by the public through emotional engagement and imagination. So, the Trojan war is all the wars and the pain of the Trojan women is the pain of all the victims of any war.

The story is set in an indefinite time. In a dungeon, five people fight for their survival: three women, Blonde, Black and Red; a theologian and a young doctor. Out of this hiding place reigns the APOCALISSE. Evil was generated by a zero patient and a group of ex-soldiers, called "Exterminators", crucifies any person you meet to find the origin of the evil. Are the five really safe in this place or is there something they don't know?

Agostina is a maid turned prostitute during World War II. She sends all the money she makes to the local priest in her home village for safekeeping. After the war is over Agostina and her friend Australia plan to open a clothing store so they return to her home island to collect the money from the priest. But after arriving there Agostina learns in shock that the priest has been dead for more than a year and that his eccentric successor mistook the received money for donations and spent all of it on building a new orphanage for war orphans. To make matters even worse, other islanders think that Agostina is now a millionaire and beg her to help them financially.

Having escaped the roundup of the Rome ghetto, Ester, a 40-year-old Jewish woman, is sent to the Fossoli camp where she befriends Ada. Having avoided the transport to Auschwitz, Ester is left with one last, difficult mission: to save the child she has discovered she is expecting.

An anthology film that features four segments. Contagium: The beginning of a global pandemic originated by the macabre experiment of a military scientist. Gully: The calvary of a young man who, as a result of his ambition, is the victim of a painful metamorphosis. The Body: The martyrdom suffered by a woman obsessed with beauty and who resorts to a home cosmetic surgery in order to save money. The Cabin: A post-apocalyptic era in which money becomes the only means that can allow the infected to stay alive.

The documentary aims to tell the story of a director who managed to capture the attention of the whole world and, due to his political and aesthetic coherence, was able to work much less than he deserved. It's the story of a film professor who earned the gratitude and affection of all his students. The tale of a cinephile who successfully combined social and civic commitment with a spectacular talent worthy of Hollywood.

Nebraska Clay kills a gang of outlaws in self-defense but is imprisoned for further investigation of the crime. While in jail he meets an outlaw named “Crazy Person” and escapes with him when his gang carries out a jailbreak.

The film, a nostalgic fantasy documentary, depicts in six episodes a family story in Bobbio between 1999 and 2008. We discover the 5 years-old Elena being brought up by her aunts (Marco Bellocchio's sisters) because her mother Sara is trying to succeed as an actress in Milan. Her uncle Giorgio has a difficult relationship with his sister and judges her for not taking care of her daughter. But as soon as Sara can afford it, she offers to take Elena with her, leaving the village and her aunts, perhaps for ever - while Giorgio, up to his eyeballs in debt, takes refuge in Bobbio. His sister will help him and sell a house.

Adventures of a young married couple during their honeymoon trip.

A corrupt businessman obtains a castle through surreptitious means. He has a series of affairs while his ill wife remains bed-ridden and after her death he marries one of his mistresses. But she was the daughter of the man from whom the castle was stolen and she has her own agenda...

The true natures of love, commitment, and reality are called into question in this offbeat drama. One night in bed, Tomas, a magician, begins telling a story to his wife Desirè about Emma and Sal, a married couple whose love life has gone stale. In order to fire up their relationship, Emma and Sal begin playing an increasingly elaborate series of role-playing games, in which they assume different personas -- Sal saves Emma as she is tied to railroad tracks, or Emma must seduce another man to pull her husband out of debt. But the question soon arises -- are Emma and Sal real? And who really holds the power in their lives? Chimera also features Franco Nero as one of the participants in Emma and Sal's sexual fantasies.

La storia dei tredici is an Italian silent film starring Lyda Borelli.

Ersilia Drei, after a suicide attempt recounts her vicissitudes: hired as governess to the daughter of Consul Grotti she is wooed by Franco but soon after seduced by the very consul who drives her away after his daughter loses her life due to Ersilia's distraction. Because of economic difficulties she falls lower and lower until she meets Ludovico with whom she can perhaps hope for sincere love again. The consul's return, however, will lead her toward a tragic ending.

Adolfo Cocchi has a building firm but his plan to build a set of buildings is been stopped by an old former Garibaldian, Don Leopoldo, who refuses to sell his property. A group of young people go to his house to play and sing. Marcella, Cocchi's daughter, who has a beautiful voice, goes to visit Leopoldo and falls in love with Paolo. They have an idea: open a night-club called "Io bacio... tu baci"...

The story follows Joanna, a striking forty-year-old woman trapped in a stifling marriage to a wealthy and controlling man. When she meets Ada, an enigmatic and free-spirited young woman, Joanna is drawn into a journey of self-discovery and rebellion. As their bond deepens, Joanna begins to break free from the life that has imprisoned her but liberation comes at a price she never anticipated.

Fedele and Vittorio are two brothers who married the daughters of a rich entrepreneur, Siniscalco. But while Fedele is an irreproachable husband, Vittorio cheats on his wife and accumulates gambling debts, until one day his car is found at the bottom of a lake and he is left for dead. Six years later, however, the extraordinary news arrives: Vittorio is alive and is in Cuba, where he lives by scamming tourists. Fedele then leaves with the intention of bringing him back to his family.

Antonio and Peppino live in a small town in central Italy: Peppino is the barber, Totò is maintained by the rich but avaricious wife Teresa.

The film exposes the links between Agrifood and politics. With a pool of international experts it analyses the many problems related to factory farming: water pollution, migrants exploitation, biodiversity loss and antibiotic resistance.

This evocative production by Giancarlo Del Monaco sumptuously captures the look and feel of 14th century Genoa and is a perfect compliment to Verdi’s setting of this story of searing conflict between public duty and private grief. Plácido Domingo is Gabriele Adorno, sworn enemy of the doge of Genoa, Simon Boccanegra (Vladimir Chernov). Gabriele is in love with the beautiful Amelia (Kiri Te Kanawa at her most affecting) who turns out to be none other than the long-lost daughter the doge. James Levine’s authoritative conducting of the Met orchestra and chorus reveals the dark power of Verdi’s score. Performed January 26th, 1995.

Montelusa, Sicily, Italy, 1877. Giovanni Bovara, the new chief inspector of the mills, is charged with collecting a severe tax. Sicilian by birth, but Ligurian by adoption, he reasons and speaks as a man of northern Italy and does not understand the dynamics of the law of silence that regulate the Sicilian land, so his intransigence immediately gives him several enemies…

In late summer 1991, three Italians reach a hunting reserve in Croatia with a station wagon. They go to deer, but, unaware of what's in store for months, they do not decipher the enigmatic signs that surround them. One of the three is suddendly wounded in the knee by a bullet of unknown provenance, and they end up in a hotel targeted by snipers night and day.

During the 20 months before Italy's liberation from Fascism, a group of university students trade empty rhetoric for action by joining the Partisans into the mountains of Nazi-occupied northern Italy. There, group leader Gigi falls in love with his best friend's girl. As the Resistance struggle continues, some of the "little teachers" are killed, and the brutal reality of war leaves its mark on their youthful idealism.

After a wealthy businessman's wife is murdered by an unknown assailant, his advisors suggest that he go into hiding at a shuttered hotel; taking along his mistress, he is soon besieged by supernatural visions which seem to be drawing him into the hotel's own dark and murderous past.

Twenty years in the life of "Il Califfo" Franco Califano, from the Rome of the Dolce Vita to the 1984 concert at the Teatro Parioli, through great musical successes, loves, falls, and comebacks.

Originally titled simply Decimo Clandestino, this Lina Wertmuller "miniature" began life as an Italian TV drama. Piera Degli Esposti plays the widowed, impoverished mother of a huge farm family. The woman moves her nine children to Bologna, where their living conditions are deplorable. To avoid a hike in rent, she tells her landlady (Dominique Sanda) that she is living alone. Also known as To Save Nine (a curiously brief English-language title for a Wertmuller film!), IL Decimo Clandestino was expanded from 60 to 90 minutes for its theatrical release.

Five episodes about women drivers during the economic boom.