Discoveries from Italy World Cinema

A horror film director is forced to defend his family when a psychopath lays siege to their home.

Sebastian Brody is a profiler who works for the FBI. When his wife is killed before his eyes by a serial killer who has escaped from prison, whom he had brought to justice some time before, he leaves everything behind and moves to Sicily. One night, due to a strong storm, the electricity goes out. Sebastian goes into the shed to try to start the generator but, in the darkness, he trips over a cable on the ground, pulling down a metal shelf. He discovers a hidden niche in the wall containing a box with six female scalps inside.The scalps belong to a serial killer who killed in the area twenty-five years earlier, nicknamed "the Hairdresser" by the press. The ones found by Sebastian would be his trophies. The killer was never caught and now seems to have returned to strike.

We are in an unknown place in the central Italy to set up an exhibition, we do not know of what. A short documentary tribute to Kane, represented by a thin line between irony and seriousness. Archive project created during quarantine (Covid-19), thanks to some footage made a few years ago in a completely random way.

An old king believes he can retire to private life, leaving his kingdom in the hands of his daughters. The two older ones don't take long to take over everything and reduce their father to a poor tramp. But the third daughter who married the king of France comes to the rescue. After a furious battle, a hecatomb takes place. Lear dies and with him his whole dynasty.

Chiara is a young teacher who lives the horror of war trying desperately to make sense of what is happening. In the aftermath of the armistice, plagued by a thousand doubts and a thousand questions, while she wanders through the bombed-out city, she stops in front of a statue of the Madonna and realizes that God is the only ideal that has not collapsed. Thus she chooses to live the Gospel concretely with a single mission: to ensure that "all may be one".

Saverio Sallesi, a past as a boxer without too much success, is grappling with a difficult situation. Some small precedents with the law, he has to deal with unemployment and failed loans from banks. Even from a sentimental point of view, things are not going well and he is unable to build a serious relationship with any of the women he frequents. One day he robs a bank and during the escape decides to hide in the apartment of Micol, a prostitute.

Two fellow soldiers fight for the love of the same girl, are constantly picked on by the older soldiers about to be discharged and are involved in the staging of a show in the military barracks.

A team of highly trained Italian seamen are taken to the island of Stampalia where there are to take their torpedo-laden attack craft on a daring attack on the port of Suda.

Arbella is a charming village in Corsica. It's such a pleasant place to live that Monsieur Lauriston has decided to spend his old age there with his wife Marthe. Encouraged by Giuseppe, the owner of the Napoleon bar, he is promoted to mayor. This brings him the wrath of Captain Bartoli, owner of the Café Bonaparte, a self-styled pirate and navigator who has long aspired to this honorable position. Further complications arise when Lauriston's nephew romances Antonia, the daughter of Amoretti, the last bandit of honor in the area and the town's main tourist attraction.

Inspired by a citizenship class exercise originally developed in the United Kingdom, 35 volunteer students from Rome’s Manara High School were asked to think through relationships of dominance in contemporary Italy. The students were divided into five categories: journalists, politicians, workers, activists and bankers. The journalists were responsible for an hourly report on the advancement of the “society,” while the different categories responded to the scenarios by assigning each other “power-points.” The simulation was interrupted by planned moments of abstraction from the game, debates about the social conditions being created through the choices the different categories were making and the meaning and workings of power. Agency—Giochi di Potere was conducted in April 2014 at MAXXI Museum in Rome.

Italian 60's drama about a pimp called Il Principino and his violent and troubled relationship with a prostitute called Laura.

A favorite student of an old dance teacher gets casted in an important pantomime. When the teacher dies on the stage, she finds support from a journalist's affection to overcome the difficult moment.

Maria studies at the university while her boyfriend Paolo is an established journalist. Both are drug addicts. Maria and Paolo try to detox with the help of a specialized clinic but it doesn't last long: back from a trip during which they proved to themselves that they could resist without drugs, both fall victim to addiction again. The consequences are not long in coming.

After a mysterious trauma, an elderly man begins to suffer from sleep paralysis, haunted by a sinister female figure. Sent to a care home, he discovers his new roommate behaves in disturbing ways-rituals he can only witness while paralyzed. As other residents begin to vanish, he must confront the dark presence invading his room before it consumes him too.

In a wealthy Italian home, the daughter of the family is trying to cut her mother's apron strings. Not only is she having difficulty with this, for her mother is extremely protective, but she cannot even cut vegetables skillfully. Despite that, she wants to go out and party, mother or no mother.

Andrea, the only son of a rich publisher, is a neurotic young man obsessed by his mother. He is dominated by uncontrollable impulses and suicidal fantasies, while his regressive behaviour makes him lonely and frustrated. Incapable of having normal sexual relationships, he spies on his stepmother's adulterous affairs and is obsessed by Carol, a young American girl he secretly films (even when she's making love with her boyfriend), and whom he clumsily courts. Finally, Andrea wins Carol over but is still tormented by the fear of losing his own private world of memories and macabre games...

A comedy film.

Diego is 17 and is full of life, yet fragile. His best friend Antonio knows and indulges his weaknesses, but he would also like to see him strong and masculine. One night they meet Maria, a breezy natural beauty. To show that he is a 'real man', Diego, is ready to do anything, even to force himself to do things he would never have wanted to do.

Film version of the Verdi opera about lovers on the run after the accidental death of the girl's father.

A lawyer, married but temporarily alone at home, finds himself in the house a beautiful lady who tries to escape from her jealous husband. Fascinated by the beauty of the unexpected guest, the lawyer is determined to conquer her, in vain. But when the woman leaves, she discovers that she has been stolen some money.

"Letters from Europe" brings to light the words of men and women who gave their lives resisting the Nazi and fascist conquest from 1939 to '45 across the European continent. The moving goodbyes penned by a few of those sentenced to death are sometimes true spiritual testaments that explore the meaning of civic responsibility, human existence, fraternity, and life and death. Their words, which the film mingles with footage of the present day, can perhaps restore meaning to a humanist ideal and to the ever-changing idea of a united Europe.

The film begins when Eugenio, a 14 year old child, is conduced from his grandparents home outside Rome, to Giancarlo (his father) in the city, by Giancarlo's friend (called "Moustache"). As Eugenio is bothering Moustache, he threatens Eugenio with leaving him in the middle of the country. He finally does it. When Giancarlo finds out, they return for Eugenio, but he is now lost. Meanwhile we're told the story of the child and his relation with the family, and why he feels unwanted.

Lawyer Tony Green has to pay a two-million-dollar check as compensation to the widow of a wealthy businessman who died as a result of an explosion on the plane immediately after take-off. Tony has to reach the widow who is currently abroad.

Archaeologists have just uncovered entirely new areas and villas in ancient Pompeii… the first excavation there in 70 years. Get exclusive access to the dig and see how new artifacts and new DNA science are changing history. And through the use of sophisticated Hollywood production techniques and reenactments, discover the real stories of what happened to the unfortunate souls who didn’t escape to the city gates. This is the devastating account of the final hours of that fateful day in October 79AD.

Lorenzo Caruso is a piscologist who lives in a provincial town with his daughter Giulia, the only company since the death of his wife. Suddenly Lorenzo's life is upset by the discovery that Giulia is part of a baby gang: she steals in supermarkets, she has already collected several complaints. Everything Lorenzo has always believed in: communication, understanding, freedom with your daughter is in crisis.

Dumped by his girlfriend and finding himself stranded on different couches at friends’ places, Guido tries to transform his drift into an opportunity for a new beginning.

In 1789, French poet André Chénier struck up a romance with a young aristocrat.

Fabio Testi is the politician who finds himself descending into a world of drugs and crime when he encounters Lara Wendel. A mixture of crime and old-fashioned melodrama all set to songs from Neil Diamond!

The film is an observation of the migrant experience; from crossing the Mediterranean Sea out of Libya to settling in Paris-based squats. In a view free from prejudice, we quickly see how the experiences of migrants vary in extremes during the different stages in their journey to a better life.

Groups of young people participate in CAI (Italian Alpine Club) projects for rehabilitation-therapeutic purposes, tackling treks in the mountains to re-educate themselves about the environment.

Daniela, a true Roman girl with a big face, weighs over a hundred kilos and always has the joke ready. She cohabits in a tiny apartment with her friend Luisa and works as an assistant to Maria Pace, owner of an art gallery.

Alessandra Del Giudice, a successful lawyer with a few too many problems in the family, ends up in a coma for seven years following a road accident. When she wakes up she finds her husband waiting for her, who had just given permission to pull the plug on her life support, and her sister, who arrived at the last minute just in time to discover that Alessandra had lifted a finger and was about to reopen the eyes! Upon awakening, the worst surprise for the woman, however, is to discover that her son Yanneck has recently killed himself by jumping from a balcony. Convinced by a nightmare in which she sees the boy not jumping but being pushed by someone, she decides to investigate to understand what really happened.

In 1956, Italy is trying to cheer up after the World War Two devastation. Fedele Cova, freeway society engineer, has a dream: build a long highway that link Milan and Naples. The challenge is extremely hard and for 8 years a lot of men work strongly, building a 755 kilometers highway, with 113 viaducts, 525 flyovers and 38 tunnels.

Pearl Jam play live at the PalaMalaguti, Casalecchio di Reno, Italy on September 14th 2006. >> SETLIST: Master/Slave, Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town, Do the Evolution, Animal, Severed Hand, Given to Fly, World Wide Suicide, Save You, Even Flow, I Am Mine, Marker in the Sand, Green Disease, Daughter (with "It's Ok" tag), Alone, Whipping, Present Tense, Comatose, Porch >> ENCORE: Black, Better Man, Life Wasted, Alive >> ENCORE 2: Bu$hleaguer, Why Go, Baba O'Riley (The Who cover), Indifference

A writer is haunted by eerie appearances after the death of his wife.

Armenia Balducci's film, featuring Gian Maria Volontè as Stark, a cop-movie actor that falls prey to paranoia because he fears his latest movie will be a failure.

Italy, early 80's. A political terrorist is being transferred northward from Sicily for a conjugal visit; during the journey, a police captain tries to make him cooperate.

On the day of an inauguration to head the family business Stane confronts marriage, love and patriarchy.

The famous rock band The Paperback music is convened for a big concert at Big Depression. Arriving at their destination, no musical event seems ready for that day, but suddenly a secret passage opens to the planet Planio, where dictator Balthazar has banned all kinds of music.

Neglected by her husband, a woman takes refuge in love for a young director. But he only thinks about sex and does not give her anything that can comfort her emotionally.

In 1955 Buenos Aires, a broke theater troupe turns to scamming funerals for survival. Their big break comes with a wealthy embalmer's inheritance, but the lead actor's immersion in a female role triggers an unexpected identity crisis.

Former shepherds return to Sardinia from Milan in order to avenge a brother wantonly killed by bandits. In describing the grinding contrasts between places and personages of old and new Sardinia, director Piero Livi does not falter, photographing faithfully a desolated land, stuck in the past but alienated from traditional beliefs.

A small town in Salento, some Soviet rock bands, CCCP and an 8-day trip between Moscow and Leningrad. The incredible story of a tour between two worlds that would never be the same again.

Gemma and Benny, two children, end up meeting the White Wizards of Maga Feliza's school and the Black Wizards of Master Badabè's school.

Just released from prison after serving a six-month sentence, Fernand Bastia goes into hiding. He has indeed double-crossed his gang by keeping part of the product of a robbery for himself. Thanks to his sister Marcella, Fernand has taken refuge in a small circus where she works. There, he falls in love with Gina but also arouses the jealousy of Quedchi, a fairground stall-holder who has seen him hiding the stolen money. After a while, Fredo Riccioni, the boss of the gang and his men, manage to trace him...