Discoveries from Italy World Cinema

A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party.

In Old Calfiornia, an unscrupulous adventurer massacre Indians in order to find an ancient (and precious) talisman they are supposed to hide. Zorro will be on the rescue to protect both the pioneers and the Indians. This adventure has very little in common with the traditional swashbuckling backstage of Zorro's films but many elements of a western film.

Isabel is a beautiful aspiring singer with great aspirations but persistent bad luck convicted of a crime she did not commit. Serving time in prison she is released under parole and lands a singing gig at a dive in Barcelona where she meets Sandro "The Greek" and his partner lover Gloria. The couple is posing as entertainment promoters but they are really running a prostitution ring based in Beirut. They offer Isabel a two-year contract to perform in "night clubs" in the Near and Mideast even after they learn that she cannot travel abroad due to her legal status. Upon arrival in Beirut, Isabel and the other girls are sped away to a luxurious villa where they discover the real intentions of the pseudo-promoters. They are expected to sing and dance but also to engage in sexual activities with the rich clients that patronize the place. Isabel pretends to go along with the situation but she has a plan to get away

Henri Pompians, a former income tax inspector,has a dream: to become a lawyer.His first client Mr. Etienne has all the problems of the world: he doesn't feel well in his job, his wife doesn't care very much for his and he had an accident.Later Etienne and Henri become associate and they found the association "Justice for all" to help people.

Love story between a young man and a married woman. She's married to a businessman who's neglecting her. She would like to leave him but she's afraid of the age difference between her and her lover.

Sadistic no-count killer Nanni Vitali and three other equally brutish hoodlums escape from prison. The foul foursome embark on a savage rape, murder, and robbery spree. Vitali even abducts and defiles frightened hapless lass Giuliana Caroli. Meanwhile, rugged police inspector Giulio Santini is determined to bag the despicable Vitali.

Desiderio is a gentleman thief who steals jewelry. Without him knowing, he is hired as a manager in the jewelry store of Gabriele Bertinori, and with this position he plans to rob the place.

The Pet Pals are put to the test when the Evil Crow Witch is determined to drain the canals of Venice. Armed with a touch of magic, the Pet Pals combine their strengths to uncover the secret code before the Evil Witch does.

World War I, Italian north-eastern front after the 1917 bloody battles on the Altipiano. A group of soldiers face the difficulty of war in a story that unfolds in the space of one night. Events follow one after the other without any kind of pattern: the peaceful mountains suddenly become a place where men die. But every story told in this film is a true story.

Giorgia, an unhappy housewife tired of marriage with her husband Amedeo, starts to hear a voice that orders her to perform actions out of the ordinary.

Angelo Fossalto teaches literature at the University of Urbino and leads a quiet life. the man is about to leave for the United States to give a series of lectures, but he will meet a girl who will make him lose his head ...

After their award winning documentary, 'Suddenly, Last Winter', Luca and Gustav are back. This time they have to decide: should they stay in Italy, or leave it, like so many of their friends have done already. Looking at some defining Italian icons, they go on a emotional trip on a old Fiat 500 through Italy, to look behind the cliches and to discover, what's left of the famous Italian way of life, confronting a glorious pas, a shaky present and an uncertain future.

A poor farmer is invited to the King's court and tries to prevent the princess' marriage to a villanious knight.

A unique portrayal of two young amateur actresses embarking on a journey that will forever change their lives as they star in the most eagerly anticipated new show of 2018, Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend.

A prohibition-themed gangster thriller, set in the 1930s in the United States. Following a failed heist, Sam's gang takes refuge in a small isolated town where another gang has already settled, together with a mysterious priest. The two bands decide to unite, but the wife of one of the gang bosses is attracted to a member of the other gang. They plan to escape and start a new life together. But who will survive the police assault on the town?

Despite the disagreement of their mother, the sons of old Taras Bulba are taken to the Dnieper camp on their return from a Kiev seminary, to teach them how to become real Cossacks.

During a high-stakes investigation into corporate and banking elites tied to organized crime, a police chief and his team are murdered for refusing a bribe. Meanwhile, another officer finds his bank account credited with a large sum and receives anonymous instructions on how to handle the subsequent inquiry.

Nicky and Anna, brother and sister, reunite in their childhood home in the Venetian countryside. Accompanied by Anna's lover, Claudia, and Nicky's partner, Picchio, they plan to spend a Sunday together when fate intervenes.

The ordinary life of the prudent employee Mr. Travet accelerates as he and her wife meet his new chief.

A roving Roman's weekend becomes a nightmare of traffic mix-ups, marital mix-ups and hilarious make-ups.

Elena and Carlo are a married couple facing sexual difficulties due to the husband's loss of virility. They explore various erotic schemes to rekindle their intimacy, but their efforts are unsuccessful. In a moment of despair, Elena attempts suicide, prompting Carlo to confront their issues and seek a resolution.

A re-edited version of Mario Bava's "Lisa and the Devil" for the U.S. market, including newly filmed scenes involving a possessed Lisa.

Since 2013 more than 30,000 fighters from all over the world have joined the troops of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (Daesh) in Syria. Fighting against them as part of the YPO (Popular Protection Command) in Rojava—in the north of Syria and prevalently Kurdish—are some hundreds of Westerners. This is the story of three of them: a former American marine, an Italian anti capitalist activist, and a Swedish bodyguard.

Francesco Salmarani, a well-known doctor from Treviso, suddenly finds himself with an overdraft bank account as his wife's father has come from America demanding the purchase of a large Palladian villa. Tired of his wife, Francesco consoles himself with Paola and then lets himself be ensnared by the very young and beautiful Mary, who has come as housekeeper and father-in-law's lover. The need to fill the administrative gaps and the dream of running away with Mary lead the doctor to organize a coup against his father-in-law who, linked to the mafia, managed to transfer a large dollar patrimony, stolen from the gang, to the villa. The presence of the boy allows the commissioner to exonerate his son-in-law, Mary and Felegatti, of the death of the old mafioso. However, everyone will be left without the dreamed treasure which will fall to Mary and the son of the Salmarani who flee together.

Janssen plays an ex-CIA agent who has become an author, writing both non-fiction exposes (Phillip Agee was in the news at this time) and fiction spy novels. The CIA is on his case, in the person of Arthur Kennedy, CIA chief in Athens, where Janssen is staying. Janssen is pursuing a case that interests him, while dodging the traps set for him by Kennedy and trying to help Maurizio Merli, a former colleague with personal problems.

Luigi Di Santo is a professor of philosophy in Milan who returns to his Apulian hometown to finalize the sale, together with his brothers, of an old family farm. But this project is hampered by his violent stepbrother Aldo. Things degenerate further when the four brothers find themselves embroiled in a murder.

Salome is the daughter of the second wife of King Herod. The King is infatuated with her and, after she fails to seduce the prophet John The Baptist, she dances for the King in order to ask for his execution.

A Milan pimp faces off against a ruthless and greedy French gangster whom wants to unite organized crime in Italy.

Luciano Persichetti is hypersensitive and convinced that he has paranormal powers. Susanna, a parapsychology student with whom he is in love, tries to help him interpret the paranormal warning messages he is receiving. When Luciano turns out to be haunted by a mysterious killer who calls himself "The Guardian Angel", Susanna discovers that Luciano's paranormal powers are not real at all.

After stealing money transported in a train, Sacramento, Big Jim and Tequila arribe to "La Paz" town. They rent a room there in order to hide the money but Sacramento and Big Jim, while Tequila is sleeping, run away with the money. Tequila follow them...

Political strategists in a northern Italian city push gay-rights campaigner Piero into the mayoral race, pairing him with uptight conservative toughie Adele. Piero and his partner, Remo, are the stable ones, while buttoned-up divorcee Adele nurses her bitterness.

Inspired to the real story of the Carabiniere Salvo D'Acquisto. We see how, to save 22 hostages from dead sentence by Nazi, he decided to sacrifice himself.

A comedy about the Italian National Health System based on a doctor who owns a private clinic and manages it more like a con man than a follower of the Hippocratic oath.

The birth of a nephew upsets the life of Paolo and Carlo who, unable to grow old, try to prove that they are lively.

A Chinese immigrant, recently arrived in America, fights to free Mexican slaves from their cruel master.

In the 1960s, Silvana, a beautiful girl from the countryside, decides to spend the night in Rome after missing the last bus home. Without a place to stay, she seeks refuge in an under-construction attic. There, she meets a young man, leading to a short-lived romance. He opens her eyes to the wonders of the economic boom shaping the capital in those years. Despite the chaos of buses, protests, and big stores, Silvana chooses to make Rome her home.

In 18th-century Sicily, deaf-mute highborn Marianna Ucrìa is forced to marry at age 13, bearing three children before even turning 16, when she finally gives birth to a boy. Despite everything, she'll find a way to emancipate herself from the oppressive social conventions of the time.

Chicago cop Robert Malone finds himself in The Philippines, ostensibly to learn the techniques of Interpol. Before he exits the Manila airport, his wallet is stolen by a pickpocket. Malone endures a testy relationship with his new colleague Kevin McCall while evidence surrounding the stolen wallet pulls both of them deeper and deeper into a web of intrigue.

Fabio struggles with a cumbersome father and a capricious and spoiled little sister who consider him a good for nothing, a “vegetable” in fact. The unfortunate recent graduate looks for a job reacts to the contempt of his family and demanding employers, when an unexpected event remixes roles…

Oppressed by her husband, her lover, and her obsessive mother, a bourgeois woman is reunited with a childhood companion at the central train station in Milan. Throughout 24 hours there, she will experience her particular descent into hell.

The story of Father Antonio Vieira, a 17th-century Portuguese priest who lived in Brazil and worked for better treatment of the Indians and to abolish slavery.

While her new husband is away looking for work, the wife loses the child she was expecting and uses another woman's baby as a substitute so she won't have to upset her spouse when he returns.

Determined to postpone his own wedding, a former marshal leaves his bride-to-be and participates in an international music festival in Spain, where he falls for a young dancer.

In Pietro Mascagni's tragic opera, a soldier returns home from war to reclaim his former fiancée, only to find that she's married someone else in his absence, leading to jealousy, betrayal, and murder.

Milk is Big Business. Behind the innocent appearances of the white stuff lies a multi-billion euro industry, which perhaps isn't so innocent…

A bourgeois family man falls in love with an uninhibited hippie girl who just wants to have fun and enjoy a libertine lifestyle. She makes him suffer and gives herself to everybody but him. He is so madly in love with her that he even gets in trouble with the police.

Susy, a call girl from Milan, receives a castle as a gift from one of her old clients, Baron Colletta di Sant'Omero. When she arrives, she is mistaken for the widow of the deceased squire and is immediately surrounded by the mayor, members of the town council, and other people who all aspire to take over the dilapidated property for little money, whose future is guaranteed by the industrial expansion of the Calabrian village. Susy realizes the situation and astutely takes advantage of it. She manages to obtain the unanimous vote of the city council against the expropriation of her land, and, having duped all her suitors, she devotes herself to Corrado, a technician at some important factories in the area.

Lorna, the daughter of an American playboy, enters a girls' school for the international smart-set, in the Alps, where the main course of study appears to be how to trap a rich man. At first, she is dominated and looked down on by the school ring-leaders, and forced into rooming with - horrors - a scholarship student. But when a rich young American shows interest in her she is elevated to the international clique of the upper-termers. Then she falls in love with - horrors again - a poor local mountaineer.

Depressed magistrate Damiano Fortezza relocates from Milan to a small town in Campania, where the three Fontana sisters, owners of a chain of incinerators, dominate. The youngest, Eugenia, is about to marry a well-known crook Fortezza has to prosecute. However, he ends up falling in love with Eugenia and questioning the priorities of his job.

Filmed in Singapore it tells the story of Sandokan who is a Malaysian rebel who, with a group of renegades, goes up against a British General who is trying to force the King to resign.

Amore e sangue (released in the U.S. as "City of Violence"), the 1951 Marino Girolami (billed as "John Wolff") West German/Italian romantic action adventure war thriller.

The adventures of a cad in Napoleonic times.

Romeo and Felice lead two rival bands who constantly make fun of each other. One day, Romeo meets and falls in love with Giulietta, without knowing that she is Felice's sister.

July, 1941. After the beginning of the German invasion, an Italian soldier, a veteran of the colonial wars, is sent to the Soviet front. As he remembers the fairy tales his Russian mother used to tell him, the train he is travelling in crosses Europe on its way to the vast Ukrainian plains, where the enemy and a cruel winter await him… (Based on the experiences of several Italian soldiers.)

The plot concerns a small group of people who are forced to flee from their base (which happens to be a Mission) in an old school bus when the VC launch a vicious assault upon it. Along the way they are joined by a group of three battle hardened American Special Forces soldiers and together they desperately fight to make it to safety.

After her audition as Juliet fails to impress, a young actress determined to act in the latest production of Shakespeare's play crossdresses and is unexpectedly chosen for the role of Romeo.