Cinema Made in Italy 2020

CINEMA MADE IN ITALY 2020 celebrates a decade of bringing cutting edge Italian films to the capital. From 4 – 9 March London audiences will once again have the unique opportunity to experience an eclectic mix of the best recent Italian productions on the big screen at South Kensington’s beloved Ciné Lumière. The 2020 edition will showcase ten films and places female directors in the spotlight, with new features by Ginevra Elkann, Michela Occhipinti and Chiara Malta included in the line-up. Liliana Cavani’s 1974 provocative psychological thriller THE NIGHT PORTER (Il portiere di notte), starring Charlotte Rampling and Dirk Bogarde, will be screened as the ‘Sunday Classics Matinee’ title.

The six-day event will kick off on Wednesday 4 March with IF ONLY (Magari), a tender coming-of-age story by the accomplished producer and first-time feature director Ginevra Elkann, which received critical acclaim when it opened the Piazza Grande section at last year’s Locarno International Film Festival. The film stars Italy’s much-loved Alba Rohrwacher (The Wonders, Blood of My Blood) and Riccardo Scamarcio (Loro, Pasolini), who also plays the main character in Guido Lombardi’s third feature STOLEN DAYS (Il ladro di giorni), about a father reconnecting with his young son after a seven-year prison sentence.

The multi-talented director and actress Valeria Golino (Anna, Rain Man) is also back with two films, playing one of the leads in VOLARE (Tutto il mio folle amore), a contemporary road movie by the Academy Award-winning director Gabriele Salvatores, and teaming up with Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty, Il Divo) in Igor Tuveri aka Igort’s thrillingly stylish crime drama 5 IS THE PERFECT NUMBER (5 è il numero perfetto). Both films had their world premieres at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival.

Another highlight to look forward to is Chiara Malta’s playful narrative debut SIMPLE WOMEN, a fictional ‘making of’ film about the life of Elina Löwensohn, who starred in Hal Hartley’s 1992 cult classic Simple Men. It was the opening film of the Discovery programme at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and has Jasmine Trinca (Miele, The Son’s Room) in the lead role. Following its world premiere in Venice, Carlo Sironi’s impressive first feature SOLE also screened in Toronto, and is an emotional and untraditional love story which questions Italian surrogacy law. Veteran maestro Paolo Taviani has selected this talented director to participate in an on-stage discussion at the forthcoming Berlin International Film Festival, as part of the new special programme On Transmission.

Michela Occhipinti’s FLESH OUT (Il corpo della sposa), about a young woman in Mauritania forced to gain weight in order to get married, is an emotionally rich film with a topical feminist message, and screened in the Panorama section at last year’s Berlinale, as did Federico Bondi’s heart-warming observational dramedy DAFNE. Bondi’s second feature, about a Down’s Syndrome woman who helps her father cope with bereavement, picked up the FIPRESCI prize there before going on to win numerous other awards at major festivals around the world.

Based on his experiences as a second-generation Italian, Phaim Bhuiyan stars in his endearing romcom BANGLA, about an Italian-born boy of Bangladeshi heritage who falls for a feisty local girl in Rome. The film had its world premiere at the prestigious Rotterdam International Film Festival last year and has since screened at a multitude of other international festivals.

As always, screenings will be followed by filmmaker Q&A sessions, giving audiences the chance to become involved in lively and thought-provoking discussions. The annual event is organised by Istituto Luce-Cinecittà’s promotional department in Rome (Filmitalia), with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in London.