The Italian Cultural Center is pleased to extend an invitation to attend the 2nd annual Italian Film Festival USA of Minneapolis/ St. Paul (IFF USA MSP). In collaboration with the Italian Film Festival USA, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago, the Consulate General of Italy in Chicago and the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, the ICC will be bringing prominent contemporary Italian feature films to the Twin Cities.
The film festival will be held March 26-28, 2010 at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Screenings are FREE and open to the public (learn about our sponsorship opportunities). All films will be shown in Italian with English subtitles.
Join us for a special fundraising event on March 1 in support of the film festival.
Preferred seating and free popcorn for ICC members. If you are not yet a member, join today!
PROGRAM SCHEDULE:
FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 8:00 PM
Si può fare (It Can Be Done)
Giulio Manfredonia, 111 min, 2008
Co-180 is a cooperative of patients freed from mental hospitals by the 1983 law known as ‘Barsaglia’. Its members are kept ‘under control’ through high drug doses and perform very menial jobs. A new director uncovers a hidden talent in each of them and is determined to change their unfortunate fate. Going against the skepticism of the psychiatrist who has them in his strict care, the cooperative starts offering hardwood flooring services: initial results are discouraging, until Luca and Gigio unveil a talent quite out of the ordinary…
The film takes place in the early 1980s when the first mental hospitals were closed, and is inspired by a true story. Awarded the Nastro d’Argento (Silver Ribbon) 2009 for best subject and the Davide di Donatello 2009.
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 5:00 PM
Gli amici del bar Margherita
(The Friends at the Margherita Café)
Pupi Avati, 90 min, 2009
A comic but realistic tale of Italian life in the 1950s, narrated through the lives and dreams of the habitués of Bar Margherita, Bologna. This is the latest work of internationally acclaimed director Pupi Avati, which borrows from his own childhood memories to recreate a magic and nostalgic atmosphere.
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 7:00 PM
Pranzo di Ferragosto (Mid-August Luncheon)
Gianni Di Gregorio, 75 min, 2008
Gianni is the middle-age son of a fallen aristocrat with whom he shares an old house in central Rome. He leads a simple life devoted to caring for his elderly mother, while spending his free time at the nearby tavern. All of this is going to change for at least 24 hours when he is forced to invite some unusual guests for Ferragosto, a national holiday celebrated on August 15…
Awarded the Nastro d’Argento (Silver Ribbon), the Davide di Donatello, and best emerging director at the Venice Film Festival, all in 2009.
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 8:45 PM
La ragazza del lago (The Girl by the Lake)
Andrea Molaioli, 95 mins, 2007
A detective is sent to a small village in northern Italy to investigate the disappearance of a six-year-old girl. During his quest for answers he stumbles upon an entirely different problem: a dead body is found on the shore of a nearby lake. As the story unfolds we learn many surprising secrets about the interwoven lives of several of the villagers.
This film was awarded three Silver Ribbons in 2008 for best actor, best emerging director, and best producer; ten awards at the Davide di Donatello; and the Pasinetti Award at the Venice Film Festival for best actor.
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 2:30 PM
La Terra (Our Land)
Sergio Rubini, 112 min, 2006
After years of absence from his native Italian village in Southern Italy, a philosophy professor returns home to sell the family land. As he tries to mediate between his two brothers and step-brother, who does not want to sell, he finds himself
involved in a mysterious homicide and immersed in a murky world he thought he had forever left behind.
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 5:00 PM
Casomai (If By Chance)
Alessandro D’Alatri, 90 min, 2002
Tommaso and Stefania are happily married with one child. However, their relationship starts to gradually deteriorate, family and friends are unable to provide the right support when it is most needed, and the couple ends up separating. But maybe they can still change what seems to be an unavoidable fate…
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 7:30 PM
Valzer (Waltz)
Salvatore Maira, 90 min, 2007
The intertwined lives of two people change radically in a matter of two hours when they finally meet in the kitchen of a hotel. Simultaneously, in the top floors of the hotel, members of the Italian soccer association meet to seek ways to stem a scandal that threatens to ruin their corrupted careers. The notes of a waltz mix with their stories, in a movie filmed in a single 90-minute-long sequence.
Valeria Solarino received the Pasinetti award for best actress at the 2007 Venice Film Festival.
General audience discussion of film after screening. Moderator to be announced.
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