Baarìa
I know Sydney’s been spoilt for choice with film festivals recently, but there is a certain excitement and anticipation I reserve for the Italian Film Festival that is very different to any other collection of films. Having studied history of Italian cinema, this may just be a subjective (or a cultural) thing. But it could also be that Italy has given us some of the most influential film directors ever and that it has produced a potpourri of brilliant and inspiring films. Every year we come to expect an explosion of passion and drama which Italian cinema is so famous for. And this year, the festival organizers didn’t shy away in highlighting this, handpicking 26 films which had just taken part in prestigious Cannes, Berlin, Rome and Venice festivals.
My list of favourites is long, but I have picked a few which I think are absolute musts. The first is the festival opening night drama La Nostra Vita, with the award winning performance by Elio Germano. It is a story of a working-class man and his family living on the outskirts of Rome and it examines some of Italy’s current and most important issues. The aspect of this film I’m looking forward to most, is the soundtrack by the Italian rock legend Vasco Rossi.
Another festival film with a noteworthy soundtrack (and the biggest film budget in Italy ever!) is Baaria. Film director Giuseppe Tornatore and the prolific and influential Italian composer Ennio Morricone have a tendency of collaborating on some very interesting work. Baaria is a portrait of a Sicilian family depicted across three generations, from 1920s to 1980s, through the eyes of the main character, Peppino. It gives us an insight of what life was like in Sicily during the Fascist era and the second World War, the liberation by the Allies and the mafia-controlled community.
Draquila—Italy Trembles (L’Italia che trema) is a documentary by the well-known actress and satirist Sabina Guzzanti who also brought us Viva Zapatero! a few years ago. Her new docco is a clever examination of the April 2009 catastrophic earthquake of L’Aquila, which killed over 300 civilians and left most of the city’s population homeless, and how the Italian government used this disaster to gain political power.
And the list of really compelling and entertaining features goes on and on … The Double Hour, The First Beautiful Thing, Cosmonaut, The Front Line just to name a few. The 11th Lavazza Italian Film Festival is showing in Palace Cinemas from Thursday 23 September until Sunday 10 October. For all the details, hit the festival website.
When in Sydney 