Three producers for Italian film festival launch
The upcoming Italian Film Festival – at Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, 5 – 21 October 2007 – gives audiences a rare chance to see some of the most successful Italian films of all time, as well as the latest and best in Italian contemporary cinema, and the opportunity to meet three Italian producers.
The producers are Massimo Vigliar, producer of Matrimonio All'Iitaliana (Marriage Italian-Style) who restored Carlo Ponti's original version; Grazia Volpi, producer of La Masseria Delle Allodole (The Lark Farm) and Maurizio Santarelli, producer of Io, L'Altro (I, The Other).
Says the Italian ambassador to South Africa Alessandro Cevese, “The festival gives a rare opportunity to keep in touch with the richness of Italian cinema and it is particularly appropriate in a time when in both Italy and South Africa a renewed and strong interest for cinema is arising. This year the two countries have entered into a bilaterial agreement for film co-production that will encourage further collaboration among associations and producers.”
Vigliar comments, “I am proud to present my picture at this South African screening of Italian cinema. It is also memorable that Matrimonio All'Iitaliana will be presented a few days later in Rome to open the Rome Film Festival. On the same day – 19 October – Sophia Loren will receive the honourable award of the 2007 Rome Film Festival. She has chosen this film for the opening gala because she considers the role of Filomenta the best of her illustrious career.”
Grazia Volpi says of La Masseria Delle Allodole: “It was presented for the first time in Armenia at the beginning of July this year. I've always tried to embark on projects with a social commitment and am proud of this film which focuses on the Armenian genocide. It is our duty to tell the younger generations what happened, just as it was important after the fall of Nazism or during the genocide in the Balkans or the present hell raging in Africa, which is the subject of my latest film project.”
Lineup
Says Elisa d'Onofrio, director of the Italian/South African Cultural Centre and an organiser of the festival: “We are thrilled with this year's line-up which is full of true gems of world cinema. Classics are shown along with some of Italy's best contemporary cinema.”
There's Federico Fellini's 1960 classic La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) as well as a Sophia Loren/Marcello Mastroianni retrospective – they star in three films Una Giornata Particolare (A Special Day); Ieri, Oggi E Domani (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow) and Matrimonio All'Iitaliana (Marriage Italian-Style).
Some of the latest Italian releases are also included in the lineup. There's this year's Notturno Bus (Night Bus); Moshen Melliti's acclaimed Io, L'Altro (I, The Other) and the poignant and haunting La Masseria Delle Allodole (The Lark Farm).
The Italian Film Festival runs at Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson in Rosebank, Johannesburg 5 – 11 October; Cinema Nouveau screened by Jameson at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, 12 – 14 October, and at Cinema Nouveau screend by Jameson Gateway in Durban, 19 – 21 October.
Entrance is free and tickets are available from the box office two hours before the film starts. For more details and the full lineup, go to www.sterkinekor.com.
