The Italian Cultural Centre Wales presents its second Italian Film Festival Cardiff 2016 (IFFC), which will run from the23-27 November at Penarth Pier Pavilion and Chapter Arts Centre.
The Festival brings the very best contemporary Italian films to Penarth and Cardiff, this year showing nine feature films and a selection of short animated films, all of them premiering in Wales and the UK. These films explore the intimate, melancholic, romantic and humorous sides of Italy and examine how lives and scenery are affected by the encounter with the Other. This year the IFFC features two important partnerships with the Sardegna and the Lucana Film Commissions and provides a great opportunity to meet people, exchange ideas and promote films.
The IFFC will be launched on Wednesday 23 November, 6pm at Penarth Pier Pavilion with the opening of the Melanzasca exhibition by illustrator and artist Silvano Beggio. Beggio’s new animated character, Melanzasca, a gangster aubergine, who will follow filmgoers through the festival.
The exhibition opening will be followed at 7.30pm by Ermanno Olmi’s latest masterpiece Torneranno i prati (Greenery Will Bloom Again), a harrowing account of World War I. Producer Elisabetta Olmi will join the Q&A after the screening.
On Thursday 24 November, 6pm and 8.30pm at Penarth Pier Pavilion, there will be two outstanding first feature films:
– Lo scambio (Nameless Authority), winner of the Prix Special du Jury Fiction at the Annecy Italian Film Festival 2016, is an ambitious and experimental reinterpretation of the ‘mafia genre’. Director Salvo Cuccia and actor Sergio Vespertino will be present for the Q&A after the film.
– Last Summer is a poetic reflection on the relationship between mother and son. Director Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli will be present for the Q&A after the film.
On Friday 25 November, 6pm and 8.15 pm at Penarth Pier Pavilion will be another double bill:
– Non essere cattivo (Don’t Be Bad) by Claudio Caligari, a Pasolinian story following a friendship between two working class boys and its tragic outcome.
– Un paese quasi perfetto (An ‘Almost’ Perfect Town), a light-hearted comedy set in the stunning Basilicata region. The film will be introduced by producer Nicola Timpone and Mariano Schiavone, chairman of the Tourist Board of Basilicata.
On Saturday 26 November, the festival will move to Chapter Arts Centre with Silvano Beggio’s exhibition Melanzascaopening at 2.30pm. This will be followed by three screenings at 3.30pm, 5.30pm and 8.40pm:
– Il tratto italiano, a selection of the best new Italian short animations suitable for children.
– Era d’estate (Once in Summer) by Fiorella Infascelli, an intimate story about the friendship between the two iconic anti-mafia magistrates Falcone and Borsellino. The director will be present for the Q&A after the film.
– La pazza gioia (Like Crazy) by Paolo Virzì, the story of the unpredictable and moving friendship between two women as they flee a mental institution in search of freedom and happiness in the open-air ‘nut house’: the world of sane people.
On Sunday 27 November at Chapter Arts Centre there will be two final screenings at 5.45pm and 8.15pm:
– Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (They Call Me Jeeg Robot) by Gabriele Mainetti, a transposition of a very popular animated manga cartoon of the 80s called Jeeg Robot. Enzo, a lonely and misanthropic small time crook, uses the superpowers gained after falling in the Tiber river to chase down a crazy gangster called “the gypsy”.
– La felicità è un sistema complesso (The Complexity of Happiness) by Gianni Zanasi, is a comedy about making the right choices in life. Enrico approaches executives who are completely incompetent and convinces them to leave their firm. But his empathy and compassion are tested when he is left to care for an exchange student and has to guide the company for its two adolescent owners.
‘Un grande grazie’ to our sponsors, supporters, directors actors and distributors.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/
Venues and tickets:
http://www.penarthpavilion.co.
http://www.chapter.org/season/
For further details visit: www.iccw.wales
For press tickets and media enquiries email [email protected]
