With over 30 of the latest and greatest from Italy’s best filmmakers, there is no shortage of Italian passion, drama, romance and style for film lovers to enjoy.
Sitting at the heart of the program are special presentations which include: the 2018 winner of Best Original Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival, ‘Happy as Lazzaro’, Alice Rohrwacher’s enchanting third film; and from Matteo Garrone, the director of ‘Gomorrah’ comes ‘Dogman’ – the Cannes Film Festival award-winning tale of a dog-lover in desolate Southern Italy who is driven to terrifying extremes by a violent local bully.
Strong dramas are aplenty with films from much-loved directors featuring famous faces straight from the international circuit.
Actress and director Valeria Golino returns with ‘Euphoria’, a riveting drama about two brothers forced back into each other’s lives, starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea.
Acclaimed crime-drama ‘Boys Cry’ in which two boys who have always existed on the fringes of Rome’s underworld are suddenly pulled into it, is directed by the D’Innocenzo Brothers and co-stars Luca Zingaretti as the mafia boss.
‘The Girl in Fog’, based on the eponymous bestselling novel, is a gripping thriller set amid a close-knit mountain village which follows the enigmatic Detective Vogel as he investigates the sudden disappearance of a young girl.
And a huge hit in Italy, singer Luciano Ligabue’s multi award-winning dramedy based on his album of the same name, Made in Italy, stars Stefano Accorsi and Kasia Smutniak.
Plus ‘Ferrante Fever’, a documentary about the mysterious author whose Neapolitan Quartet novels have attracted legions of fans worldwide.
This in-depth investigation attempts to uncover not the mystery of Elena Ferrante’s identity, but what it is about her Neapolitan novels that have so captivated the world.
Italy is not only known for world-class drama and high-end filmmaking, but also for their love of outrageous comedies.
This year the festival brings you the biggest hit comedies of the last 12 months including, ‘My Big Gay Italian Wedding’ based on the hit off-Broadway play, this is a chaotic, heart-warming trip to the altar as a young man travels to his conservative hometown to marry his fiancé.
From the writer of ‘Welcome to the North’, ‘Put Nonna in the Freezer’ stars Fabio De Luigi as the Tax Police’s most incorruptible officer whose world is upended when he falls for an unlikely scammer.
Winner of Best Comedy at the Nastri d’Argento awards, ‘Like a Cat on a Highway’ sees two parents from different worlds suddenly united by a common cause: to stop their teenage children from dating one another!
And ‘Love & Bullets’, a 17-time international award-winner including Best Film at the Italian Academy Awards, this hugely entertaining mafia musical follows a family of schemers whose latest plan is threatened by true love.
This year, the Lavazza Italian Film Festival will celebrate the work of renowned and much lauded Turkish-Italian director and scriptwriter Ferzan Özpetek with a special spotlight on his work including: the lush, Naples-set mystery ‘Naples in Veils’ in which a medical examiner has a carnal affair with a man who later ends up at her examining table, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Alessandro; winner of Best Film at the 2003 Italian Academy Awards ‘Facing Windows’, in which Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Raoul Bova star in this tale of a woman stuck in a failing marriage and the Holocaust survivor she cares for; the 2001 Italian Golden Globe winner ‘Ignorant Fairies’ which follows a woman who befriends her husband’s lover after she finds out about his affair; and ‘Loose Cannons’, one of Ferzan Özpetek’s most awarded films, Riccardo Scamarcio stars in this amiable comedy about a son’s journey home to southern Italy, to finally come out to his family.
The Lavazza Italian Film Festival will begin in Sydney on September 11, followed by Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart.
The full program will be announced in August.
