The San Francisco Film Society is presenting yet another great film festival this weekend. If you're a lover of all things Italian you should definitely check out New Italian Cinema. This eight-day film series will showcase the newest Italian films and directors, including a Ferzan Ozpetek Retrospective. Here are a few highlights:
Raoul Bova and Giovanna Mezzogiorno in Ferzan Ozpetek's Facing Windows.As part of the Ferzan Ozpetek Retrospective, the award-winning Facing Windows (La Finestra di Fronte) depicts the story of Giovanna, a woman unhappy with her career and marriage. To escape her stifling surroundings she begins to fantasize about her handsome neighbor living across from her home. The drama is also interwoven with an older man's painful Holocaust experience which in turn affect Giovanna's life decisions. Giovanna Mezzogiorno won the David di Donatello award for Best Actress for her compelling performance.
Isabella Ragonese and Michele Riondino in Valerio Mieli's Ten Winters. Valerio Mieli's hauntingly beautiful Ten Winters (Dieci Inverni) is a tale about two young lovers, Camilla and Silvestri, who meet on a cold winter night. Over the next decade, these two characters are pushed together and pulled apart by different circumstances, seemingly thwarting their chances at starting a serious relationship. The snowy backdrops of Venice and Moscow provide a quiet setting as the hibernating romance stirs between these two people as they enter adulthood. This is a gorgeous film - I highly recommend it.
Fabio Volo and Margherita Buy in Nina di Majo's Weddings and Other Disasters.Nina di Majo's humorous Weddings and Other Disasters (Matrimoni e Altri Disastri) is a fun look at a wealthy dysfunctional family as they prepare to celebrate a wedding. Giovanna, a single middle-aged woman, is forced to organize her younger sister's wedding with Alessandro, her sister's brash fiancé. As the days pass the two polar opposites are soon pulled into a mutual attraction and the plot gets more amusing in this romantic comedy. Margherita Buy is really alluring as Giovanna, and she has a luminescent aura that reminds me of Catherine Deneuve.
Paolo Virzi's The First Beautiful Thing.The Closing Night Film, The First Beautiful Thing (La Prima Cosa Bella), is a vibrant and moving film about a mother's perseverance despite all odds. Anna's jealous husband is threatened by her beauty and throws her out with her two young children Bruno and Valeria. To provide for them she relies on her biggest asset - her sexy looks - and takes up with several wealthy boyfriends as she bounces from job to job. Her highly opportunistic nature and questionable reputation embarrasses Bruno to no end, and as an adult he must come to terms with his tumultuous past.
New Italian Cinema
November 14–21
Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinema
(One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level)
San Francisco, CA
To see the film showtimes and to purchase tickets, go to
www.sffs.org for more info.
November 12, 2010
Reader Comments (3)
Looks like a great festival! Too bad I'm not in town to check it out. :(
The SFFS always put on a great film festival. You gotta go to their annual SF international film fest next April-May.
Don't know if I'll be able to get to the festival in time to catch those flicks. If not, I'll definitely have to put them on my Netflix list.