3RD ANNUAL ITALIAN CONTEMPORARY FILM FESTIVAL TO OPEN WITH GIUSEPPE TORNATORE’S THE BEST OFFER
Line up also includes world premieres of the sci-fi 2047. SIGHTS OF DEATH, drama THE BIG FAT STONE and documentary MAD. A WORLD OF FASHION
Toronto, ON, May 13, 2014 – Today at a press conference held at Ritz-Carlton™ Toronto, Cristiano de Florentiis, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Italian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF) presented by IC Savings, announced this year’s slate of outstanding films for the 3rd annual event. A comprehensive showcase of contemporary Italian cinema, this year’s festival will present 28 features and 37 shorts, of which 10 are North American Premieres, 3 World Premieres, 3 Canadian Premieres and 1 International Premiere. ICFF takes place during the Ontario Italian Heritage Month from June 12 to June 20 in Toronto, Vaughan, Hamilton, Montréal and Québec City.
“The ICFF is a true showcase of the multifaceted definition of Italian cinema, by transcending geo-ethnic land and sea borders, and moving away from merely celebratory local cinematic experiences with many co-productions and films made by Italians outside of Italy including Italo-Canadian productions,” said de Florentiis.
ICFF will open with Giuseppe Tornatore’s drama THE BEST OFFER at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. The film is a romantic mystery about Virgil Oldman, a solitary, cultured man whose reluctance to engage with others, especially women, is matched only by the dogged obsessiveness with which he practices his profession as a high-end antiques dealer. THE BEST OFFER is written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore (CINEMA PARADISO) and stars Geoffrey Rush, Donald Sutherland, Sylvia Hoeks and Jim Sturgess.
Carlo Verdone (actor in THE GREAT BEAUTY) will be in attendance for his film that he is a director of, SOTTO UNA BUONA STELLA, on June 19 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. He is also here to receive the ICFF Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his long and successful career in cinema.
Highlights of the more than 65 screenings include:
Science Fiction
World Premiere
2047. SIGHTS OF DEATH, directed by Alessandro Capone, is set in the year 2047, with a show down between the Confederate Central Government and the Green War organization to see if what is left of the world can be saved. The film is one of the rare Italian contemporary science fiction films to be seen coming out on the market. Stars Stephen Baldwin and Danny Glover. Screening on Friday June 13 at 7 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Documentary
World Premiere
MAD. A WORLD OF FASHION, directed by Anna di Francisca is about Italian fashion through the eyes of Maddalena Sisto, affectionately known as MAD by the readers of Vogue, Elle Germany, The New Yorker and the Corriere della Sera. MAD recorded every trend suggested by the Milan stylists in extraordinary drawings and sketches thus chronicling how fashion developed and influenced the life of Italian women. Her signature drawings represent the desires, fears and imagination of women even today. Screening on June 14 at 6:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
International Premiere
FRANCIS OF BUENOS AIRES – THE REVOLUTION OF EQUALITY, directed by Miguel Rodriguez Arias and Fulvio Iannucci, is a biographical documentary film on the life of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, from childhood to adulthood, through the fateful 1976, when he decided to save hundreds of lives by opposing the military dictatorship in Argentina. Screening on Thursday June 12 at 9:30 p.m. at the Colossus Vaughan Cinema.
Comedy
North American Premiere – Closing Night Film
STAY AWAY FROM ME is directed by Alessio Maria Federici and stars Enrico Brignano as a brilliant marriage guidance counselor, but for some reason seems to be a black cat himself where women are concerned. Screening on Friday June 20 at 6:00 p.m. at the Isabel Bader theatre.
North American Premiere
THE MAFIA KILLS ONLY IN THE SUMMER, which was referred to by the Italian President of the Senate “as the best film work on the Mafia ever” screens on Saturday June 14 at 9:30 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
North American Premiere
A BOSS IN THE KITCHEN directed by Luca Miniero is a film about how Cristina and her family’s routine gets turned upside down when her brother Ciro gets to spend his day in house arrest at her home. Screening on Friday June 20 at 6:15 p.m. at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.
North American Premiere
A LITTLE SOUTHERN ENTERPRISE, directed by Rocco Papaleo, is set around former priest, father Constantino and his sister, who uses the unused lighthouse that belongs to the family, to avoid the attention of the town to protect their mother. Instead, he attracts everybody’s attention turning it into a refugee for sin. Screening on Thursday June 12 at 10:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
North American Premiere
A GIRLFRIEND’S GUIDE TO MURDER starring Claudia Gerini is set on a small island in southern Italy, where a friendship is formed between a prostitute, an old maid and a naïve housewife, who try to see eye to eye on everything. Screening on Tuesday June 17 at 6:30 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Canadian Premiere
ITALIAN MOVIES, directed by Matteo Pellegrini, is a co-production between Italy and Russia about a television studio that becomes the domain of the mostly immigrant employees of a cleaning company at night. When one day the camera storage door is left open, they get the idea to film video messages that can be sent to their families. The film is co-presented by Scarborough Film Festival and screens on Sunday June 15 at 9:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Canadian Premiere
TUTTA COLPA DI FREUD, directed by Paolo Genovese, tells the story of a psychoanalyst who is dealing with three patients going through various hurdles in their love lives. Screening Thursday June 19 at 9:30 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
North American Premiere
THE PENGUIN’S MOVE, directed by Claudio Amendola, is about a man who starts the march of the Assault Penguins, a rag tag team ready to fight to make their way to the podium in curling as a solution to not having found his path in life. Screening on Friday June 13 at 10:45 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
North American Premiere
SOTTO UNA BUENA STELLA by director by Carlo Verdone alternates between moments of hilarious comedy and moments of stillness in the life of Frederick, as successful businessman who lives in a luxurious house with his young girlfriend. Screening on Wednesday June 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Colossus in Vaughan.
Drama
World Premiere
THE BIG FAT STONE, directed and written by Frank D’Angelo (winner of the ICFF 2013 IC Savings Award for REAL GANGSTERS), is a modern day tale about dreams coming true by being at the right place at the right time. Screening on Sunday June 15 at 7 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
North American Premiere
THE FIRST SNOWFALL directed by Andrea Segre tells the story of a Togolese refugee and a young boy who find solace in each other in this atmospheric film set in a small mountain village in Trentino. Screening on Monday June 16 at 6:30 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Canadian Premiere
LIKE THE WIND directed Marco Puccioni and starring Valeria Golino as Armida Misere and is inspired by the true story of one of Italy’s first female prison governors. Screening Tuesday June 17 at 9:30 p.m. at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.
North American Premiere
AT NIGHT, directed by Francesco Prisco, sets love and revenge at stake as three people’s lives are brought together when a bus overturns on the road. Screening on Wednesday June 18 at 9:15 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
North American Premiere
MY BEAUTIFUL ITALIAN FAMILY directed by Olaf Kreinsen is a co-production between Italy and Germany about 45-year-old Italian Paolo who has lived in Germany for 20 years when he gets a phone call from his brother that urgently summons him to
