The Jewish International Film Festival is in full swing and it is a fascinating time of the year for avid cinemagoers looking for films outside the mainstream, that challenge and engage all at once. Screening at a number of cinemas nationwide, the festival attracts a culturally and ethnically diverse audience and 60 films from 23 countries are classified according to 3 main categories (Feature, Series, and Documentary), thus appealing to a wide range of tastes. In Melbourne (as in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra) the festival this year runs from 23 October to 21 November and is hosted by the Classic Cinemas Elsternwick, the Lido Cinemas Hawthorn, and the Cameo Cinemas in Belgrave.

Seductive, courageous, and at times heartbreakingly honest, sell-out crowd-pleaser show La Nonna is an intimate portrayal of a young man’s journey to self-discovery benefitted by his close bond with his Italian grandmother, or nonna, and their cross-generational dialogue.

The evening of 4 September, 2019, saw the CO.AS.IT hosting of a Q&A event on Italian Matriarchy and Queerness: Exploring La Nonna, where director, performer and human rights activist Samuel Dariol engaged in conversation with renowned Deakin University scholar Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli.

The Acclaimed Australian Baritone will make his debut as Aldo Marini when the musical premieres at Subiaco’s The Regal Theatre on April 9.

Interview with award-winning Italian documentary filmmaker and screenwriter Alina Marazzi, Melbourne, 17 February, 2019 - (Photo Alina Marazzi prior to the screening of Vogliamo anche le rose at CO.AS.IT, Melbourne, 15 Feb., 2019. Photograph by Jytte Holmqvist)

I accept all interpretations of my films. The only reality is before the camera. Each film I make is kind of a return to poetry for me, or at least an attempt to create a poem (Bertolucci).

Valeria Solarino is impressively prolific, starring in several movies almost every year since the inception of her acting career in the early 2000s.

You are an accomplished filmmaker (with a degree in Criminology from the University of Melbourne, a Master in Anthropology with a special focus on International Development, and a Diploma in Film and Media from Sydney Film School) concerned with humanitarian and human rights issues.

Rebecca Castellini is one of Western Australia’s most sought-after young Opera singers, having performed in a number of major productions including Tosca, The Merry Widow and Lucia Di Lammermoor. But if Castellini’s name doesn’t’ ring any bells, it’s because up until last year the Perth songstress had been performing under a different name – Rebecca Bunn.

Principal Dancer of the Teatro alla Scala, Nicoletta Manni, showed incredible talent as a ballerina at a very young age. Born in Lecce, she spent much of her childhood training until she was accepted at the La Scala Theatre Ballet School when she was just 12 years old.

Linda Jean Bruno was once told that if you want to do something well, you have to choose one thing, and stick with it. A piece of advice the actor/restaurateur has firmly rejected. She has found that combining her passion for acting and the management of her family’s restaurant Zia Teresa has been advantageous to both careers.

Rarely these days - with mainstream Hollywood blockbusters being churned out at a constant speed - do we find small yet big films that explore the very depths of our emotions and encapsulate the essence of our human existence, with all its beauty and many heartaches.

Fabio Mollo’s 2017 film Il padre d’Italia has been called “una storia di amore assoluto, puro e universale” [1] . The film has received favourable critical acclaim and audience ratings and appeals to the viewer aesthetically and from a both narrative and moral perspective. [2]

I remember the scene vividly. He lay motionless on his back. Blood streaming from a number of gunshot wounds. He stares blankly back at us. Lifeless. Dead. The year was 2008 and ‘Underbelly’ was on our TV screens.

In keeping with neorealist traditions, Italo-American cineaste Jonas Carpignano’s second full-feature film (co-produced by Martin Scorsese) A Ciambra is shot on location in the Reggio Calabria seaside municipality of Gioia Tauro, on the Tyrrhenian coast.

Set in a non-specific northern Italian location - we are told the narrative about to unfold develops “somewhere in Italy” - in the early 1980s and based on the 2007 novel by Sephardi Jewish writer André Aciman, Luca Guadagnino’s multi-award nominated new film Call Me by Your Name (or Chiamami col tuo nome in Italian) is an ageless celebration of love and life, of scenic beauty and parallel human beauty - particularly that of the male body.

This year’s Lavazza Italian Film Festival (Melbourne 14 September - 8 October, 2017) offered a selection of fine films, some of which have recently been released.

The Venice International Film Festival 2017 (30 August to 9 September) marked 74 years since its inception in 1932.

Each year when I attend the Italian Film Festival in Melbourne I feel I get a glimpse into the heart and soul of Italy through the films that have been made, and most loved, by Italians that year.

Life, famously, is full of surprises and often more unlikely than a Hollywood blockbuster script. In that vein, a few years ago if someone had have predicted that I would give voice and sense of identity to the younger generations of the Italian-Australian community in Australia I would have thought they were nuts. On the contrary, I would expect them to have divine gifts from God.

The story of Australia’s largest independent cinema chain and founder of Palace Cinemas, told like a film

Considering how vibrant and passionate the Italian community in Australia is, it’s both concerning and disheartening how few Italo-Australian stories have made their way onto the big screen. Sure, we all laughed with Vince Colosimo’s Frank in “The Wog Boy” series and went on a journey of self-discovery in “Looking For Alibrandi”, but since then Italo-Australian cinematic stories have been few and far between – until now.

Internationally acclaimed Italian author, Simonetta Agnello Hornby was a special guest at the Melbourne Writers Festival 2015 and participated in a special event at the Italian Culture Institute of Melbourne (IIC), which was centred around the topic of “Travel and Inward Journey”.

Award winning Italian actor Luca Zingaretti was recently in Melbourne for the 16th Lavazza Italian Film Festival (LIFF), hosted by Palace Cinemas. Known in Australia for his leading role in the popular series, Inspector Montalbano, which broadcasts on sBs, Luca Zingaretti featured in two evoking films during this year’s LIFF: Edoardo De Angelis’ “Perez” and Marco Pontecorvo’s “Partly Cloudy With Sunny Spells!” And during his short stay in Melbourne, he was interviewed by Segmento’s Bridget Borgobello.