Wandering through the streets of an Italian city, a contemporary visitor may occasionally come upon small golden tiles, set into the pavement and each inscribed with a name and several dates and details (‘arrested on’ and ‘deported from’) explaining the fate of someone who once lived in the given location. (Often the following words include ‘assassinated’ or ‘killed in Auschwitz’). (Photo: Stumbling stones in Turin) - Source: guidatorino.com
Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Mimmo Calopresti, noteworthy for his 1995 drama ‘La seconda volta’ and ‘La parola amore esiste’ (1998), winners of three David Di Donatelli Awards, has excelled also in documentary filmmaking and wants to bring the lives of everyday people to the screen, shedding light on human experiences and stories that concern all of us. (Images from the Opening Night of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival in Melbourne: Palace Cinema Como: 20 September, 201
‘If I could, I would like to end my career sitting in a piazza telling stories and, at the end of my life, weave through the crowd with my coppola in my hand’. This was Andrea Camilleri’s response when asked why, at the age of 93, he had not yet decided to retire.
Italy has again become a country of emigrants. Today, a large number are highly educated people who take their talent abroad in search of better career opportunities and professional benefits. Thirty thousand Italian researchers leave each year, while only three thousand qualified scientists migrate to Italy. In recent years, the media, policymakers and scholars have used the term ‘brain drain’ to describe this phenomenon.
Winner of two Nastro d’Argento awards and one David di Donatello award, Edoardo De Angelis’ dark and sombre Il vizio della speranza (2018) reminds of his narrative and cinematographic style in forerunner Indivisibili (released 2016 and also set in bleak and desolate Castel Volturno in the rough outskirts of Naples). - Image published in the Hollywood Reporter 17 September, 2018 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/vice-hope-1144004
Lemons carry symbolic importance and become a metaphor for life in Ciro D’Emilio’s sombre but captivating debut feature and coming-of-age story Un giorno all’improvviso (2018), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival the same year as its release. (Image published in Screen Daily: 6 September, 2018 https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/if-life-gives-you-lemons-venice-review/5131972.article)
Feel good movie Bangla, with high audience ratings and awarded a Nastro d’Argento for best comedy in 2019, is light-hearted while at the same time it delivers an important social and political message. (Photo published by the IFFR, 2019 https://iffr.com/en/persons/phaim-bhuiyan)
It is December but the sun is pounding over Rome and transforms a winter’s day into the subtle suggestion of an early Spring. Everything is ready. In Vatican City, thousands of pilgrims are crowding into the Colonnato del Bernini in a kind of Christian apotheosis, full of emotion.
