Italian Film Festival Cardiff
This November sees the fourth edition of the Italian Film Festival Cardiff, which celebrates the most diverse and groundbreaking work from contemporary Italian cinema, presenting audiences with Welsh and UK premieres of independent films as well as the chance to participate in talks and Q&As with some of Italy’s prominent and emerging actors and directors. With a programme featuring seven independent feature films, five shorts and a selection of some of the best work in Italian animation, viewers can expect a unique glimpse into Italian cinephilia. This year, there’s a focus on the themes of diversity, beauty, and the tensions between modernity and tradition, according to the festival’s Artistic Directors Luca Paci and Luisa Pèrcopo.
Opening the festival on Friday evening is the all-female, Sardinia-set drama Daughter Of Mine (dir. Laura Bispuri), following a daughter torn between two mothers: the woman who lovingly raised her and the biological parent who left her behind. Stefano Amatucci’s powerful black comedy of migration, Caina – which was considered as an Italian submission for the 2019 Foreign Language Oscar – receives a UK premiere, as does rom-com Put Grandma In The Freezer. Groundbreaking experiments in animation are also celebrated at this year’s festival, in partnership with Anim18, with a special selection of shorts from the prestigious Centro Sperimentale Di Cinematografia in Turin, alongside a premiere of the children’s film Leo Da Vinci: Mission Mona Lisa. A new thriller from Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Özpetek, Naples In Veils, concerns a medical examiner whose one-night stand later turns up as a corpse on her operating table. Meanwhile, there’s the uproarious musical romp of madness and the mafia, Love And Bullets by the Manetti Brothers, the quirky documentary Pagani, and the award-winning animation Cinderella The Cat, also shortlisted as an Italian Oscars entry.
Alongside these screenings at Chapter Arts Centre are a series of exclusive Q&A sessions with actors, directors and film experts, including Love And Bullets songwriter Nelson; directors Laura Bispuri, Marino Guarnieri and Elisa Flaminio Inno; President of Arci Movie Napoli, Roberto D’Avascio; and Dr. Ruth Glynn, an academic specialising in Italian Film from Bristol University.
words Sam Pryce
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Fri 16-Sun 18 Nov. Tickets: TBC. Info: www.iffc.wales
