In cooperation with Italian Ministry of Culture and Embassy in Tehran, seven Italian films will be shown in the Retrospective of Italian Cinema program held alongside the 2018 Fajr International Film Festival. It’s a reward to Italian contemporary cinema, which is speaking to the world once again.
With one title selected in the 36th FIFF Competition – and two in the Magic Lantern – Italy’s film industry has also found this year its strongest representation in Special Screenings and Retrospective sections. The significant and exciting programs will be attended by A-list guests from Italy, who will also hold filmmaking workshops in the Talent Campus.
The Lineup:
Little Tito and the Aliens (Original Title: Tito e Glialieni)
Section: International Competition – – A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Director: Paola Livia Randi
Writer: Paola Randi, Massimo Gaudioso, Laura Lamanda
DOP: Roberto Forza
Editor: Desideria Rayner
Music: Giordano Corapi, Fausto Mesolella
Sound: Stefano Grosso
Cast: Valerio Mastandrea, Clemence Poesy, Luca Esposito, Chiara Stella Riccio
Producer: Angelo Barbagallo, Matilde Barbagallo
Production Co: Bibi Film TV
Language: Italian, English
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy | 2018 | 92 min
Premiere Status: National Premiere
About Director:
Paola Randi is a director and writer born in 1970 in Milano. He is known for his Into Paradiso (2010), Little Tito and the Aliens (2017), and Giulietta Dellaspazzatura (2003).
Synopsis:
Tito, a scientist who works on a secret project for the US government, has always been known as the legendary American Uncle by his nephews, Anita (14) and Little Tito (7). As orphans, they get to Nevada to join Tito, but find a rather depressed professor, a desert and the secrets of Area 51.
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A Ciambra
Section: Special Screenings – A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Writer & Director: Jonas Carpignano
DOP: Tim Curtin
Editor: Affonso Gonçalves
Music: Dan Romer
Sound: Giuseppe Tripodi
Cast: Pio Amato, Koudous Seihon, Damiano Amato
Producer: Paolo Carpignano, Jon Coplon, Christoph Daniel, Gwyn Sannia
Production Co: DCM Pictures, RT Features, Rai Cinema, Sikella Productions, Stayblack Productions
Language: Italian
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy, France, United States, Germany | 2017 | 120 min
Premiere Status: National Premiere
About Director:
Jonas Carpignano was born in 1984 and grew up in New York City and Rome. His first feature film Mediterranea debuted at the Cannes Film Festival – Semaine de la Critique in 2015 before receiving the award for the best directorial debut of 2015 by the National Board of Review as well as the Gotham Independent Film Award for breakthrough director. The film was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards including best first feature. His second feature film A Ciambra had its world premiere at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Europa Cinema Label prize for best European film. The film won numerous awards and prizes in addition to earning Carpignano a nomination for best director at the Independent Spirit Awards. A Ciambra was chosen to represent Italy for best foreign film at the 2018 Academy Awards and was named the best Italian film of 2017 by the National Syndicate of Italian Film Critics.
Synopsis:
In A Ciambra, a small Romani community in Calabria, Pio Amato is desperate to grow up fast. At 14, he drinks, smokes and is one of the few to easily slide between the region’s factions – the local Italians, the African refugees and his fellow Romani. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere, learning the necessary skills for life on the streets of their hometown. When Cosimo disappears and things start to go wrong.
Festivals / Awards:
2017: Cannes Film Festival, Label Europa Cinemas Award (Best European Film) / Bergen International Film Festival, Cinema Extraordinaire (Director) / Munich Film Festival / Stockholm Film Festival / Zagreb Film Festival
2018: International Cinephile Society Awards, ICS Award for Best Picture / Palm Springs International Film Festival / Film Independent Spirit Awards
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The Laplace’s Demon (Original Title: Il Demone di Laplace)
Section: Magic Lantern – A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Director: Giordano Giulivi
Writer: Duccio Giulivi, Giordano Giulivi
DOP: Ferdinando D’Urbano
Editor: Giordano Giulivi, Ferdinando D’Urbano
Music: Duccio Giulivi
Sound: Giordano Giulivi, Ferdinando D’Urbano
Cast: Alessandro Zonfrilli, Silvano Bertolin, Carlotta Mazzoncini, Duccio Giulivi, Walter Smorti, Simone Moscato, Simone Valeri, Ferdinando D’Urbano
Producer: Silvano Bertolin, Ferdinando D’Urbano, Duccio Giulivi, Giordano Giulivi
Language: Italian
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy | 2016 | 109 min
Premiere Status: Asian Premiere
About Director:
Giordano Giulivi was born in Rome in 1974. After his education in humanities, his passion for audiovisual techniques led him to work as an editor at Italian National Television. Always attracted by the imaginary and the mysterious, interpreted in a philosophical and scientific way, he found in making movies his mean of expression, conceiving and telling stories that reflect his interests and fantasies. He has dedicated himself to cinema taking care of all the aspects related to the realization of a film, seen as a unitary and integrated activity, including the creation of the story, writing the script down to the smallest details, directing and final editing.
Synopsis:
A glass in free fall. Have you ever thought if it is possible to calculate into how many pieces it can break into? After numerous experiments, a team of researchers succeeds in doing just this apparently impossible task. Attracted to their experiment, a mysterious professor invites the scientists in his isolated mansion to know more about their studies. However, when they arrive, they are not greeted by their host and are faced with a strange model of the mansion, in which some absolutely normal but incredible actions are acted.
Festivals / Awards:
2017: Fantasia International Film Festival, Camera Lucida, Audience Award (Silver Prize) / Most Innovative Feature Film, Canada / Screamfest Horror Film Festival, Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Musical Score, Best Special Effects, Best Visual Effects, United States
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It’s the Law! (Original Title: L’ora Legale)
Section: Magic Lantern – A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Director: Salvatore Ficarra, Valentino Picone
Writer: Edoardo De Angelis, Salvatore Ficarra, Nicola Guaglianone, Valentino Picone, Fabrizio Testini
DOP: Ferran Paredes
Editor: Claudio Di Mauro
Music: Carlo Crivelli
Sound: Pompeo Iaquone
Cast: Salvatore Ficarra, Valentino Picone, Vincenzo Amato, Leo Gullotta, Antonio Catania, Tony Sperandeo
Producer: Attilio De Razza, Giannluca Passone
Production Co: Tramp Ltd., Medusa Film
Language: Italian
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy | 2017 | 92 min
Premiere Status: National Premiere
About Director:
Salvatore Ficarra and Valentino Picone started in 1993 as a comedy trio with Salvatore Borrello, performing together on stage as Chiamata Urbana Urgente. In 1998, after Borrello left the trio the pair began to use their surnames: Ficarra & Picone. In 2000, they made Chiedimi se Sonofelice and two years later made their acting debut in Natistanchi.
Synopsis:
In the small Sicilian village of Pietrammare, the election of the new mayor is approaching. The town has been led for many years by the crooked Gaetano Patanè who is ready to cheat to win again. People are used to the wheeling and dealing of the politics and go with the flow, but this time the mayor’s opponent is Pierpaolo Natoli, a 50-year-old professor, full of courage and ideals. Against all odds, Pierpaolo wins, but are people ready for change?
Festivals / Awards:
2017: Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Best Comedy / Golden Ciak Awards / BIFEST-Bari International Film Festival, Best Original Story
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The Order of Things (Original Title: L’ordine Dellecose)
Section: A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Director: Andrea Segre
Writer: Marco Pettenello, Andrea Seger
DOP: Valerio Azzali
Editor: Benni Atria
Cast: Paolo Pierobon, Giuseppe Battiston, Olivier Rabourdin, Ralph Palka, Valentina Carnelutti, Yusra Warsama
Producer: Francesco Bonsembiante, Antoine De Clermont-Tonnerre
Language: Italian, English, Arabic
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy, France | 2017 | 112 min
Premiere Status: National Premiere
About Director:
Andrea Segre, born in Dolo (Venice) in 1976, his career began with important material made for TV, including the documentary Berlino 1989-1999: Ilmuronellatesta (Rai 3, 1999). In 2010, he directed his first feature, Shun Li and the Poet, presented at many festivals, awarded several prizes, and distributed in more than 30 countries. In 2013, he directed the documentary Undue Debt, which was screened at the 66th Locarno Film Festival, and his second feature film First Snowfall, which was selected for the Orizzonti Competition at the 70th Venice Film Festival and won several awards, such as the Grand Prix Fiction and Prix du Public at 31st Annecy CinémaItalien in France. In 2017, he presented the documentary Ibi at the 70th Locarno Film Festival and directed his third feature film The Order of Things, and presented at 74th Venice Film Festival (Special Screenings). Segre is the founder of the association ZaLab.
Synopsis:
Corrado, a policeman for the European task force in charge of immigration control, is on a field assignment in Libya. During a night patrol in the desert, he meets Swada, a young Somali woman who left her war-ravaged country to try and reach Europe. Corrado finds himself faced with a choice: respect his orders and the law, or save Swada’s life.
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Where the Shadows Fall (Original Title: Dove Cadono le Ombre)
Section: A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Writer & Director: Valentina Pedicini
DOP: Vladan Radovic
Music: Giogio Franchini
Cast: Elena Cotta, Federica Rossellini, Raffaella Panichi, Josafat Vagni, Lucrezia Guidone
Producer: Domenico Procacci
Production Co: Fandango, RAI Cinema
Language: Italian
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy | 2017 | 95 min
About Director:
Valentina Zucco Pedicini was born in Brindisi in 1978. She moved to Rome when to study philology and Italian linguistics, with a thesis on the Pugliese dialect in contemporary film. She went on to attend the Zelig School for Documentary, Television and New Media and graduated in film directing. Her documentaries have been selected for numerous national and international festivals. Dal Profondo is her feature directorial debut. The project, which was selected for the IDFA Academy and the Berlinale Talent Campus, won the 2012 Solinas Prize for documentary films.
Synopsis:
Nurse Anna and her assistant Hans work in a nursery home that was once the orphanage where they were imprisoned as kids.
Festivals / Awards:
2017: Venice Film Festival, Italy / Stockholm International Film Festival, Sweden / Busan International Film Festival
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Equilibrium (Original Title: L’Equilibrio)
Section: A Retrospective of Italian Cinema
Writer & Director: Vincenzo Marra
DOP: Gianluca Laudadio
Editor: Luca Benedetti, Arianna Zarini
Sound: Claudio Spinelli, Theo Francocci
Cast: Mimmo Borrelli, Renato Del Gaudio, GIuseppe D’ambrosio, Autilia Ranieri
Producer: Luigi Musini, Olivia Musini, Cesare Apolito
Production Co: Cinemaundici, Lama Film, Rai Cinema, MiBACT, Ela Film
Language: Italian
Country, Year, Runtime: Italy | 2017 | 83 min
About Director:
Vincenzo Marra was born in 1972, Naples, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Sailing Home (2001), Vento di Terra (2004), and Estraneialla Massa (2001)
Synopsis:
Giuseppe is back from serving time as a missionary in Africa. He asks the bishop to be sent to a small town near Naples to replace Don Antonio. Don Antonio has been fighting a battle against pollution, due to illegal dumping of industrial waste in the infamous Terra dei Fuochi (Land of Fires), where the local Mafia dumps and burns waste in the open countryside.
Festivals / Awards:
2017: Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia – Venice Days / Busan IFF / BFI London FF/ Sao Paulo IFF
For further information, please visit our website at www.fajriff.com, or send us an email at info@fajriff.com. Presided over by writer and director Reza Mirkarimi, the 2018 FIFF runs April 19-27 in the cosmopolitan city of Tehran.
