Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2019
On the occasion of the 20th Lavazza Italian Film Festival, which will start on the 17th of September in Sydney, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Sydney, in collaboration with Palace Cinemas, wishes to commemorate the recent departure, in November 2018, of one of the undisputed masters of Italian cinema, Bernardo Bertolucci, with a mini-retrospective dedicated to the great film director.
The retrospective includes the screening of restored versions of two masterpieces, Novecento (on the 29th of September) e The Conformist (on the 6th of October). Both screenings will be introduced by film programmer and multimedia curator Christian Pazzaglia. All those who will attend the screening of The Conformist will also have the chance to watch an exclusive interview with the famous director, never before screened in Australia.
NOVECENTO (1976)
Sunday, 29 September 2019, at 1.30 pm
Chauvel Cinema, Paddington
This expansive period drama set in Emilia, Bertolucci birth region, follows two childhood friends in northern Italy during the early 20th century. Alfredo Berlinghieri (Robert De Niro) and Olmo Dalcò (Gérard Depardieu) grow up as close companions despite their class differences. However, they drift apart as adults, Alfredo embracing his landowning heritage and Olmo championing workers’ rights. As the years go by, they see the rise of Fascism in their country, and eventually their values find them directly in conflict. In Italian cinemas it was released, to great acclaim, in two stages, Novecento Act I and Novecento Act II. The film premiered out of competition at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and in 1977 won the Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film.
During the interval between the first and the second part viewers will be able to enjoy some refreshments offered by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.
Tickets: $26 (full) e $24 (IIC and Palace Movie Club members)
Bookings: www.palacecinemas.com.au
THE CONFORMIST (1970)
Sunday, 6 October 2019, at 1.30 pm
Chauvel Cinema, Paddington
The Conformist is a political drama based on the 1951 novel The Conformist by Alberto Moravia, with a screenplay written by Bertolucci. Marcello Clerici (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a member of the secret police in Mussolini’s Fascist Italy. He and his new bride, Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli), travel to Paris for their honeymoon, where Marcello also plans to assassinate his former college professor Luca Quadri (Enzo Tarascio), an outspoken anti-Fascist living in exile. But when Marcello meets the professor’s young wife, Anna (Dominique Sanda), both his romantic and his political loyalties are tested.
The movie won a David di Donatello Award as Best Movie in 1971.
Tickets: $18 (full) e $16 (IIC and Palace Movie Club members)
Bookings: www.palacecinemas.com.au