Cinema Italia
Life in a Time of Crisis – An Italian Perspective
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura is proud to announce the launch of a collaboration with Palace Cinemas which will present a series of screenings as well as retrospectives dedicated to some of the most significant cultural and social aspects of Italian life as well as representative figures of Italian cinema.
The first collaboration, Cinema Italia. Life in a Time of Crisis – An Italian Perspective, will present a selection of contemporary Italian movies that will take the viewers on a journey through Italy during a time of economic crisis, offering a spectrum of everyday life which shows that, no matter how dire the situation, life goes on.
Hosted at Palace Cinema Norton Street on one Tuesday of each month, guests will receive an antipasto and prosecco on arrival, with a film introduction to precede the screening, followed by a Q&A with a special guest and moderated by Antonella Beconi, convenor for Italian at the Centre of Continuing Education, University of Sydney, on behalf of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.
10 September, 6.30 pm
The Medicine Seller (Il venditore di medicine)
By Antonio Morabito, 2014, 105’
Claudio Santamaria (Romanzo Criminale) stars in Antonio Morabito’s gripping new drama about a drug salesman for an ultra-competitive pharmaceutical giant, who influences doctors and pharmacists to push their brands by offering expensive gifts in a world where profit reigns above human decency. 40-year-old sales rep, Bruno (Santamaria), suffers unbearable pressure at the hands of his tyrannical boss (Isabella Ferrari, The Great Beauty), which is proven when his broken and stressed cow-worker commits suicide. However, Bruno presses on, continuing to shamelessly bribe clients into sales. As things grow increasingly cutthroat, Bruno experiences another tension at home when his wife, Anna (Evita Ciri), stops taking her birth control pills against his wishes. Santamaria delivers a multi-dimensional performance, mastering the character’s edginess as pressures crank up anxiety levels to boiling point.
* Q&A with Jason Di Rosso, film critic, ABC, and Mats Karlsson, Senior Lecturer of Japanese Studies, University of Sydney.
ADMISSION PRICES
• Full price: $24
• IIC members, Palace Movie Club members & Students: $19*
* University of Sydney, UTS, UNSW, Macquarie University, Centre of Continuing Education students
Information and bookings: www.palacecinemas.com.au