The prestigious Sydney Film Festival includes this year a Focus on Italy, which will showcase six Italian movies demonstrating the creativity, craft and culture of Italian storytellers: 
A Ciambra
Living in 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, Pio sets out to prove he’s ready to step into his big brother’s shoes but soon finds himself faced with an impossible decision that will show if he is truly ready to become a man.
• Friday, 8 June, 6.00 pm – Ritz Cinema Randwick 
• Monday, 11 June, 6.45 pm – Hayden Orpheum Cremorne
La vita in comune
In this funny, inspirational film set in a small town aptly named Disperata, the desperate mayor Filippo finds purpose teaching literature to prison inmates. He feels completely inadequate in his duties and his only pleasure is the poetry and literature classes he holds at the local prison. There he meets Pati and Angiolino, low-level criminals aspiring to become Mafia bosses. Art intervenes and changes the lives of the three men.
• Thursday, 7 June, 8.25 pm – Event Cinemas George Street
• Sunday, 10 June, 6.15 pm – Hayden Orpheum Cremorne 
Beautiful Things
Beautiful Things is a hybrid documentary structured in four parts: Oil, Cargo, Measure and Ash. Each section focuses on a worker in a distinct isolated environment: a Filipino in the bowels of a supertanker; an Italian scientist in his echo-free chamber; and finally, a waste plant operative. Creation, transport, marketing and destruction – it is a global chain of obsessive consumption.
• Friday, 8 June, 6.15 pm – Dendy Opera Quays
• Saturday, 9 June, 6.30 pm – Dendy Opera Quays
Figlia mia
10-year-old Vittoria is loved dearly by her protective mother and is brought up in a stable environment in their small Sardinian community. Nearby, living in relative decrepitude, is Angelica, who is facing eviction. She makes a final request before leaving: she would like to spend some time with Vittoria. From the moment she first sees Angelica, Vittoria suspects that she is her birth mother.
• Thursday, 14 June, 6.15 pm – State Theatre
• Friday, 15 June, 1.45 pm – State Theatre
Tutto quello che vuoi
22 year-old Alessandro hangs out with his equally aimless friends and torments his father with his lack of ambition. He is also involved in a secret affair with the mother of one of his best friends. Giorgio is a ‘forgotten poet’ with Alzheimer’s disease who lives alone. Alessandro reluctantly takes on the paid job of accompanying Giorgio on his afternoon strolls and gradually they form a bond. A funny and gentle film, this is a lovely depiction of an inter-generational friendship.
• Saturday, 9 June, 4.00 pm – Hayden Orpheum Cremorne
• Thursday, 14 June, 6.15 pm – Hayden Orpheum Cremorne
Nico, 1988
Approaching 50, Nico leads a solitary existence in Manchester, far from her glam days in the ‘60s as a Warhol superstar and celebrated vocalist for The Velvet Underground. Unconcerned about her career, Nico is urged on by her new manager to embark on a tour of Europe. She is still a fearless and extraordinary performer and the film captures both the missteps and the moments of glory.
• Friday, 8 June, 8.00 pm – Event Cinemas George Street
• Saturday, 9 June, 8.35 pm – Ritz Cinema Randwick
Information and tickets: www.sff.org.au