Seven Beauties: The Movies by Lina Wertmüller
The retrospective Seven Beauties, dedicated to acclaimed Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller and organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in collaboration with the Randwick Ritz Cinema and Cinema Reborn, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, will start with the screening of the 1963 movie I basilischi (The Lizards).
Irreverent, rule-breaking and impossible to define, Italian filmmaker Lina Wertmüller broke ground as the first woman to be nominated for an Oscar as Best Director in 1977. An unabashed feminist and non-conformist, her films take the absurdities of society and turn them on their heads – the results being sometimes witty, sometimes shocking, always political. The series celebrates her work with seven of her best films.
The movie will be introduced by Professor Jane Mills of the School of the Arts & Media University of New South Wales. Jane is a writer, lecturer, editor, member of the Film Advisory panel for the Sydney Film Festival and Associate Programmer for the Antenna Documentary Festival.
The screening will also be headed by a greeting by Lina Wertmüller specifically recorded to introduce the retrospective.
I basilischi (The Lizards) (1963)
Cast: Stefano Satta Flores, Antonio Petruzzi, Rosanna Santoro, Sergio Ferranino
The neorealistic story follows the uneventful lives of Francesco, Sergio and Antonio, three young men who live in a small, poverty-stricken village. Since all three are unemployed they waste their time away roaming the streets and chasing girls. One day Antonio’s aunt asks him to stay with her and his cousins in Rome. He accepts her offer and enrols at a university in Rome leaving his two friends behind, who envy him for his new upscale lifestyle. But eventually Antonio returns to the village, initially just for a day. Though he boasts about his life, he never goes back to Rome and instead chooses his friends and the place he grew up in, despite all its shortcomings.
Information and bookings: www.ritzcinemas.com.au and 02 8324 2500