Cinema Italia 2021 - Multi-ethnic Italy: the new Italians
The Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney is renewing once more in 2021 its collaboration with Palace Cinemas by presenting a cycle of screenings dedicated to some of the most significant contemporary cultural and social aspects of Italian life, as well as representative figures of Italian cinema, including the most recent ones.
The series has particular significance in a period in which, while complying with the indications by the health authorities due to pandemic, the organizers are able to offer lovers of Italian culture, members and students a series of enjoyable screenings in the cinema.
This year’s series is titled Multi-ethnic Italy: the new Italians, and will include a list of Italian films that will illustrate Italy which, after having been, in the last century, a country of departure for foreign destinations, has become in recent decades a destination for migrants from all over the world.
The screenings will be held at Palace Cinema Norton Street, Leichhardt. Patrons will receive a glass of prosecco on arrival. The movies will be introduced by Antonella Beconi, Convenor for Italian at the Centre of Continuing Education, University of Sydney, and will be followed by a Q&A session moderated by Antonella Beconi with a special, different guest for each screening.
The First Snowfall (La prima neve) (Andrea Segre, 2013) 104’
Andrea Segre’s second film, after multi award-winning Shun Li and the Poet, is a stunningly shot moving drama about a friendship that develops between a refugee from Togo and the grandson of his elderly employer. African refugee Dani (Jean-Christophe Folly) made the perilous journey to Europe in search of a better life. However, his passage was paved with tragedy, leaving him to raise his daughter alone in the new, chilly and alien land of Italy’s Mocheni Valley. Unexpectedly, he finds a surprising connection in Michele (Matteo Marechal, in his impressive film debut), the
precocious 11-year-old grandson of his boss who has not been coping well since the recent death of his father. As Dani and Michele work on odd jobs around the valley of the breathtaking Italian Alps, they find solidarity in one another. This is an affecting tale of loss, redemption and intergenerational connection with honest and engaging performances from both leads as well as Anita Caprioli and Giuseppe Battiston in supporting roles.
Q&A with Lucia Sorbera, Chair of Arabic Studies at the University of Sydney, and Giorgia Alù, Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney
ADMISSION PRICES
- Full price: $20
- IIC members, Palace Movie Club members & Students: $15*
* University of Sydney, UTS, UNSW, Macquarie University, Centre of Continuing Education students
Information and bookings: www.palacecinemas.com.au
