ITALIAN FEMALE DIRECTORS SHINE
AT THE 62ND BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL
Daughter of Mine
Istituto Luce Cinecittà – Filmitalia is delighted to announce that once again a selection of Italy’s latest cinematic highlights will screen at the forthcoming BFI London Film Festival (10 – 21 October). The seven feature films that will be shown are: TWIN FLOWER, DOGMAN, WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE?, HAPPY AS LAZZARO, SUSPIRIA, DAUGHTER OF MINE, THE VICE OF HOPE, plus the short film MONELLE.
Three of the titles in this year’s selection are directed by women. Laura Bispuri will present Daughter of Mine, shown earlier this year at the Berlin International Film Festival. Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro, which shared the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes International Film Festival, will be screening in the Official Competition section. Laura Luchetti’s second feature Twin Flower, which received the FIPRESCI Honourable mention at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival, will have its European premiere in the capital.
Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone’s latest feature Dogman also screened in Cannes, where Marcello Fonte won the Best Actor award for his lead role. The film is the Italian entry for best foreign-language film at the 91st Academy Awards. Luca Guadagnino returns to the BFI London Film Festival with a remake of Dario Argento’s cult classic Suspiria (released in the UK by Mubi), which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. It is included in the prestigious Headline Gala strand. Roberto Minervini’s What You Gonna Do when the World’s on Fire? was also in Venice, and will be competing in London for the Best Documentary award. The Vice of Hope is Edoardo De Angelis’ follow-up to his impressive feature film Indivisibili, and has already been building up a following on the international festival circuit, including most recently Toronto. So far, the three titles Happy as Lazzaro, Dogman and Suspiria have secured UK distribution.
The presence of the Italian films and film-making talent at the BFI London Film Festival is coordinated by Istituto Luce Cinecittà – Filmitalia. The ongoing relationship with the London festival offers UK audiences the chance to sample a selection of enlightening and refreshing work from some of Italy’s most talented directors. As in previous years, film-makers will be attending the Festival to take part in Q+As.
During the 62nd BFI London Film Festival there will be interview opportunities with:
Laura Luchetti (director) – Twin Flower
Matteo Garrone (director) – Dogman
Roberto Minervini (director) – What You Gonna Do when the World’s on Fire?
Judy Hill (actress) – What You Gonna Do when the World’s on Fire?
Alice Rohrwacher (director) – Happy as Lazzaro
Laura Bispuri (director) – Daughter of Mine
Alba Rohrwacher (actress) – Daughter of Mine/ Happy as Lazzaro
Edoardo De Angelis (director) – The Vice of Hope
Pina Turco (actress) – The Vice of Hope
Diego Marcon (director) – Monelle
THE FILMS
TWIN FLOWER (FIORE GEMELLO)
Director: Laura Luchetti
Cast: Anastasyia Bogach, Kalill Kone, Aniello Arena, Mauro Addis, Fausto Verginelli, Alessandro Pani, Giorgio Colangeli
Thursday 11 October, 18.15 – Ciné Lumière
Friday 12 October, 15.45 – Prince Charles Cinema
Strand: Journey (95 mins)
Anna and Basim are united as two unlikely travel companions who find themselves fleeing from danger against the backdrop of the enchanting landscape of Sardinia. Anna is a teenager with an Italian passport, who is left mute following a violent event she was unwillingly caught up in. Basim is an illegal immigrant from the Ivory Coast, who gets by with odd jobs and casual sex. Combining road movie and thriller elements, Twin Flower is a beautifully performed drama about humanity’s need to exist in a community, even if that means just two people. This second feature directed by Laura Luchetti received the FIPRESCI Honourable mention at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival.
MONELLE
Director: Diego Marcon
Cast: Giulia Ambrosoli, Emma Bertolini, Carlotta Cardinale, Alberta Casali, Alessia Fontana, Vidushi Samarasinghe
Saturday 13 October, 18.20 – BFI Southbank (NFT3)
Strand: Experimenta (16 mins)
Flashlights shine for a mere split second at a time on a group of girls who lie sleeping at the Casa del Fascio in Como, a modernist building designed by Giuseppe Terragni under the regime of Benito Mussolini. Fragments of CGI animation contribute to the enigmatic, visionary and evocative experience created. Monelle is a film without any narrative, hierarchy, beginning, or end. The 35 mm and CGI animation formats create a sensation of ambiguity, juxtaposing structural cinematic narrative and the horror genre.
DOGMAN
Director: Matteo Garrone
Cast: Marcello Fonte, Edoardo Pesce, Nunzia Schiano, Adamo Dionisi, Francesco Acquaroli, Alida Baldari Calabria, Gianluca Gobbi, Laura Pizzirani, Aniello Arena
Sunday 14 October, 17.00 – BFI Southbank (NFT1)
Monday 15 October, 18.15 – Curzon Mayfair Cinema (Screen 1)
Strand: Dare (120 mins)
Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone skilfully brings us a tale laced with perverted friendship, drug-fuelled crime, and revenge. Marcello (Marcello Fonte) is a mild-mannered dog groomer who lives in a rundown seaside village near Rome, running errands for local thieves on the side. He dotes on his young daughter, who he takes on diving trips. When Marcello falls under the ambit of Simone (Edoardo Pesce), an unhinged boxer and bully, fresh out of prison, he becomes a sidekick in a spate of violent robberies that terrorise the local area. When things spiral out of control, Marcello incriminates himself, and is jailed for a year. Having lost everything, the Dogman seeks revenge on Simone, with devastating consequences, providing a powerful and emotionally devastating climax. Marcello Fonte’s terrific central performance deservedly earned him the Best Actor award at the 2018 Cannes International Film Festival. The film is the Italian entry for best foreign-language film at the 91st Academy Awards.
Released in the UK by Curzon Artificial Eye on 19th October 2018
WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD’S ON FIRE?
Director: Roberto Minervini
Cast: Judy Hill, Dorothy Hill, Michael Nelson, Ronaldo King, Titus Turner, Ashley King, Kevin Goodman, The New Black Panthers Party for Self Defense
Monday 15 October, 18.00 – Curzon Soho Cinema (Screen 1)
Tuesday 16 October, 20.30 – Rich Mix Cinema (Screen 1)
Strand: Documentary Competition (123 mins
What you Gonna do When the World’s on Fire? paints a portrait of an African American community in Louisiana in the aftermath of a police shooting. In 2016, unarmed 37-year-old African-American Alton Sterling was shot and killed by Baton Rouge police officers. His death sparked public outrage and resulted in mass protests, both in his home town and across the US, and added yet another name to the Black Lives Matter campaign. Shot in black and white, this documentary is a meditation on the state of race in America, providing an intimate look at the lives of those who struggle for justice, dignity, and survival in a country which does not appear to be on their side.
HAPPY AS LAZZARO
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Cast: Adriano Tardiolo, Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Chikovani, Agnese Graziani, Sergi López, Natalino Balasso, Tommaso Ragno, Nicoletta Braschi, Pasqualina Scuncia, Carlo “Carletto” Tarmati, Gala Othero Winter, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Edoardo Montalto, Carlo Massimino, Maddalena Baiocco, Giulia Caccavello
Tuesday 16 October, 18.00 – Vue Leicester Square (Screen 7)
Tuesday 16 October, 18.20 – Vue Leicester Square (Screen 5)
Wednesday 17 October, 15.00 – Vue Leicester Square (Screen 7)
Wednesday 17 October, 15.30 – Vue Leicester Square (Screen 5)
Strand: Official Competition (125 mins)
Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo) is a wholesome peasant whose kind nature finds people mistaking him for an idiot. The village he inhabits is lost in time, and ruled over by the loathsome Marchesa Alfonsina De Luna (Nicoletta Braschi), whose spoiled son Tancredi (Tommaso Ragno) befriends Lazzaro and tricks him into helping him fake his own kidnapping, in order to steal from his wretched mother. However, when the master plan goes wrong, Lazzaro’s loyalty will withstand the test of time as he is catapulted into a bleak metropolis, finding himself all alone. This follow-up to The Wonders is a delightfully original time and genre-bending contemplation on the fate of innocence when faced with corruption and greed. Alice Rohrwacher shared the Best Screenplay award at Cannes for this richly layered work.
Released in the UK by Modern Films, release date TBC
SUSPIRIA
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sylvie Testud, Jessica Harper
Tuesday 16 October, 20.05 – Embankment Garden Cinema
Tuesday 16 October, 19.00 – Cineworld Leicester Square
Wednesday 17 October, 11.00 – Embankment Garden Cinema
Friday 19 October, 20.20 -Odeon Tottenham Court Road (Screen 3)
Strand: Headline Galas (152 mins)
Luca Guadagnino pays homage to Dario Argento’s horror classic with this feminist update.
Set in Berlin in 1977, it finds American Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) auditioning for a prestigious international dance school, who entrances the exacting Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton). A darkness swirls at the centre of this world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the troupe’s artistic director, its ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.
Released in the UK by Mubi on 26th November 2018
DAUGHTER OF MINE
Director: Laura Bispuri
Cast: Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Sara Casu, Udo Kier, Michele Carboni
Thursday 18 October, 20.50 – Picturehouse Central
Friday 19 October, 18.20 – Vue Leicester Square (Screen 6)
Strand: Love (96 mins)
Tina (Valeria Golina) devotes all her time to bringing up 10 year old Vittoria, whilst the young child’s self-indulgent biological mother Angelica (Alba Rohrwacher) crashes through life in a whirlwind state of intoxication. When Angelica instinctively tries to claim Vittoria back, the girl becomes the object of conflict between two women’s radically different ideas of what constitutes motherhood. Set in Sardinia, Daughter of Mine is an arresting melodrama which also has a humorous undercurrent in the way it presents an observant and authentic portrayal of island life.
THE VICE OF HOPE
Director: Edoardo De Angelis
Cast: Pina Turco, Massimiliano Rossi, Marina Confalone, Cristina Donadio, Marcello Romolo
Saturday 20 October, 12.45 – BFI Southbank (NFT1)
Sunday 21 October, 17.50 – BFI Southbank (NFT3)
Strand: Debate (100 mins)
Maria (Pina Turco) lives a hand-to-mouth existence void of dreams and desires in a bleak neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Tainted by the memory of a horrific childhood incident, her daily life involves taking care of her mother and ferrying pregnant women towards a painful, hellish fate. But hope will pay Maria a visit, in its most ancestral and powerful form, as miraculous as life itself, teaching her that remaining human is the greatest revolution of all. Following his impressive Indivisibile, director Edoardo De Angelis’ latest film is a drama infused with poetic sensitivity and persuasion, while conveying the reality of the characters’ haunting lives.
