The Italian Film Focus in South Africa IFF presents the best of this year’s Italian cinema, featuring six films from the most important and recent European festivals, with the presence of some prestigious directors and actors.
Where, when
Johannesburg, 27 November – 2 December: At Ster-Kinekor “The Zone” Rosebank, 81 Oxford Service Road, Rosebank. Free entry, tickets are available one hour before the event.
Cape Town, 29 November – 1 December: At Cinema Labia on Orange, 68 Orange Street, Gardens. Free entry, tickets are available one hour before the event.
Italian Film Focus 2024 movies
Antonio Piazza and Fabio Grassadonia will present their film SICILIAN LETTERS, which was in competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. It offers a striking vision of the mafia soul, told through the metaphorical device of “pizzini”, coded messages left by the fugitive mafia boss. The cast includes two extraordinary leading actors, Toni Servillo and Elio Germano. The magnificent VERMIGLIO will also be showcased. It received the jury’s special prize at the Venice Film Festival 2024 and is Italy’s candidate for the upcoming Oscars, a film where the landscape and characters merge into a single ancient narrative rhythm. It will be presented by rising Italian actor Giuseppe De Domenico.
Additionally, there are two films recently shown at the Rome Film Festival: ETERNAL VISIONARY, where Michele Placido explores the creative and personal world of Luigi Pirandello, and THE OPERA! ARIAS FOR AN ECLIPSE, the directorial debut of renowned Italian opera and theatre director David Livermore, co-signed with Paolo Gep Cucco and co-produced by Dolce & Gabbana. This film courageously, inventively, and originally represents the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, integrating the prose of two great actors, Fanny Ardant and Vincent Cassel, with the voices of various spectacular singers.
Also on the bill is the latest works by two established Italian directors: THE LIFE APART by Marco Tullio Giordana, where music and the lives of two musicians intersect with family dramas, and BATTLEGROUND by Gianni Amelio, an original and engaging reflection on war, the individual’s right to refuse it, and the tragic consequences that follow.
There will be a series of master classes with local film schools and meetings with South African authors and producers to develop new co-productions. The organisers highlight the commitment of the IFF, the co-production agreement between Italy and South Africa was signed in 2006, leading to the production of five feature films and several documentaries.
The festival is organized in collaboration with Consulate General of Italy in Johannesburg, the Consulate of Italy in Cape Town, and the Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria.
Educational activity at local film schools
The presence in Cape Town of a delegation of filmmakers will offer the opportunity to participate in an important educational activity that has developed over the years at local film schools. This relationship has seen our younger audience grow.
What: Italian Film Focus 2024 South Africa
Info: Here, and here
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