The basic story revolves around the life of a teacher named Pietro, played by Elio Germano. He appears to be a great teacher with a unique teaching method and is loved by all his students. That is the initial impression you are given, yet the addition of more information will tilt your perception of both his character and morality.

This information comes via a large number of scenes that suggest much but confirm little. This technique at first is somewhat off-putting as it makes you crave a solid foundation to hang your thoughts on. The longer this subterfuge exists the more you accept it and look within yourself to create a narrative. It even causes you to filter events through your own moral compass.

By the film’s end, you are left with more information and fewer answers. Filter the events presented on screen through your own sensibilities and you will come up with a conclusion. Luchetti’s greatest success with Trust is that the conclusion will be more of your making than his
Rob Hudson

Trust screenings in Brisbane
Palace Barracks
Friday 20th Sept – 10:00am
Sunday 22nd Sept – 3:10pm
Wednesday 25th Sept – 7:00pm – Prosecco Premiere
Saturday 28th Sept – 3:20pm
Tuesday 1st Oct – 1:10pm
Thursday 3rd Oct – 12:50pm
Saturday 5th Oct – 1:00pm
Monday 7th Oct – 10:30am
Saturday 12th Oct – 3:00pm

Palace James St
Saturday 21st Sept – 5:45pm
Wednesday 25th Sept – 6:30pm – Prosecco Premiere
Friday 27th Sept – 3:00pm
Sunday 29th Sept – 3:00pm
Monday 30th Sept – 8:15pm
Thursday 3rd Oct – 3:00pm
Saturday 5th Oct – 10:30am
Sunday6th Oct – 5:10pm
Monday7th Oct – 6:30pm
Sunday13th Oct – 10:30am
Wednesday16th Oct – 11:00am

2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival runs in Brisbane from 19 September – 16 October, and will take place at the Palace James Street and Palace Barracks cinemas.

Click here for more information about the festival, or head to the official website for more information and to book your tickets!
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

Multi-talented Italian-Australian food writer, TV producer and host Silvia Colloca will invite audiences to enjoy ‘la dolce vita’ as this year’s ST. ALi Italian Film Festival Ambassador, sharing her love of all things Italian with festival audiences!

This year’s diverse program includes award-winning drama, documentary, laugh-out-loud comedy and historical epics starring an array of iconic talent. The first highlights offer a glimpse into the programme which celebrates Italian cinema and filmmakers at their very best.

Special Presentations include the playful, meta comedy MARCELLO MIO, led by acting royalty and real-life mother-daughter duo Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. A joyful imagining of the daily lives of a creative family, it focuses on the legacy of the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, Chiara’s late, real- life father.

The festival’s second Special Presentation and winner of the 2024 Sydney International Film Festival’s coveted Sydney Film Prize is THERE’S STILL TOMORROW (C’è ancora domani). The directorial debut of Paola Cortellesi, who also stars in the film, follows a woman living in post war Rome with her family who dares to break with tradition. It was the highest grossing film in Italy last year.

The 2023 Venice Film Festival opener COMANDANTE is a gripping maritime thriller starring festival favourite Pierfrancesco Favino. Favino delivers a powerhouse performance as a Naval Captain who commands the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini in the Battle of the Atlantic and is faced with a moral dilemma.

Italo-French co-production MARIA MONTESSORI (La Nouvelle Femme), is a bold and illuminating drama set at the turn of the 20th Century. The film stars Jasmine Trinca as the famed Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, whose revolutionary methods are still used across the globe today.

And for bambini and nonni alike, THE WAR OF THE NONNI (La guerra dei nonni) is a fun family comedy starring Vincenzo Salemme and Max Tortora as competing grandfathers. When Nonno Tom returns from abroad, a series of hilarious challenges ensue as he and Nonno Gerri compete for the affections of their grandchildren.

The full programme will be announced and tickets go on sale late August.

The 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney 18 September – 16 October, Palace Moore Park, Palace Norton St, Palace Central, Chauvel Cinema
Canberra 19 September – 16 October, Palace Electric Cinema
Brisbane 19 September – 16 October, Palace Barracks, Palace James Street
Melbourne 20 September – 16 October, The Astor Theatre, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Penny Lane, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, Cinema Nova Byron Bay and Ballina 26 September – 16 October, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
Adelaide 2 October – 23 October, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth 3 October – 23 October, Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX, Windsor Cinema
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

As previously announced, new cinema locations have been added for this year’s festival which will be screening in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Byron Bay and tickets will be on sale from today, Thursday 30 September.

The ST. ALi Italian Film Festival will open with the Australian premiere of Daniele Luchetti’s THE TIES (Lacci) which opened last year’s Venice Film Festival and is a sumptuous marriage in crisis drama spanning several decades.

Closing the 2021 Festival will be the Roberto Rosselini classic ROME, OPEN CITY in a stunning 4K restoration. The film, which was conceived and directed amid the ruin of World War II in Rome, will be part of the Rossellini Retrospective presented by the Italian Cultural Institute Sydney alongside screen gems AMORE, JOURNEY TO ITALY, PAISAN and STROMBOLI. In addition to this retrospective the programme will also feature a celebration of classic Italian screen goddesses Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale with some of their most loved performances in MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE, BUONA SERA, MRS. CAMPBELL and THE LEOPARD.

The Centrepiece selection is recent winner of the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes, TO CHIARA (A Chiara). Jonas Carpignano’s searing drama tells the gripping story of a 15-year-old girl from Calabria, whose family life starts to unravel when she discovers her beloved father may have criminal ties.

This year’s Special Festival Presentation is acclaimed director Nanni Moretti’s (Mia Madre, The Son’s Room) latest film THREE FLOORS (Tre piani). Featuring a tremendous ensemble cast, the film traces the disparate lives of three families who reside in the same apartment block in Rome’s stylish Prati neighbourhood.

Family films also feature in the programme with GLASS BOY, a heartwarming tale of courage and adventure for all ages about a young boy usually confined to his bedroom setting out to prove he can live like a normal kid, plus WHEN MUM IS AWAY…WITH THE FAMILY (10 giorni con Babbo Natale). A Christmas-themed sequel to the 2019 Festival hit 10 Days Without Mamma, the misadventures of the Rovelli family are back in this entertaining road movie, starring Fabio De Luigi and Valentina Lodovini.

For kids fifteen years and older is CAM’S WAR a tale of survival and the challenge between Good and Evil which follows a young boy and his sister on a dangerous journey through an apocalyptic world.

CAM’S WAR is also part of The Female Lens sidebar, presented by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Melbourne, which features contemporary films from female directors. The other is SIRLEY (Maledetta primavera) from upcoming director Elisa Amoruso and is a highly personal story, based upon her adolescence and a special friendship she forms when she moves to the outskirts of Rome.

Other highlights for the 2021 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival include:

EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT (Cosa sarà)
A sudden revelation about his state of health leads a man to reevaluate his relationships with his family in this personal story from director Francesco Bruni, starring Kim Rossi Stuart.

HIDDEN AWAY (Volevo nascondermi)
Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear winner Elio Germano delivers a powerhouse performance in this multi award-winning biopic about the troubled life of celebrated artist Antonio Ligabue.

IF YOU CARE FOR ME (Se mi Vuoi Bene)
A man with a knack for accidentally setting off catastrophes decides to help out the people around him but proceeds to cause them even more trouble in this entertaining comedy about friendship starring Claudio Bisio.

LIKE A CAT ON A HIGHWAY 2 (Come un gatto in tangenziale – Ritorno a Coccia di Morto)
The sequel to the comedy smash hit Like a Cat on a Highway, Paola Cortellesi and Antonio Albanese return as Monica and Giovanni, whose lives become intertwined again three years later.

PADRENOSTRO (Presented by MIFF)
A 10-year-old boy witnesses an assassination attempt on his father (Pierfrancesco Favino in a Venice Best Actor-winning role) in Claudio Noce’s personal drama, inspired by his own family trauma.

PAOLO CONTE, VIA CON ME
An enthralling documentary following the life and work of Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte, interwoven with concert footage, interviews, and reflections of the singer by other friends and colleagues such as Roberto Benigni and Isabella Rossellini.

THE PREDATORS (I predatori)
Winner of Best New Director at the 2021 David di Donatello Awards, Pietro Castellitto’s black comedy takes aim at class antagonism in contemporary Italy when two Italian families on opposite ends of the social ladder collide.

TIGERS (Tigrar)
Tigers is the enthralling true story of former Inter Milan player Martin Bengtsson’s rollercoaster ride through the cutthroat world of professional soccer.

THREE PERFECT DAUGHTERS (È per il tuo bene)
Marco Giallini (Perfect Strangers, God Willing) is back – alongside Vincenzo Salemme and Giuseppe Battiston – with a comedy hit that sees three friends try to hinder the love affairs of their daughters.

YOU CAME BACK (Lasciami andare)
The Closing Night film of the 2020 Venice International Film Festival, this dramatic thriller set against a backdrop of Venice’s mysterious lagoons stars Stefano Accorsi as a man who finds himself torn between the past and the future.

And at selected theatres, FELLINI FORWARD: FROM THE CREATIVE GENIUS OF FEDERICO FELLINI presented by Campari. Direct from its Venice premiere, this pioneering project explores Fellini’s creative genius using new technology to emulate the works of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time in a new and unique movie set in Rome.

For the second year running, the ST. ALi Italian Film Festival eTicket Bundle (5 eTickets for $65 or 10 eTickets for $125) will be available as a pre-sale offer exclusive to Movie Club members and valid at all Palace Cinemas locations.

The 2021 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Brisbane 20 October – 14 November, Palace James Street, Palace Barracks
Adelaide 20 October – 14 November, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth 20 October – 14 November, Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Windsor Cinema
Byron Bay 22 October – 7 November, Palace Byron Bay
Sydney 27 October – 21 November, Palace Norton, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema and Palace Central
Canberra 17 November – 12 December, Palace Electric
Melbourne 19 November – 12 December, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, The Astor and Cinema Nova
ALL TICKETS NOW ON SALE. For more information visit: www.italianfilmfestival.com.au