The 20th edition of the festival will showcase 26 of the best new Italian films from the last year as well as classic cinematic gems, Special Presentations, aperitivo nights, receptions and galas across screens in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Byron Bay from 17 September.

Festival Director Elysia Zeccola said, “For 20 years we have shared our love of cinema and Italian culture striving to present the best new films from Italy for film-lovers and Italophiles around the country. The best critically acclaimed and award-winning films share the spotlight with the biggest box office hits, creating an entertaining programme for audiences young and old.”

The first highlights offer a glimpse into the programme which celebrates Italian cinema, filmmakers and personalities at their very best:

The Australian premiere of Ron Howard’s highly anticipated biopic PAVAROTTI will close the festival nationally. Howard’s access-all-areas documentary looks back at the life, relationships and the remarkable performing career of the world’s most famous tenor who became an international superstar, from the early 1960s until his death.

Following his acclaimed drama Indivisible, director Edoardo De Angelis’ powerful and award-winning new film THE VICE OF HOPE (Il vizio della speranza) has been revealed this year’s Special Presentation selection. Starring Pina Turco (Gomorrah series) as a woman desperately striving to escape a life of vice and criminality, De Angelis’ masterfully creates another gritty tale from the Camorra-infested northern Neapolitan neighbourhood made famous by Dogman.

Italy’s best contemporary thrillers, dramas and a documentary will feature in the New Italian Cinema section featuring a star-studded who’s who of Italian talent:

Director Stefano Mordi’s taut thriller THE INVISIBLE WITNESS (Il testimone invisible) sees a slick businessman (Riccardo Scamarcio) employ an undefeated veteran attorney to prove his innocence after he wakes up next to his murdered mistress.

Marco Giallini and Valerio Mastandrea star in TOMORROW’S A NEW DAY (Domani è un altro giorno) – an exceptional remake of the award-winning Spanish-Argentinian favourite Truman, which follows a bittersweet reunion of two friends as they wander the streets of Rome to examine their lives and ponder the future.

From director Andrea Zaccariello comes the super stylish and absorbing murder mystery I’M NOT A KILLER (Non sono un assassino). Again, we see Italian cinema heavyweight Riccardo Scamarcio star alongside Alessio Boni (The Tourist, 2010) and Edoardo Pesce (Dogman, LIFF18).

Now, there wouldn’t be an Italian Film Festival without Comedy, Italian-Style! And these box office hits, won’t disappoint:

Winner of Best Comedy Film at the Nastri d’Argento Awards 2019, BANGLA, is a romantic comedy with a huge heart. Director Phaim Bhuiyan’s debut is a fresh and spirited portrait of the complications of young love caught between very different beliefs. With a script based on the director’s own experiences and a central character played by the director himself this is a cross-cultural rom-com set in Rome.

In LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO SOFIA (Ti presento Sofia) a frazzled father finds himself in hot water as he tries to hide his daughter from his new girlfriend in this hilarious comedy-of-errors starring Fabio De Luigi and Micaela Ramazzotti.

ORDINARY HAPPINESS (Momenti di trascurabile felicità) is a humorous contemplation on life, in which director Daniele Luchetti (Those Happy Years) transforms the short stories of Francesco Piccolo into a charming metaphysical comedy starring Pierfrancesco “Pif” Diliberto (The Mafia Kills Only in Summer).

This year, the festival spotlights the greatest artists of Italian history with Films on Art: The Italian Masters, including: MICHELANGELO – ENDLESS, about the life and works of the incomparable genius Michelangelo Buonarroti, played by Enrico Lo Verso; and AMAZING LEONARDO, directed by Mexican helmer Jesus Garces Lambert, the high-end biopic marks the 500thanniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death. The film stars Italian A-lister Luca Argentero (Eat Pray Love) as the artist, scientist and inventor.

And what more could a 20th festival edition be punctuated with other than a tribute to the great Bernardo Bertolucci following his passing last November. The Retrospective includes 1900(Novecento), the 1976 historical drama featuring an international ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda and Donald Sutherland. The five-hour epic will screen with an intermission. The programme also showcases Bertolucci’s political thriller THE CONFORMIST (Il conformista) the visually intoxicating adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel about an upper-class follower of Mussolini which returns to the big screen in a restoration supervised by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.

The Lavazza Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney: 17 Sept – 16 Oct, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinemas, Palace Central
Melbourne: 19 Sept – 16 Oct, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Kino Cinemas, The Astor Theatre
Canberra: 24 Sept – 16 Oct, Palace Electric Cinemas
Brisbane: 25 Sept – 16 Oct, Palace Barracks and Palace James Street
Adelaide: 1 Oct – 23 Oct, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth: 2 Oct – 16 Oct, Palace Cinema Paradiso and Luna on SX
Hobart: 17 Oct – 23 Oct, The State Cinema
Byron Bay: 26 Sept – 13 Oct, Palace Byron Bay

The full programme will be announced in August.
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

Sitting at the heart of the program are our SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS which include: The 2018 winner of Best Original Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival, HAPPY AS LAZZARO, Alice Rohrwacher’s (The Wonders LIFF14) enchanting third film; and from Matteo Garrone, the director of Gomorrah comes DOGMAN – the Cannes Film Festival award-winning tale of a dog-lover in desolate Southern Italy who is driven to terrifying extremes by a violent local bully.

Strong dramas are aplenty with films from much-loved directors featuring famous faces straight from the international circuit. Actress and director Valeria Golino (Rain Man), returns with EUPHORIA, a riveting drama about two brothers forced back into each other’s lives, starring Riccardo Scamarcio (Dalida LIFF17) and Valerio Mastandrea (Perfect Strangers LIFF16 Opening Night). Acclaimed crime-drama BOYS CRY in which two boys who have always existed on the fringes of Rome’s underworld are suddenly pulled into it, is directed by the D’Innocenzo Brothers and co-stars Luca Zingaretti (LIFF guest 2016) as the mafia boss. THE GIRL IN THE FOG, based on the eponymous bestselling novel, is a gripping thriller set amid a close-knit mountain village which follows the enigmatic Detective Vogel (Toni Servillo, Let Yourself Go! LIFF17 Opening Night) as he investigates the sudden disappearance of a young girl.  And a huge hit in Italy, singer Luciano Ligabue’s multi award-winning dramedy based on his album of the same name, MADE IN ITALY, stars Stefano Accorsi (Italian Race LIFF16) and Kasia Smutniak (Perfect Strangers LIFF16 Opening Night). Plus FERRANTE FEVER, a documentary about the mysterious author whose “Neapolitan Quartet” novels have attracted legions of fans worldwide. This in-depth investigation attempts to uncover not the mystery of Elena Ferrante’s identity, but what it is about her Neapolitan novels that have so captivated the world.

Italy is not only known for world-class drama and high-end filmmaking, but also for their love of outrageous comedies! This year we bring you the biggest hit comedies of the last 12 months including, MY BIG GAY ITALIAN WEDDING – based on the hit off-Broadway play, this is a chaotic, heart-warming trip to the altar as a young man travels to his conservative hometown to marry his fiancé. From the writer of Welcome to the North (LIFF12), PUT NONNA IN THE FREEZER stars Fabio De Luigi as the Tax Police’s most incorruptible officer whose world is upended when he falls for an unlikely scammer. Winner of Best Comedy at the Nastri d’Argento awards, LIKE A CAT ON A HIGHWAY sees two parents from different worlds suddenly united by a common cause: to stop their teenage children from dating one another! And LOVE & BULLETS, a 17-time international award-winner including Best Film at the Italian Academy Awards (David di Donatello), this hugely entertaining mafia musical follows a family of schemers whose latest plan is threatened by true love.

This year the Lavazza Italian Film Festival will celebrate the work of renowned and much lauded Turkish-Italian director and scriptwriter FERZAN ÖZPETEK with a special spotlight on his work including: the lush, Naples-set mystery NAPLES IN VEILS in which a medical examiner has a carnal affair with a man who later ends up at her examining table, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Alessandro  (I Was a Dreamer LIFF17); winner of Best Film at the 2003 Italian Academy Awards FACING WINDOWS in which Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Raoul Bova star in this tale of a woman stuck in a failing marriage and the Holocaust survivor she cares for; the 2001 Italian Golden Globe winner IGNORANT FAIRIES which follows a woman who befriends her husband’s lover after she finds out about his affair (starring Margherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi); and LOOSE CANNONS, one of Ferzan Özpetek’s most awarded films, Riccardo Scamarcio stars in this amiable comedy about a son’s journey home to southern Italy, to finally come out to his family.

The Lavazza Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney: 11 Sept  – 7 Oct, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinemas, Palace Central
Canberra: 12 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Electric Cinemas
Melbourne: 13 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Kino Cinemas, The Astor Theatre
Brisbane: 19 Sept – 14 Oct, Palace Barracks and Palace Centro
Adelaide: 19 Sept – 14 Oct, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth: 20 Sept – 10 Oct, Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX
Hobart: 18 Oct – 24 Oct, The State Cinema
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

The 18th Lavazza Italian Film Festival (LIFF) screens at Palace Barracks and Centro cinemas in Brisbane from 20 September – 8 October, showcasing a huge program of Italian cinema. LIFF is thrilled to have Milan-born Italian/Australian actor Greta Scacchi on board as this year’s Festival Ambassador. For the first time, the festival is also honoured to introduce the Bulgari Critics’ Choice Award; a new prize to celebrate Italian contemporary cinema with an exceptional partner emblematic of Italian excellence – Bulgari.

Program highlights include the Opening Night Gala featuring Italian Golden Globes award-winning comedy LET YOURSELF GO! (LASCIATI ANDARE). This year’s Centrepiece is the David di Donatello Award-winning INDIVISIBLE (INDIVISIBILI), the story of conjoined twin sisters who are gifted with beautiful voices. The festival closes with LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (LA VITA È BELLA), an effervescent, uplifting, comedic and tragic film by Italy’s king of slapstick Roberto Benigni.

Click here to view our extended coverage and other movie highlights from the festival.

18th Lavazza Italian Film Festival
Sydney: Sept 12- Oct 8, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinemas
Melbourne: Sept 14 to Oct 8, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Kino Cinemas, The Astor Theatre
Canberra: Sept 14 to Oct 8, Palace Electric Cinemas
Brisbane: Sept 20 to Oct 8, Palace Barracks and Palace Centro
Adelaide: Sept 13 to Oct 1, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas
Perth: Sept 21 to Oct 11, Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX
Hobart: Oct 19 – 25, The State Cinema
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au

Competition will be drawn 19 September 2017, winners will be notified by mail.

The festival will kick off with the award winning box office smash hit, GOD WILLING(SE DIO VUOLE), a laugh out loud comedy starring the gorgeous Alessandro Gassman, Marco Giallini and Laura Morante which tells the story of an atheist surgeon with a God-complex, a charismatic priest, a dysfunctional family and an announcement that takes everyone by surprise!

The 36 day festival will close with a new restoration of the Academy Award nominated THE CONFORMIST (IL CONFORMISTA), which will see the return to the big screen of acclaimed director Bernardo Bertolucci’s visually intoxicating art deco style adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel about an upper-class follower of Mussolini.

Taking out the Best Actor award at the Italian Golden Globes for Luca Zingaretti, the gripping crime thriller PEREZ depicts an urban wasteland, hiding the underbelly of organised crime through the filtered lens of the justice systems. Also delving into the criminal world is BLACK SOULS (ANIME NERE), an elegant, seething and expertly-directed, award-winning thriller by Francesco Munzi which is a timeless and powerful tale about the challenges of breaking cycles of crime and violence.

Winner of multiple Best New Director awards is Francesca Archibugi’s AN ITALIAN NAME (IL NOME DEL FIGLIO). Featuring an all-star cast of Alessandro Gassmann, Valeria Golino, Luigi Lo Cascio, Rocco Papaleo, Micaela Ramazzotti, the film presents an engrossing warning against buried resentment, and a plea not to forget hopes and dreams of the past.

This year will see a string of Italian comedies light up the screen with highlight titles including LATIN LOVER, a charming and amusing new offering from acclaimed writer/director Cristina Comenciniwhich tells the story of the life and secrets of the great Italian star Saverio Crispo, a “Latin Lover” played seductively by Francesco Scianna. Winner of the Best Comedy at the Italian Golden Globes in 2015, THE LEGENDARY GIULIA (NOI E LA GIULIA) by Roman actor/director Edoardo Leo brings a fantastic cast together to tell the story of three down-on-their-luck men who meet by chance and decide to combine forces and risk everything to start a Bed and Breakfast. Warm-hearted, comedic gem DO YOU SEE ME? (SCUSATE SE ESISTO!) stars Paola Cortellesi and Raoul Bova and delivers laugh-out-loud moments to celebrate the importance of individual value and being true to oneself. Finally, MIA MADRE is the lively and brilliantly absurd comic clash from veteran director Nanni Moretti featuring John Turturro and an award winning performance from Margherita Buy as an unhinged filmmaker dealing with a personal crisis.

Other films set to deliver laughs are UNIQUE BROTHERS (FRATELLI UNICI), a delightful comedy about family and second chances starring handsome duo Raoul Bova as a man suffering memory loss, and Luke Argentero as his irresponsible younger brother; A FAIRYTALE WEDDING (UN MATRIMONIO DA FAVOLA), a whirlwind of comedic misunderstandings arise when four high school friends reconnect years later at a lavish wedding; PIZZA AND DATES (PITZA E DATTERI), shot entirely within the canals of Venice this playful comedy focuses on cultural exchanges and integration as a community of Muslims search for a new location for their mosque; SOAP OPERA, in which the kooky tenants of an apartment block experience a sudden and shocking situation when they let their private lives, past secrets and crazy passions intervene; and SO FAR SO GOOD (FINO A QUI TUTTO BENE), a touching comedy that that brings together five fantastic young actors who playuniversity graduates facing important life choices.

Films that will add further excitement into the mix delving into experimental, fantasy and documentary cinema include ITALY IN A DAY (UN GIORNO DA ITALIANI), Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores experiment portrays Italy though the eyes of Italians exposing the hopes and fears through a collage of 632 videos sent from all over Italy in a touching mosaic of life in Italy; director Matteo Garrone’s English language debut TALES OF TALES (IL RACCOTO DEI RACCONTI), featuring an all star cast of Salma Hayek, Toby Jones, Vincent Cassel, John C.Riley, Shirley Henderson and Hayley Carmichael. Not for the faint hearted, the film delves into the depths of the human psyches in a delicious dream-like visual feast brimming with imagination and mischief; and Italy’s industrial miracles of the twentieth century are explored in Davide Ferrario’sinsightful documentary THE DEVIL’S SOUP (LA ZUPPA DEL DEMONIO), through an impressive range of 100 years of archival footage.

Romantic tales are sure to delight at this year’s festival, with a selection including WONDROUS BOCCACCIO (MARAVIGLIOSO BOCCACCIO) where love triumphs over death in veteran filmmakers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s reinterpretation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic The Decameron; WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SURPRISE (MA CHE BELLASORPRESA), a classic romantic comedy of errors from the master Alessandro Genovese, about a jilted hopeless romantic who is surprised when he is given a second chance for love; and A WOMAN AS A FRIEND (UNA DONNA PER AMICA), an hilarious romcom from Giovanni Veronesi, the director of box office sensation MANUAL OF LOVE, starring French model/actress Laetitia Casta and Fabio De Luigi.

Coming-of-age is explored in CHLORINE (CLORO) the assured debut feature from director Lamberto Sanfelice; SHORT SKIN, a surprising pleasure and profound drama that perfectly interweavesfamily drama and cheeky comedy; and ITALO, a charming tale for all ages that depicts the life-altering friendship between an extraordinarydog and a lonely child.

Other titles that form part of this year’s festival line up include the powerful GREENERY WILL BLOOM AGAIN (TORNERANNO I PRATI), made with devastating simplicity and painful realism, auteur Ermanno Olmi demonstrates he is among Italy’s most masterful and humanistic directors as he evokes the terrors of war in a short but stunningly effective hypnotising film capturing a single snowy night on World War I’s Italian front; PARTLY CLOUDY WITH SUNNY SPELLS (TEMPO INSTABILE CON PROBABILI SCHIARITE), a warm-hearted comedy with a conscience about generation clashes, new horizons and an oil discovery in a small town starring Luca Zungaretti, John Turturro and Pasquale Petrolo; and MAFIA & RED TOMATOES (LA NOSTRA TERRA), based on the real-life work of the Libera association, this recent box-office hit tackles the issue of mafia power over communities with redemptive joy and a smile; and the already announced Australian Premiere of the Venice multi award winning THE DINNER (I NOSTRI RAGAZZI), which follows the moral struggle facing two wealthy brothers and their wives in this gripping adaptation on the Dutch best-seller by Herman Koch.

You can also delve into a couple of fascinating biopics this year – ORIANA (L’ORIANA) from Italian Golden Globe-winning director Marco Turco, about the life of Italian journalist and writer OrianaFallaci who gave up everything in pursuit of her career; and LEOPARDI (IL GIOVANE FAVOLOSO), an applauded and engrossing historical drama about the talent and struggle of Italy’s greatest 19th-century poet Giacomo Leopardi, a radical thinker and philosopher who produced inspiring works and intelligent prose that have influenced countless others, played by Elio Germano (Best Actor, Cannes Film Festival 2010).

Dramatic features include MONTEDORO: after the death of her adoptive parents, an American women journeys to Montedoro, a remote Italian town in southern Italy, hoping to discover her true origins in this haunting and poetic film; ANOTHER SOUTH (UNA STORIA SBAGLIATA): in this brave drama starring Isabella Ragonese (La Nostra Vita) director Gianluca Maria Tavarellitransports us to the Iraqi combat zone following a young Sicilian women through a complex tapestry of flashbacks as she searches for answers; and LAND OF SAINTS (LA TERRA DEI SANTI) offerspowerful insight into the often unacknowledged females participating in the male-dominated tug-of-war between mafia rings and the law.

And if you’re seeking the ultimate Italian espresso, whilst indulging in some ‘cinema Italiano’, look no further than Lavazza, whom the Festival is once again honoured to have as the naming rights partner. Lavazza is proudly served at all Palace Cinemas so attendees year-round can enjoy the premium taste of Barista coffee.

Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2015
Brisbane: Thur 1 October – Sun 18 October Palace Barracks & Palace Centro
Sydney: Tue 15 September – Sun 11 Oct Palace Verona, Palace Norton Street & Chauvel Cinema
Melbourne: Wed 16 September – Sun 11 October Palace Cinema Como, The Astor Theatre, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Westgarth, The Kino Cinemas
Adelaide: Thu 17 September – Wed 07 October Palace Nova Eastend
Canberra: Tue 22 September – Sun 11 October Palace Electric
Perth: Thu 24 September – Wed 14 October Cinema Paradiso& Luna on SX
Byron Bay: Fri 18 September – Sun 26 September Palace Byron Bay
Hobart: Thu 15 September – Thu 21 October State Cinema
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au