Center for Italian Studies and Cinema Studies Program
at the
University of Pennsylvania
in collaboration with
present
NEW AUTHORS OF ITALIAN CINEMA
Seventh Edition
A FREE ADMISSION ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL
at the INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PHILADELPHIA
New Authors of Italian Cinema, Seventh Edition, is a collaboration among the Center for Italian Studies and the Cinema Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, and N.I.C.E. - New Italian Cinema Events. The festival is held at the International House of Philadelphia and presents six feature films and five short films of several young and talented Italian filmmakers.
Monday, December 5
7:00 pm
Nessun messaggio in segreteria (Sorry You Can't Get Through)
Paolo Genovese and Luca Miniero, Italy 2005, 100 minutes
Walter, now retired, can't surrender to the rush of time. Knowing that at his age there is not much life left, he is very  crafty at filling his long empty days. One day, Walter spots news that, according to recent statistics, for every young man working there is a retired at home. Set out to look for his younger alter-working-ego, Walter ties a peculiar bond with Piero becoming a surrogate father to the young man.
Actress ANNA FALCHI and Producer SAURO FALCHI
will be present at the screening!
Tuesday, December 6
7:00 pm
Gas (Gas)
Luciano Melchionna, Italy 2005, 100 minutes
Luca lives in Latina. He does home delivery for a supermarket. He lives with his parents. Francesco has a son and on Sundays he brings the family to the beach. Emiliano works in a morgue. Sandro is the son  of a famous television personality but since his father left him, he's been living with his frustrated and unsatisfied mother. Monica spends her days in front of the television in a luxury house financed by one of her father's friends. Laura lives in a working-class house with a mother who is too young, an over-worked father, and a younger sister whom she looks after. Luca, walking around the city, meets Francesco, Emiliano, Sandro, Monica and Laura, but he does not remember where and how they already met. The night he joins the group, he is involved in the kidnapping of a 50-year-old man. Luca suggests bringing him into the abandoned building where he lives and the group starts to play with its prey.
Autoritratto (Self-portrait)
Francesco Amato, Italy, 2003, 8 minutes
The ordinary life of Franco is shaken by an automatic machine for passport photos. The machine is in front of his office. Franco tries it. But the machine, as an oracle, will reveal a sad truth.
Wednesday, December 7
7:00 pm
Contronatura (Unnatural)
Alessandro Tofanelli, Italy 2004, 110 minutes
Two different but equally vital factors characterize the filming of Unnatural . The first is the creation  of a bond of empathy with the protagonist. Giacomo is a son of the wild countryside, a natural element and an element of nature at the same time. He is an uncontrollable entity moving in a timeless world. The second factor is revealing the link with man's innate animality. Francesca is attracted to Giacomo and to what he personifies. Fully aware of the risk she is taking, she is ready to play her cards to the very end.
Chi? (Who)
Enrico Vecchi, Italy, 2004, 6 minutes
Max would like to shoot a movie... but what movie? With whom? And who is Max? And who is who?
Thursday, December 8
7:00 pm
Saimir (Saimir)
Francesco Munzi, Italy, 2004, 88 minutes
Edmond and Saimir are a father and his fifteen-year-old son who have migrated to Italy from Albania.  The two are very close, even though they find it hard to  communicate. From the squalid outskirts of coastal towns and nomad campsites to the meanness of the provinces, the father struggles to provide a decent future for himself and his son. However, to do this he continues to use the only means he is familiar with - trafficking in illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe. Despite his efforts, Saimir seems incapable of creating a one-to-one relationship with his Italian peers and with Michela, the girl he is in love with and who almost seems to be afraid of him.
Post It (Post It)
Michele Rho, Italy, 2004, 17 minutes
P. seems to be a kid like every other, but one day coming back from school he finds some post-its stuck around. Is this an exceptional event or is it part of his daily nature? And who is writing them to him?
Friday, December 9
7:00 pm
Il silenzio dell'allodola (The Silence of the Skylark)
David Ballerini, Italy, 2004, 96 minutes
An inmate is essentially denied his freedom of choice, so that the State  can insert itself in the  spiritual space left vacant by this absence of freedom and rehabilitate him. The story of Bobby is that of a modern martyr. It demonstrates that, even in the darkest, most extreme conditions of stifled freedom, a man can go on making choices, and thus continue to feel like a human being.
Leo e Sandra (Leo and Sandra)
Alessandro Celli, Italy, 2004, 7 minutes
Leo is a very quiet boy who would like to introduce himself to his neighbour Sandra who is studying on the opposite balcony.
Saturday, December 10
7:00 pm
Tu devi essere il lupo (You Must Be the Wolf)
Vittorio Moroni, Italy, 2004, 95 minutes
Valentina, 15 yrs.old, full of hopes, doubts and questions. After her mother's  death, she grows much  more attached to her father, a taxicab driver obsessed with photography. Their relationship becomes so exclusive and absolute that it doesn't leave space for anyone else. With the passing years, Valentina will start to feel that this relationship is limiting, and begin to feel oppressed; but when she will finally has the chance to live her own life and act like an adult, something happens to sabotage all her efforts.
Lālibi (Lālibi)
Marco Cucurnia, Italy, 2004, 12 minutes
After a road accident, Eugenio wakes up from a coma in a hospital room. He sees the possibility to run away towards freedom pretending he does not remember anything. At first it works but when he goes back home, things are far more complicated, and he realizes he cannot get away from reality.
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