Center for Italian Studies
Cinema Studies Program
at the University of Pennsylvania

present


Snapshots of Modern Italy:
A New-wave of Documentary Filmmaking

March 28th and 29th, 2005

International House
3701 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104


In the last few years, a group of young and talented Italian documentary film-makers have produced some award winning films about Italy. These documentaries have been presented in the most important film festivals in Europe and have been recognized as some of the most interesting expressions of recent Italian Cinema. The following selection has been made by Italian Film Producer Carlo Cresto-Dina who will be in person in Philadelphia to present the series. The program is organized and supported by University of Pennsylvania Center for Italian Studies and Cinema Studies Program, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at New York University, Dorothea's House at Princeton University, and Princeton Public Library, and with the collaboration of



Program


Monday, March 28

5:00 pm
A scuola
At School
Leonardo di Costanzo, Italy, 2004, 70 min, DVD in Italian w/ English subtitles
Being a teacher in a secondary school in the outskirts of Naples. Where "the idea of school itself means nothing". The director filmed every day for an entire year: a poignant portrait of the disarray of school facing the challenge of illiteracy and gang culture.



6:30 pm
Latina/Littoria
Latina/Littoria: A Portrait of a Provincial City
Gianfranco Pannone, Italy, 2003, 75 min, DVD in Italian w/ English subtitles
 Latina was the model city built by Mussolini seventy km south of Rome; today the city, after 50 years of Christian Democratic governments ended in a big corruption scandal, is run by a mayor with a simple program "I am a fascist!". The film follows the heated arguments and debates around the new city development plan. A sort of "commedia all'italiana" set in today's Italy.



8:00 pm
Bibione
Bye Bye One
Alessandro Rossetto, Italy, 2001, 90 min, DVD in Italian w/ English subtitles
 Saturday and Sunday on a popular sea resort in Italy: a perfect portrait of today's Italy, between Americanization and old traditions.

 

Tuesday, March 29

5:00 pm
Un'ora sola ti vorrei
One More Hour With You
Alina Marazzi, Italy, 2002, 56 min, DVD in Italian w/ English subtitles
 Made also with family archive material, the film is a memory's journey of an imaginary letter of a mother to her daughter.


6:30 pm
Presentation of the Documentary Series
Carlo Cresto-Dina
 Carlo Cresto-Dina has been producing award winning documentaries and features for the last 12 years. He founded and ran the documentary department in Fandango from 1996 to the present. Through this initiative, he gathered together and nurtured the most interesting new talents in Italian documentary making. Our selection includes several of the documentaries he produced on modern day Italy. Other of his recent films include Emir Kusturica'sSuper Eight Stories, Fernando Trueba's Calle 54, and the jointly directed feature by Ken Loach, Ermanno Olmi and Abbas Kiarostami Ticket which will premiere in Berlinale 2005. He presently runs Eskimosa a film production company recently started by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore.



7:00 pm
Oreste Pipolo fotografo di matrimoni
Wedding Photographer
Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2003, 70 min, DVD in Italian w/ English subtitles
 The life and art of Oreste Pipolo the best wedding photographer in Naples and probably ... in the world. The eternal theatre of marriage and family seen through the eye of an extraordinary street artist.

 

International House
3701 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Information
italians@sas.upenn.edu
215.898.6040