Monday,
March 28 and Tuesday, March 29
The
Center for Italian
Studies and Cinema
Studies Programs at the University of Pennsylvania present
Snapshots
of Modern Italy: A New Wave of Documentary Filmmaking
In the last few years, a group of young and talented Italian
documentary filmmakers produced award winning films about Italy.
These documentaries have been presented in the most important
film festivals in Europe and are recognized as some of the most
interesting expressions of recent Italian Cinema. The following
selections were made by Italian Film Producer Carlo Cresto-Dina,
who will present the series. The program is organized and supported
by University of Pennsylvania Center for Italian Studies and
Cinema Studies Program, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Mariṃ at New
York University, Dorothea's House at Princeton University and
Princeton Public Library, and with the collaboration of associazione
documentaristi italiani.
Monday,
March 28 at 5:00pm
A scuola (At
School)
dir. Leonardo di Costanzo, Italy, 2004, DVD, 70 mins, color,
Italian w/ English subtitles
Its
hard 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.
6:30pm
Latina/Littoria: A Portrait
of a Provincial City
dir. Gianfranco Pannone, Italy, 2003, DVD, 75 mins, color,
Italian w/ English subtitles
 Latina
was the model city built by Mussolini 70 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.
8:00pm
Bibione (Bye Bye One)
dir. Alessandro Rossetto, Italy, 2001, DVD, 90 mins, color,
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 at 5:00pm
Volare (Flying Boom)
dir. Guido Chiesa, Italy, 2002, DVD, 56 mins, color,
Italian
w/ English subtitles
Made with previously unseen archive material, the film is a
creative description of the economic miracle in Italy. The age
of the Vespa and Dolce Vita, the industrial boom which, between
1950 and 1965, changed Italy from a largely agricultural country
into an industrial power.
6:30pm
Presentation of the Documentary Series
by 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's Super
Eight Stories, Fernando Trueba's Calle 54, and
the jointly directed feature Ticket, by Ken Loach,
Ermanno Olmi and Abbas Kiarostami, which will premiere in Berlinale
2005. He presently runs Eskimosa, a film production company
recently started by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore.
7:00pm
Oreste Pipolo fotografo di matrimoni
(Wedding Photographer)
dir. Matteo Garrone, Italy, 2003, 70 mins, DVD, color, Italian
w/ English subtitles
The
life and art of Oreste Pipolo, the best wedding photographer
in Naples and probably... in the world. The eternal theater
of marriage and family seen through the eye of an extraordinary
street artist.
Free
admission. Tickets available one hour before showtime
at the International House Box Office.
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