San Diego Italian Film Festival’s feStivale 2014 Launches
Eighth Year of Bringing the Best of Italian Film to San Diego
Media contact: Stephanie Thompson Communications, 619-840-7353
stephanie@stephaniethompson.com
SAN DIEGO— The eighth annual San Diego Italian Film Festival showcases the best of new
Italian film with a series of premieres ranging from engaging dramas and entertaining
comedies to documentaries telling unique stories. All the films featured but one were
produced in Italy, within the past 18 months, and many are regional or even U.S. premieres.
Included in the lineup is 2013’s La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty), co-written and directed
by Paolo Sorrentino, which won Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, as
well as the Golden Globe and the BAFTA award in the same category in 2013.
feStivale 2014 brings a new focus on community partnership to the festival, with presentations
and events planned in collaboration with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the Surfrider
Foundation, the American Institute of Architects San Diego chapter, and the Coming of Age Film
Festival.
“The San Diego Italian Film Festival is about more than just movies,” says president Victor
Laruccia. “It is about identity, history, and a shared appreciation of Italian culture and great
cinema–—in a word, it is about community. In Italy, communities come together in the piazza or
town square. The San Diego Italian Film Festival is such a place, for a diverse audience of film
lovers and those who appreciate Italian culture.”
feStivale 2014 begins on October 16, 2014, at the Museum of Photographic Arts, with Anni felici
(Those Happy Years), which has only ever been seen within the U.S. at the Palm Springs Film
Festival.
The festival continues with nine more Italian films of 2013 and 2014, many of which have never
been shown in San Diego, including incisive documentaries reflecting life and society in Italy
today. Venues include the Museum of Photographic Arts, La Paloma Theatre, and the UltraStar
theatre at Hazard Center.
Details of all feStivale 2014 events and films can be found on the website:
www.sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com.
All tickets are $10 ($8 SDIFF Members/Students/Military), at the door, cash only, except for the
Gala Presentation of Una piccolo impresa meridionale (A Small Southern Enterprise), which is
included in the Gala ticket.
feStivale 2014 films:
Anni felici (Those Happy Years)
Oct. 16, 7:30pm
MoPA
2013
Oct. 17, 7pm
La Paloma
Only previously seen within the U.S. at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
Directed by Daniele Luchetti; starring Kim Rossi Stuart, Micaela Ramazzotti, Martina Gedeck,
Samuel Garofalo, Niccolò Calvagna, and Pia Engleberth.
…/2
A delicate, nuanced film that is unexpectedly moving in its portrait of a young Italian family
living through the turbulent, freedom-loving ’70s. Genuine affection is paired with trenchant
reflection in Daniele Luchetti’s subtle, sharply perceptive and partially autobiographical look
back at (what could be) his parents’ marriage. Like Luchetti’s father, Guido Marchetti (Kim Rossi
Stuart) is an avant-garde artist, here an egotistical painter, determined to succeed. Married to the
lovely Serena (Micaela Ramazzotti) and father to two boys, Guido enjoys the perks that his work
with frequently nude models affords while expecting his wife to adhere to more traditional codes.
But it’s the 1970s, and when Serena is invited on a feminist retreat, she starts to rethink her life.
La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty) Oct. 17, 7:30pm
MoPA
2013
Oct. 18, 7pm
La Paloma
Best Foreign Language Film: 86th Academy Awards, Golden Globe, and BAFTA
Directed by Paolo Sorrentino; starring Tony Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo
Buccirosso, and Galatea Ranzi.
Oscar winner Sorrentino delivers gorgeous images: a man, a city, and a love that cannot be
consummated, nor forgotten. In Rome, in the splendor of summer, tourists flock to the Janiculum
Hill: a Japanese man collapses, felled by such beauty. Jep Gambardella—a handsome man with
irresistible charm, despite the first signs of aging—enjoys the city’s social life to the full. He
attends chic dinners and parties, where his sparkling wit and pleasant company are always
welcome. A successful journalist and inveterate seducer, in his youth he wrote a novel which
earned him a literary award and a reputation as a frustrated writer. He masks his disenchantment
behind a cynical attitude, which makes him view the world with bitter lucidity. On the terrace of
his Rome apartment which overlooks the Coliseum, he hosts parties where “the human apparatus”
– that was the title of his novel – is stripped bare, and where the comedy of nothingness is played
out. Weary of his lifestyle, Jep sometimes dreams of taking up his pen again, haunted by
memories of a youthful love which he still hangs on to.
Il carattere Italiano (Italian Character)*
Oct. 19, 4:15pm
MoPA
2013
Only previously seen within the U.S. at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Directed by Angelo Bozzolini; featuring Antonio Pappano, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale
di Santa Cecilia, Lang Lang, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniel Harding, James Conlon, Valery Gergiev,
Stefano Bollani, Janine Jansen, Lisa Batiashvili, Evgeny Kissin, and Denis Matsuev.
What makes Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia unique? See—and hear—for yourself!
Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia may be among the world’s least
hyped musical stars. Although it appears on the “10 Best Orchestras in the World” list published
by Classic FM magazine—the only Italian orchestra so honored—it lacks the renown of such
orchestras as Vienna’s, London’s, or Chicago’s. Nonetheless, to those in the know, and this
includes the world’s top musicians and conductors, the Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is
special. But what makes it so?
Director Angelo Bozzolini dives deep to give us insights into the lives, motivations, anxieties and
triumphs of several members of the orchestra and its charismatic and brilliant conductor Antonio
Pappano. We see them rehearse, travel and reflect on what they do and are able to achieve
…/3
collectively through the transformative act of performance. Guest appearances, both live and in
archival footage, include such musical heavyweights as Yuri Temirkanov, James Conlon and
Valery Gergiev, Daniel Harding, Janine Jansen, Lisa Batiashvili, Evgeny Kissin, Stefano Bollani,
and Lang Lang.
Il capital umano (Human Capital)
2014
Southern California premiere
Oct. 19, 7:30pm
MoPA
Directed by Paolo Virzì; starring Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Fabrizio Gifuni,
Valeria Golino, and Luigi Lo Cascio.
Human Capital is an anguishing thriller, set in a wintry northern Italy: a stylish fusion of class
critique and murder mystery. Based on Stephen Amidon’s novel set in moneyed Connecticut,
Human Capital smoothly relocates to Italy’s wealthy north in an engrossing if anxiety-provoking
tale about two families whose destinies are tied together by a homicide. Though director Paolo
Virzì (who is also the guest director of the Turin Film Festival) is best known for intelligent
comedies like his award-winning The First Beautiful Thing, there is very little to laugh about in
this thriller set in a downward-spiraling economy. The term “human capital” is legalese that
designates an accident victim’s net worth in compensation claims. Here it aptly defines the
Bernaschi and Ossola families, the former elegant capitalists and the latter struggling middleclassers, whose eyes are glued to the illusion of wealth as pure happiness.
The Vision of Paolo Soleri*
2013
Southern California premiere
Oct. 20, 7:30pm
MoPA
Directed by Lisa Scafuro; featuring Paolo Soleri, Will Bruder, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Paul
Goldberger, Catherine Hardwicke, Steven Holl, Elizabeth Mock Kesslar, Charles Montooth,
Morley Safer, Giancarlo and Giovanna Solimene, Eric Lloyd Wright, and Will Wright.
Paolo Soleri was an architect and architectural philosopher whose ideas about the interplay of the
environment and development resonate today but gained only limited recognition in his lifetime.
Born in Italy in 1919, educated at the Turin Polytechnic, Soleri came to the United States to work
under Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesen West. Soleri believed in efficient, compact cities where
residents could live comfortably, without cars, in a solar powered environment. His
contemporaries, including Wright, focused on design but without a sense of what development
meant meant in the face of expanding populations. Lisa Scafuro’s meticulous biographical
documentary follows architect and environmentalist Soleri’s career, particularly the development
of Cosanti Foundation and his experimental city Arcosanti which exists today north of Phoenix.
The film also focuses on today’s environmental degradation. It is the story of an unprecedented
artistic quest. While uncovering Soleri’s legacy as an architect, environmentalist, and
philosopher, the film poses critical questions about mankind’s future, and architecture in a world
facing environmental, social, and economic crisis.
Il comandante e la cicogna (Garibaldi’s Lovers) Oct. 21, 7:30pm
2012
California premiere
MoPA
…/4
Directed by Silvio Soldini; starring Valerio Mastandrea, Alba Rohrwacher, Claudia Gerini, Luca
Zingaretti, Giuseppe Battiston, Luca Dirodi, and Serena Pinto.
A modern tale on contemporary Italy in which a love story intertwined with family affairs
collides with the materialism of our times. Garibaldi’s Lovers presents a fizzy ride through a
magical vision of metropolitan Italy, while at the same time casting a critical eye on modern life
in the city. Widowed plumber Leo, while occasionally interacting with his wife’s ghost, is
struggling to deal with the growing pains of his two adolescent children, when his life intersects
with penniless artist Diana and her eccentric landlord, Amanzio. Through a hilarious series of
coincidences, they give each other new hope for their futures—and for the city itself, so
emblematic of our times. Director Silvio Soldini is best known for the multi-award-winning
Bread and Tulips.
Alì ha gli occhi azzurri (Ali Blue Eyes) Oct. 22, 7:30pm
2012
U.S. premiere
MoPA
Directed by Claudio Giovannesi; starring Nader Sarhan, Stefano Rabatti, Brigitte Apruzzesi, and
Marian Valenti Adrian.
A modern take on Italian neo-realism, Alì Blue Eyes exudes a deep authenticity with
stellar performances. In a dull winter on the coast of Ostia, 16-year-old Nader and his best friend,
Stefano, spend it engaging in petty crime and half-heartedly going to class, much like the rest of
their classmates. However, for Nader life is getting more complicated. A second generation
Italian, he finds himself having to negotiate between his identity as an average Italian teen and the
expectations of his Muslim Egyptian parents. Things come to a head when Nader gets more
involved with his Italian girlfriend Brigitte. Nader runs away from home, only to encounter the
realities of living on the street and find out that being a mixed Italian has its own challenges. Torn
between his love of Italy and his Egyptian heritage, Nader needs to find out who he is. Director
Claudio Giavannesi places his characters against the backdrop of a working-class suburb in Rome
to open up what it means to be young, Italian, and the child of immigrants.
Bella Vita – A Surfer’s Journey Through Italy*
2013
San Diego premiere
Oct. 23, 7:30pm
UltraStar Hazard Center
Directed by Jason Baffa; featuring Chris del Moro, Dave Rastovich, Conner & Parker Coffin, and
Leonardo Fioravanti.
A visual epic captured in stunning 35mm, Bella Vita is an intimate and powerful journey of selfdiscovery, seeped in culture, tradition, and passion—where family comes first. Born of mistral
winds and witness to the birth of Western civilization, the waves of the Italian coast have carried
merchants, fishermen, travelers, and kings. Preserved like a Roman ruin, the surf of the Italian
coast now carries surfer, artist, and environmentalist Chris Del Moro on a pilgrimage back to his
ancestral homeland to reconnect with his Tuscan family roots. Del Moro’s journey is a roots story
…/5
painted against the beauty and tradition of modern Italy. In a time of personal exploration, Chris
is enlightened by his experiences on the road less traveled with passionate friends and family
dedicated to the things they love, revealing a greater truth about the simple blessings in life.
Filmmaker Jason Baffa chronicles Del Moro’s surf-travels with companions, Maggi Orli, Dave
Rastovich, Lauren Lyndsey Hill, Conner & Parker Coffin, and Italian standouts Alessandro
Ponzanell and Leonardo Fioravanti.
Miele (Honey)
2013
California premiere
Oct. 24, 7:30pm
MoPA
Directed by Valeria Golino; starring Jasmine Trinca, Carlo Cecchi, and Libero de Rienzo
Miele is a controlled character study of a young woman’s awakening to the brighter side of life.
Italian actress Valeria Golino (Rain Man) crosses over to the director’s chair in this character
study of a mysterious young woman, Miele (Jasmine Trinca from The Best of Youth), committed
to helping the terminally ill end their suffering (very much illegal in Italy). No matter how
emotionally wrought her clients or their loved ones may be, Miele is the ultimate professional—
so much so that she almost seems detached. Despite her sweet code name (“Honey” in English),
everything about this unlikely assassin is minimized. Her beauty is downplayed to the point
where she is nearly gender-neutral—apart from some quick sex with her part-time lover, who
slips away from his family for these frantic trysts. A daily morning ocean swim and late-night
bike ride home betray an intense energy lurking beneath the still surface, but in public she is so
contained she’s almost invisible. Then the uncompromising directness of a new client sends
shockwaves through the concrete façade Miele so carefully projects.
GALA PRESENTATION:
Una piccolo impresa meridionale (A Small Southern Enterprise)
2013
Oct. 25, 7:30pm
MoPA
U.S. premiere
Directed by Rocco Papaleo; starring Rocco Papaleo, Riccardo Scamarcio, Barbora Bobulova,
Sarah Felberbaum, Claudia Potenza, and Giuliana Lojodice.
Gala ticket holders only: $100 General, $85 SDIFF Members, Students & Military
A former priest and his mother, a lesbian and a retired call girl, two eccentric workers and a little
girl: what kind of harmony is it possible for this astounding group of people? A former priest,
Father Costantino, is persuaded by his mother, Stella, to move into an old abandoned lighthouse
belonging to the Costantino family. Far from prying eyes, she hopes to avoid the people in town
discovering he has left the priesthood. Stella already has another scandal to face: her daughter
Rosa Maria has left her husband, Arturo, and run off with a mysterious lover. The old lighthouse
should bring him some solace, but instead, it becomes a magnet for more and more characters,
becoming a kind of shelter for sinners: Magnolia, a retired call girl; Arturo, Rosa Maria’s
estranged husband; Valbona, a lesbian; Rosa Maria herself; and, to crown it all, two eccentric
workers accompanied by a little girl… Between the misunderstandings and plot twists, an
unlikely harmony is forged among this astounding group of people.
*Anita Laing Memorial Documentary Project
…/6
Festival Gala
Saturday, October 25, 2014
5:30pm
MoPA
The SDIFF closing gala lights the evening with the flavors, whispers, and textures of Italian
passion, celebrating a year of great movies, hard work, and the generosity of the patrons, a party
dedicated to the culture that ties us to each other and to the generations emerging from that
splendid combination—the Italian heritage of style, flavor, and love.
$100 per person ($85 for Students and Military) includes appetizers and movie.
A complete lineup of SDIFF events, dates, venues, tickets, and more details, can be found at
www.sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com.
Media contact: Stephanie Thompson Communications, 619-840-7353
stephanie@stephaniethompson.com
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