23rd Edition
With the 40th anniversary of the death of Luchino Visconti looming on 17 March this year’s Italian Film Festival throws the focus on the director whose films are considered to be among the most stylistically and intellectually influential films of Italian post-war cinema. Visconti was born into a prominent noble family in Milan and had a highly privileged upbringing. His homosexuality, of which he made no secret, was also an important aspect of his cinematic vision. He became one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, the movement that grew out of the political turmoil and the desperate economic conditions in Italy at the end of the Second World War. Visconti’s 1960 film, Rocco and his Brothers, will be screened in tribute. The film starring Alain Delon, Annie Girardot and Claudia Cardinale, has been described as a modern-day Greek tragedy, especially in its depiction of the relationship between the saint-like Rocco and his brutal brother Simone, who has a promising career as a boxer, but whose life spirals out of control.
The Festival also will pay tribute to Ettore Scola who died earlier this year in January, aged 84. He won a Golden Globe for A Special Day in 1978 and during his career was nominated for five Academy Awards. Though he began his career with commedia all’italiana, Scola shifted his cinematic view to larger concerns, and matured into one of the most highly regarded Italian filmmakers of the 1970s and into the 1990s. Two years ago the Festival screened his Fellini documentary How Strange to Be Named Federico.
Photo: Alain Delon and Annie Girardot in Rocco and his Brothers
Here are the movies
Anna – Per amor vostro
Edinburgh Thu 17 March 20.40
Beginners – Alaska
Inverness Wed 9 March 20.30
Edinburgh Thu 10 March 20.20
Glasgow Sat 12 March 20.10
Call Me Francesco – Chiamatemi Francesco
Edinburgh Sun 6 March 20.15
Glasgow Sat 12 March 17.35
Chlorine – Cloro
Dundee Sat 12 March 18.45
Glasgow Tue 15 March 20.15
Edinburgh Wed 16 March 18.10
Don’t Be Bad – Non essere cattivo
Edinburgh Fri 4 March 20.50
Glasgow Fri 11 March 20.10
Dundee Mon 14 March 18.00
God Willing – Se Dio vuole
Edinburgh Sat 12 March 18.15
Glasgow Mon 14 March 18.15
The Invisible Boy – Il ragazzo invisibile
Edinburgh Sat 5 March 13.10
Dundee Sat 12 March 13.00
Glasgow Sat 12 March 13.35
Latin Lover
Edinburgh Mon 7 March 20.40
Dundee Fri 11 March 18.00
Glasgow Mon 14 March 20.15
The Legendary Giulia and Other Miracles – Noi e la Giulia
Dundee Sun 13 March 18.00
Edinburgh Mon 14 March 20.45
Glasgow Wed 16 March 18.15
They Call Me Jeeg– Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot
Edinburgh Fri 11 March 18.05 (Plus PA with director Gabriele Mainetti)
Glasgow Tue 15 March 17.50
Sworn Vergin – Vergine giurata
Edinburgh Tue 15 March 20.25
Glasgow Sun 13 March 20.05
You Can’t Save Yourself Alone – Nessuno si salva da solo
Edinburgh Tue 8 March 20.40
Glasgow Fri 11 March 17.50
Dundee Tue 15 March 18.00
Rocco and His Brothers– Rocco e i suoi fratelli
Dundee Sat 12 March 15.15
Inverness Sat 12 March 13.30
Glasgow Sun 13 March 16.30
Edinburgh Sun 13 March 17.00
www.italianfilmfestival.org.uk