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Introduction

ITALIAN FILM FOCUS 2016 is organized by Controluce with the support of MIBACT, the Italian Institute of Culture in Pretoria and the Italian Consulate in Cape Town. This year it will introduce one of the richest and varied editions ever, with a selection of seven of the most recent and acclaimed films, which were presented at the best festivals in the world. This proves the great vitality of our cinema and its ability to regenerate despite the undeniable economical crisis. Most of the authors belong to a new generation of filmmakers who are capable of combining art films with the market. Starting with multi award-winning Paul Genovese who with his films has reinvented the Italian comedy, as he unflinchingly reveals “secrets and lies” of our family life and relationships. His latest work packed with great skill. PERFECT STRANGERS, is an edgy contemporary fresco in which we can all reflect upon ourselves. A game of misunderstandings worthy of the great tradition of French theatrical comedy.

Among  first feature films, we will present WORDLY GIRL by Marco Danieli, back from a great success at the Venice Giornate degli Autori. It is a accurate, unsettling and sometimes even funny x-ray of those who live religion as a duty.

Just as Danieli Claudio Giovannesi is also an enfant prodige of the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome. FIORE, his second feature, according to film critic Fabio Ferzetti is  a modern Romeo and Juliet behind bars, starring  young talented actors such as Daphne Scoccia, who will be presenting the film,  and Valerio Mastandrea’s sublime interpretation of the role of a father, filled with regret.
You’ll be able to view another debut: THEY CALL ME JEEG by Gabriele Mainetti, presented by the two scriptwriters Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti. A surprising and brave topic, genre and productive genesis in which the director himself turns into the producer in order to accomplish “his” movie. His courage was luckily rewarded. But the film’s success is also attributed to the actors: a “stunning” Claudio Santamaria and an “uncontrollable” Luca Marinelli, already superb in the film DON’T BE BAD by Claudio Calligari.
Among the young directors, audiences will be able to rediscover Roan Johnson’s talent. He was personally already present in the Cape Town four years ago with the hilarious film THE FIRST ON THE LIST. We will present his latest film, PIUMA, which was already in competition at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year. A “brilliant” comedy about   teenagers, but the characters in crises  are the parents… The film will be presented by the actor Sergio Pierattini.

However, we wouldn’t do without a film by an acknowledged and classic author as Roberto Andò , who translates into film the great narrative tradition of his homeland, Sicily, represented primarily by Pirandello and Sciascia: THE CONFESSIONS starring the great Oscar-winning actor Peppe Servillo. It’s a cinema of  Being, but also of people, their bonds to one another and the systems that govern them.
Lastly,  as every year, we will present a non-fiction work with a direct relationship with Africa. This year it is SHASHAMANE, accompanied by the director Giulia Amati, a co-production with RAI Cinema, and a testimony to the commitment of our  state TV to this kind of filmic narrative. It is a journey that speaks of emigration, but this time following  the opposite direction, from the West to Africa. It is a search of roots that are not always found in a world that transforms faster than we do ourselves, where we must all be aware that, despite prohibitions and conflicts, the true boundaries are only those of the soul and mind.

Antonio Falduto, Director of Controluce