In order to bring to Vietnamese audiences contemporary perspectives on Italian cinema, the Embassy of Italy in Hanoi, in collaboration with the Asian Film Festival in Rome, presents the 2024 Italian Film Festival, which will take place at the National Cinema Center at 7:30 p.m. every day from September 23 to 28, 2024.
The 2024 Italian Film Festival presents six of the most recent acclaimed films by Italian filmmakers, ranging from dramas to romantic comedies. The carefully selected films, which have won numerous prestigious awards at regional and international film festivals, are imbued with a distinct Italian flavour.
Trailers of films in the 2024 Italian Film Festival:
From reality to dream, from comedy to tragedy, the films screened at the 2024 Italian Film Festival portray modern Italian society in the most multi-dimensional way, touching on political, economic and even urgent social topics such as migration, working conditions...
From left to right: Writer Hien Trang, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Marco Della Seta, film critic Trieu Minh Hai at the press conference
Sharing at the press conference launching the Italian Film Festival 2024 on the afternoon of September 16 in Hanoi, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam - Marco Della Seta said: "This year, the Italian Film Festival will bring Vietnamese audiences a deep, authentic and fresh look at Italy today through a collection of 6 most highly rated films at the present time. Each film screened at the event will be emotional pieces connecting the two cultures of Vietnam and Italy."
Film critic Trieu Minh Hai shares his impression of the vast horizon in the drama "I am the Captain"
Master of film criticism theory, Visual artist Trieu Minh Hai also said: "These films are adapted into the most natural cinematic language, creating deep emotions and are really worth watching. In the filmI am the captain, I was impressed by the immense horizon when the director created artistic footage as if letting the viewer crawl into each scene... arousing curiosity about the mysterious landscape and the magic of the film".
What's special about these 6 Italian movies?
I Am Captain | Io Capitano (2023, drama)
Io capitanois a film about the migration journey of two brothers Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, from their hometown Dakar, Senegal to Sicily, Italy - the gateway to the glittering Europe.
The adventure begins with hopes and dreams, then gradually becomes bare and real through the chaos of the desert, the dangers of the sea and the skepticism and lies of people. From the true stories after interviewing illegal immigrants to Italy, director Matteo Garrone has brought a humanistic and historical perspective with a delicate storytelling style full of fairy tales interwoven with magical mythological details.
Io capitano was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, which was also its world premiere. Shortly thereafter, in 2024, the excellent film was nominated for Best International Feature/Foreign Language Film at both the prestigious Oscar and Golden Globe awards.
Cold Rolling Mill | Palazzina Laf (2023, Drama - Comedy)
When brutal reality is presented through the lens of humor - we havePalazzina Laf, the film directed by Michele Riondino is based on a famous scandal in Italian industrial history.Palazzina Lafis an acronym for "Laminatoio a freddo" or "cold rolling mill" - a part of the ILVA Taranto steel mill where the detention and abuse of "unruly" workers took place during the 1990s.
Set in 1997, Cateriano - a lazy provincial worker with a dream of changing his life in the city - chose to become a spy for his bosses. The purpose of this job is to participate in strikes to "inform" his colleagues, without any guilt or remorse towards his "friends". Only when he moved to Palazzina Laf - a "paradise" for hard-to-please workers, did Caterino realize that he had fallen into a psychological hell with no way out.
At the 69th David di Donatello Awards, Palazzina Laf was nominated for Best New Director and Best Original Screenplay.
ZAMORA(2024, Drama - Comedy)
A light-hearted comedy with a 1960s Milanese tone,Zamoratells the story of Walter Visamra, a thirty-year-old man working as an accountant in a small factory in Vigevano. The company suddenly closes, Walter has to find a new job in bustling Milan, with his boss Cavalier Tosetto "crazy about football" who always makes his employees follow his passion, and his colleague Gusperti who always mocks him both on the field and in the office.
Choosing to stand in front of the goal because of his lack of enthusiasm for the king sport, Visamra was nicknamed "Zamora", after the famous Spanish goalkeeper of the 1930s. Unable to bear such humiliation, Walter decided to plan revenge on Gusperti and followed by humorous stories about friendship and love, of a 30-year-old single man who decided to step out of his shell.
"Classic, simple, but also new and surprising", Zamora premiered at the Villerupt Festival and then at Bifest in Bari, before being distributed in Italian cinemas in April 2024.
Summer with Irène | Summer with Irène (2024 - Drama, Comedy)
In the summer of 1997, Clara and Irène met by chance at a hospital summer camp when they were both 17. Clara, shy and introverted, was overwhelmed by Irène's radiant energy. They were completely different, but also completely understood each other, drawn to each other, bound together by their dream of escaping the shadow of illness. At the end of the summer camp, instead of returning to their families, Clara and Irène decided to escape to an island off the coast of Sicily. There was freedom, dreams, love, memories in VHS tapes, and of course, a terrifying future awaiting them both.
Summer with Irèneappears beautifully in every perspective and camera angle, carrying layers of metaphors about life and the meaning of life. The film was selected for international screening at the 74th Berlinale Film Festival.
Rapito (2023 - Drama, Epic)
A product of cooperation between Italy, France and Germany,KidnapBased on the book Il caso Mortara by Daniele Scalise, the film tells the story of Edgardo Mortara, a 7-year-old Jewish child who was taken away by Pope Pius IX's State in 1858 to be raised and raised as a Catholic.
Through the difficult journey of Momolo and Marianna to reunite with their stolen child, the film recreates the political and religious conflicts that have never been quiet in the heart of Europe, attached to the special historical context when the Church was losing part of its power and the Savoy army conquered Rome.
Kidnaphas been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 76th Cannes Film Festival (2023), when the film will have its world premiere...
The Dream That Didn't Come True | La Chimera (2023 - Drama, Comedy)
"The Chimera"- an impossible dream. Set in the 80s, when tomb robberies were becoming more and more serious, the main character is Arthur, a British archaeologist, who has the ability to sense "emptiness". For Arthur, it is Beniamina. "A dream", pursued with much effort, desire and difficult to achieve, just like the search for an ideal love.
Arthur is a member of a group of tomb robbers, who carry within them a "chimera" of easy wealth. In their journey between life and death, between mountains and cities, between bustling festivals and loneliness, the intertwined fates of these characters are gradually revealed, all aiming for the "chimera".
The ChimeraConsidered by Italian film critics to be one of the best Italian film projects of 2023, the film has won numerous prestigious awards such as the "Mutt Moment" award and the “AFCAE Art House Film Award” at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Brussels Mediteranean Film Festival, the Best Cinematography and Best Ensemble Performance awards at the 2023 Chicago International Film Festival, the Best Production Design Award at the European Film Awards...
6 films will be shown:
- 23/9: I Am the Captain | Io Capitano, Director Matteo Garrone
- 24/09: Cold Rolling Mill | Palazzina Laf, Director Michele Riondino
- September 25: ZAMORA, Director Neri Marcorè
- September 26: Summer with Irène | Quell'estate con Irène, Director Carlo Sironi
- September 27: Kidnapping | Rapito, Director Marco Bellocchio
- 28/09: The Dream That Didn't Come True | La Chimera, Director Alice Rohrwacher
All screenings (in Italian with English and Vietnamese subtitles) will start at 7:30 pm at the National Cinema Center (87 Lang Ha, Ba Dinh, Hanoi).
