April 29 to May 9, 2021
 
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto is pleased to co-present the Italian line-up at the 2021 online edition of Toronto's Hot Docs Festival.
 
THE ROSSELLINIS
Online Film Screening and Q&A
 
Revered as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, Roberto Rossellini left an indelible mark on cinema and an enormous inheritance of family conflict. The Rossellinis is a compelling look inside a complicated cinema dynasty forced into group therapy by one of their own.
With never-before-seen archival footage and an absorbing conversation with his famed aunt, actress Isabella Rossellini, this family drama offers an abundance of compelling insights into their relationships, revealing old secrets and tragic moments in their lives.
 
Available April 29 - May 9, 2021
 
click here to purchase tickets
 

BLOOM UP - A SWINGER COUPLE STORY
Online Film Screening and Q&A
 
Hermes and Betta are a middle-aged Italian couple who run the neighbourhood pet store by day, but by night arrange extravagant sexual encounters with multiple partners. As swingers, this loving and deeply entwined couple allows one another to freely explore their desires and sexual cravings with trust and respect. With uncanny beauty in the camerawork, the director and cinematographer Mauro Russo Rouge's lens leaves nothing to the imagination. Up close and personal, we plunge into the back rooms of clubs, the intimacy of homes and the wide-open spaces of the night skies, bearing witness to the couple's carnal pursuits. But even the deepest relationships and strongest connections are at times tested. Will their hunger for the taste of others ultimately drive a wedge between them?
 
Available April 29 - May 9, 2021
 
click here to purchase tickets
 
MOLECULES
Online Film Screening
 
In February 2020, filmmaker Andrea Segre was in Venice when a still-mysterious virus froze the city before his eyes. Piazza San Marco emptied, the logger-jammed Grand Canal went still, and spaces filled instead with a strange, hollow quiet. Lockdown had given the town back to nature and returned something unexpected to Segre as well—memories of his late father, Ulderico. Raised in Venice, he was as reserved in his career as a molecular physicist as he was with his children. Using old Super 8 family films and an unanswered letter he wrote to his father decades earlier, Segre's captivating investigation into his father's silences and absences beautifully dissolve into the emptiness of Venice itself. Through this arrested landscape stripped down to its natural frailties and lack of solidity, Segre unearths the roots of his father's and his own unease. Capturing an extraordinary experience for a city and for a son, Molecules makes real those things one can't see but knows exist.
 
Available April 29 - May 9, 2021
 
click here to purchase tickets
 
 
WE ARE THE THOUSAND
Online Film Screening and Q&A
 
The spirit and culture of rock 'n' roll can always be traced back to the fans. For a group of Italian friends, their passion for this genre of music sparked a novel idea: they put a call out to gather a thousand musicians to play music together, in hopes of coaxing the iconic band Foo Fighters to come to perform a concert in their small town. One of the most curious and ambitious "band wanted" signs ever turns out to be a bigger success than its organizers dreamed. The Rockin' 1000 group's collective rendition of "Learn to Fly" goes massively viral, catching the eye of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl himself. What started out as a shot in the dark ends up creating literally the largest rock band in the world, showcasing just how much music can unite and bring joy to all those who are willing to listen.
 
Available April 29 - May 9, 2021
 
click here to purchase tickets
 

Extended to December 15, 2021

The Italian Cultural Institute Toronto is pleased to support the participation of Montreal-born Italian artist Cindi Emond at the 2021 edition of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival. The virtual photography exhibit For All The “I Love You’s”, We Forgot To Say, is also sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Rome. 

Shot in Abruzzo, Italy in the abandoned village of Frattura Vecchia devastated by an earthquake in 1915, this series documents how the histories of migration to escape the poverty and hardships of central and southern Italian towns are deeply felt to this day. Focusing on the resilience of remote rural communities facing harsh conditions, adversity and the complexity of their relationship with the land, the series examines Italian heritage, the persistence of cultural traditions and national identity.
 
CLICK HERE TO GO TO CONTACT FESTIVAL
CLICK HERE TO GO TO VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
 

Dante Alighieri, known as the father of the Italian language, was born in Florence in 1265 and died in Ravenna in 1321. His epic poem, The Divine Comedy, is considered an iconic masterpiece of medieval literature that has inspired poets and writers worldwide through the centuries.

Presented in collaboration with the University of Toronto Department of Italian Studies and the Emilio Goggio Chair in Italian Studies, Toronto Salutes Dante features more than thirty Canada-based guests who read Dante’s Inferno in various languages, several for the first time. In addition to ten different Italian dialects, also represented are American Sign Language, Anishinaabemowin, Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Farsi, French, German, Latin, Mandarin, Portuguese, Québécois, Russian, Sanskrit, Slovak, Spanish, Stoney Nakoda, Swedish, Thai, and Ukrainian.
 
Sponsored by the University of Toronto Department of Italian Studies and Emilio Goggio Chair in Italian Studies, with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto and presented in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington DC.
 
March 25 to June 30, 2021 | Available after 6PM EDT
Online via YouTube | Free Event
 
click here on March 25 to enjoy the readings on our YouTube channel
 
© 2021 Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto
 
 

The very essence of Italianness can be summed up in specific elements that make the Italian Way to design-thinking unique: human values, tailor-made, artistic touch, taste, attention to detail and the pursuit of excellence.
​
In this webinar Italian sociologist Francesco Morace will identify and present values and behaviours that, taken together, constitute the Italian Factor. Especially in this Covid phase of radical change, these elements might prove to be consistent with the new paradigms of the future: Unique & Universal, Crucial & Sustainable, Trust & Sharing, Quick & Deep.

This webinar is presented by the Dante Alighieri Society of BC.
 
Italian sociologist and writer Francesco Morace is the founder of Future Concept Lab and a consultant for Italian and international companies and institutions. Among the most established trend experts, he was professor of Social Innovation at the Politecnico di Milano and of Culture & Lifestyle at the Università di Trento.
He is the director of the Festival della Crescita, an itinerant event that each year brings together citizens and institutions, companies and creatives, students  and professionals.

He is the author of over 20 books, including Il bello del mondo (Egea, 2019) and La rinascita dell’Italia (Egea, 2020).
 
Free admission (donations welcome).
To register click here .

The Vancouver Italian Film Festival migrates online for our 2021 iteration and constricts to a very manageable four films (plus one talk), but for all the brevity, there’s no drop off in quality. We are stoked to announce our line up, available on VIFF Connect between January 8 – 21: First up, a new, acclaimed, live action version of Pinocchio, with Roberto Benigni as Geppetto, and directed by the versatile Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah; Dogman; Tale of Tales).  Described by critics as “a landmark adaptation”, and a big hit in Italy last Christmas, Pinocchio is enchanting viewing for all ages.  

Next up, hot from opening the Venice Film Festival in the fall, we have the new film from the director of Our Lives (La nostra vita), Daniele Luchetti: The Ties (Lacci), a piercing study of adultery and betrayal with superb performances from Alba Rohrwacher and Luigi Lo Cascio.  

Sin (Il peccato) – directed by Andrei Konchalovski – is a profound and unsettling historical drama starring Alberto Testone as the XVI century artist Michelangelo. Sin was the closing night film at the Rome Film Festival.  

Finally, we present a tribute to the late, great composer Ennio Morricone, who passed away this summer, with a Film Studies lecture by Will Ross, and a chance to enjoy Sergio Corbucci’s extraordinary spaghetti western, The Great Silence (Il grande silenzio), which Morricone scored, and which had an indelible influence on Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful 8. 
  
Now in its 8th year, the festival is a co-presentation between VIFF, Il Centro-Italian Cultural Centre, and the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver. 
 
Info and tickets: Check www.viff.org for more details and ticket info soon.