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
 

The Cinematheque’s non-virtual Fellini 100 retrospective was interrupted in late November by updated provincial health orders, which have closed cinemas in B.C. for the time being. They hope to reschedule much of the retrospective when in-person screenings resume. In the meantime, a selection of these Fellini 100 titles will be presented online:
 
Variety Lights (Luci del varieta’) – Italy, 1950
Federico Fellini was a circus ringmaster from the get-go! The beloved filmmaker’s debut feature, co-directed with veteran Alberto Lattuada, is a bittersweet romantic drama set amongst a tawdry troupe of travelling vaudeville performers. Variety Lights is a delightful early incarnation of the eccentric, carnivalesque Fellini universe.
 
The Road (La strada) – Italy, 1954
Fellini’s poetic fable was his breakout work and first unquestioned masterpiece; La Strada won hearts and collected prizes around the world. Giulietta Masina (Fellini’s wife) gives one of cinema’s most memorable performances as Gelsomina, a sweet, simple peasant girl who is “sold” by her mother to Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutish strongman in a travelling circus.
 
The Swindle (Il bidone) – Italy/France, 1955
Fellini’s often-forgotten follow-up to the hugely successful La Strada is a neorealist crime drama that flirts with film noir. Featuring a commanding lead performance from American tough-guy actor Broderick Crawford (All the King’s Men), Il Bidone relates the tragic tale of three small-time con men who pose as priests in order to swindle the poor.
 
Their virtual presentation of Fellini’s medium-length horror film Toby Dammit (1968) also includes French master Chris Marker’s celebrated science-fiction short La Jetée (1962).
 
For info and tickets, visit https://thecinematheque.ca
 
 

TRASH
Directed by Luca Della Grotta, Francesco Dafano . Animation - Italy, 2020, 88 '

Even waste has a soul, even waste deserves a second life
Even trash has a soul and deserves a second chance. A better life.

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto present the children's animated adventure feature and its accompanying virtual exhibition, Trash. 

Monday, February 15 | 11:00PM PST
Family Day

TRASH 
The Movie

FREE EVENT | REGISTRATION REQUIRED | LANGUAGE: English

Boxes, bottles, cans. Garbage. Abandoned everywhere: on the streets, under bridges. Ignored by everyone. Motionless. Until nightfall…Slim is an old cardboard box. He lives in a marketplace with his friend Bubbles - a soda pop bottle - and other friends.  Resigned to his fate, he doesn’t believe in the legend of the Magic Pyramid: a magical place where it’s possible for all garbage to have a second chance, to be once again "carriers", useful to themselves and others. His life changes when a small box, Spark, interrupts his routine. Spark is lost and he is different from everyone else.  Spark involves Slim and his pal Bubbles in an adventure that will take them a place that will introduce them to the magical night world of waste.  But someone is looking for Spark. An old and very powerful unused PC named Kudo, Lord of the Landfill.  When Spark is captured, Slim will try to save his friend, making a choice that will give new meaning to his life.

Note: The film will be available for 24hrs, until 2:00PM EST, Tuesday, February 16

CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR DIGITAL TICKET

Italy will be represented at the Victoria Film Festival 2021 by two successful feature films:
 
BIG NORTH (Il Grande Nord)
Italy, 2020, 80 mins.
 
This documentary directed by Dario Acocella revolves around 40-year-old Italian award-winning author Paolo Cognetti (Premio Strega 2017 for The Eight Mountains), who embarks on a journey in the footsteps of those writers who helped influence and inspire his career as a storyteller. Amongst his beloved masters are Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Henry David Thoreau, Raymond Carver, and Alice Munro. Paolo’s trip takes him through British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alaska, where he explores the relationship between mankind and wilderness. He meets the people who are currently living in the woods and explores the origins and controversies of their choices.

Big North is a philosophical and visually stunning road-trip documentary that will let you explore this part of the world (a lot of it filmed in BC) with a fresh (and slightly Italian) perspective.
 
Info and tickets: https://2021.victoriafilmfestival.com/films/big-north/
 
 
KIDZ (Figli)
Italy, 2020, 97 min.
 
Voted the funniest Italian film of the year by the Syndicate of Italian Journalists, KIDZ is a sharp knockout comedy about the pressures of child-rearing in uncertain economic times. Sara (Paola Cortellesi) and Nicola (Valerio Mastandrea) are married and in love. Their lives seem to be perfect: they have an angelic six-year-old daughter, thriving careers and a stable marriage. The balance in their lives is disrupted, however, by the arrival of their second child. Sleepless nights, selfish grandparents, friends that are about to have a nervous breakdown and questionable babysitters all combine to transform the couple’s life into a living hell.
Directed by Giuseppe Bonito, KIDS is a playful and uproarious comedy that constantly pulls the rug out from under you.
 
Info and tickets: https://2021.victoriafilmfestival.com/films/kidz/
 
 
The 2021 Victoria Film Festival is taking place between February 5th & 14th. It is a virtual festival, there will be no in-person events.

The 2021 VFF Online is only available for residents in British Columbia.
This event is presented by the Victoria Film Festival in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Toronto.
 

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.  

​Curious Minds: THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE - Streaming as of December 31

In his anticipated Curious Minds debut, world-renowned Renaissance scholar Dr. Kenneth Bartlett offers a richly illustrated survey of the great cultural flourishing that occurred on the Italian peninsula from the early 14th to 16th centuries. As he guides us through the era’s major centres of artistic and political power, he’ll examine the fierce competition that emerged among the states of Italy for the finest artists, architects, sculptors, poets, and writers of the day, resulting in a cultural tradition that still inspires us today.

Led by Dr. Kenneth Bartlett, Professor of History and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto. A celebrated Canadian academic, Prof. Bartlett has published numerous influential books and over 40 articles on the Renaissance, most recently “The Renaissance in Italy: A History,” and won world renown for his 5 video series for “The Great Courses.” A recipient of the prestigious 3M National Teaching fellowship among other such awards, he regularly leads tours to Italy for museums and cultural organizations. 

The six lectures in this series will all be available to stream as of Thursday, December 31. Once they are online, you can access each lecture at your leisure by clicking on links in your confirmation email, or by visiting your My Shows page.

Sponsored by Hollywood Suite

Details: https://bit.ly/3oF5dx1​

BEGINS NOVEMBER 1
The Cinematheque
1131 Howe Street, Vancouver

The Cinematheque celebrates the centennial of Federico Fellini (1920–1993), one of cinema’s boldest and most beloved maestros, with an extensive retrospective featuring many new restorations. By the mid 1960s, Fellini had attained worldwide fame  for an extraordinary series of free-wheeling, flamboyant, dazzlingly creative films rooted in memory, dream, desire, and fantasy. In the English-speaking world, few filmmakers were more synonymous with the international “art" cinema. The sheer audacity of the imagination at play is simply undeniable — as the works in this retrospective demonstrate time and again. The Cinematheque's retrospective continues in December. Don't miss the chance to see Fellini’s masterpieces on the big screen!

Info and tickets: https://thecinematheque.ca/series/fellini-100

​