13/10/2011

Four Italian films will screen in competition at the forthcoming Rome International Film Festival (October 27-November 4): Ivan Cotroneo’s La Kryptonite nella Borsa, starring Valeria Golino and Luca Zingaretti; Pupi Avati’s Il Cuore Grande delle Ragazze [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Girls’ Big Hearts”), featuring Cesare Cremonini and Micaela Ramazzotti; Marina Spada’s Metaphysics for Monkeys, starring Claudia Gerini; and Pippo Mezzapesa’s The Land of Unhappy Brides. Europe will be well represented among the 15 films in Competition at the Rome event with titles including Pawel Pawlikowski’s The Woman in the Fifth [+see also:
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film profile] (France/Poland/UK), starring Kristin Scott Thomas; Pal Sletaune’s horror flick Babycall [+see also:
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film profile] (Norway/Sweden/Germany), featuring Noomi Rapace; Cédric Kahn’s French/Canadian movie A Better Life [+see also:
film review
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interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile], starring Guillaume Canet; Tanya Wexler’s UK/Luxembourg title Hysteria [+see also:
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film profile], featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal; and Sebastián Borensztein’s Spanish film Chinese Take-Away [+see also:
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film profile].

This year’s sixth edition of the festival is rolling out the pink carpet with a strong female presence across all sections, from Luc Besson’s opening film The Lady [+see also:
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film profile], about Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi (see news) to the closing film, a digitally restored 4K version of Blake Edwards’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Audrey Hepburn, to mark the 50th anniversary of its theatrical release. Also in the line-up are Simon Curtis’s My Week with Marilyn, starring Michelle Williams and Kenneth Branagh (out of competition), about the week Monroe spent in Great Britain on the set of The Prince and the Showgirl; a homage to great actress Monica Vitti to mark her 80th birthday; and Sabina Guzzanti’s documentary about Franca Valeri, Franca la Prima (among the 12 documentaries in competition in the Extra section, to be judged by a jury presided by film director Francesca Comencini). There will also be many women guests: besides the above-mentioned Scott Thomas, Rapace and Gyllenhaal, Rome will also welcome Isabelle Huppert, Charlotte Rampling, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Newton-John, Asian stars Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, and many homegrown stars including Valeria Golino and Maya Sansa.

Among the films screening out of competition, other highlights include Giuliano Montaldo’s L'industriale (“The Industrialist”), starring Pierfrancesco Favino; Anne Fontaine’s French/Belgian title My Worst Nightmare [+see also:
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film profile], featuring Huppert; Roberto Faenza’s Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You; and Curtis Hanson’s Too Big to Fail about the Lehman Brothers’ crash in 2008.

Special Events include a meeting with Wim Wenders, who will present his film Pina [+see also:
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interview: Wim Wenders
film profile]; the restored version of Mario Mattoli’s Totò in 3D - Il Più Comico Spettacolo del Mondo (“Funniest Show on Earth”, the first Italian film to be made using 3D technology, in 1953); and Maurizio Cartolano’s 148 Stefano. Mostri dell'Inerzia, about the Cucchi case, a young man who died in 2009 in prison in Rome in mysterious circumstances.

The Official Selection, in association with the Alice in the City section (14 films in competition) will also present preview screenings of works by two film masters: Steven Spielberg’s animated film The Adventures of Tintin and Martin Scorsese’s graphic novel adaptation Hugo Cabret. Also not to be forgotten are the Focus on Great Britain (see news); the Marc'Aurelio Acting Award to be presented to Richard Gere; the Cinema Lesson with Michael Mann; and Rome’s international film market The Business Street, with the sections Industry Books (centred on the synergy between literature and cinema) and Italian Screenings (for films set to hit screens in 2012).

The international jury, presided by Ennio Morricone, which will award the Marc'Aurelio Awards for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Actor and the Grand Jury Prize, will comprise Oscar-winning film director Susanne Bier, ballet dancer Roberto Bolle, actress-director-writer Carmen Chaplin, producer David Puttnam, film director Pierre Thoretton and actress Debra Winger.

(Translated from Italian)