This year Italian cinema is represented at the Festival by five important features, covering a wide range of genres and styles.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: miamifilmfestival.com
FEATURED ITALIAN FILMS
BOB WILSON’S LIFE AND DEATH OF MARINA ABRAMOVIC
Giada Colagrande 2012
Run time: 96 min. | UK, Spain, Italy | ( screenings )
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE. Marina Abramovic’s life gets the stage treatment in an epic collaboration by avant-garde theater director Bob Wilson, singer Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons, Willem Dafoe and Marina herself. The result is an eye-catching piece creatively recorded by Giada Colagrande for the big screen. The sets are wonderfully designed, and the costumes are exquisite. Antony’s music resonates with the artist’s incredible life story. Her dreams become sublime, her anguish heartfelt. — Andres Castillo
DORMANT BEAUTY (BELLA ADDORMENTATA)
Marco Bellocchio 2012
Run time: 115 min. | France, Italy | ( screenings )
A superb cast led by Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert and Alba Rohrwacher bring to vivid life this multi-threaded drama of the euthanasia case of Eluana Englaro which shook Italian society in 2008. Elvana, a car accident victim, laid in a vegetative state for 16 years. Her father won the right in court to allow him to halt feeding and hydration of his daughter, much to the horror of the Roman Catholic Church. Master filmmaker Marco Bellocchio orchestrates the divisive social debate through intensely personal stories, such as the famous singer (played by Huppert) whose own long-term devotion and self-sacrifice to her own comatic is brought into fierce examination by the Englaro story. — Jaie Laplante
THE FUTURE (IL FUTURO)
Alicia Scherson 2013
Run time: 94 min. | Chile, Germany, Italy, Spain | ( screenings )
After a car accident took the lives of Bianca’s (Manuela Martelli) parents, the young woman is faced with the dilemma of taking care of her young brother and the family’s apartment in Rome. Bianca finds her new responsibilities challenging, and when her brother Tomas brings home two new bodybuilder friends who refuse to leave, Bianca’s life takes a turn into the unknown. The two men convince Bianca to help them rob a mansion that belongs to Maciste (Rutger Hauer), a blind but rich bodybuilder who has become lonely and dependent on prostitutes to have a good time. Bianca unpredictably falls in love with the former Mr. Universe; she feels safe and accepted when she is with him. Alicia Scherson’s resourceful film depicts the confusion and predicaments a young person goes through when becoming an adult and how any decision can affect the thin line between the present and the future. – Andres Castillo
IT WAS THE SON (È STATO IL FIGLIO)
Daniele Ciprì 2012
Run time: 90 min. | Italy | ( screenings )
US PREMIERE. The Ciraulo family led by Nicola (Toni Servillo) lives on a day-to-day basis trying to make ends meet in a dilapidated building in Sicily. Nicola works very hard and loves taking his wife Loredana, daughter, Serenella, and son, Tancredi, to the sea. His elderly parents, who also live with them, usually tag along for the trip. Everything seems to be working out fine for the family until one day an accidental bullet during a mob shooting takes Serenella’s life. Rumors of government-sponsored compensation for families who have been bystander victims of mafia violence results in the family starting to spend the money before it arrives. Nicola’s mind is set on buying a Mercedes Benz to help him move up in life. Daniele Ciprì’s bold film about a family and its hardships showcases how money can corrupt a family’s dynamics by shifting their existing social status into one that they don’t understand and can’t control. — Andres Castillo
REALITY
Matteo Garrone 2012
Run time: 115 min. | France, Italy | ( screenings )
Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2012 Cannes Festival, Reality is Matteo Garrone’s highly anticipated follow-up to his critically acclaimed Mafia-centered film, Gomorrah. A powerful satire on reality television and disposable fame, Reality follows the tragi-comic story of a Neapolitan fishmonger with aspirations to find fame and fortune on the Italian version of “Big Brother” at the urging of his family, and his subsequent delusional breakdown. Garrone offers an irresistibly amusing glimpse at the destructive role played in modern life by our obsession with celebrity and appearance. – Jaie Laplante
PROMO (via Youtube)
The mission of the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF) is to bridge cultural understanding and encourage artistic development and excellence by provoking thought through film. By bringing the best of world cinema to Miami, MIFF presents the city and the film industry with a singular platform that fosters creative and technical talent.
The Miami International Film Festival had its beginnings as the main activity of the Film Society of Miami, Inc., which was founded in 1983. Since its first edition, which opened on February 3, 1984, the Festival has continued to bring the finest in world cinema to South Florida. The Festival has gained recognition with its consistently high quality of programming and presentations from filmmakers, critics, and the film industry. During the early years, films were screened in a variety of local theaters in the greater Miami area. By the sixth Festival in 1989, the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts had become the official residence.
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