The Italian Cultural Institute is pleased to announce the Italian movie Notti Magiche (Magical Nights) directed by Paolo Virzì at this year’s Washington, DC International Film Festival.
In Rome in 1990, La Dolce Vita isn’t so sweet anymore. Soccer and TV have supplanted cinema in the public’s affection, yet the old film directors are still in play, “worn out but with ironclad contracts,” including the revered Fellini. Enter three fresh young faces, finalists for a screenwriting contest, each naive in a different way: Sicilian art nerd Antonino; Tuscan working-class lothario Luciano; and pill-popping, lonely heiress Eugenia. After a night on the town with a famous producer who winds up dead, the three find themselves in front of a realist (if not neorealist) carabinieri captain on possible murder charges. For aficionados of Italian cinema, this breakneck comedy offers an impossibly head-spinning array of references; cinephilia itself is on the satiric chopping block. To appreciate the cleverness and wistfulness of Magical Nights you need only know that in comedy as in soccer, it’s all about the penalty kick.
Director: Paolo Virzì
Italy, 2018, 125 min
Film in Italian with English Subtitles
Filmfest DC is back for its 33rd year in Washington DC, bringing new and exciting international films to the community. Filmfest DC hosts 80 films from 45 countries to show across 11 days for 1 exciting festival.
OTHER ITALIAN FILM – PART OF FILMFEST DC: Nome di Donna (Name of a Woman) by Marco Tullio Giordana
DATE/LOCATION
- Saturday, April 27 – 8:30 PM, AMC Mazza Gallerie
- Saturday, May 4 – 3:30 PM, AMC Mazza Gallerie
PREVIEW
Paolo Virzi
Paolo Virzì is an Italian writer and director. His decades-spanning career as a filmmaker started with La bella vita (1994), and he hasn’t stopped making critically acclaimed films since, amongst them Caterina in the Big City (2003), The First Beautiful Thing (2011), and Human Capital (2015). The Leisure Seeker (2017) was an official selection of Miami Film Festival’s GEMS 2017, and winner of the Audience Award. Notti Magiche (18), his latest effort, was the Closing Night Film at the Rome Film Festival, where it had its World Premiere.