29th Edition of the EU Film Showcase at AFI Silver

Beatrice is a strong-willed though undeniably delusional mental patient at a facility in Tuscany. Villa Biondi used to belong to Beatrice’s aristocratic family, but now it’s a psychiatric hospital for women. Beatrice tells herself that she’s just there for a rest and treats the staff and fellow patients as if they are servants. When busybody Beatrice takes an interest in troubled young newcomer Donatella (Micaela Ramazzoti), who has had her child taken away, Beatrice decides the two need to escape the villa to right these wrongs. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi gives a powerhouse performance as Beatrice in Paolo Virzì’s (HUMAN CAPITAL) winning, wacky comedy about female friendship. Official Selection, 2016 Cannes, Vancouver and Chicago film festivals. DIR/SCR Paolo Virzì; SCR Francesca Archibugi; PROD Marco Belardi. Italy/France, 2016, color, 118 min, DCP. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Journalist Massimo (Valerio Mastandrea) writes a high-profile advice column, having paid his dues covering professional sports and the war in Bosnia. Ironically, this perennial moper would seem a good candidate for professional help himself, having never gotten over the loss of his beloved mother at a young age, as seen in a series of vivid flashbacks of dreamlike intensity. Bérénice Bejo and Emmanuelle Devos highlight the exquisite supporting cast in the latest film from maestro Marco Bellocchio (GOOD MORNING, NIGHT; VINCERE). Official Selection, 2016 Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Busan, Chicago and Toronto film festivals. DIR/SCR Marco Bellocchio; SCR Valia Santella, Edoardo Albinati, from the novel by Massimo Gramellini; PROD Beppe Caschetto. Italy, 2016, color, 134 min, DCP. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Pericle (Riccardo Scamarcio) has served his low-level Belgian mob boss Don Luigi (Gigio Morra) faithfully for years, beginning in his youth as a luckless orphan in the Belgian Neapolitan community. A sometime performer in pornographic films, Pericle’s specialty is not assassination, but degradation: if Don Luigi believes a business associate is screwing him over, he sends Pericle to bluntly return that particular favor. When Pericle causes the accidental death of a member of a rival clan, he flees to France where, ironically, he discovers a truer sense of his own identity, with the help of waitress Anastasia (Marina Foïs). Official Selection, 2016 Cannes Film Festival. DIR/SCR Stefano Mordini; SCR Francesca Marciano, Valia Santella, from the novel by Giuseppe Ferrandino; PROD Riccardo Scamarcio, Valeria Golino, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne. Italy/Belgium/France, 2015, color, 104 min, DCP. In Italian and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Documentarian Gianfranco Rosi (SACRO GRA) won the Golden Bear at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival for this poetic, atmospheric exploration of the island of Lampedusa, home to a small population of fishing families, an overworked coast guard station and thousands of newly arrived immigrants from Africa and the Middle East who survive the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. Rosi spent a year among the island’s families, recording their reactions to the international crisis on their doorstep. He followed the coast guard on several rescue missions, capturing powerful images of the deadly consequences of the migrants’ desperate situation. Official Selection, 2016 Berlin, Karlovy Vary, Telluride, Toronto, New Horizons, Chicago and New York film festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Gianfranco Rosi; PROD Donatella Palermo. Italy/France, 2016, color, 108 min, DCP. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED