printer friendly - 2007 - Lavazza Italian Film Festival

Prolific director and President
of Cinecitta’ Studios, Pupi Avati
(A HEART ELSEWHERE, THE
SECOND WEDDING NIGHT)
delivers a touching comedy about
three stepsisters playing cupid
for their father, a jaded TV star
whose career has seen better
days. As lacerating as it is comical,
Avati’s first film set in Rome shines
against the sparkling backdrop of
Christmas in Italy.
Actor Sandro Lanza (the
legendary Diego Abatantuono) is
having a hard time. Over the past
few years he has lost his hair, his
friends and also his whip-smart
tongue with which he used to be
able to turn any situation to his
own advantage. Once the star
of his own TV series, his role has
now dwindled down to a bit part.
After a disastrous plastic surgery
operation he decides to fake a
suicide attempt to garner publicity
and get his name back into the
celebrity rags.
His three estranged daughters,
all by different mothers, rush to
his bedside. Reunited after many
years, they decide that their father
needs to meet a different kind of
woman to get him back on track
and they have just the woman
in mind! Alma Kero (Francesca
Neri), a cultured, intelligent and
independent woman is the type
ro has always avoided
es he know, his
re already organizing
them to meet…
THE GET-TOGETHER DINNER
LA CENA PER FARLI CONOSCERE
Director: Pupi Avati
Cast: Diego Abatantuono,
Vanessa Incontrada,
Violante Placido,
Ines Sastre,
Francesca Neri.
Runtime: 99 mins
KISS ME, BABY
BACIAMI PICCINA
Directed: Roberto Cimpanelli
Cast: Neri Marcorè,
Vincenzo Salemme,
Elena Russo,
Gianni Cavina
Runtime: 111 mins
Elegant and inspired, KISS ME,
BABY is part tender love-story,
witty road movie and historical
drama. Cimpanelli’s superb
direction tells the story of a
couple on their honeymoon at
the most unlikely of times – the
middle of World War II.
Love, passion, despair, bombings,
hunger and death. Welcome to
Italy, September 8, 1943. After
being led into a disastrous war by
Mussolini, Italy surrenders to the
Allies and joins with them to fight
against Hitler and the Nazi regime.
On the eve of this historic date
we meet Umberto, an honest and
reliable policeman and his long
standing fiancée Luisa.
When Umberto is asked to safely
escort flamboyant con man Raoul
Nuvolini to Venice, Luisa joins him.
After all, Venice is the city of love
and she has been waiting patiently
to marry for years. As the group
of three board a train bound for
Venice they are unaware that their
lives and the fate of their country
will change forever.
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Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2007
www.italianfilmfestival.com.au 11