After the World War I, Mussolini's perspective on life is severely altered; once a willful socialist reformer, now obsessed with the idea of power, he founds the National Fascist Party in 1921 and assumes political power in 1922, becoming the Duce, dictator of Italy. His success encourages Hitler to take power in Germany in 1933, opening the dark road to World War II. (Originally released as a two-part miniseries. Includes colorized archival footage.)
A documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers never heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema. With modern day interviews and archival footage, the documentary discloses the personal struggles and triumphs that classic Afro-Italian, African-American and Afro-descendant actors faced in the Italian film industry, while mirroring their struggles with those of contemporary actors who are working diligently to find respectable, significant, and non-stereotypical roles, but are often unable to do so. Blaxploitalian is more than an unveiling of a troubled history; it is a call-to-action for increased diversity in international cinema through the stories of these artists in an effort to reflect the modern and racially diverse Italy.
What are we talking about when we talk about negotiations? About the state's concessions to the Mafia in exchange for ending the massacres? About who assassinated Falcone and Borsellino? Of the eternal coexistence between the Mafia and politics? Between the mafia and the church? Between the Mafia and law enforcement? Or is there more? A group of actors enacts the most relevant episodes of the affair known as the Mafia-state negotiation, impersonating mobsters, secret service agents, high officials, magistrates, victims and murderers, Freemasons, honest and courageous people, and courageous people up to a point. Thus one of the most intricate events in our history becomes an exciting tale.
Every summer on Palermo's Mondello beach, over 1,000 cabins are built in preparation of the Ferragosto holiday. Centered around a family who goes into debt, three women holding onto the feeling of youth, and a politician seeking votes -- a vanity fair of beachgoers hiding behind the memory of a social status that the economic crisis of recent years has compromised.
The 1960s opened with La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini and its unforgettable lead: Marcello Mastroianni. The actor seemed to glide effortlessly through his roles — and through life — as if to say that life is not all that serious, or perhaps that it is far too serious not to be laughed at. But what kind of man was hiding behind the actor with the handsome, boyish looks, who appeared so gentle and nonchalant?
In a race against time and all odds, the revolutionary F1 racing car Ferrari 312B will get back on the Monaco circuit, 46 years later, under the wing of it’s creator, the genius engineer Mauro Forghieri.
Drawing inspiration from his personal encounter with the Italian refugee child Giovanna during World War II, Markus Imhoof tells how refugees and migrants are treated today: on the Mediterranean Sea, in Lebanon, in Italy, in Germany and in Switzerland.
Songs and singers from Naples, musicians and poets, real and legendary characters are the protagonists of a film that crosses one of the most beautiful, famous and controversial metropolises in the world. An exceptional orchestra for a repertoire that speaks of love, sex, jealousy, immigration, protest.
The capture of Naples, the first great European city to be liberated, revealed the magnitude of the tasks involved in re-creating the means of livelihood and the machinery of government in a devastated, starving and disease-ridden city.
A courtroom in Milan is filled with people brought together by random selection. Long interviews lie ahead. Based on the interviews, some of them will be chosen for jury duty. However, The Call doesn’t focus on judicial proceedings, but rather considers people’s sense of justice through the conversations in the waiting room.
Leonardo da Vinci finds it difficult to pursue his own dreams while serving as the Duke's court artist, but young Roberto takes risks to convince the Master not to give up on his dreams. In this moving story of friendship, the Renaissance genius invents a flying machine and helps Roberto reach new heights.
Oscar, not quite a child anymore, scavenges for scrap metal for his father. He spends his life in improvised landfills among what remains of leftovers. Worlds apart, yet close-by, there is Stanley. He tidies the church in exchange for a monetised hospitality, picks fruits, herds sheep: anything that keep his foreign body busy. Oscar, the young Sicilian, and Stanley the Nigerian don’t seem to have much in common. Except for the feeling of being thrown into the world, to suffer the same refusal, the same overwhelming wave of choices imposed on them by others.
World-renowned director Martin Scorsese narrates this journey through his favorites in Italian cinema.
Luca and Gustav, two men in their 30s, have been a stable couple for eight years. Nothing to get worked up about in a western European country, you would think – and you’d be wrong. Even in Euroland there are places where the acknowledgment of the basic civil rights of same-sex couples is a hot issue. Suddenly, Gustav’s and Luca’s quiet private life has been turned upside down. When the Italian center-left coalition initiates legislation about same-sex partnerships in Italy, a national debate is triggered instantly. In a matter of days it turns into the hottest political and cultural issue on the national agenda while intolerant homophobic attacks increase dramatically.
An exciting and unsettling cinematic journey through the life, work and torments of Caravaggio.
House of the Wickedest Man in the World is the story of a ruined building near the city of Cefalú in Sicily. In the early 1920s, Aleister Crowley, the most famous occultist of his time, lived in the building, practicing magical rituals. In the summer of 1955, Kenneth Anger, considered one of the pioneers of experimental cinema, traveled with sexologist Alfred Kinsey to Sicily to find Aleister Crowley’s temple to shoot a film about the occultist’s time in Cefalú. The Thelema Abbey film was never released.
Milo Manara revolutionized the comics imagination, liberating female desire through the protagonists of his comics. His career was marked by his encounter with Hugo Pratt, his mentor and companion, and by his exploration of the power of sex as a political act, culminating in the publication of Il gioco. His partnership with Federico Fellini redefined the boundaries between eroticism, cinema, and comics, and his unmistakable style made him a point of reference for entire generations.
Lawsuit-proof satirical "unauthorized biography" of Silvio Berlusconi told using only words spoken by the man himself in interviews, rallies, or other public statements.
In Italy, in the mid-seventies, Adriana, Barbara, Nadia and Susanna were 20 years old when they decided to join the armed struggle and leave behind their social life and their families in order to make the revolution the center and the aim of their existence. Today they have returned after many years in prison, and they try, each one of them, to recount their own experiences. They speak about the political reasons which initially sustained them, the conflicts, the doubts, and the moments of being torn apart which market out their lives as women caught up in the vortex of war. A course of events which ended in the condemnation of the armed struggle and the pain of the lives that were destroyed – their victims’ lives and their own.
Anthology short film with segments by nine directors against Silvio Berlusconi and its Forza Italia party — released ahead of the 1994 Italian general elections, which Berlusconi nevertheless won in a landslide. In Nanni Moretti's segment, he and Silvio Orlando reprise their roles from The Yes Man (1991).