San Francisco New Italian Cinema (Nov. 16-20, 2016)-program

[Chris Knipp]

November 16-20, 2016: ICI and N.I.C.E. present the 20th San Francisco New Italian Cinema, a program of 15 films, at the Vogue Theatre, San Francisco

Full details on the N.I.C.'s website here. The ones I will review or have reviewed will be marked with an asterisk. Click on titles to find the reviews. For an index of my N.I.C. 2015 reviews, go here.



The films and festival blurbs are:

OPENING NIGHT FILM:



*Second Spring /Seconda Primavera (Francesco Calogero 2016)
Vogue Theatre
Wed, Nov 16 6:15 PM (108 min)
The young Hikma reminds Andrea of his wife, who passed away in unclear circumstances. Teaching him how to tend to his villa's garden, Hikma enables him to take up his life again. Winner of the Premio Corso Salani Award, 2015 Trieste Film Festival and Winner of the Gold Remi Award for Foreign Film, World Fest Houston. Francesco Calogero is expected to attend.

Second Spring showing will be followed by a party 8:30-11:00Pm at San Francisco ITalian Athletic Club, 1630 Stockton Street (between Union and Filbert),San Francisco, CA 94133. Film & Party (or Party only): $25 general public; $20 for Italian Cultural Institute and San Francisco Italian Athletic Club members. Copresented by BAIA and SF IndieFest.



*Afro-Napoli United/Loro Di Napoli (Pierfrancesco Li Doni 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Thu, Nov 17 4:40 PM (75 min)
Semi-documentary study of a team of 2nd generation Italians and African and South American immigrants seeking under their president, Antonio Gargiulo, to get to enroll in the Third Leaage and win the championship. Filmmaker Pierfrancesco Li Donni builds his story around the players and the city of Naples. Winner of the 2015 Festival dei Popoli’s Cinemaitaliano. Info – CG Entertainment Award. Copresented by the San Francisco Soccer Football League.



*Anna/Per amor vostro (Giuseppe M. Gaudino 2015)o
Vogue Theatre
Sun, Nov 20 1:00 PM (110 min)
A sad and lonely married cue-card writer for telenova falls in love with a soap opera leading man. Director Giuseppe M. Gaudino uses greys, color tints, and animation to tell a story of quirky characters and a woman's romantic imagination. Set in the Bay of Naples. Valeria Golino won the 2015 Venice Film Festival’s Best Actress Coppa Volpi award. Copresented by Pino Libereria.




The Beginners/Alaska Claudio Cupellini 2015
Vogue Theatre
Sat, Nov 19 6:10 PM (125 min)
Claudio Cupellini's film depicts the five years of mad off-and-on romance of an aspiring French model Nadine (Astrid Bergès Frisbey) and Fausto (Elio German and an Italian hotel waiter who meet and can't forget each other. Cupellini's second feature A Quiet Life starring Toni Servillo won a number of nominations and awards in Italy. . In 2014, Cupellini directed the television series Gomorrah with Stefano Sollima and Francesca Comencini, based on journalist Roberto Saviano's eponymous non-fiction book.
Copresented by Italian Society Berkeley.



*Best Enemies Forever /Nemiche per la pelle (Luca Lucini 2016)
Vogue Theatre
Wed, Nov 16 9:00 PM (92 min)
What would happen if two eternal foes—women with different lifestyles and characters—had to share the most incredible inheritance: their ex-husband Paolo’s son, conceived with a stranger no longer in the picture? Luca Lucini’s comedy follows the path of animal psychologist Lucia (Margherita Buy) and real estate developer Fabiola (Claudia Gerini, two hostile ex-wives of Paolo, who on his death leavse to them the care of a son by another woman, Paolo, Jr. (Jaspar Cabal). Director Lucini has a background in music videos and advertising, and has made seven previous features. Copresented by Italian Community Services.



*Don’t Be Bad/Non Essere Cattivo (Claudio Caligari 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Fri, Nov 18 9:00 PM (100 min)
Non essere cattivo is about two seedy bad boys Cesare (Luca Marinelli) and Vittorio (Alessandro Borghi) in the Rome suburb of Ostia - Pasolini territory, jealous of girlfriends and distrusting all but each other. After a bad drug trip Vittorio tries to start afresh, which Cesare sees as a betrayal. Winner of eight awards at Venice including for the two actors' performances. Director Caligari died in May of last year after a long illness. Copresented by the California Film Institute.




If Only I Were That Warrior (Valerio Ciriaci 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Sat, Nov 19 1:45 PM (72 min)
If Only I Were That Warrior is a feature documentary film focusing on the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1935. Following the recent construction of a monument dedicated to Fascist general Rodolfo Graziani, the film addresses the unpunished war crimes he and others committed in the name of Mussolini's imperial ambitions. THE NYC-based Italian documentary filmmaker Valerio Ciriaci is expected to attend. Copresented by SF DocFest.



*The Invisible Player/Il Giocatore invisibile (Stefano Alpini 2016)
Vogue Theatre
Thu, Nov 17 9:10 PM (100 min)
Things fall apart for eminent Pisa university lecturer Nari (Luca Lionello, Judas in The Passion of the Christ) after he receives a threatening letter. Nari's wife betrays him with a former student and he suspects the threat comes from a departmental rival, Professor Daverio. Basen on the eponymous novel of Giuseppe Pontiggia. Alpini himself has degrees from the U of Pisa and has taught there and Florence. Was AD for three films by Roberto Faenza.



*Latin Lover (Cristina Comencini 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Sat, Nov 19 9:10 PM (104 min)
The five daughters of a famous actor, fictional 1950s Italian star Saverio Crispo (Francesco Scianna) , all from different mothers and different nationalities, get together on the 10th anniversary of his death for a celebration of his career. Starring Virna Lisi, Marisa Paredes, Angela Finocchiaro. Winner of the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Silver Ribbon. Copresented by Museo Italo-Americano.



The Legendary Giulia and Other Miracles/Noi e la Giulia (Edoardo Leo 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Sun, Nov 20 3:30 PM (115 min)
Diego, a car salesman (Luca Argentero); Claudio, a failed store owner (Stefano Fresi); and Fausto, a watch pitchman (Edoardo Leo), are three unlikely partners thrown together by circumstance when they make a last minute decision to buy an old property and turn it into an agro-tourism inn. They must struggle against La Camorra to do so. Based on Fabio Bartolomei's book Giulia 1300 e altri miracoli, Winner of the 2015 Nastro D’Argento for Best Comedy, 2015 Globo D’Oro Award for Best Comedy, and 2015 David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor (Carlo Buccirosso). Copresented by BAIA.

CLOSING NIGHT FILM:



Like Crazy/La Pazza Gioia (Paolo Virzì 2016)
Vogue Theatre
Sun, Nov 20 6:00 PM (118 min)
Beatrice (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) is a blabbermouth and a self-professed billionaire countess who likes to believe she is intimate with world leaders. Donatella (Micaela Ramazzotti) is a quiet young woman, locked in her own mystery. Both are patients in a mental institution. Paolo Virzì’s new comic drama tells the story of the women's unpredictable friendship and their hilarious yet moving escape from the hospital as they look for their share of happiness in the open-air nuthouse that is the world of healthy people. Virzì's previous film Human Capital (2014), also costarring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, received awards at the David di Donatello Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Tribeca Film Festival. Actress Valentina Carnelutti in person. Copresented by the San Francisco Film Society and the California Film Institute.



*Somewhere Amazing/In Un Posto Bellissimo (Giorgia Cecere 2016)
Vogue Theatre
Thu, Nov 17 6:30 PM (100 min)
Isabella Ragonese (The Golden Door, Tutta la Vita Davanti), is Lucia, a thoughtful and reserved woman who works in a flower shop. Lucia is a simple woman. Married to Andrea, over the years has always left her husband the responsibility to decide what is right to do in every situation, devoting himself to his son and his ial, flower shop in the center. Suddenly, the discovery of Andrea's betrayal and his meeting with Ahmed, a foreign guy who sells items on the street, upset all his certainties. Lucia begins to change and small steps back in touch with herself, finally finding th. Official Selection, 2016 Göteborg Film Festival. Cecere worked with Ermanno Olmi and wrote for Edoardo Winspeare. Her first film The First Assignment debuted at Venice and won the N.I.C.E. City of Florence 2011 award. Copresented by Bay Area Women in Film & Media.

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*Street Opera (Haider Rashid 2016)
Vogue Theatre
Fri, Nov 18 4:45 PM (72 min)
Haider Rashid’s documentary is a journey into the world of Italian rap through a cinematic portrait of five artists: Clementino, Gué Pequeno, Damage, Torment, and Elio Germano, actor and rapper in the Bestie Rare group. Haider takes us on a 20 year trip (1994-2014) that reveals the variety and complexity of this vibrant musical genre. The focus is on the musicians' raw creativity: their commitment, their passion, and their desire to become artistic masters of rhyme. Director Hinder Raschid was born in Flroence to an Iraqi father and Italian mother, and studied in London. Winner of the 2015 Rome Film Festival Alice Nella Città Award.



Them Who?/Loro Chi? (Fabio Bonifacci, Francesco Miccichè 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Sat, Nov 19 4:00 PM (92 min)
David (Edoardo Leo) is 36 and dreams of publishing a novel, but in the meantime he works at a household products company as communication manager. His latest ambition is to convince his evil boss that he is a valuable asset, deserving of a much higher salary. Finally, his chance arrives: He will be the spokesperson who unveils the firm’s new industrial patent, a revolutionary invention that will bring the company incredible success. Marcello (Marco Giallini) is a clever trickster, a conman and, in his own peculiar way, an artist. With the help of two charming young women, Marcello deceives David and steals everything he has, ostensibly ruining his life. Director Francesco Miccichè in person.



*They Call Me Jeeg/Lo Chiamavano Jeeg Robot (Gabriele Mainetti 2015)
Vogue Theatre
Fri, Nov 18 6:30 PM (112 min)
Enzo, a lonely and misanthropic small time crook, uses the superpowers gained after falling in the Tiber river to chase down a crazy gangster called "The gypsy".Winner of the 2016 David di Donatello for: Best Debut Director, Best Producer, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Ilenia Pastorelli), Best Actor in a Leading Role (Claudio Santamaria), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Antonia Truppo), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Luca Marinelli), and Best Editor. (Contains violent scenes.) Diectoer Mainetti is a graduate of Università la Sapienza in Rome and NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and had a background in TV, screenwriting, and acting.