Nine new Italian films by young directors will open at 35MM on Thursday as part of the annual N.I.C.E., or “New Italian Cinema Event.” The films’ directors and producers will all be in Moscow to discuss their work in question-and-answer sessions accompanying the showings.
All of the films will be shown in Italian with Russian voiceovers by headphones, except for two. “Lesson 21” will be shown in the original English, with Italian subtitles and a Russian translation by headphones, and “Pa-Ra-Da” will be shown in the original French and Romanian, with Italian and English subtitles and a Russian translation by headphones.
“Lesson 21” is an impressionistic historical fairy tale by writer and director Alessandro Baricco. “Shot, lit and framed by Gherardo Gossi like a series of period paintings, the picture features a very large cast giving some finely tuned performances,” Screen Daily wrote.
The selection of films was originally oriented toward its Moscow audience, said Sergei Burtsev, a spokesman for 35MM, but the festival has gained momentum and now shows in several European countries and the United States.
All the films are from 2008 or 2009, except for “La dittatura della verita,” a 37-minute documentary made in 1992 about the Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo.
The festival runs March 4-8 at 35MM, 47 Ulitsa Pokrovka. Metro Krasniye Vorota. Tel. (495) 917 5492, www.kino35mm.ru.
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