Palace Cinemas are thrilled to announce a great lineup for the 2023 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival showcasing an incredible selection of new Italian cinema celebrating the country’s language, stories and culture.
Featuring an eclectic mix of contemporary Italian auteurs, documentaries, a closing night tribute to a much-loved Italian cinema legend and more, the festival will screen in Byron Bay exclusively at Palace Cinemas from 28 September.
The 2023 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival will open with the Australian Premiere of The Last Night of Amore (L’ultima notte di Amore), a stylish Milan-set thriller starring the magnificent Pierfrancesco Favino. A major Italian box office hit, the film follows a police lieutenant who is drawn into a web of crime and corruption on the eve of his retirement.
Direct from the Cannes Film Festival come the three Italian films that screened in competition this year. The 2023 Festival Centrepiece is Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped (Rapito) . Based on true events, this gripping historical drama is the story of a young Jewish boy whose abduction by the Vatican fuelled outrage in 19th-century Italy and triggered a global scandal.
Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, a captivating fable of lost love set in 1980s Tuscany, follows a young British archaeologist (played by Josh O’Connor) who becomes entangled in an international network dealing in stolen Italian artefacts; and in Nanni Moretti’s multi-layered new comedy A Brighter Tomorrow (Il sol dell’avvenire), about filmmaking in the age of streaming giants, a film director (Moretti) struggles with his relationship, family and the production of his latest film.
This year’s festival features three special presentations: The Eight Mountains (Le otto montagne), starring Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi, was awarded the Cannes Jury Prize in 2022 and won four David di Donatello Awards. This epic journey of friendship and self-discovery is set in the breathtaking Italian Alps; Burning Hearts (Ti mangio il cuore), is a searing crime story of love and revenge set in Puglia and shot in stunning black and white, which stars Italian singer Elodie in her first acting role, and; Caravaggio’s Shadow (L’ombra di Caravaggio) is a lush, historical drama starring the impeccable Riccardo Scamarcio, which explores the struggles of the notorious Renaissance painter as he is investigated by the Vatican.
These films are just the punta dell’iceberg of an amazing festival of films screening at Palace.
For more information visit the festival, website: www.italianfilmfestival.com.au.
