3500+ Films - 2.5 million words – 1 million viewers! Founder and Curator Carmela selects some of our most entertaining, powerful and inspiring films New Italian Cinema at We Are Moving Stories including short drama, Italy today, migration and the diaspora.
Total length of this section: 20 films.
<SHORT DRAMA>
Labor - A surrogate mother faces a harrowing dilemma when she’s asked to abort the baby she carries for another woman. Length: 12 minutes. Director Cecilia Albertini:
“If you want to see a film with a strong female lead that captures a very timely story, then my film is for you. ”
Magic Alps - When an Afghan refugee arrives in Italy with his goat to seek asylum, an Italian immigration officer finds himself in a difficult position because he doesn't know what to do with the animal. Based on a true story. Length: 14 minutes. Writer/Director Andrea Brusa and Director Marco Scotuzzi:
“We are always interested in stories that can offer points of view usually inaccessible to the audience. This is always our starting point. We hope the audience will find in our film a profound story told with a very realistic approach and an inaccessible and original point of view about a relevant story world.”
Whales - Two sisters reunite in their deceased father’s house on an idyllic Italian island, only to discover a painful family secret. Writer/Director/Producer Nora Jaenicke:
“Whales has a mostly female cast. The character description and relationship development of these women separated by the passing of time and different upbringings is especially interesting for a female audience, I believe, even though the themes of forgiveness and belonging within the complexity of family dynamics can be considered universal.”
SPAGHETTI ROMANCE - Love and Pasta...it’s not that easy. Length: 10.43 minutes. Writer/Director Carrie Finklea:
“There are two themes working in tangent: The ubiquitous feeling of isolation when one is plopped into an environment that is out of their element and the struggles that people must overcome in order to connect with others from different worlds. The underlying message is about how our social differences/identities often inhibit our ability to connect to others and finding our “humanness” similarities. We are different and we are the same - a concept very difficult for western society to understand given its deeply embedded binary system. ”
Arrivederci Rosa - It’s not about being gay, being straight or being Rosa. It’s about being true. Length: 19 minutes. Director: Flaminia Graziadei:
“Because it talks about feeling, emotions, friendship, themes in which everybody, gay or straight, can identify. Because it’s a comedy with layers and portrays gay relationships in a subtle and realistic way. I find too often that gay movies have to be camp and outrageous, delivering a wrong image of what the gay community is.”
Mai - Claudia travels to Sicily to reconcile with her lover, Anna. Coldly rejected, Claudia spends the night with a handsome man, unwittingly forcing her to face reality and accept who she is. Length: 20 minutes: Writer/Director Giulio Poidomani:
“I was fascinated by women and the way they are portrayed in old Italian films. They are always mysterious and complex; often better than the men. So I was really trying to give voice to strong female characters. In the case of “Mai,” the protagonist is a lesbian and I wanted to show her path to the full acceptance of herself.”
Cerrillos Road - As they try to solve the mystery of Sarah’s disappearance, her best friend Lori and her fiancée Phil discover their feelings for each other. 8.25 minutes. Writer/Director Giulio Poidomani:
“I wish everyone could watch it. Especially if you love films that are set in some kind of suspended atmosphere. I was inspired by Antonioni for this script, especially by “L’avventura”, “Zabriskie Point”, and “L’eclisse”. So I see this film as a modern take on those marvelous masterpieces.”
BlasterCore - Two drunk heroes driving fast on the street are going to face the evil forces: tha police! Porn lovers, hardcore music, ninja-police and socially inadequate behaviors are mixed in a low-quality homemade exploitation style short film. Don't worry, ain't nothing but the street life. Length: 11.25 minutes. Director Alessandro Vivarini:
“Because it’s a blast. I think it has a good impact. If you’re looking for something crazy you should watch it.”
WANNABE - On the day of her mother’s death, Sofia must return to her family home and finally face her estranged father: the woman she never knew. Length: 12 minutes. Producer Lukasz Domanski:
“I think that for both Marco and me this film has been very personal. We both came out to our family and friends so the character of Donna feels very close to our hearts. However the universal part of the film is the fact that the broken family shown in the film can come together in the end through love and some level of acceptance.”
Without - In a small village in Southern Italy, a solitary old man afflicted by alcoholism wanders off into the countryside for a walk that will change his life forever. Length: 19.11 minutes. Director Paola Sinisgalli:
“This is a story about human solitude and desperation - one which is amplified by the geographical and psychological isolation felt in some communities. It’s a story about a life seemingly destined to deteriorate into oblivion; but when all seems lost, we understand the true force in the hope for redemption. Losing something and the involuntary tendency to burrow in self-inflicted misery can unexpectedly lead to the purest form of salvation, if willingness and real values are at their foundation, much like our protagonist. ”
<ITALY TODAY>
Doris and Hong - Doris, a 70-year-old Italian retiree, was born in Eritrea to an Italian family during the Italian colonial period. Hong, a 23-year-old Chinese girl, grew up in the economic boom of China. Having been accepted to an art school in Rome, Hong flew to Rome, and is being housed in Doris’ spare room. It is her first time out of China. Both women considered the living arrangement temporary, lasting for a few months to a year, an exchange of little importance. But what happened during the following months was a surprise to both of them. Symbolically, the two women represent a meeting of the old culture of the West and the new hope and coming of age of the East. Length: 80 minutes. Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Leonardo Cinieri Lombroso.
The Italian Gaze (Lo Sguardo Italiano) - An Italian artist looks at his native country through an animated film made with thousands of hand colored oil painted photographs. Writer/Director/Producer Sandro Del Rosario:
“I was born and educated in Italy, a country that is admired and visited by millions of tourists each year for its natural beauty as well as for its artistic and cultural heritage. But pervasive corruption, political instability, and economical paralysis leave many Italians without any job prospect, forcing them to emigrate to seek a better future. I am one of those.”
Over the river - What is our identity in a place without traditions? “We are too old-fashioned, this is the problem. We look at the moon, we look at too many things…” This is told to Angelo, a young waiter who lives in a small, Italian village. It is said that inside the grotto is guarded an ancient secret. The village seems to live in a suspended time, anchored to old rituals, such as pig’s killing, wheat harvesting or the electoral campaign. Length: 74 minutes. Writer/Director Vanina Lappa:
“What is our identity in a place without traditions?”
<MIGRATION>
The Shameful Story - A documentary movie about the Mass Migration to the Americas in the early 1900s, told through a return journey of today. Based on true stories and new unpublished movie pictures, La Storia Vergognosa - The Shameful Story is a movie about the great Italian emigration in early 20th century to North America, the largest European mass migration of that time. The story is narrated by a group of street artists that crosses the travel path of a young lady, descended from a Sicilian family that emigrated to America, driven by a strong desire to go back to her mother country and discover her family roots. Length: 80 minutes. Interview with writer/director Nella Condorelli.
L'Immigrato - Three brothers explore their rural village, gathering and poaching food. Their imaginations run wild, an escape from the poverty of their upbringing. But this is South Italy, WW2. Some things cannot be dreamt away and nothing will ever be the same for them again. Length: 14.51 minutes. Writer/Director/Producer Sophia Capasso:
“This film is a scratch on the surface of the stories I heard growing up, handed down through the generations. I wanted to make a film about war through children’s eyes and the devastating effect it can have on families. At the time I was very focused on showing catalysts that force people to move between countries, this was the beginning of my Nonno’s journey to the UK post WW2 and the reason the film is called ‘L’Immigrato/ The Immigrant’.”
<DIASPORA>
Santino - Never cross a nonna. Length: 21 minutes. Writer/Director D.J. Higgins:
“The film touches upon the importance of family in the Italian American tradition. The entire film is in Italian with English subtitles. It also examines how generations are changing and how ‘finding’ love is viewed as a ‘new’ puzzle. There are no references to the mafia and the film displays Italians as loving people who put family, morals and good food before anything.”
Barista - A young woman decides to quit her job at Starbucks and reinvent her life—until she discovers she has MS and can't lose her health care. Length: 22.48 minutes. Writer/Director Aaron Cassara:
“When I was in school I was drawn to Italian Neo Realism because I saw a lot of parallels to peak recession America and I made an autobiographical film called The Bartender about the drudgery of the service industry. I wanted to make something similar and my wife (she’s a journalist) had just interviewed a friend of ours about her experience with discovering she had MS. It felt like a very appropriate way to tell the story and also put the characters in a pressing and critical situation.”
Taboo - After witnessing the local priest abuse his power, Sofia attempts to convince her devout Catholic family to act. Length: 14 minutes. Writer/Director Olivia Altavilla and Writer/Producer Claudia Altavilla:
“For many like my family who migrated here from Italy in the ’50s with no one, the Church was where they could connect and feel a part of something. Taboo attempts to explore this inner conflict through the characters, Toni and Lina.”
The Savoy Ladies Group - A story about women, family and friendship in the Italian heart of rural Australia. Length: 10.20 minutes. Director: Jary Nemo:
“The story will take you on a gentle journey into a world you don’t know about. But it’s a welcoming world, with a bit of love and a bit of sadness. The documentary follows Rosa, President of the Savoy Ladies Group, as she tells the story of Italians in the North-East, tobacco farming, women, family and friendship.”
Pentimento - A young Transylvanian woman who dreams of singing on Broadway, falls in love with a troubled artist within the grit and grime of New York City. Length: 110 minutes. Writer/Director Loredana Gasparotto:
“You should watch this film to discover what life in NYC really is and not what the media’s glamorize it to be. Pentimento is a serious, dramatic story infused with quirky humor. Why? Because when we look at someone’s life as observers, we realize how life in all its drama has plenty of humor.”