The 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival presented by Palace is returning to cinemas with the best new Italian films and classic gems in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Byron Bay and Ballina from 18 September. This year’s diverse program includes award-winning drama, documentary, laugh-out-loud comedy and historical epics starring an array of iconic talent.
Multi-talented Italian-Australian food writer, TV producer and host Silvia Colloca will invite audiences to enjoy ‘la dolce vita’ as this year’s Festival Ambassador, sharing her love of all things Italian with festival audiences! Special Presentations are the playful, meta-comedy Marcello Mio, led by acting royalty and real-life mother-daughter duo Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. A joyful imagining of the daily lives of a creative family, it focuses on the legacy of the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, Chiara’s late, real-life father.
The festival’s second Special Presentation and winner of the 2024 Sydney International Film Festival’s coveted Sydney Film Prize is There’s Still Tomorrow (C’è ancora domani). The directorial debut of Paola Cortellesi, who also stars in the film, follows a woman living in post-war Rome with her family who dares to break with tradition. It was the highest-grossing film in Italy last year. The 2023 Venice Film Festival opener Comandante is a gripping maritime thriller starring festival favourite Pierfrancesco Favino. Favino delivers a powerhouse performance as a Naval Captain who commands the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini in the Battle of the Atlantic and is faced with a moral dilemma.
Italo-French co-production Maria Montessori (La Nouvelle Femme), is a bold and illuminating drama set at the turn of the 20th Century. The film stars Jasmine Trinca as the famed Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, whose revolutionary methods are still used across the globe today. And for Bambini and Nonni alike, The War Of The Nonni (La guerra dei nonni) is a fun family comedy starring Vincenzo Salemme and Max Tortora as competing grandfathers. When Nonno Tom returns from abroad, a series of hilarious challenges ensue as he and Nonno Gerri compete for the affection of their grandchildren.
Find out more about the program and schedule on their official website.
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