Scene from the movie The Truffle Hunter, showing at the Starlight Cinema next week as part of the Italian Film Festival. Photo / Supplied
Scene from the movie The Truffle Hunter, showing at the Starlight Cinema next week as part of the Italian Film Festival. Photo / Supplied
Lovers of Italian films are in for a treat.
On Thursday this week the Starlight Cinema Taupō will host the opening night of the Italian Film Festival.
The cinema's upstairs gallery will be transformed with an art and garden theme and guests will be offered an Italian beverage and a sweet treat. Organiser Susan Thomson says artwork from local artists will be on display and Mitre 10 Mega Taupō are providing the garden theme.
This is the fourth year the festival has been held in Taupō and movie-goers will see 15 movies over seven days.
"The cinema is transformed, and it is quite an Italian feast," Susan says.
Scene from the movie Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell, starring Gina Lollobrigida and showing at the Starlight Cinema on Sunday, September 18 at 6.30pm. Photo / Supplied
The opening night film is Lacci (The Ties), a family drama that revolves around infidelity with consequences that span three decades. Lacci opened at the Venice International Film Festival in 2021 and premiered in New Zealand with the Italian Film Festival.
Artistic director Paolo Rotondo says the festival is travelling to 20 cinemas nationwide.
"With an eclectic curation of Italian Cinema that will make us want to Journey to Italy once more," Paola says.
Following that impressive opening, the programme's dramatic offerings include: Hidden Away (Volevo Nascondermi), a fascinating biopic about a tormented artist, Antonio Ligabue; Padrenostro, a riveting thriller about a young impressionable boy, his friendship with an older boy and the sinister secret that surrounds his father; You Came Back (Lasciami Andare), a suspense drama with a supernatural edge, set against the backdrop of Venice; and festival centrepiece, To Chiara (A Chiara), a thriller noir about a teenage girl who has to deal with a disturbing family truth and make some difficult choices.
Scene from the movie The Truffle Hunter, showing at the Starlight Cinema next week as part of the Italian Film Festival. Photo / Supplied
Italian humour can be dry, quirky, slapstick and caustic - sometimes all in the same movie.
For laughs this year you can go see Three Perfect Daughters (È per il tuo bene), a hilarious look at three fathers, whose daughters' modern-day concepts of love are not their idea of perfection; Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem (Il Primo Natale), a biblical time-travelling comedy - very Italian.
And if you prefer a more satirical comedy, the award-winning film The Predators (I Predatori) focuses on two families, one bourgeois and intellectual and the other proletarian and fascist. Both share the city of Rome and a trivial accident will bring both of these families together and set them on a collision course.
A highlight of the festival is the New Zealand premiere of renowned director Nanni Moretti's new film, Three Floors (Tre Piani). Set in an apartment block in the neighbourhood of Prati, the film weaves together three seemingly divergent worlds in a plot arc that is gripping and poignant.
The Details
Italian Film Festival
Runs from September 15 to 22
Gala Opening Night: Thursday, September 15, arrive at 6pm, movie starts at 6.30pm, tickets $25. Refreshments compliments of Peroni, San Pellegrino and JK Prosecco and a sweet treat.
