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A Traveler’s Needs by Hong Sangsoo – now in Theaters

18 February 2025

The highly anticipated A Traveler’s Needs, directed by the renowned South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo, has finally arrived in theaters. With grace and delicacy, he once again directs the extraordinary Isabelle Huppert. Winner of the Silver Bear – Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, this enigmatic, airy, and luminous film explores the power of language as both a bridge and a barrier in human relationships—an encounter that fosters deep connections while also fueling misunderstandings and unbridgeable emotional distances.

At the heart of the story is the mysterious Iris, a woman traveling in search of herself. Little is known about her, except that her daily life unfolds through small gestures, unusual habits, and enigmatic encounters.

A Traveler’s Needs is now playing in Italian theaters from February 13, distributed by Filmclub Distribuzione by Minerva Pictures, exclusively in its original version with subtitles. A must-see for all lovers of auteur cinema!

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“The Garden of the Finzi-Continis” Returns to Cinemas: Vittorio De Sica’s Masterpiece Restored in 4K for Holocaust Remembrance Day

27 January 2025

Coming to theaters on January 27, for the first time in a 4K restored version in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece The Garden of the Finzi-Continis returns to the big screen. The film won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1971 and, the following year, the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Distributed by Filmclub Distribuzione by Minerva Pictures, the film is based on Giorgio Bassani’s novel of the same name and spans the years 1938 to 1943, recounting the story of the Finzi-Continis, a wealthy Jewish family from the upper bourgeoisie of Ferrara. While the film received awards, acclaim, and widespread success, it also drew criticism at the time, including from Bassani himself.

Morando Morandini (Il Messaggero) criticized the portrayal as overly sentimental and historically superficial, whereas Kezich (Corriere della Sera) called it one of the director’s best works in years. As for Giorgio Bassani, the author, who based the novel on parts of his own life and family, collaborated on the dialogues and screenplay. However, disagreements and misunderstandings arose during production, particularly over the explicit portrayal of Micòl and Malnate’s relationship—including a love scene absent in the novel. Bassani reportedly disliked the “compromised” depiction of his beloved Micòl and requested that his name be removed from the film’s credits.

What is the film about? It tells the story of this affluent and refined Jewish family from Ferrara who, in 1938, faces the impact of racial laws that ban Jews from the local tennis club. As a response, the family allows the friends of their two children, Micòl (Dominique Sanda) and Alberto (Helmut Berger), who is secretly gay, to gather at the private tennis court in their villa’s garden. Among the guests are Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio playing Bassani himself), who has long been in love with Micòl, and Giampiero Malnate (Fabio Testi), a communist from Milan.

The film features several iconic scenes, such as Giorgio sneaking into the villa’s garden and discovering Micòl’s secret relationship with Malnate, who spends one last night with her before leaving for Russia. Another powerful moment depicts the Finzi-Continis being taken from their home by fascists and brought to a school building. De Sica masterfully conveys their fate: no torture chambers or decrepit prisons—just the humiliation of finding a seat in a classroom crowded with fellow Jews, their eyes filled with fear for the future.

Finally, the film includes a memorable line delivered by Giorgio’s father (a towering performance by Romolo Valli), a disillusioned former fascist, who tells his son:
“In life, if someone wants to truly understand how things stand in this bizarre world, they must die at least once. And so, it’s better to die young, while there’s still plenty of time to rise up and be reborn. Understanding as an old man is far worse. You don’t have the time to start from scratch. And our generation has made so many missteps along the way.”

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Ciao Bambino, Edgardo Pistone’s Debut Film, in Theaters from January 23!

20 December 2024

Ciao bambino, Edgardo Pistone‘s debut film, is finally hitting the big screens starting January 23!

Set in a vibrant and contradictory contemporary Naples, the film follows the story of Attilio, a young man faced with a difficult choice: follow his heart or take on the debts left by his father. An auteur neo-noir that deeply and authentically explores the moral dilemmas and responsibilities that mark the transition into adulthood.

Winner of the Best Debut Film Award at the 19th Rome Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize for Best Director at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Ciao bambino has garnered critical acclaim for its compelling narrative and exceptional direction.

Produced by Bronx Film, Anemone Film, Mosaicon Film, and Minerva Pictures, the film showcases the collaborative effort of some of the industry’s finest production houses.

Mark your calendars: January 23, Ciao bambino will be available in theaters through FilmClub Distribuzione and Minerva Pictures!

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“Ciao Bambino” Triumphs at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival After Success at the 19th Rome Film Fest

25 November 2024

After earning the Best First Film Award at the 19th Rome Film Fest, Ciao Bambino, the debut feature by Edgardo Pistone, also won the prestigious Special Jury Prize in the First Feature Competition section at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

Set in Naples’ Rione Traiano district, the film tells the story of Attilio, a young man torn between love and loyalty to his father, recently released from prison and hounded by loan sharks. Presented in stark black-and-white, the film offers an intimate, realistic look at family complexities and the burden of paternal legacies, framed within a context of crime and despair.

The work has been praised for its bold narrative and visually striking approach, steering clear of sentimentality and stereotypes. This debut feature confirms Pistone’s artistic maturity. The cast includes Marco Adamo, Anastasia Kaletchuk, Pasquale Esposito, and Salvatore Pelliccia.

Produced by Bronx Film, Anemone Film, Mosaicon Film, and Minerva Pictures, with support from Italy’s Ministry of Culture and the Campania Region Film Commission, the film will soon hit theaters, distributed by FilmClub Distribution and Minerva Pictures.

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On October 4th, the day dedicated to St. Francis, “Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna” returns to cinemas in a newly restored 4K version!

23 September 2024

On October 4th, 2024, and throughout the Franciscan month, Franco Zeffirelli‘s timeless masterpiece, Fratello Sole, sorella Luna, will return to the big screen. Distributed by FilmClub Distribuzione and Minerva Pictures with the support of Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo, the film will be presented in a newly restored 4K version. This event coincides with the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Italy.

Italian audiences will have the chance to enjoy this masterpiece in an unprecedented way: the 4K restoration, carried out by Paramount Pictures at Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna with the contribution of Istituto Luce Cinecittà and the Ministry of Culture, features the international cut, presented in its original version with Italian subtitles. This version, with a screenplay by Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Lina Wertmüller, and Zeffirelli himself, accompanied by Donovan‘s iconic score, offers extraordinary visual quality, enhancing Zeffirelli’s artistic vision and cinematography. The restored film was first showcased at the Quirinale Palace last March, in the presence of President Sergio Mattarella.

Fratello Sole, sorella Luna, which won a David di Donatello for Best Direction and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction, has been celebrated for its profound beauty and moving portrayal of Saint Francis’ life. Featuring the unforgettable performances of Graham Faulkner and Judi Bowker, the film is a poetic and visually sublime reflection on spirituality, love, and the beauty of nature. The meticulous 4K restoration offers impeccable image quality, allowing fans to relive this classic film in an enhanced and immersive way.

The restored version of Fratello Sole, sorella Luna will be shown in selected theaters across Italy as part of an event release. The film’s distribution is managed by FilmClub Distribuzione, in collaboration with Minerva Pictures and with the support of Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo. The national release will be preceded by two exclusive preview screenings.

On September 24th, the film will be screened at the Vatican Film Library in a high-profile private event attended by prominent figures from the Catholic world, politics, media, and the audiovisual industry. The screening will be introduced by Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, Mons. Davide Milani, President of Fondazione Ente dello Spettacolo, and Gianluca Curti, President and CEO of Minerva Pictures.

On October 1st at 7:30 p.m., the film will be previewed for the public at the Barberini Cinema in Rome. Mons. Davide Milani and Gianluca Curti will once again introduce the screening.

FURTHER READING
Fratello Sole, sorella Luna.
Enrico Baragli, Rivista del Cinematografo, No. 7, July 1972.

Not a historical reconstruction, let alone a documentary, the film freely reinterprets the decade of life that spans from the departure of Francesco, a twenty-year-old, to war against Perugia, to the meeting of the Poverello, at thirty, with Innocent III in Rome. It is a reinterpretation with an eye and a mind on today’s society and the Church: bourgeoisified—therefore: inhumane and anticlerical—like, if not more than, the world and the Church of the 13th century; thus still open to contestation. Hence, like in Cavani, but in more allegorical than realistic tones, we see a globally protesting Francesco, and on two fronts. On the social-secular level, he is an idealized hippie. (…) In the ecclesiastical aspect, Zeffirelli’s Francesco presents himself as the model Christian in this post-Vatican II Church: to be liberated, yes, from the historical incrustations that still show it as more aligned with Mammon and power than a witness to the Beatitudes, but not to be demolished with corrosive polemics or disciplinary rebellion. Forming a spontaneous group with his young friends, he does not hesitate, as a layman, to use (as we say today) his prophetic charisma by proposing a return to the integral Gospel, “sine glossa”; but while distinctly separating the unworthiness of people from the legitimacy of their function, he solicits from all levels of the established hierarchy, up to the Roman one, a verification of his charisma.

(…)

A set designer and theatrical director, especially renowned for his Shakespearean works, Zeffirelli essentially remains the same when he eventually turns to film directing. Mastering the craft, learned from the school of Rossellini, De Sica, Visconti, Pietrangeli, and Antonioni, he illustrates and adorns literary texts with images—albeit cinematic ones, since the technical medium provides them with their own internal time—thus arriving at works like The Taming of the Shrew (1967) and Romeo and Juliet (1968) of excellent, indeed refined style, but with a theatrical structure. This Saint Francis is no exception. (…) There’s no denying it: it’s a superb spectacle that is sure to receive an excellent reception from the audience. And this will be no small merit of Zeffirelli.

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Carlo Vanzina’s “Time for Loving” returns to cinemas from August 29th in a restored 4K version!

6 August 2024

Time for Loving (1983) by Carlo Vanzina finally returns to cinemas from August 29th in a restored 4K version!

It was 1983, but Time for Loving, directed by Carlo Vanzina and co-written with his brother Enrico, took audiences back twenty years to the summer of 1964 on the beach of Forte dei Marmi, narrating the carefree vacations of a group of youths and their families. Produced by Dean Film, the movie featured a stellar cast including Jerry Calà, Christian De Sica, Isabella Ferrari, Marina Suma, and the late Virna Lisi—who won the David di Donatello and Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actress—at the peak of their careers, and it became a symbol of the carefreeness and emotions of a bygone era.

This cult classic of Italian comedy, which grossed 10 billion at the box office, returns to cinemas from August 29: FilmClub Distribuzione, in collaboration with Minerva Pictures and Leone Film Group, brings it back to the big screen in a restored 4K version.

The film, which marked an era and an entire generation, is re-presented in a new and radiant guise thanks to a meticulous restoration process that has enhanced its visual and sound quality. The 4K restoration, carried out by the Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Dean Film, has revived the vivid colors and summer vibes of the film, making every detail even more engaging for modern audiences. For those who already know it or are yet to discover it, this is an opportunity to relive the adventures of Luca, Felicino, Selvaggia, and other characters like never before, in a quality that does justice to the original vision of the director. On the occasion of the release of the restored film, a series of events and meetings with original cast and crew members are also planned, who will share anecdotes and memories related to the making of the film.