“Brave Little Army"
Now Available
Directed by Italian-Canadian filmmaker, Michelle D'Alessandro Hatt, this powerful short is the first of a trilogy. The film follows a group of girlfriends from grammar school through adulthood as they develop a bond and support each other in times of difficulty. Click here to stream it.
March 5 Sony Pictures Classics
Directed by, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, this highly acclaimed documentary takes us through the forests of Piedmont, Italy as a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle—which to date has resisted all of modern science's efforts at cultivation. They're guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly-trained dogs. Click here for details.
March 5 - 8
This year’s Cinema Ritrovato on Tour in New Hampshire presents an international lineup of comedies, restored cinematic masterpieces, and documentaries sourced from Italian archives.
The festival will be virtual, with films available to stream over a four-day period. They include Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada’s 1950 “Luci del Varietà” (Variety Lights), Mario Monicelli’s 1960 "Risate di Gioia" (The Passionate Thief), “Grand Tour Italiano,” a compilation of silent shorts from 1905-1914, and the 2020 documentary “The Forgotten Front: La Resistenza a Bologna” by Paolo Soglia and Lorenzo K. Stanzani. Click here for details.
Directed by François Ozon, this French-Belgium production is set in 1985 Normandy as teenage writer, Alexis (Félix Lefebvre), capsizes while he’s out sailing on a stormy afternoon. He’s saved from certain death by the statuesque, mercurial David (Benjamin Voisin). They become fast friends, and Alexis starts working for David’s affectionate but scattered mother (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). Alexis’s attraction to David soon blossoms into passion, but turns, by the end of the summer, into a deeper meditation on mortality and the unknown. Click here to purchase tickets.
Courtesy of the Naples Jewish Film Festival, which is virtual this year, Giulio Base's latest film will be available in the United States for a limited run. Based on writings by Israel Cesare Moscati, the story intertwines the past and present as an old photograph of a little girl leads Jewish and Christian students on a search for the truth. Together they learn the powerful lesson that sometimes indifference is worse than hate. Click here for details.
Described as "a summer adventure under the Sicilian sun that soon becomes a painful love story," Massimiliano Camaiti's brand new film follows a teenage couple who fall in love at summer camp. The film is set to premiere on Netflix at the end of the month. Click here for details..
This should keep you busy for the month. Others will be added when they become available. Don't forget to check out our Lenten list that features 100 years of Italian biblical films and this selection of a few of Sophia Loren's films ranging from classic to contemporary.
Please note that with one exception, I have not seen these films yet as they are new releases, so the descriptions are from their publicity pages. Feel free to let us know what you think after seeing them.
