The full programme for the 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival has been announced, with this year’s event featuring a stunning selection of box office hits and award-winning films plus family fun and anniversary celebrations. Sydney will be the first to experience la dolce vita from September 18 with Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Byron Bay, Ballina, Adelaide and Perth to follow.
Opening the festival is GLORIA! the directorial debut of dynamic Italian singer, songwriter and actor Margherita Vicario. She also co-wrote the film which depicts the ebullient, music-filled story of a maid at a Venetian refuge whose hidden talent helps inspire an uprising. Margherita will be visiting Australia as a special guest of the festival to introduce the film at Opening Night Gala events in Sydney and Melbourne. Joining her will be festival Ambassador Silvia Colloca, multi-talented Italian-Australian food writer, TV producer and host, who is about to release her latest book ‘The Italian Homecook’.
The festival closer is the Papal thriller CONCLAVE. Oscar nominees Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci lead a brilliant ensemble cast including Sergio Castellitto in director Edward Berger’s stunning adaptation of Robert Harris’ high-stakes drama, in which Cardinals gather at the Vatican to elect a new Pope.
This year’s Centrepiece presentation is PARTHENOPE, the new film from Academy-Award winner Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty). As usual, Sorrentino delivers a visually and aurally stunning film. The decades-spanning romantic drama features a Neapolitan woman named after the mythical siren who once lent her name to the city of Naples.
Festival Special Presentations include the playful comedy from acclaimed writer/director Christophe Honoré, MARCELLO MIO, led by acting royalty and real-life mother-daughter duo Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni. It focuses on the legacy of the great Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni. And there’s also Italy’s biggest film of 2023, THERE’S STILL TOMORROW (C’è ancora domani), the directorial debut of Paola Cortellesi who also stars in the film. Set in post-war Rome, it follows a woman breaking traditional family patterns and aspiring to a different future.
Daniele Luchetti’s award-winning psychological thriller TRUST (Confidenza), scored by Thom Yorke of Radiohead, follows a fiery love affair and a dark secret, featuring an all-star cast including Elio Germano, Federica Rosellini and Vittoria Puccini. 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.
Blending elements of film noir, legal drama and investigative mystery, A DARK STORY (Una storia nera) sees a separated family reunite for a child’s birthday, but secrets come to light when the father disappears, and an investigation commences. Also set to thrill audiences is neo-noir drama WE WERE CHILDREN (Eravamo bambini), a captivating combination of revenge thriller and coming-of-age tale featuring a stellar ensemble cast.
Celebrating 25 years of the festival, there will be special screenings of the much-loved, inaugural Opening Night festival film, BREAD AND TULIPS (Pane e Tulipani). Enjoying an extended run during its original release in 2000, the film tells the heartwarming story of Rosalba, a neglected housewife who starts a new life in Venice and finds romance and self-discovery against the city’s charming backdrop.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the iconic, Academy-Award winning THE GODFATHER PART II, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film continues the Corleone family’s saga, exploring Michael Corleone’s consolidation of power and moral struggles, alongside Vito Corleone’s rise from immigrant to crime lord and will be shown in a lavish 4k restoration, including intermission.
The 2024 lineup features a strong selection of new Italian dramas including the gripping and emotionally charged MIA starring Edoardo Leo as the protective father of fifteen-year-old Mia, whose world is forever altered when she crosses paths with an enigmatic older boy; ensemble drama FAMILY MATTERS (Sei fratelli), led by Riccardo Scamarcio, which explores the relationships in an extended and dysfunctional family; Italo-French co-production MARIA MONTESSORI (La Nouvelle Femme) starring Jasmine Trinca as the famed Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori, whose revolutionary methods are still used across the globe today and GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARY (Vangelo secondo Maria), a fascinating tale of love, destiny, duty, and rebellion, starring Benedetta Porcaroli and Alessandro Gassmann as the biblical couple Mary and Joseph.
Lovers of Italian comedies will delight in the box office hit A WORLD APART (Un mondo a parte) starring Antonio Albanese as a teacher who relocates to a tiny school in a remote village in Abruzzo, and faces amusing challenges in his quest to adapt to small-town life; LIFE’S A BEACH (Come può uno scoglio) starring comedy duo Pio and Amedeo who reunite with Belli Ciao director Gennaro Nunziante in a laugh-out-loud adventure through Italy; and ensemble comedy VOLARE, from Margherita Buy in her directorial debut, about an actress with a severe phobia of flying who decides to take the plunge and join a course to face her fears. 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.
Naples is at the heart of CARACAS starring Marco D’Amore and Toni Servillo. The nocturnal drama and enthralling portrait of Naples follows a Neapolitan writer who returns to his hometown after a long absence and finds himself drawn into the city’s dark underbelly. The famous city is also the focus of documentary AN ODE TO NAPLES (Posso entrare? An Ode to Naples), from Trudie Styler. A fascinating journey into the soul of the city of Naples, it tells the story of the city and its people, its music and the challenges it faces.
And showing with a special event screening in Sydney and Melbourne is THE RISE OF ESPRESSO, a documentary charting the expansion and evolution of the coffee market through a collection of personal stories.
The 2024 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney 18 September – 16 October, Palace Moore Park, Palace Norton St, Palace Central, Chauvel Cinema
Canberra 19 September – 16 October, Palace Electric Cinema
Brisbane 19 September – 16 October, Palace Barracks, Palace James Street
Melbourne 20 September – 17 October, The Astor Theatre, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay,
Palace Cinema Como, Palace Penny Lane, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema, Cinema Nova
Byron Bay and Ballina 26 September – 16 October, Palace Byron Bay, Ballina Fair Cinemas
Adelaide 2 October – 22 October, Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas
Perth 3 October – 23 October, Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX, Windsor Cinema
Tickets are on sale now. For information and updates, please visit italianfilmfestival.com.au
Other reviews you might enjoy:
- Italian Film Festival 2022 – a preview
- Italian Film Festival 2020 – movie feature
- St ALi Italian Film Festival 2021
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television