Borítókép: freepic.com
The 21st edition of the Italian Film Festival is here with the Hungarian premiere of 12 award-winning contemporary films in the original language with Hungarian subtitles. The Romanian Film Week offers a selection of 6 films released in the past 3 years in the original language with Hungarian and – in case of the opening film – Hungarian and English subtitles. Let’s take a look at some of the items from their lineups!
Italian Film Festival – MittelCinemaFest2023
Comandante / The Commander (2023)
(biography, drama, history)
The opening film of this year’s Venice Film Festival, Comandante by Edoardo De Angelis is a war-drama based on the true story of Salvatore Todaro, naval officer in the Battle of the Atlantic in World War II. The film is mostly set aboard the Italian submarine Comandante Cappellini and follows the sinking of the Kabalo – a Belgian ship carrying British war supplies. The plot focuses on the subsequent rescue of the shipwrecked Belgian mariners by Salvatore Todaro, who defied orders and decided to save lives instead, risking being an easy target for enemies.
Picture: screendaily.com
4 November 19:00 – Puskin and 11 November 19:30 – Tabán
La bella estate / The Beautiful Summer (2023)
(drama)
Laura Luchetti’s coming-of-age film is based on Cesare Pavese’s 1949 novel of the same title. Set in pre-WW2 Italy, La bella estate follows Ginia, a working-class country girl who suddenly finds herself in the bustling city of Torino. There she gets acquainted with the free-spirited Amelia, whom she falls in love with and thus becomes introduced to a world of unabated creativity and passion. Amid the gender-norms driven expectations of society, Ginia’s preconceived notions about womanhood and morality are challenged as she herself experiences the thrill of first love and the turmoil of her journey into adulthood.
5 November 20:00 – Puskin and 10 November 19:30 – Tabán
La chimera (2023)
(adventure, comedy, fantasy)
Set in 1980s Tuscany, Alice Rorwacher’s film centres around Arthur, a British archeologist, who gets involved in the black market of stolen Etruscan artefacts. Tomb robbing, folklore magic, mystic abilities and bustling life – La chimera offers it all and even more in a journey between the living and the dead as the intertwined fates of the characters – all in search of their Chimera – unfold.
Kép: artmozi.hu
Invelle / Nowhere (2023)
(animation)
Simone Massi’s Invelle is not a story, but a tapestry of stories woven with the threads of 3 pivotal moments in the history of contemporary Italy. In the first episode – set in 1918 – the audience gets acquainted with Zelinda, a peasant child whose mother has died and whose father is at war. Thus, she is forced to grow up before her time and undertake the housekeeping and the rearing of her siblings. However, there comes a day when the family is reunited – whether in reality or in a dream is not clear as the film spins so fast that the audience quickly finds themselves in 1943, in the context of another war, with Assunta, another peasant girl who witnesses her war-torn homeland being taken control of by the Nazis. With another leap, the plot arrives in 1978 and follows Icaro, a peasant boy who decides to leave the countryside in the turbulent “Years of Lead”. War, yet another war, seemingly no war – Invelle is here to take you on a journey through history, playing with different perspectives and narrative technologies making you snap out of it before you can even realise – out of what?
Kép: artmozi.hu
For the other films and tickets visit artmozi.hu.
Romanian Film Week
Libertate ‘89 / Freedom (2023)
(drama, history)
In the context of the revolution of 1989, which later overthrew the Communist regime, the Transylvanian city of Sibiu becomes a scene of violent assault. With the attack of a police unit, the situation escalates into bloodshed, as soldiers, policemen, civilian protesters and secret police representatives confront one another. In an attempt to escape the siege, police officer Viorel is captured and accused of terrorism. The Romania-Hungarian co-production Libertate ‘89 is here to show the revolution from a new perspective.
Kép: tvmania.ro
7 November 19:00 – Uránia National Film Theatre
After the screening, a discussion with the director Tudor Giurgiu will take place.
Tata mută munții / The Father Who Moves Mountains (2021)
(thriller, drama)The plot is set into motion when Mircea, a retired intelligence officer, gets a call informing him that his son went missing in the mountains. After days of fruitless searching, unconvinced of the mountain rescue team’s capabilities and devotion to the case, he puts together his own group of people to find his son. Blizzards, jagged peaks and ruthless landscape – the search quickly turns into a battle between nature and man, while Mircea remains oblivious to the obvious despite all the signs.
Kép: netflix.fandom.com
10 November 19:30 – Uránia National Film Theatre
For the other films and tickets visit urania-nf.hu.
