Event: 5th Annual Italian Film Festival, April 4-7

The volunteers of the Italian Cultural Center’s
2013 5th Annual Italian Film Festival of Minneapolis/St. Paul are
thrilled to announce a lineup of films of extraordinary artistry and
quality!

This year’s lineup of critically acclaimed contemporary films will have their Minnesota premiere at the film festival, which will be April 4-7, 2013 at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2501 Stevens Ave. S.

Films to be featured at the Italian Film Festival are:

• Polvere – Il grande processo dell’amianto (Dust – The Great Asbestos Trial) 2011; This gripping documentary captures the haunting aftermath of an industrial and human disaster. Director Niccolò Bruna will be on hand for the limited private screening of his film and will also lead this year’s director’s workshop, which is free to the public.
• Terraferma (Dry Land) 2011; This Venice Film Festival Special Jury Award winning drama is the story of an encounter at sea between Sicilians and illegal Immigrants from Africa.(Minnesota premiere)
• L'estate di Giacomo (Summer of Giacomo), 2011; This multi-award winning romantic drama captures the sensual awakening between two teenagers hiking along the banks of the Tagliamento river in Fruili. (Minnesota premiere)
• Un giorno speciale (A Special Day) 2012; This Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Award-nominated drama follows young Romans navigating the streets of their city and the undercurrent of exploitation at the hands of those in political and entertainment circles.(Minnesota premiere)
• Io sono Li (Shun Li and the Poet) 2011; This multi-award winning drama is the story of a special friendship that develops between two Venetians from disparate cultural backgrounds. (Minnesota premiere)
• La kryptonite nella borsa (Kryptonite!) 2011; This fresh, tender comedy won the best actress award at the Annecy Italian Film Festival. Kryptonite! Is a story set in 1970s Naples about a bullied boy who’s changed by the pop culture of the era and imaginary visits from his dead cousin. (Minnesota premiere)
• È stato il figlio (It was the son) 2011; This critically-acclaimed, award winning comic drama uses dazzling cinematographic effects to tell the story of a Sicilian family entangled in a web of obligation and debt with the Mafia. (Minnesota premiere)
  

This year’s film festival will also include:

• An opportunity to meet and attend a free directors workshop with Niccolò Bruna the director of Dust
• A selection of Italian foods, wine and beers to enjoy before the films.
• Thought-provoking post-film panel discussions.
  

More information on the 2013 Italian Film Festival – including film trailers and descriptions – is located on the Italian Cultural Center website: www.TheItalianCulturalCenter.org. Click on the “events” drop down and select the film festival.

Members of the media interested in interviewing Italian Film festival organizers, “DUST” director Niccolò

Bruna, and/or members of the post-film panels may contact:

Sandra Gengler
sgengler@tripleink.com
651-895-5579

Lecture: Nouri Gana, "Ben Ali, Dégage: A History of Cultural Dissent in Tunisia (1934-2011)" (4/1, 3pm)

Lecture: Hélène Merlin-Kajman, "Civility, Honor, Familiarity: Reflections on the French 17th-century" (4/5, 2:30pm)

Symposium: Representing Genocide: Media, Law and Scholarship (4/5-4/6)

Congratulations: Professor Mary Franklin-Brown awarded the ACLA 2012 Harry Levin Prize for her book "Reading the World: Encyclopedic Writing in the Scholastic Age"

Congratulations to Mary Franklin-Brown:

The American Comparative Literature Association has awarded the 2103 Harry Levin Prize to Mary Franklin-Brown, Associate Professor in French and Italian, for her book Reading the World: Encyclopedic Writing in the Scholastic Age (University of Chicago).

The 2013 Levin prize distinguishes the best first book in comparative
literature published in 2010-2012. The prize committee praised the book
for being "impressively textured and detailed in its historical
scholarship, and at the same time for posing urgent questions that have
resonated across the centuries into our own internet era."

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-World-Encyclopedic-Writing-Scholastic/dp/0226260682

Warmest congratulations!

Film: Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire), by Paolo Taviani (4/20, 7pm)

at St. Anthony Main Theater brought to you by the MSP Film Society.

Italy • 76 min • Italian w/English subtitles • 2012 • Drama • 35mm • PG-13

Directed by: Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani

Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, Caesar Must Die
follows the inmates of the high-security Rebibbia prison as they
rehearse a performance of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Critically
lauded, this festival highlight is an absolute must-see.

Shakespeare’s scenes play out in the prison cells and courtyard, as
inmates let the rehearsals infiltrate their day-to-day lives. Tensions
rumble to the surface as the play unearths suppressed feelings.

Veteran filmmakers the Taviani brothers delve back into the docudrama
territory of their 1977 Palme d’Or winner Padre padrone. Performed by
convicted criminals, the film blurs the boundaries between drama and
reality. Working as an actor since his release from Rebibbia, Salvatore
Striano delivers a powerfully raw performance as Brutus.

Caesar Must Die finds the common ground between Shakespeare’s
play and cell life: corruption, collusion and betrayal. But above all, a
film of genuine humanity and compassion is exquisitely revealed. (AIFF)

Lecture: Patricia Lorcin, "Nationalist Anger, Colonial Illusions: Nostalgia as Colonial Women’s Response to Decolonization" (3/8, 2:30pm)