Schedule of Events:

April 7, 7:30 p.m.

Don't Stop Me Now

Giovanna maintains a low-profile,dividing her time between an apparently boring job as an accountant at the Ministry and her home life, where she is busy with her daughter Martina and her overbearing mother.

But behind this dull façade, Giovanna is actually a secret agent, engaged in extremely dangerous and thrilling international missions. During a reunion with her former high school classmates, Giovanna decides on a new mission that will improve the lives of her family and friends.

Location: Jerzewiak Family Auditorium, Wrighton Hall 300, Washington University

April 8, 6:00 p.m.

The Passion of Anna Magnani

An intimate portrait of the great Italian actress Anna Magnani, a symbol of neorealism and an icon of the world’s film industry: the scene in Roma città aperta, where Anna is gunned down by the Nazis, brought the horrors of the war to cinema screens around the world and became the symbol a new genre of film: neorealism.

Anna, deeply attached to her Rome, embodied a feminine model which differed from all the other celebrities who came before and after her. Thanks to her great skills as an actress, Magnani inspired some of the greatest European and American directors including Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, and Stanley Kramer. In 1956, she was awarded an Academy Award for Best Actress and remains the only Italian actress who won for an English-speaking film.
Based on private and unpublished archival materials, including discussions with her son Luca, this documentary plunges us into the life of Magnani and the golden age of Italian cinema.

Location: Jerzewiak Family Auditorium, Wrighton Hall 300, Washington University

April 8, 7:30 p.m.

The Invisible Witness

Adriano wakes up in a hotel room next to the dead body of his lover, Laura. The door is locked from the inside and there is no evidence of anybody else in the room.

Despite his claims of innocence, Adriano is charged with murder and chooses Virginia Ferrara, a veteran criminal attorney who has never lost a trial, to decide the defensive strategy. The two only have three hours to prepare the case, discredit a key witness who’s accusing Adriano, and find the key evidence confirming his innocence. With no alternative, Adriano is forced to tell the full truth to the lawyer.

Location: Jerzewiak Family Auditorium, Wrighton Hall 300, Washington University

April 14, 7:30 p.m.

Aspromonte, Land of The Forgotten

In 1951 in Africo, a small village in the southern valley of Aspromonte, a woman dies in childbirth because a doctor fails to arrive on time. No road connects Africo with other villages. In the wake of this tragedy, all of the inhabitants put aside their work and unite to build their own road.

Giulia, the new school teacher, arrives from the North with a mission: to teach standard Italian to help integrate the local children with the rest of Italy. But she will have to contend with local mafia leader, Don Totó, who is determined to ensure that the town remains cut off and under his control.

Location: Brown Hall 100, Washington University

April 15, 5:00 p.m.

Tomorrow's A New Day

Giuliano and Tommaso have been friends for more than thirty years, but the next four days will be the hardest they’ve ever known. Giuliano, a vivacious actor who loves life, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. After a year-long fight, he’s decided to forgo his treatment. Tommaso, who is a teacher living in Canada, returns to Rome to help his friend tie up all the loose ends, including who will take care of Giuliano’s dearest companion, the wide-eyed Bernese mountain dog, Pato.

Location: Brown Hall 100, Washington University

April 15, 7:30 p.m.

Never Too Late For Love

Astolfo, a pensioner who no longer expected anything more from life, is evicted from his apartment in Rome and takes refuge in the old family home, a dilapidated building in a small town in central Italy that had once been a noble palace.
He adjusts to life in the small town, barely gets by,  argues with the mayor, finds an old friend and give refuge to a couple of local misfits like himself.
Then he meets Stefania, a woman of his age, and falls in love. It will be the beginning of a new life, more difficult but also more beautiful, and real…the only kind worth living.

Location: Brown Hall 100, Washington University

April 16, 3:00 p.m.

Short Film Program

-The Connection

Rome, 1946.  A young technician receives the strange order to install a telephone in the Verano cemetery. Director Roberto Rossellini is asking for the connection; he needs the phone to complete the film Germany, Year Zero without leaving the grave of his son Romano, who died tragically at the age of nine.

-Mammarranca

Giovanni and Michele are eleven and nine years old and they live in Sant’Elia, a working class neighborhood on the outskirts of Cagliari. The lives of the two children suddenly seem to change when a scratch card ends up in their hands. 

-Crumbs

Alfredo is a policeman whose wife is expecting their fourth child. Work and life problems are crushing him.           

-Sweets

Lucia is a middle-aged woman who occasionally visits her father’s grave in the local cemetery. One day, she finds a candy wrapper on the tomb. It’s a curious event that will happen again and again...          

-Story of Your Life

The story of the life of a man, from birth to age 80, in a few minutes.      

-Olly Olly Oxen Free

Alì is a 10-year-old Afghan boy who lives in a tent city in Greece. He spends most of the time with his friends and “housemates” and every day he tries in vain to illegally board the ferry bound for Italy. In his last attempt, though, following his friend’s advice, Alì decides to hide inside a camper. In this way, he finds himself face to face with Claudio, an Italian boy of the same age, who’s leaving the island with his family and camper after spending summer vacation at a camping site not far from the tent city.

Location: Chemistry Lecture Hall, 1136 Science East Building, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville

April 21, 7:30 p.m.          

The Champion

Young, talented, and very spoiled, Christian Ferro is “The Champion,” a rock star of the soccer world. Valerio, lonely, shy, and burdened with financial problems, is the professor who is assigned to the young soccer star to help him pass his high school equivalency exam.

The two men could not be more different. But they will learn to lean on each other, generating a bond that will change them both.

Location: Jerzewiak Family Auditorium, Wrighton Hall 300, Washington University

April 22, 5:00 p.m.

The Innocents of Florence

It’s 1410 and there is a huge social problem in Florence: babies are abandoned and dying at an alarming rate. To solve the problem, Florence’s humanists build a hospital for babies to assist young mothers. In 1446, to celebrate the completion of the new building, they commission a painting to act as the poster, logo and symbol for the new institute: The Madonna of the Innocents attributed to Domenico di Michelino.

Flash forward 600 years to 2013—the very same painting sits in a museum within the original building. Two women, an American and an Italian, are tasked with the restoration of the work to be displayed in the museum. Over the course of thirty months the painting is meticulously restored and new mysteries about its origins are discovered.

The restoration of the artwork was financed by Jane Fortune of Indianapolis through the non-profit group that she founded, Advancing Women Artists, headquartered in Indianapolis.

Location: Jerzewiak Family Auditorium, Wrighton Hall 300, Washington University

April 22, 7:30 p.m.

Paradise

After having witnessed an organized crime murder in Sicily, Calogero is placed in the witness protection program. With a new identity, he is sent as far away as possible—to Sauris, a tiny village nestled in the northeastern Italian Alps. But snow and weird local customs, such as the Schuhplattler folk dancing, aren’t for him.

However, he is not the only one who has started a new life; in fact, the killer that he had reported was caught and is now an informer under the very same protection program; and thanks to a bureaucratic blunder, he ended up in the same village!

Calogero believes he is there to kill him, but misunderstandings lead to friendship and even more..          

Location: Jerzewiak Family Auditorium, Wrighton Hall 300, Washington University

April 23, 3:00 p.m.          

Nevia

Nevia is seventeen-too old to live where she does, and grown up before she's even had the chance to be a child. Tiny and naive, but stubborn, she and her younger sister Enza are being raised by their grandmother Nanà and aunt Lucia in a container park in Ponticelli.

Location: Chemistry Lecture Hall, 1136 Science East Building, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville

Date: April 7-23, 2023

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