The Secret(1990)

Things Unspoken(it)

Carlo and Elisa are a successful couple. He’s a university professor and writer facing a creative block; she’s a brilliant, sharp-witted journalist, known for her internationally published editorials. They live in Rome, moving between accomplishments and routine, affection and something that might be fading. In search of new energy, they travel to Morocco with their lifelong friends, Anna and Paolo, and their thirteen-year-old daughter Vittoria—bright, curious, a little eccentric. Tensions soon rise.

Finally Dawn(it)

A young Roman woman during the 1950s is on the verge of becoming engaged to a man. She goes to Cinecittà to do an audition as an extra and is thrust into this almost infinite night during which she discovers herself.

The Railroad Man(it)

Train operator Andrea Marcocci has to witness the suicide of a desperate man who jumps in front of his train. Under the influence of this shock he starts making mistakes. A check up by a doctor reveals that he's at the brink of becoming an alcoholic. Due to this evaluation he is degraded and must accept a salary cut.

Five Seconds(it)

Adriano is a middle-aged man living in a dilapidated villa in Tuscany, when a group of young idealistic students arrives to restore the villa's vineyards.

My Tennis Maestro(it)

Italy, 1989. After years of hard training, 13-year-old Felice, carrying his father's expectations on his shoulders, finally sets out to compete in the national tennis tournaments. While dreaming of a simple summer vacation, he's instead placed under the wing of ex tennis champion Raul, an unconventional coach hired by his father. Match after match, the two embark on a journey that will lead Felice to discover the taste of freedom, and Raul to glimpse the possibility of a fresh start. As they travel along the Italian coast, an unexpected, deep, and sincere bond between them develops.

Everybody's Fine(it)

Matteo Scuro is a retired Sicilian bureaucrat, a widower with five children, all of whom live on the mainland and hold responsible jobs. He decides to surprise each with a visit and finds none as he imagined.

Euphoria(it)

Matteo is a young successful businessman, audacious, charming and energetic. Ettore instead, is a calm, righteous, second grade teacher always living in the shadows, still in the small town from where both come from. They’re brothers but with two very different personalities. A dramatic event will force them to live together in Rome for a few months, bringing up the opportunity to face their differences with sympathy and tenderness, in a climax of fear and euphoria.

Hungry Hearts(en)

The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

Perfect Strangers(it)

During a dinner, a group of friends decide to share whatever message or phone call they will receive during the evening, with unforeseen consequences.

Bad Tales(it)

In a small suburb on the outskirts of Rome, the cheerful heat of summer camouflages a stifling atmosphere of alienation. From a distance, the families seem normal, but it’s an illusion: in the houses, courtyards and gardens, silence shrouds the subtle sadism of the fathers, the passivity of the mothers and the guilty indifference of adults. But it’s the desperation and repressed rage of the children that will explode and cut through this grotesque façade, with devastating consequences for the entire community.

Saturn in Opposition(it)

This film focuses on contemporary 30- and 40-somethings trying to make sense of their lives in an age in which the old certainties have disappeared. Lorenzo and Davide make their lives together within a circle that includes Antonio and Angelica, married with children; Nerval and her policeman husband.

Giovanna's Father(it)

Michele Casali is a middle-class professor in Fascist Italy who teaches at the same high school attended by his only daughter, Giovanna. A shy and sensitive girl, her insecurities are only magnified by Michele's overprotectiveness—reaching a point of no return.

The Roof(it)

Under provincial Italian law at the time, once a roof is erected, the occupants cannot be evicted from a building. This comedy follows the efforts of a family to erect the roof on a house overnight so that a newlywed couple can have their own home.

The Way We Laughed(it)

Studying to become a teacher in 1950s Northern Italy, Sicilian immigrant Pietro is joined by his big brother Giovanni. Pietro shows considerable promise in his field, prompting illiterate Giovanni to take on even the toughest jobs in order to support his sibling's academic pursuits.

On My Skin(it)

The incredible true story behind the most controversial Italian court cases in recent years. Stefano Cucchi was arrested for a minor crime and mysteriously found dead during his detention. In one week's time, a family is changed forever.

My Dinner with Hervé(en)

An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.

The Comfort of Strangers(en)

An Italian diplomat's son follows and seduces English lovers in Venice.

What Maisie Knew(en)

In New York City, a young girl is caught in the middle of her parents' bitter custody battle.

The Pumpkin Eater(en)

Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.

The 355(en)

A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.

Italian for Beginners(da)

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.

Rififi(fr)

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

Pagliacci(it)

Based on Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci. The film recounts the tragedy of Canio, the lead clown (or pagliaccio in Italian) in a commedia dell'arte troupe, his wife Nedda, and her lover, Silvio. When Nedda spurns the advances of Tonio, another player in the troupe, he tells Canio about Nedda's betrayal. In a jealous rage Canio murders both Nedda and Silvio. The only actor in the cast who also sang his role was the celebrated Italian baritone, Tito Gobbi, but the film is largely very faithful to its source material, presenting the opera nearly complete.

Obsession(it)

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

Bicycle Thieves(it)

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Theorem(it)

A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom(it)

Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.

Syndicate(en)

An honest cop named Joshua Marino is transferred to the city of Plainview, New York, where the streets run dirty with crime and corruption. Meanwhile, an aging crime boss pressures his eldest son to carry on his legacy while a washed up detective is hot on his tail.

By the Gun(en)

A rising Boston gangster (Ben Barnes) endangers those around him when he starts to make moves without the knowledge of his boss (Harvey Keitel).

A Place of Our Own(it)

The Horseman on the Roof(fr)

In a time of war and disease, a young officer gallantly tries to help a young woman find her husband.

The Italian(ru)

Set in 2002, an abandoned 5-year-old boy living in a rundown orphanage in a small Russian village is adopted by an Italian family.

Il Sorpasso(it)

Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer. When their journey starts to blend into their daily lives though, the pair’s newfound friendship is tested.

Snack Bar Budapest(it)

While his girlfriend recovers from a medical procedure, a corrupt lawyer becomes entranced by the grand visions of a mob boss.

When Will I Be Loved(en)

Feeling undervalued by her boyfriend, a young woman begins to explore her sexuality with other people.

One Punch(en)

Matteo is pressured into the family business when he fails his exams. Out for his 18th birthday, he struggles to choose between his family responsibilities and his adolescent friendships, culminating in an act of violence.

The Furrow of the Peach(it)

A former priest has become bored to the point of impotence by the easy availability of beautiful women. He misses the shame of the priesthood which made sex more enjoyable, and this leads to his strange fascination with photographing asses. He gets involved with a sexy married woman, but he is more interested in her virginal maid.

Story of G.I. Joe(en)

War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins Company C, 18th Infantry as this American army unit fights its way across North Africa in World War II. He comes to know the soldiers and finds much human interest material for his readers back in the States. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2000.

The Man Who Didn't Want to Die(it)

A young man lies in a hospital suspended between life and death. The police know nothing about him. The patient, in his rare moments of consciousness, only remembers his gang’s involvement in a robbery of a rare painting, and the mysterious Madame Jacno who commissioned Fabrizio, the gang leader, to steal the work of art. But someone is still trying to kill the patient, and as his life is continually threatened, his memory slowly comes back to him…!

Ritual of Love(it)

This movie is based on the true story that made headlines all over the world: the story of a relationship gone sour between a Japanese man very much in love with a French model. Some time later, it was discovered that the woman was turned into "sushi." At that time the man had already eaten a few body parts. To the arresting officers in Paris, he justified his acts as a proof of profound passion. In the late 80's many books and films find inspiration by the sinister love story.