Stories from Sicily

Yellow Caesar(en)

Using edited archive footage, mockery is made of Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini.

Cruise Ship Down: Saving Concordia(en)

Relive the infamous 2012 shipwreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia and follow the engineering feat to raise her.

Western, Italian Style(nl)

A featurette (most likely shot for American television) about the Spaghetti Western genre during the late 60's and how it had affected Italy at that particular point in time. Contains behind-the-scenes footage from the films "Il Grande Silenzio" "Vado, Vedo e Sparo" "Ammazza Tutti e Torna Solo" and "Corri, Uomo, Corri" and interviews with their directors and cast.

For the Love of Cats(en)

In the small mountain town of Barga, Italy, a group of four filmmakers speak with local cat lovers and immerse themselves in the unique world of street-trotting felines and Gattaras.

How Nero Saved Rome(en)

Nero is accused of having "fiddled while Rome burned" and remembered for executing his mother and burning Christians alive. History has sided against him on all counts, but could there be another side to ancient Rome's notorious emperor? National Geographic reveals how Nero rebuilt a city devoured by fire, revolutionizing Western architecture and forever changing the face of Rome.

Girlfriend in a Coma(en)

Girlfriend in a Coma is a documentary that exposes the dire situation of Italian politics and the process of economic and social decline the country has suffered during the last two decades, treating the decline as a warning of what might happen elsewhere in the West. The decline has occurred amid a collapse of moral values and the victory of “Mala Italia” over “Buona Italia”. It has been lauded as being ground-breaking in its creative combination of animation, interviews and hard facts, and has caused fierce controversy in Italy.

The Murder of Meredith Kercher(en)

Examining the brutal murder of 21-year-old student Meredith Kercher in 2007.

People of the Po Valley(it)

A documentary short detailing the life of Italians living on the Po River in the 1940s.

Postcard (Or, from afar, you are a mirage)(es)

"The palm trees on the reverse are a delusion; so is the pink sand". This line, taken from a poem by Margaret Atwood, lights the path traced in "Postcard". As the years go by, landscapes transform, take on new meanings, and hold onto joys that will never be regained. The sea and the beach, once stages of happy summers, romances, and encounters, will turn into concentration camps or centers of detention and torture. This occurs across different times and places. In this piece, I embark on a journey through some of my works that explore the relationship between testimony, spaces, and time, engaging in dialogue with the beautiful film directed by Alejandro Segovia in 1972.

House of the Wickedest Man in the World(en)

House of the Wickedest Man in the World is the story of a ruined building near the city of Cefalú in Sicily. In the early 1920s, Aleister Crowley, the most famous occultist of his time, lived in the building, practicing magical rituals. In the summer of 1955, Kenneth Anger, considered one of the pioneers of experimental cinema, traveled with sexologist Alfred Kinsey to Sicily to find Aleister Crowley’s temple to shoot a film about the occultist’s time in Cefalú. The Thelema Abbey film was never released.

Porn to Be Free(it)

Italy, 1970. An increasing legion of harmless warriors begins a peaceful struggle for sexual freedom through pornography, shaking and shocking religious authorities and conservative political institutions. They are ironic, happy, crazy. They are dreamers, defenders of definitive communion between body and soul. But they were censored and humiliated. They were mistreated and arrested for demanding loud a new cultural renaissance.

Do You Remember Revolution?(it)

In Italy, in the mid-seventies, Adriana, Barbara, Nadia and Susanna were 20 years old when they decided to join the armed struggle and leave behind their social life and their families in order to make the revolution the center and the aim of their existence. Today they have returned after many years in prison, and they try, each one of them, to recount their own experiences. They speak about the political reasons which initially sustained them, the conflicts, the doubts, and the moments of being torn apart which market out their lives as women caught up in the vortex of war. A course of events which ended in the condemnation of the armed struggle and the pain of the lives that were destroyed – their victims’ lives and their own.

Pier Paolo Pasolini: An Italian Journey(de)

In the summer of 1959, as a magazine correspondent, writer and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922-75) traveled along the Italian coast. In 1963, he documented the sexual behavior of the Italians. In the winter of 1970-71, he witnessed the hardships of the most impoverished Italian population suffering from the boot of state power. After these three trips, he came to the conclusion that Italian society had changed drastically for the worse over the years.

Where to Invade Next(en)

To understand firsthand what the United States of America can learn from other nations, Michael Moore playfully “invades” some to see what they have to offer.

Dicktatorship(it)

A documentary in which Luca Ragazzi and Gustav Hofer research the origins of sexism in the west and in Italy, the land of Berlusconi, Mussolini and Casanova, a nation with 887 words to say "penis".

Behind the Doors of Umberto Eco(fr)

Umberto Eco, the author of best-selling novels who passed away in February 2016, unveils the secrets behind his undertakings and novels.

Bellini and Mantegna: Renaissance Rivals(de)

The mysterious parallel story of Italian painters Andrea Mantegna (ca. 1431-1506) and Giovanni Bellini (ca. 1435-1516), brothers-in-law, public rivals and masters of the early Renaissance.

The Amateur(it)

The memory of Piero Portaluppi, a Milanese architect who reached the peak of his fame during the 20 years of the Fascist regime, comes back to life, both through the rediscovery of his work today and in a previously unpublished film diary in 16 mm, shot and edited throughout his lifetime. A man of great charm and power, Portaluppi lived through a grandiose but tragic era with ironic detachment, as if dancing across things as he created beauty. History marches on implacably, radically transforming the arena in which the eclectic artist and his large family lived and worked.

Horror Europa with Mark Gatiss(en)

Actor and writer Mark Gatiss embarks on a chilling journey through European horror cinema, from the silent nightmares of German Expressionism in the 1920s to the Belgian lesbian vampires in the 1970s, from the black-gloved killers of Italian bloody giallo cinema to the ghosts of the Spanish Civil War, and finally reveals how Europe's turbulent 20th century forged its ground-breaking horror tradition.

Come il Bianco(fr)

Rabid(en)

After undergoing radical surgery for injuries from a motorcycle accident, a young woman develops a strange phallic growth on her body and a thirst for human blood—the only nourishment that will now sustain her.

Narco Sub(en)

A man will become a criminal to save his family.

Compartment No. 6(fi)

A young Finnish woman escapes an enigmatic love affair in Moscow by boarding a train to the arctic port of Murmansk. Forced to share the long ride and a tiny sleeping car with a larger than life Russian miner, the unexpected encounter leads the occupants of Compartment No. 6 to face major truths about human connection.

Band of Robbers(en)

A comedic thriller that re-imagines Mark Twain's iconic literary characters of "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" as grown men in current day.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl(en)

Gromit’s concern that Wallace is becoming too dependent on his inventions proves justified, when Wallace invents a “smart” gnome that seems to develop a mind of its own. When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to battle sinister forces and save his master… or Wallace may never be able to invent again!

My Name Is Loh Kiwan(ko)

After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.

Wagakki Band Japan Tour 2019 REACT -New Chapter-(ja)

Dance to Death(ru)

Deadly dance tournament is carried out in the city survived after nuclear apocalypse. Energy is extracted from the loser for the city to survive. A young guy from the street is forced to take part in the tournament and falls in love with girl who volunteered to participate in the battle. Will they survive or the arena will take their lives?

Heart of the Hunter(en)

A retired assassin is pulled back into action when his friend uncovers a dangerous conspiracy at the heart of the South African government.

Gintama: The Movie 2: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya(ja)

What would have happened if the Shiroyasha never existed? Edo is thrown to chaos by a mysterious cause. Sakata Gintoki, now lives in a world where the future has changed, without him. What has happened to the Yorozuya? Gintoki, who is now a ghost of the past, must once again carry the burden in order to save his friends. He must finish the biggest job ever, which may be the final job of Yorozuya.

Rainbow: A Private Affair(it)

Summer 1943, Piedmont, Italy. Milton loves Fulvia who plays with his love: she only likes the depth of his thought and the letters he writes to her. One year later, Milton has joined the Resistance and fights beside other partisans. He learns during a conversation that Fulvia was secretly in love with his best friend Giorgio, a partisan like him. Milton decides to go find Giorgio in the Langhe region of Italy with all its misty hills...But Giorgio has just been arrested by the Fascists.

Darkland: The Return(da)

Seven years ago, Zaid went to war against the Copenhagen underworld to avenge his dead brother. His identity as a respected doctor of cardiology and life as a family man is but a fading dream, and in prison Zaid suffers the loss of his son Noah, whom he barely knows. When a police agent approaches Zaid and offers him a deal to be released in exchange for infiltrating the Copenhagen underworld, he sees his chance to reclaim the remnants of the family life he left behind. But everything has a price, and Zaid realizes that he has now seriously endangered his son's life. After all, once you become part of the underworld, is there any way out?

Coming Home in the Dark(en)

A school teacher is forced to confront a brutal act from his past when a pair of ruthless drifters takes him and his family on a nightmare road-trip.

The Red Shoes(ko)

A woman who finds a pair of pink high heels on a subway platform soon realizes that jealousy, greed, and death follow them wherever they go.

Jigen Daisuke(ja)

Feeling unhappy with his gun, Jigen is looking for the world’s best gunsmith. He finally finds out that Chiharu, who runs a watch shop, is the person he’s been seeking. Then, Jigen meets Oto, who comes to Chiharu’s shop looking for a gun. Jigen finds out about Oto's secrets and the mysterious organization that’s after her. After Oto is kidnapped, Jigen gets into a desperate battle to save her.

Baazigar(hi)

A young man with a vendetta against a business tycoon seduces and kills his eldest daughter and then proceeds to his younger daughter but she begins to suspect her new lover's ulterior motive.

In for a Murder(pl)

A stay-at-home mom and avid reader of crime stories discovers the deepest secrets of a small town's residents while investigating a woman's murder.

PG: Psycho Goreman(en)

Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord. Using a magical amulet, they force the monster to obey their childish whims, and accidentally attract a rogues’ gallery of intergalactic assassins to small-town suburbia.

Burrow(en)

A young rabbit embarks on a journey to dig the burrow of her dreams, despite not having a clue what she's doing.