The Great Ambition(2024)

Reading Lolita in Tehran(fa)

As Islamic morality squads stage arbitrary raids in Tehran and as fundamentalists seize hold of the universities, Azar Nafisi, an inspired teacher, secretly gathers six of her most committed female students to read forbidden western classics. Unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, they soon removed their veils, their stories intertwining with the novels they read: just like the heroines of Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James or Jane Austen, the women in Nafisi’s living room dare to dream, hope and love as we experience the complexity of the lives of individuals facing political, moral and personal siege.

The Christmas Gift(ro)

A son's letter to Santa for Christmas turns his father's evening into a thriller he did not ask for.

Vittoria(it)

Jasmine is 40 and has everything she ever wanted: a devoted husband, three loving sons, and a thriving hair salon just south of Naples. But after her father’s death, she experiences a recurring dream in which a young girl runs into her arms, offering Jasmine a new sense of fulfilment and completeness she can’t ignore. She decides to follow her dream of a daughter and dives headfirst into the challenging world of international adoption – risking her marriage, her sons’ well-being, and her own moral compass along the way. The entire family is in crisis, until they finally realize that the only way out is together.

Grand Tour(pt)

In 1917 Burma (now Myanmar), a British diplomat is set to marry his fiancée, but after a sudden panic, escapes to Singapore, sending her on what evolves into a chase across Asia.

Naples to New York(it)

In the immediate post-war period, amidst the rubble of a poverty-ridden Naples, two kids, Carmine and Celestina, try to survive as best they can by helping each other out. One night, they secretly board a ship bound for New York to reach Celestina’s sister, who emigrated to America several years earlier. The two children join the many Italian emigrants seeking a new life in America and arrive in an unknown metropolis, which, after several misadventures, they will learn to call home.

Rumours(en)

En route to the annual G7 summit, the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest liberal democracies get lost in the woods and face increasing peril while attempting to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis.

This Is Our Land(fr)

Pauline, a devoted and generous home help nurse, raises her two children alone, while also looking after her father, a former steelworker. Taking advantage of her popularity, the directors of an extremist political party suggest she become their candidate at the mayoral elections.

Out in the Open(es)

A boy escaped from home, listening, crouched in the depths of his hiding place, the cries of the men who seek him. When the game passes, what remains before him is an infinite and arid plain that he must cross if he wants to get away definitively from what has made him flee. His steps will intersect with those of a pastor and, from that moment, nothing will be the same for either of them.

Parthenope(it)

Parthenope, born in the sea near Naples in 1950, is beautiful, enigmatic, and intelligent. She is shamelessly courted by many. However, beauty comes at a cost.

A Dog's Life(en)

The Tramp and his dog companion struggle to survive in the inner city.

La scuola più bella del mondo(it)

The Embalmer(it)

Peppino is an aging taxidermist constantly ridiculed for being short and somewhat creepy. He meets Valerio, a handsome young man fascinated by Peppino's work. Peppino, in turn, becomes entranced by Valerio and offers him a large salary to come work as his assistant. But when Valerio meets Deborah, their fledgling romance is threatened by an insanely jealous third wheel.

Heaven Can Wait(en)

Joe Pendleton is a quarterback preparing to lead his team to the superbowl when he is almost killed in an accident. An overanxious angel plucks him to heaven only to discover that he wasn't ready to die, and that his body has been cremated. A new body must be found, and that of a recently-murdered millionaire is chosen. His wife and accountant—the murderers—are confused by this development, as he buys the L.A. Rams in order to once again quarterback them into the Superbowl.

The Boy With Pink Pants(it)

On November 20, 2012, Andrea Spezzacatena, a boy who had just turned 15, took his own life. It was the first case in Italy of bullying and cyberbullying that led to the suicide of a minor. This movie is based on his story.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin(en)

When a fisherman leaves to fight with the Greek army during World War II, his fiancée falls in love with the local Italian commander.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles(fr)

A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores and takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. Slowly, her ritualized daily routines begin to fall apart.

Conviction(fr)

Ever since she served on the jury during his trial, Nora has been convinced that Jacques Viguier is innocent, despite him being accused of murdering his wife. Following an appeal by the public prosecutor’s office, and fearing a miscarriage of justice, she convinces a leading lawyer to defend him during his second trial, on appeal. Together, they will put up a tenacious fight against injustice.

Aniara(sv)

A ship carrying settlers to a new home on Mars after Earth is rendered uninhabitable is knocked off-course, causing the passengers to consider their place in the universe.

Fireworks(it)

A sunbaked Sicilian town in the summer of 1982 provides the vivid backdrop to this tender romantic drama about two teenagers who fall in love, but much to the disapproval of those around them. Gianni is a handsome but shy teen who works as a car mechanic at his stepfather’s garage but is mercilessly taunted by the macho townsmen for being a homosexual. With his family life no better, Gianni withdraws into himself until one day he meets Nino, a curly-haired boy with an infectious smile. As the two become close and fall in love, the moral rumblings from their families and neighbors begin to erupt. With all against them, the boys decide to make a stand.

Diamonds(it)

A film director gathers his favorite actresses, those he worked with and those he loved. He wants to make a film about women but he doesn’t reveal much: he observes them, takes cue, until his imaginary throw them into another era, in a past where the noise of the sewing machines fills a workplace handled and populated by women, where men have minor and marginal roles and cinema can be told from another point of view: the one of costume. Between loneliness, passions, anxieties, heartbreaking absence and unbreakable bonds, reality and fiction permeate, as well as the lives of the actresses and those of the characters, the competition and the sisterhood, the visible and the invisible.

The Escort(it)

The film shows the difficulties of an honest, imperiled judge and his bodyguard of four men, trying to clean up a Sicilian town. Corrupt local politicians, working hand-in-hand with the Mafia, will stop at nothing to prevent exposure of their rackets.

The Last Four Days(it)

In 1945, the dictator of fascist Italy and Hitler's close ally Benito Mussolini faces defeat. In a desperate attempt to avoid capture, he tries to flee the country with his lover Claretta Petacci, but Italian partisans are on their tail.

Twentieth Century(en)

In this remake the Bertolucci's 1900, Olmo Dalco and Alfredo Berlingheiri's complicated friendship and struggles with the constantly changing political scope are chronicled as well as the rise of fascism and the communist revolution.

Romanzo radicale(it)

Romanzo Radicale is political and human adventure of Marco Pannella, portraying the most intimate moments, the political fights, his unique gestures that have made an era.

Una festa per la città - Venezia 1973(it)

The Kiss of Glory(en)

The making of patriotic films was not rare among FAI productions, and Il bacio della gloria is one example, together with Armi e amori (1913) and Per la Patria! (1915). In this Speech from the Throne, which opened the 14th Legislature, the King of Italy stressed and underscored with his words the period recalling the story of the glorious conquering of Libya, sending warm greetings to the courageous men who fought, and to the heroes who fell, for the loftiness of their country. In a response worthy of these august words, immediately thereafter Pathé released this patriotic film which tells one of the many stories of courage which bring glory to the Italian flag.

Mafia Is Not What It Used to Be(it)

Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2017. Twenty-five years after the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone, on May 23, 1992, and Paolo Borsellino, on July 19, 1992; and on the occasion of the tributes held in memory of both heroes, skeptical photographer Letizia Battaglia, chronicler of their titanic combat, criticizes the opportunism of shady characters who, like businessman Ciccio Mira, profit from the commemoration of both tragedies.

Tutti a casa - Power to the People?(en)

In many Western countries, trust between the people and conventional political parties is at a low point while populist movements are on the rise. In Italy, protest party Movimento 5 Stelle, founded by popular comedian Beppe Grillo, vows to send all politicians home and bring power to the people. They win a stunning 25% votes, becoming the most-voted single party in Italy, but what happens when ideals meet parliamentary reality? Can one be uncompromising and effective at the same time? Are internet referendums direct democracy or faceless mob rule?

La Cicciolina: Godmother of Scandal(de)

The personal and professional story of Ilona Staller, known as Cicciolina, is probably unique: she left communist Hungary and moved to Italy, where she found a fertile environment for a life dedicated to scandal.

Forza Italia!(it)

Much-censored documentary encompassing thirty years of Italian politics under the governance of the Christian Democracy (DC), entirely composed of — occasionally dubbed — archival footage.

Seconda Repubblica - Il Meglio di Recital(it)

Marco inedito: Dagli ultimi 100 giorni di Pannella(it)

The last days of Marco Pannella’s life - indomitable and disruptive protagonist over 60 years of Italian political life - shown through never before seen repertory materials, as well as unpublished interviews and illustrious interventions. A deserved portrait, dedicated to one of the most independent figures of the 900 Italian.

L'eletta(it)

The work deals with the election campaign of Vladimir Luxuria, the first transgender woman to sit in the Italian Parliament. She started off as an entertainer in gay nightclubs, found fame in television parlours and achieved consecration as a defender of LGBT rights by organising the first World Gay Pride in Rome in the Jubilee year. Luxuria entered parliament and with her emerged a social cross-section of an Italy that is changing in spite of prejudice. Thanks to her social battles around Italy, the voices of LGBT people gain visibility and social recognition

SCUSA MA HO VOTATO BERLUSCONI(it)

On My Own(en)

Simon Henderson is at boarding school in Canada while his father works in Hong Kong, and his mother lives in England. When his parents visit him in the holidays, Simon discovers that his mother has schizophrenia.

The Carpetmaker Girl(tr)

Gül is a beautiful girl who lives with her mother by making carpets in Isparta. When her mother dies, she becomes derelict and decides to go to Istanbul. She is envied for her beauty and is attacked wherever she goes.

The Custodian(en)

Detective James Quinlan has left his alcoholic wife, sprouting a bloom of insecurity, anger and self-motivation within him to expose the corrupt police force that surrounds him. He abandons his straight life to join his partner Detective Church in order to get on the inside of the circle of double-agents. He secretly sides with a reporter and an Internal Affairs lawyer to expose them to the press.

12 O'Clock(hi)

Bani Chowdhury and solicitor Ajoy Kumar are deeply in love with each other. But their world comes crashing down when Bani's cousin, Maya is found dead in the first class compartment.

Sultan and the Rock Star(en)

Paul Winters, a rock star burnout, flees his fame and ends up by chance on an island where he comes face to face with Sultan, a domesticated Bengal tiger left there to be hunted by a wealthy businessman. He then befriends the animal and decides to do everything to save him...