Director: Fulvio Risuleo
Production: Revok Film
Cast: Edoardo Pesce (Dottore Mopsi), Silvia D’Amico (Rana), Daphne Scoccia (Marti),
Anna Bonaiuto (wohlhabende Dame), Vittorio Viviani, Federico Tocci
Italy 2019, 93 minutes, Italian language version with German subtitles
Subtitling supported by Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (Rome)

Why not play dog sitter for a change? The two friends Rana and Marti are broke and gladly let themselves be hired by a rich old lady to look after her favourite dog Ugo on the weekend. On their first walk with Ugo in the park, a young man shows up who introduces himself as a veterinarian and happens to own a female of the same breed. He persuades the girls to do a little extra business. Not a good idea. Because suddenly Ugo is kidnapped and an adventurous chase begins. Will Rana and Marti find the precious animal again? And who is the strange veterinarian Dr. Mopsi really?
A fast-paced and wonderfully crazy comedy with cult potential and with plenty of surprises in store. Convincingly potrayed is also the world of the Roman suburbs, which rarely is depicted on the big screen.

Director: Mario Martone
Production: Indigo Film
Cast: Francesco Di Leva (Antonio Barracano), Massimiliano Gallo (Arturo Santaniello),
Roberto De Francesco (Fabio Della Ragione), Adriano Pantaleo, Daniela Ioia
Italy 2019, 115 minutes, Italian language version with German subtitles
Subtitling supported by Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (Rome)

Antonio Barracano is the most influential person in Naples’ Rione Sanità district and likes to be called “sindaco,” or mayor, even though he has never been elected. He lives with his family in a magnificent villa. Anyone with a problem reports to Barracano, and he administers justice in his own way, whether it’s shootings in the neighborhood or the machinations of a loan shark. His close ties to the Camorra come in handy. But one day he is confronted with a young man who wants to kill his father. Suddenly Don Antonio reaches his limits…
A gripping film adaptation of Eduardo De Filippo’s famous play from the 1960s, which director Mario Martone skillfully adapted to the present.

Director: Beniamino Barrese
Production: Nanof, Ryot Films
Cast: Benedetta Barzini, Beniamino Barrese, Lauren Hutton, Michela Rossi
Italy 2019, 94 minutes, Italian language version with German subtitles
Subtitling supported by Italienisches Kulturinstitut Hamburg

What a career: jet-set supermodel, committed feminist, journalist and lecturer. In the 1960s she posed for “Vogue” and other fashion magazines, was the muse of Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalì. Later she became an eloquent feminist critic of the fashion industry. At the age of 75, Benedetta has finished with her former life and her environment and wants to disappear. The fact that her son Beniamino now wants to make a film about her triggers an unexpected collaboration between the two and at the same time confrontations in front of the camera.
The fascinating portrait of an extraordinary woman and a very personal film about a complex mother-son relationship.

Director: Chiara Bellosi
Production: Tempesta, Cinédokké
Cast: Bianca Leonardi (Luce), Sarah Short (Domenica), Daphne Scoccia (Angelina),
Nicola Rignanese (Viale), Giovanni Anzaldo, Andrea Lattanzi
Italy 2019, 84 minutes, Italian language version with German subtitles
Subtitling supported by Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (Rome)

Everyday justice in a large Italian court. In the heart of the building, a court hearing. Two girls are waiting outside the closed door of the courtroom: Luce, still small, playful and headstrong. Domenica, almost grown up, insecure and dismissive. While their fathers face each other inside in a complicated trial of murder or manslaughter, the daughters outside don’t know what to do. Hallways, stairwells, and puddles in the courtyard become places with possibilities. Lawyers and court officials, tradesmen and visitors come and go. A stray sparrow causes a stir. A multitude of stories unfold.
Focusing entirely on this one place, director Chiara Bellosi brings supposedly marginal figures to the center, opening up unusual perspectives on the justice system and justice. Bellosi’s debut film, which premiered at the Berlinale 2020, is an exciting new voice in Italian cinema.

Director: Ferzan Özpetek
Production: R&C Produzioni
Cast: Stefano Accorsi (Arturo), Edoardo Leo (Alessandro), Jasmine Trinca (Annamaria),
Serra Yilmaz, Filippo Nigro
Italy 2019, 118 minutes, Italian language version with German subtitles
Subtitling supported by Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale (Rome)

Alessandro and Arturo are in a committed relationship. In the cosmopolitan Roman district of Ostiense, a gay couple is something quite normal. And yet there is a crisis: the attractive Alessandro earns a living as a plumber and is not averse to flings; Arturo works as a translator, would rather be a writer, and is prone to frustration. The deadlocked daily routine is shaken up when Annamaria suddenly appears, Alessandro’s ex from an earlier period in his life, and a single parent. Because of a hospital stay, she brings her two children to live with Alessandro and Arturo. This poses completely new challenges for everyone involved…
How can a rainbow family function that does not conform to the classic mother-father-child cliché? Ferzan Özpetek’s charming and warm-hearted comedy with a queer touch is encouraging. And in the background, the goddess Fortuna is involved.

Director: Phaim Bhuiyan
Production: Fandango Film
Cast: Phaim Bhuiyan (Phaim), Carlotta Antonelli (Asia), Alessia Giuliani, Rishad Noorani,
Pietro Sermonti
Italy 2019, 87 minutes, Italian language evrsion with German subtitles

Phaim, a 22-year-old Muslim with Bengali roots, lives with his family in the multi-ethnic Torpignattara district of Rome. He earns his money as a supervisor in a museum, and on the side he is the head of a rock band. During a concert he meets Asia, a young woman from a family of artists who is completely different: pure instinct, no rules. The two fall in love – and Phaim is plunged into a dilemma: He would actually have to marry a Bengali woman. And how is he supposed to reconcile his relationship with the irrefutable law of Islam: no sex before marriage?

A clash of cultures as a charming, autobiographical comedy. The young Bengali-born director Phaim Bhuiyan plays himself. His story is full of wit, self-irony and a good dash of romance.

Italy 2018. Director: Valeria Golino. Cast: Riccardo Scamarcio, Valerio Mastandrea, Isabella Ferrari. 115 mins. Italian language version with German subtitles

Matteo is a successful and urbane entrepreneur who loves the party life in Rome. Quite different is his more introverted older brother Ettore, who works as a teacher in their home village. When Ettore is diagnosed with a serious illness, Matteo decides to bring his brother to live with him in Rome. In her second directorial work, Valeria Golino tells of the rapprochement of two very different brothers.

Italy 2019. Director: Franco Maresco. Documentary film. 105 mins. Italian language version with German subtitles

25 years after the Mafia murders of judges Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, Sicilian filmmaker Franco Maresco and photographer Letizia Battaglia investigate how the two Mafia hunters are remembered in Palermo. They encounter frightening indifference, open hostility or absurd evasions. With black humor and wicked social criticism, the film shows a mentality that tolerates and supports organized crime. It was awarded the Special Jury Prize in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Italy/France 1973. Director: Lina Wertmüller. Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Eros Pagni. 125 mins. Italian language version with German subtitles

Rome in the 1930s. Tunin, a young peasant from the Po Valley comes to the Italian capital to kill Mussolini. He wants to avenge an anarchist friend who was shot at home by the Carabinieri. The prostitute Salomè, who was named as his contact in Rome, hides him in the high-class brothel where she works. But on the day of the assassination, Tunin oversleeps. In FILM D’AMORE E D’ANARCHIA, Lina Wertmüller conquers the historical setting without making a historical film. The loud buffoonery of fascism is contrasted with the idealism of the protagonist, who is wholly unsuited to the ideal, and whose hero’s shoes are to big for his feet. Before the film, which is one of the most famous by Lina Wertmüller, there will be an introduction by Cecilia Valenti, who will also give a preview of the festival’s homage and the Kinothek Asta Nielsen’s special programme on women directors of the Italian South.