White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Rome in the Movies: Italian Film Festival Opens Thursday

WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY. From Westchester County Department of Communications. September 30, 2002:Four powerful films – each of which set a milestone in the Italian film industry - will bring their once controversial themes of alienation, decadence and individualism to Westchester starting Thursday around the County, and admission is free.

The Westchester County Italian Film Festival offers a different film each Thursday in October – opening Oct. 3 with Roberto Rossellini’s Open City and closing with Caro Diario by Nanni Moretti. Aptly named “Rome in the Movies,” the line-up shows a post-war trend where the harsh realities of life in the historic capital city gradually made their way onto the silver screen.

Two of the films are by five-time Oscar winner Federico Fellini, perhaps the best known post-war Italian director who set the tone for a whole new generation of cinema. La Dolce Vita - a film Catholics were forbidden to see in Italy – depicts the life of a dissatisfied journalist’s search for meaning in life and is today still considered the most representative film of neorealism. Satyricon, a look at the decadence and debauchery of ancient Rome, marked one of the industry’s most sensuous and disturbing films.

Admission for all shows is free. Films are in their original Italian, with English sub-titles. No reservations are required. For more information, call Sandy Auriti, Italy Desk, at (914) 995-4516 or Iris Stevens, Film Office, (914) 995-2917.

The schedule is as follows:

Oct. 3 – Open City (1945)

Roberto Rossellini

This moving drama follows a leader of the WWII Italian underground and his fight against the Nazi occupation of Rome. Much of the film shows actual scenes of people and their struggle in war-torn Italy. 7 p.m., Reisinger Hall, Sarah Lawrence College, Yonkers. Opening remarks by professor Gilberto Perez, a film historian and film critic. Reception to follow (Sponsored by the Italian Arts and Culture Council).

Oct. 10 – Satyricon (1969)

Federico Fellini

Fellini freely adapts the work of Petronius Arbiter in this sexual odyssey through ancient Rome. With an emphasis on spectacle and the grotesque, we follow two young Romans in their pursuit of pleasure and personal survival. 7 p.m., Jacob Burns Film Center, Pleasantville.

Oct. 17 – La Dolce Vita (1961)

Federico Fellini

Marcello Mastroianni is a journalist who has put aside serious career aspirations to report on the shallow, jet-setting denizens of Rome. While writing his stories and trying to make sense of the decadent lifestyle that has seduced him, he encounters prostitutes, actresses and personal tragedy. 7 p.m., Hudson River Museum, Yonkers.

Oct. 24 – Caro Diario (1993) Nanni Moretti

This film is structured in three chapters, each dealing with a protagonist crossing Rome in a Vespa on a hot summer day. It is a contemporary look at the Italian lifestyle addressing issues such as family, alienation and phobias created by a fast-moving society that leaves little room for human values. 7 p.m., Romita Hall, College of New Rochelle.


Create an account		The White Plains Daily Internet Newspaper...Founded 2000 A.D....


			Designed and hosted by WestchesterInternet.com