29 May 2024
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema
Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà present the 23rd edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, running from May 30 to June 6.
Open Roads: New Italian Cinema is an annual showcase of the best in new Italian cinema. This year’s edition unveils a broad and diverse selection of Italy’s most exciting films, all North American, U.S., or New York premieres, with appearances and discussions by several of the filmmakers. “I think we have an especially strong lineup at this year’s Open Roads, which is nothing if not an encouraging sign of things to come as we continue to move forward from the production pauses and shutdowns wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dan Sullivan, FLC Programmer. “A satisfying mix of the familiar and the new, of low- and higher-budget movies, of fresh takes on the genre film and consummately artful period dramas (not to mention a comedy or two): fans of Italian cinema have a lot to look forward to in this year’s edition.”
“The program of Open Roads confirms the good health of our cinema and the way it succeeds in exploring the genres and seasons of life with the same extraordinary intensity,” said Nicola Maccanico, CEO of Cinecittà. “All the credit goes especially to the Italian producers who were able to meet the global challenge of the new audiovisual market and to the directors confirming the Italian talent to mix images, stories, and emotions with interpretations which go beyond our borders. The delegation representing our cinema in New York consists of some of these talents who will keep contributing to make our cinema rise around the world.”
The 2024 program includes:
The War Machine by Edoardo de Angelis
Opening Night selection | North American Premiere | Q&A with Edoardo De Angelis on May 30
Edoardo de Angelis returns to Open Roads with his latest, a gripping maritime thriller set in the early years of World War II, driven by a powerhouse performance from Pierfrancesco Favino as an Italian Royal Navy commander who finds himself at a moral crossroads.
Adagio by Stefano Sollima
A young man finds himself lost in a labyrinth of criminality as Rome burns in Stefano Sollima’s eminently modern noir, featuring magnetic performances from some of Italy’s greatest leading men (Pierfrancesco Favino, Valerio Mastandrea, Toni Servillo and Adriano Giannini).
Another End by Piero Messina
North American Premiere | Q&A with Piero Messina on May 31
A melancholic, philosophical take on science fiction, Piero Messina’s ensemble drama contemplates a futuristic twist on the afterlife and its implications for those whom the deceased have left behind. Starring Gael García Bernal, Renate Reinsve, and Bérénice Bejo.
The Beautiful Summer by Laura Luchetti
New York Premiere | Q&A with Laura Luchetti on May 31
Loosely adapted from a novel by Cesare Pavese, Laura Luchetti’s sensitively staged and exquisitely shot portrait of female coming-of-age in 1930s Turin captures the ecstasies and agonies of young love on the cusp of adulthood.
A Brighter Tomorrow by Nanni Moretti
The latest from Nanni Moretti is a comic sendup of the creative life and a love letter to cinema itself, in which Moretti plays a film director who resents his producer wife for going to work on another director’s project.
An Endless Sunday by Alain Parroni
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Alain Parroni
Alain Parroni’s kinetic debut feature, something like a spiritual descendant of Kids and The Doom Generation, follows three teenagers on the cusp of adulthood and on the brink of nihilism in and around Rome.
Enea by Pietro Castellitto
North American Premiere
Hereditary privilege gets skewered in Pietro Castellitto’s sophomore feature, about the good-for-nothing son of a television personality and a therapist whose casual forays into drug-dealing intensify beyond his expectations.
I Told You So by Ginevra Elkann
U.S. Premiere | Q&A with Ginevra Elkann on May 31
An apocalyptic January heat wave in Rome induces a state of collective delirium in this ensemble piece that follows a constellation of Romans on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The star-studded cast includes Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valeria Golino, Alba Rohrwacher, Riccardo Scamarcio, Danny Huston, and more.
Lubo by Giorgio Diritti
New York Premiere | Q&A with Giorgio Diritti on June 1
The latest from Giorgio Diritti stars Franz Rogowski as Lubo Moser, an itinerant artist of Yenish descent who seeks to avenge the loss of his family due to a scandalous national reeducation program in WWII-era Switzerland.
In the Mirror by Roberta Torre
North American Premiere
Roberta Torre’s ninth feature isn’t so much a Monica Vitti biopic as a lovingly crafted homage worthy of the late muse of Michelangelo Antonioni, starring Alba Rohrwacher and featuring new original music by composer (and frequent Wong Kar-wai collaborator) Shigeru Umebayashi.
Oceans Are the Real Continents by Tommaso Santambrogio
New York Premiere | Q&A with Tommaso Santambrogio
Tommaso Santambrogio’s disarmingly beautiful and moving debut feature is a stunningly photographed black-and-white portrait of contemporary Cuba, capturing three disparate tales of exile with an outsider’s gaze.
El Paraíso by Enrico Maria Artale
North American Premiere | Q&A with Enrico Maria Artale on June 1
A vividly traced film about a mother-son relationship with a neo-noir twist, Enrico Maria Artale’s fourth feature follows a mother-son criminal pair as their deep bond is complicated by the arrival of a young drug mule.
There’s Still Tomorrow by Paola Cortellesi
North American Premiere
A box office sensation upon its theatrical release in Italy, comedian Paola Cortellesi’s 1940s-set black-and-white directorial debut follows a working-class woman who is a victim of domestic physical and psychological abuse as she gains the courage to change her life.
Open Roads is co-presented by Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà. Organized by Dan Sullivan of Film at Lincoln Center and by Monique Catalino, Carla Cattani, Griselda Guerrasio, and Rossella Rinaldi of Cinecittà, Rome.
Open Roads is supported in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute in NY and with the support of Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò NYU, ITA Airways, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Website: filmlinc.org
