22/09/2015 - Carlo Verdone, Rocco Papaleo and Edoardo Leo are among those who will be attending the third edition of the film festival celebrating Italian film in the German capital, from 2 to 4 October

For three days, from 2 to 4 October, Berlin will host one of the biggest festivals held abroad in celebration of Italian film and the first stage in a special Berlin-based tribute to director and actor Carlo Verdone, which will continue for two months in various cinemas around the city. The Italian Film Festival Berlin is organised by the Tuscia Film Fest in collaboration with the Berlin Italian Culture Institute. 

Eleven films, eight meetings with the public and over twenty screenings, all of which will be held at the prestigious Babylon cinema. The aim is to export the best of Italian film from recent years to Germany, with the 2014 edition already having clocked up 2500 admissions in just three days (guests included Pif, Alice Rohrwacher, Fabrizio Gifuni, Edoardo Leo, Marco Martani and Michele Astori). All the films are shown in Italian with English subtitles.

Friday 2 October will kick off the great tribute to Carlo Verdone, with the screening at 18:30 of documentary Carlo! by Gianfranco Giagni and Fabio Ferzetti, followed by an audience with Verdone himself which will be moderated by Enrico Magrelli. Straight afterwards the German premiere of the Roman actor and director’s film Sotto una buona stella [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will be held. Beforehand, at 16:30, the festival will be opened with the German premiere of The Dinner [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivano De Matteo
film profile] directed by Ivano De Matteo, one of the most acclaimed films of the 2014/2015 Italian season.

On Saturday proceedings will continue at 15:30 with the screening of comedy Se Dio Vuole [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Edoardo Falcone. Then, at 17:30 will come the turn of Black Souls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesco Munzi
film profile] by Francesco Munzi, which will be attended by Gioacchino Criaco, the author of the book of the same name upon which the film, which won 9 David di Donatello awards (the Italian equivalent of the Oscars) this year, is based. In the evening the focus will shift to music, film and Italians abroad with Localeuropa - Musica valida per l’espatrio, a documentary by Francesco Cordio which, following the recent European tour of Max Gazzé, Daniele Silvestri e Niccolò Fabi, tells the stories, loves and passions of young Italian expatriates. Both the director and Silvestri will be available for an audience with the public after the screening.

On Sunday afternoon the spotlight will turn to Edoardo Leo and his comedy Noi e la Giulia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which he directed and stars in. This will be the director and actor’s second time at the Italian Film Festival Berlin after participating last year with I Can Quit Whenever I Want [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sydney Sibilia
film profile] and Out of the Blue [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Following on from this, Rocco Papaleo will present Una piccola impresa meridionale [+see also:
trailer
film profile], his latest film in which he also stars alongside Riccardo Scamarcio and Barbora Bobulova. In parallel to the programme in the main theatre, this year the festival will screen a series of films in theatres 2 and 3 of the cinema as well. These include All’improvviso Komir by Rocco Ricciardulli with Gaia Bermani Amaral (who will both be in attendance in Berlin), The Last days of Tacheles, an Italian-Berlin-produced film by Stefano Casertano on the last days of the most famous community centre in reunified Berlin, Song Birth, a documentary by Simona Irrea on the urban singers of today and Belluscone [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Franco Maresco, which won the David di Donatello 2015 for Best Documentary.

(Translated from Italian)