The 6th Cinema Italia festival was held from April 4th to 11th in 6 Israeli towns. For a week, the cinematheques in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Herzliva, Rosh Pina and Sderot welcomed the best of Italian cinema.
The programme was in two sections: Contemporary Cinema and Heritage Cinema. The first category featured 10 films, including two historical documentaries – Giorgio Trevers’ 1938 diversi and Il mare della nostra storia by Giovanna Gagliardo. Also in this section, Paolo Virzi’s latest film Magical Nights, and Mario Martone’s Capri- Revolution.
In the Heritage category, Israeli viewers were able to see, or see again, cinematic masterpieces such as Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Mamma Roma, Mario Monicelli’s Risate di gioia and Luchino Visconti’s Bellissima. The programme paid tribute to the great Italian actress Anna Magnani, who is in each of the six films shown.
One of the festival’s two artistic directors, Ronny Fellus, commented on films from the Heritage Cinema section. “For those who saw these films a long time ago, it’s a chance to see them again, often in better quality versions – even if they’ve been seen before, films like this don’t show their age.” A second tribute was paid to the filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, who died at the end of 2018, with a screening of Il Conformista.
The festival is organized by Adamas Italy-Israel, with the support of the Italian Cultural Institutes of Tel Aviv and Haifa, and in collaboration with the Luce Cinecitta Institute and the film libraries of Israel.
