THURSDAY (Nov. 15th) at 5:30 pm

LA VITA CHE VORREI
[The Life I Want; 2004]
by Giuseppe Piccioni (2004)

"Luigi Lo Cascio ("Best of Youth") and Sandra Ceccarelli ("The Best Day of My Life"), star as Stefano and Laura, two professional actors who've been hired to act as passionate lovers in a grand period movie. But offscreen, the two lead very regular, sometimes lonely lives. Almost
inevitably, they begin to develop a romantic attraction that they can only express completely on the movie set. An intimate drama that captures the essence of both beginning love and film as a parallel, alternative reality. -- American Cinematheque

In Italian with English subtitles.

TUESDAY (Nov. 20th) at 5:30 pm

MIO COGNATO
[My Brother-in-Law] 2003
Directed by Alessandro Piva and starring Luigi Lo Cascio (The Hundred Steps)
and Sergio Rubini (The Talented Mr Ripley)"A fast paced comedy from Alessandro Piva teams two bickering brothers in law on a seemingly hopeless pursuit. Toni (Sergio Rubini) and Vito (Luigi Lo Cascio) are very different kinds of men. Toni is a brash 40-year-old, worldly wise but slipshod; a small time city businessman, with dubious connections. While Vito, married to Toni's sister, is slightly younger, an ordinary clerk leading an ordinary life, who grew up, and still lives in, a small country town, with the naiveté to match. While gathered together for the baptism of Toni's son, Vito discovers that his new car has been stolen. With the good mood of the party in jeopardy, and his sister's insistence, Toni reluctantly offers to go and look for the car with his brother in law. The two men begin a journey through the various metropolitan landscapes of Bari, during a night that seems endless. Through this night, shoulder-to-shoulder, the two brothers-in-law must learn to trust each other. Lo Cascio and Rubini, two maestros of Italian cinema, make an hilarious odd couple and Piva's screenplay keeps the action crisp and the dialogue sharp." -- Cathay Pacific.

Italian FestivalIn Italian with English subtitles.