APRIL 2007
MAYA SANSA, actress

We will screen two films in which the actress Maya Sansa features prominently (the first film is very long, thus screened in two parts). Ms. Sansa will meet to discuss her films after the final screening.

(1) Thursday, April 12
screening: La meglio gioventu' (The Best of Youth), part 1
by Marco Tullio Giordana (2003)
5:30 pm in the 1st floor conference room, UW Rome Center
(refreshments provided)

THE BEST OF YOUTH
With brothers Nicola (Luigi Lo Cascio) and Matteo (the matinee-idol-handsome Alessio Boni) at its center, the film follows the multigenerational Carati family for four decades, from the '60s to the present.

The Caratis go through the kinds of changes that all families do - weddings, births, illnesses, deaths, all against a backdrop of time marching on - as we check in on them, every few years, watching little pockets of their lives. Nicola and Matteo were born after the war, as part of a generation of hope. They are young men as the film begins, idealistic and dreaming. In some ways, life changes them; in others, they remain the same.

Giordana, screenwriters Sandro Petraglia and Stefano Rulli, director of photography Roberto Forza, and the entire cast and crew (to whom I do a great disservice by not singling them all out by name) have created a brilliant, sprawling piece of cinematic art, and perhaps the best film of the year. Find six hours in your life, and go; you'll be richly rewarded.
-- Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

Awards include:
Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard Award
David di Donatello Awards for Best Director, Best Editing, Best Film, Best Producer, Best Screenplay, Best Sound
Seattle International Film Festival, Golden Space Needle Award

(2) Monday, April 16
screening: La meglio gioventu' (The Best of Youth), part 2
by Marco Tullio Giordana (2003)
5:30 pm in the 1st floor conference room, UW Rome Center
(refreshments provided)

(3) Thursday, April 19
screening: Buongiorno, notte (Good Morning, Night)
by Marco Bellocchio (2003)
5:00 pm in the 1st floor conference room, UW Rome Center
7:00 question-and-answer session with Maya Sansa
Reception following.

GOOD MORNING, NIGHT
A story ripped not from the headlines but from the history books, Marco Bellocchio's Good Morning, Night is based on a political kidnapping that shocked Italy a quarter of a century ago. In 1978, a group of Red Brigade members snatched and later executed the country's former Prime Minister Aldo Moro. Recreating events with the help of TV news footage, this thoughtful historical drama focuses on terrorist Chiara (Maya Sansa) as she questions the rightness of her cause.

There are moments of quiet power in Bellocchio's unhurried drama as it charts the gradual disillusionment of its anti-heroes. ... The film's poignant strength lies in Sansa's silent, almost unfathomable conversion from wide-eyed believer to guilt-ridden doubter, as she begins to realise that tyranny is still tyranny - whether it comes wrapped in The Red Flag or marches in fascist jackboots.
-- Jamie Russell, BBC

Awards include:
David di Donatello Award for Best Supporting Actor
European Film Awards
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Best Actor,
Venice Film Festival, Best Film, Outstanding Individual Contribution, Little Golden Lion

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MAY 2007
FRANCESCA ARCHIBUGI, director

May dates to be announced.
We will screen two films by Francesca Archibugi (probably in the early afternoon at the Cinema Farnese in Campo de Fiori) and the director will meet to discuss her films after the second screening.
Reception with the director following question-and-answer session.

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Photos from previous film nights at The University of Washington Rome Center:

PAST FILM SERIES
Click the following links to find out more about past film series and featured directors.

Winter 2008 -- Director Alex Infascelli
Winter 2008 -- Director Edoardo Winspeare
Fall 2007 -- Actor Luigi Lo Cascio
Fall 2007 -- Director Daniele Luchetti
Spring 2007 --Actress Maya Sansa
Winter 2007 -- Gabriele Salvatores
Fall 2006 -- Giuseppe Piccioni
Spring 2006 -- Mimmo Calopresti
Winter 2006 -- Paolo Virzi'
Fall 2005 -- Matteo Garrone