(1) MEDITERRANEO (1991)
>> Wednesday >> February 7 >> 6:00 p.m.

This 1991 comedy by Gabriele Salvatores ... [is] an easygoing, sunny movie about eight Italian soldiers who manage to strand themselves on a tiny Greek island paradise during World War II. The sort of mutts who would shoot a donkey for not knowing the proper password, these clumsy warriors become a comic variation on the Lotus Eaters of myth, their fighting spirit evaporated in the midst of so much beauty and sexual availability among the local women. There are also sundry opportunities for the men to find another purpose for their lives ... . Amid the sometimes coarse jokes and gratuitous nudity, there are subtle themes about the contrast between what men are truly like in their natural state versus what they are like as killers. --Tom Keogh

Awards include:
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
David di Donatello awards for Best Film, Best Editing, Best Sound
Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists: Best Director

(2) IO NON HO PAURA/"I'm Not Afraid" (2003)

>> Wednesday >> February 14 >> 6:00 p.m.

Based on Ammaniti's novel, the story is set in the 1970s in a rural village in southern Italy. In the summer heat, Michele discovers an abandoned house and a hole containing a kidnapped boy his age, who is being held prisoner by Michele's family. Torn by conflicting emotions, he must decide to free the child or participate in a communal crime. -- The Museum of Modern Art

Awards include:
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
David di Donatello award for Best Cinematography
Flaiano Film Festival: Best Actor, Fest Film, Best Screenplay

(3) QUO VADIS, BABY? (2005)
>> Wednesday >> February 21 >> 5:00 p.m.

+ MEET THE DIRECTOR >> 7 p.m.
following the film, the director will participate in a question-and-answer session;
discussion will be led by film critic Mario Sesti
refreshments follow

Working for her father's private detective agency in Bologna, Giorgia is an unglamorous, short-tempered, quick-witted investigator. She spends most of her time trailing cheating spouses and lamenting that she has wasted her life. But when she receives a box containing video diaries of her younger sister Ada, she begins to question whether or not Ada's death 16 years ago was really a suicide. On the tapes, outgoing Ada appears to be happily struggling with her acting career and having a secret affair; nothing that suggests she was suicidal. Convinced that her sister was murdered, Giorgia begins interviewing Ada's friends and family members. As she digs deeper into the past, a questionable family history begins to emerge. Wholly clever, atmospheric, and stylishly shot, QUO VADIS, BABY? is a thrilling contemporary noir film that invites the audience in to play detective. -- Cleveland Film Society

Awards include:
Flaiano Film Festival: Best Actress, Best Director, Best Film Score

All events at the UW Rome Center, in the 1st floor conference room
All films in Italian with English subtitles.
Film Series events are FREE of charge.

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