Donatella Finocchiaro

Four tales unfold in the Eternal City: While vacationing in Rome, architect John encounters a young man whose romantic woes remind him of a painful incident from his own youth; retired opera director Jerry discovers a mortician with an amazing voice, and he seizes the opportunity to rejuvenate his own flagging career; a young couple have separate romantic interludes; a spotlight shines on an ordinary man.

In Italy, three men fall in love with three women. First a young engaged lawyer has a fling, then the middle-aged married man has a fling, then a retired man falls in love with his friend's daughter.

In 1920s Bagheria, Giuseppe 'Peppino' Torrenuova works as a shepherd to financially help his poor family. Over the next fifty years, Giuseppe's life, as well as the life of the village, is observed. Giuseppe grows up, joins the Communist Party, marries a local girl, has children, and forges a political career for himself.

A summer fling born under the Sicilian sun quickly develops into a heartbreaking love story that forces a boy and girl to grow up too quickly.

Ettore, a young boy in Sicily in the 50's, is surrounded by women and is always surprised by what is happening around him. In Milan a few years later Ettore is once again the center of attention and the hip crowd.

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Eighteen-year-old Matilde lives with her grandmother and her mother Laura, a woman struggling with debt and failures. Completely disconnected from reality and attached to her online avatar, Matilde has found her own way to make money: stripping on webcam. One day, Laura is forced to reveal her debts to her daughter, who plots an ideal solution to their troubles, unexpectedly involving Ernesto, a wealthy bourgeois obsessed with sex and possessions.

A Sicilian family deals with the arrival of a group of immigrants on their island.

An aimless young troublemaker, Alessandro, squanders his days gambling and getting into fights, and he often spends his nights in jail. With few prospects, he begrudgingly accepts a job as a companion to Giorgio, an elderly poet suffering from Alzheimer’s. On their daily walks, the two banter and become friends, and Alessandro quickly learns more about this forgotten poet as the old man’s memory drifts. After learning a secret from Giorgio’s past, Alessandro and his friends work to uncover the mystery of this tale, an unexpected history lesson and a touching coming-of-age adventure.

In 1914, with Italy on the cusp of joining World War I, a group of foreign artists establishes a commune on the rural island of Capri, catching the attention of young Lucia, a local illiterate shepherdess who soon falls under their spell.

A well known judge comes back to his native region, Salentino in the South of Italy, to find out that his old friend is dead and the woman he loved is now working for a crime organization.

Maria, Pinuccia, Lia, Katia and Antonella are five sisters who live in an apartment in Palermo. They make a living by renting doves for ceremonies. On a normal day at the beach, tragedy strucks.

Three houses, three boys, the same goal: to win the competition for a position as an employee in the legal office of the city. Federico, a law graduate, but only to please his father counsellor, hopes for his recommendation; Fabrizio, lawyer on paper but not practicing in life, tries to overcome the umpteenth public test and Luca, who since he was born has always had the road open. Only for one of them will the dream of a lifetime come true, until things take an unexpected turn.

Set against the backdrop of 20th-century Sicily, the sicilian storyteller chronicles the tumultuous life of Rosa Balistreri, a legendary figure in Sicilian folk music.

Franco Elica is a film director casting a remake of a pious melodrama in Rome. He's melancholy, heading south for a break. On a beach, he meets a man who films weddings and is roped into helping film the wedding of the daughter of a severe and imperious prince. The wedding is one of convenience - the prince needs money, the groom is a mama's boy. Elica is attracted to the bride, Boda, and tries to convince her not to marry. No matter how outrageous his behavior, the prince keeps Elica on as the wedding director. As the wedding approaches, what's real blurs with Elica's imagination. Is he mad?

Two previously unknown families see their lives turned upside down when a seemingly insignificant mistake leads them to a shocking discovery about their children's identities. The film is based on a true story.

Through magical realist animations in the style of baroque chiaroscuro, Devoti Tutti returns to the martyred Saint Agatha of Catania a voice she never had. Alongside a chorus of the citizens of Catania and the stories of real abuse survivors, Devoti Tutti shows how a community’s reverence for its saint masks misogynist realities. In her cell Agatha is kept company by her breasts, which her tormenters severed from her body—a reminder of the violence she suffered, but also of her refusal to submit to a man’s desire. Together with the flying breasts, Agatha escapes from the chamber where she has been held prisoner for two millennia and flies out over the ocean and into her own self-creation.

Nine-year-old Greta loves making Christmas decorations with her babysitter, Katy. She believes so strongly in Santa Claus that she decides to deliver a letter to her neighbor, Nicola, who leads her to believe he is Santa's personal assistant. Of course, Nicola has been lying; when Greta exposes the truth, he confesses that he has no connection to Santa Claus. To make amends, Nicola—a talented illustrator—draws an animated fairy tale for her that will change her life.

Lee is a world-weary American woman who arrives in an Italian city. Her tangles with hotel staff, incessant smoking and her disregard of the persistently ringing telephone hint at her volatility brewing beneath the surface. Between fitful naps, she wanders the streets, snapping pictures of refugees as if her camera were both weapon and olive branch. Struggling to confront her demons, Lee resolves to help a beautiful young woman in need.

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Early one morning, in an unspecified and seemingly far off time, a 12 year old boy, together with some friends, is searching a thick forest for objects of value. There is a lot of fog. The boy goes off by himself to another part of the wood and stands admiring an antique object he has found at the foot of a tree. His happy expression turns to one of curiosity as he is distracted by some high pitched cries which come and go intermittently.

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After losing his farm during the floods of 1953, a romantic Dutch farmer is tired of getting his socks wet. He cycles to Italy and decides to grow tulips in the sweltering heat of Puglia.

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During a trip to Sicily in 1920, Luigi Pirandello meets two gravediggers-turned-playwrights rehearsing a play with their amateur dramatics. Pirandello takes an interest in the odd couple, having been suffering from writer's block while working on his eventual masterpiece, Six Characters in Search of an Author.

We are in a beautiful southern family, united by a deep relationship, despite some misunderstandings: Franco, a father who has dedicated his life to his loved ones and to work.

A sick young man lives an intense love story with a female tramp.

Amata is about two lives that graze one another without meeting, connected by invisible threads and choices that can change a person’s fate. With its intimate, sensual and deeply human gaze, Amata singles out the bodies and souls of its two lead actresses in order to explore what it means to choose. And love. Nunzia is an out-of-town student with a crushing secret: an unwanted pregnancy. Isolated, she weighs a grueling decision: keep the baby or give it up. In another place, Luca and Maddalena endure the emptiness of a new life that doesn’t arrive. After a long, fruitless trial, a chance presents itself: delicate, luminous, full of anticipation. Amata is the story of two women who intersect, fragile fighters yet strong at the same time, who imagine love, freedom and motherhood in its many forms. And a third woman, Margherita – the child. Torn between different worlds, and silent carrier of a bond that unites them, though no one knows.

Italy, 1948. Young Rocco is growing up in Calabria, until one day his father Salvatore decides to leave to Belgium, where he strives to earn a lot of money by working in coal mines. Very soon he sends for his family. Rocco becomes a migrant overnight, with all the consequences this entails. Rocco wants to be like other youngsters, become someone and have a purpose in life. Against his father’s wish and better judgment he seeks an escape through music and love.

January 6, 1980. President of the Sicily Piersanti Mattarella is going to Mass with his family when a young man approaches his car and shoots him in cold blood, killing him. The young Deputy Prosecutor on duty that day is Pietro Grasso, future General Anti-Mafia Prosecutor and President of the Italian Senate. His investigations are continued by Giovanni Falcone, who uncovers dangerous connections between the Mafia, the ruling Christian Democratic Party, neo-fascist terrorists, and secret services.

Adelaide is a 40-year-old literature teacher married with children. One day, she learns about the murder of a wealthy and arrogant co-worker of hers, strangled in her own home. Adelaide meets Gaetano, the charming inspector dealing with the case and decides to help him in the investigation, much to her husband's chagrin.

Assunta is a prostitute who, once she has taken her little son Mattia from the heinous fury of an abusive father, chooses to foster him to allow him to have what she, momentarily, cannot give him. Through the protagonist's point of view we will investigate the very delicate bond between mother/son/foster family, never losing sight of the child's emotional priorities. Letting ourselves be carried away by her voice over, we will find ourselves inside her reality; in the everyday life of a village in a timeless Sicily. We will walk those streets alongside her, surprising ourselves to find within that story so many other little stories laden with prejudice and backbiting against the village prostitute.

Vigàta, Sicily, Italy, 1880. Shortly after the return to the village of Fofò La Matina, pharmacist and son of the late Santo La Matina, jealous guardian of the secrets of certain miraculous plants, the noble Peluso family is ravaged by a series of mysterious deaths…

After witnessing the murder of their mother thirty years ago, a man and his sister struggle with challenges of their adult lives.

A pair of Italian filmmakers go to Rome to find a star for their first project.

John Turturro goes back to the land of his ancestors.

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Married for most of her adult life, Nina plunges into depression after being suddenly deserted by her husband. Eventually, she'll find a way out by having multiple affairs with strangers.

Saro, a young Sicilian thug, that from jobs assigned by his godfather, won the favor of leaders of Cosa Nostra, becoming a "man of honor".

Collective film for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with 30 directors each helming a segment about one of the 30 articles of the Declaration.

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In the late 1980s, Amedeo Letizia, a young 20 something Italian, leaves his hometown of Casal di Principe to pursue a career in acting in Rome. While he's making his debut, his younger brother Paolo is kidnapped by armed men. Amedeo comes back, this return being an infernal descent into his past and his region's contradictions.

Lucio, the host of a popular radio show, is confident, charismatic, and holds progressive views. He is married to the beautiful Elena, who is insecure and emotionally dependent on her husband. Together, they form a harmonious blended family (which includes Lucio’s first wife and daughter) and have one child together: Blu, a 9-year-old who loves dressing in girls’ clothes and is allowed to do so—by both mom and dad—but only at home. When the school play comes around, however, Blu is determined to wear a Little Mermaid costume on stage. His parents, caught between their desire to support him and their instinct to protect him, find themselves confronting the limits of their open-mindedness. They embark on a journey of self-awareness and acceptance, joined by a diverse group of “Unicorn Parents” led by a compassionate psychologist.

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For Valeria, her wedding day has arrived. Antonia spots the groom kissing a woman in an unmistakable loving manner and gifting her a jewel.

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Lorenzo is a 35-year-old diver and an incurable Casanova. But one night, after having withdrawn with the beautiful Claudia, he comes across his little Matteo, the son of the woman. The presence of the child throws Lorenzo into a vortex of doubts and remorse that will lead the man to review his crushed sentimental conduct.

A 13-year-old girl in the deprived outskirts of a sprawling Sicilian city becomes a local celebrity to her needy community when word spreads that she just might be able to perform miracles.

True story of an attractive Sicilian mob-wife who participates in her husband's drug-dealing business and falls for her husband's lackey.

11-year-old Silvia's life at home is consumed by her mother’s clinical depression. When no one will take the time to fulfill her dream to visit Rome, she runs away, determined to see it for herself. On a train, she meets a Roma girl, Emina, and begins following her through the streets of Rome to her gypsy camp.

The man who successfully exported Sicily to the world, giving it an ironic twist and celebrating its diversity and beauty. We recount his extraordinary artistic journey alongside a cast of illustrious figures from the worlds of literature, theater, and film.

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Antonio is an journalist. A day his chief sends him to Palermo to write a piece about the school where studied Giovanni Falcone: a famous judge killed by the Mafia with his wife and colleague Francesca Morvillo.

Hamid, a 25-year-old boy, survived the escape from Eritrea, with the intention of arriving in Switzerland by his brother Yemane, but Natale, a Sicilian fisherman, advises him not to continue the journey as an illegal immigrant and with his wife, they decide to host him at their restaurant, in exchange for help in the kitchen. After Hamid's long journey through Italy and numerous adversities, he manages to reach Basel ...

Cagliari in the 1940s is a big city for those who come from a small village. Annetta arrives in the days befpre Italy enters WWII and the Allies begin bombing the city. She's a 25-year old woman, always dressed in black, solitary and quiet, typical of the beauty of those from the most sparse areas of Sardegna.

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According to Interpol, over ten thousand refugees of minors without parental care are wandering today in Europe, half of which are on Italian roads. "Despite the Fog" is a movie story about one of them. In short: Ali-Musa Sarhan, a refugee whose parents drowned while traveling by rubber boat on the Italian coast in search of a better life, is accepted by family, husband and wife who have lost a child. They are trying to find solace in little Arab and a sort of replacement for their early deceased son, Mark. Valeria (Donatella Finokjaro) and Paolo (Giorgio Tirabasi) are increasingly confronted with resistance from the environment and their own family, who do not accept their decision to keep Muhammad - It is also a story of a world that is increasingly sinking into xenophobic fog.

On My Skin (Italian: Sulla mia pelle, also known as Upon My Skin) is a 2003 Italian crime-drama film written and directed by Valerio Jalongo. It was screened in competition at the 2003 Turin Film Festival.

A funny and intelligent comedy about a wonderfully flawed woman.

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Dora is a 25-year-old girl with an apparently rough and impenetrable character who works by bringing shopping home, a very heavy job. This is not the only difficulty in her life though, as she comes from a broken family.

Giorgio and Tito, father and son. A successful journalist and a lazy teenager apparently impossible to understand. Giorgio's dream is to take Tito to the Nasca Hill in Liguria, but Tito prefers to spend his entire day with his group of friends, eating, talking about nothing and playing video games. Until one day when he suddenly informs his father that he would join him in this trip. After a series of accidents and misunderstandings, at the end, somehow father and son will find the way to communicate … or at least they will try.

A man jumps into the Tiber two days before Christmas. Alessandro and Irene chat over coffee, while Giorgio and Mariella discuss love and sex. Pietro confesses his pain to Cinzia, Nanni kisses Paola, who is engaged to another, and Andrea loves Veronica secretly. Vittorio falls for a Chinese masseuse, Nicola is infatuated with Cameron Diaz, and Iole waits for a relationship. From September to December, their lives unfold, ending happily or dramatically. Gianluca Maria Tavarelli, uncomfortable with portraying a younger generation in Liberi, returns to filming about his own age after a busy TV break.

The cartoon tells a story set in Palermo in the 1950s, in the form of a fairy tale for children. The protagonists—two boys who fight to free their neighborhood from the presence of an evil wizard who steals people's souls and turns them into "pupi"—are named Giovanni and Paolo, in homage to Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who were indeed young friends in Palermo during those years.

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The story of Pietro Filodomini, professor of Italian in a middle school in the Sanità district of Naples, who tries to offer with books an alternative to life on the street and a possibility for the future.

The film, a nostalgic fantasy documentary, depicts in six episodes a family story in Bobbio between 1999 and 2008. We discover the 5 years-old Elena being brought up by her aunts (Marco Bellocchio's sisters) because her mother Sara is trying to succeed as an actress in Milan. Her uncle Giorgio has a difficult relationship with his sister and judges her for not taking care of her daughter. But as soon as Sara can afford it, she offers to take Elena with her, leaving the village and her aunts, perhaps for ever - while Giorgio, up to his eyeballs in debt, takes refuge in Bobbio. His sister will help him and sell a house.

In the northeast of Italy, the workers of a lingerie factory are about to be fired. Not far away, a handful of nuns, skilled in the art of embroidery and devoted to the Blessed Armida, risk being removed from their beloved convent. To oppose a destiny already marked, workers and nuns join forces and start a "business" outside the rules in the hopes that a miracle will help them keep the convent and the factory.

“The Suppliants of Aeschylus were part of a trilogy consisting of Supplicants, Sons of Egypt and Danaids, followed by a satyr drama Amirnon. It was first performed at the Theater of Dionysus in Athens, probably in 463 BC."

Ghosts from the past and the present inhabit the old neighborhood of San Berillo, in Catania. It is 1958: while brothels are being shut down all over Italy, San Berillo is razed to the ground and its inhabitants are deported to the suburbs. A piece of the neighborhood, however, remains intact and thousands of prostitutes from all over Italy find shelter there, creating one of the biggest red light districts in the Mediterranean. Until 2000, when a police raid forces the neighborhood's inhabitants to abandon their homes once again.

Paolo, 19, a boy with Down syndrome, befriends a tough and lonely boxing trainer.

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New film by Luca Barbareschi.