Ordinarily I wouldn't focus on one city's celebration of an event, but this Celebration is so outstanding, each of you deserve a similar one if you are living in a large metropolitan area. Even the Web Site is First Class.

Below are Brief Reviews of 14 OUTSTANDING New Italian Films that will be shown at the Cinema Festival. Most are award winning. Many to be released in the US soon.
All will be accompanied by discussion sessions with the director or starring actor.

Also listed below are the 8 Italian Events. The Culinary Events are on the Web Site.

Italian Week will take place in conjunction with the celebration of the Italian National Day on the 2nd of June, and will feature "Cinema Italian Style", "Italian Flavors- Cuisine", and "Italian Events" June 1 through 14. (Yes, this Week is 2 weeks !!)

The Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, the Italian Trade Commission of Los Angeles, the Italian Tourism Board and the Italy America Chamber of Commerce West, and others, is sponsoring a series of events to promote the accomplishments of Italy in the cultural, scientific, commercial and tourism sectors.

Details can be seen at:
Los Angeles Italian Week
http://www.laitalianweek.com
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CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE:

(1) LA MEGLIO GIOVENTU’ (BEST OF YOUTH)
(2) NE SARA’ DI NOI (WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US?)
(3) SALVO D’ACQUISTO
(4) IL PIU’ BEL GIORNO DELLA MIA VITA (THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE)
(5) RICORDATI DI ME (REMEMBER ME, MY LOVE)
(6) GENTE DI ROMA
(7) VIAGGIANDO CON IL CHE (TRAVELING WITH CHE)
(8) IL MIRACOLO (THE MIRACLE)
(9) IL CUORE ALTROVE (INCANTATO)
(10) IL MESTIERE DELLE ARMI
(11) CATERINA VA IN CITTA’ (CATHERINE IN THE BIG CITY)
(12)  BALLO A TRE PASSI (THREE - STEP DANCING)
(13) NON TI MUOVERE  (DON’T MOVE)
(14) Italian Shorts.
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(1) LA MEGLIO GIOVENTU’ (BEST OF YOUTH) – Part I
(2003, Miramax, 180 min. approx.), directed by Marco Tullio Giordana.
LA MEGLIO GIOVENTU’ (BEST OF YOUTH) – Part II
(2003, Miramax, 180 min. approx.). Directed by Marco Tullio Giordana.

One of the most flat-out amazing cinematic experiences of the past five years, the 6-hour, made for television BEST OF YOUTH recently swept Italy’s Donatello Awards, winning Best Picture, Director and Screenplay. The film covers 40 years in the life of a “typical” Italian family, the Carati’s, focusing on two brothers: slender, intense Nicola (brilliantly played by Luigi Lo Cascio), who will grow up to be a psychiatrist; and gorgeous, brooding Matteo (the equally great Alessio Boni), a scholar of religious poetry who will wind up a career policeman, but forever haunted by inner demons.

>From the idealistic days of their youth in the mid-1960’s (the Florence floods, love affairs in Norway), through marriage, disillusionment, the Red Brigade attacks of the 1970’s, and up to the present day, the story grows, deepens, spreads in all directions like a 19th century Russian novel, until it seems the whole of Italian life has somehow been distilled into one great, heartbreaking tale of endurance, loss, acceptance and (above all else) love for family. By any standards, this is a masterpiece.
[BEST OF YOUTH will be released theatrically by Miramax Films on July 2
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(2) CHE NE SARA’ DI NOI (WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US?)
(2004, Aurelio De Laurentiis/Filmauro, 100 min.), directed by Giovanni Veronesi.

Silvio Muccino, one of Italy’s hottest young actors (also the film’s co-writer) stars as Matteo in this coming-of-age comedy that was recently nominated for 12 Italian Donatello Awards.

Leading a sexy young cast of high school graduates heading out into the real world, Matteo convinces two cronies to vacation with him on a Greek island. While the getaway is planned to celebrate their recent graduation, Matteo’s older girlfriend also happens to be visiting the island. Soon, the three pals face fading friendships and the realities of the grown-up world.
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(3) SALVO D’ACQUISTO
(2003, Sacha Film Co., 119 min.), directed by Alberto Sironi.

Originally created for Italian television, this film re-tells the true story of soldier Salvo D’Acquisto’s ultimate sacrifice during WWII. On the morning of September 23, 1943, a Nazi patrol gathered 22 men for execution, as a reprisal for the recent murder of two German soldiers. Young Italian officer D’Acquisto accused himself of the crime in order to save the lives of the 21 others. Winner of 2 Italian Emmy awards.
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(4) IL PIU’ BEL GIORNO DELLA MIA VITA (THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE)
Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre, (2002, Cattleya/RAI Cinema, 102 min.), directed by Cristina Comencini

Acclaimed director Cristina Comencini (MARRIAGES) paints a beautiful portrait of a modern Italian family on the verge of dysfunction. When widowed Irene (played by famed Italian actress Virna Lisi) invites her three grown children and their families to join her at the dilapidated family home in celebration of a young granddaughter’s communion, misunderstandings, poor communication and unspoken truths put their collective love and trust to the test.

Touching, delightful performances abound from Lisi, Margherita Buy as lonely, widowed Sara, Sandra Ceccarelli as married-but-bored Rita, Luigi Lo Cascio (BEST OF YOUTH) as painfully uncommunicative Claudio, and Marco Quaglia as Claudio’s forsaken ex-boyfriend.
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(5) RICORDATI DI ME (REMEMBER ME, MY LOVE)
(2003, Roadside Attractions, 125 min.).

Acclaimed young director Gabriele Muccino (THE LAST KISS) guides an outstanding cast (including Monica Bellucci, Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Laura Morante, and the director’s younger brother, Silvio Muccino) in this skillfully crafted family drama. Long-married Carlo and Giulia realize they have neglected their creative passions - of writing and acting, respectively - for a comfortable, often unhappy middle-class life.

Their teenage children are not better off: Paolo is a reckless slacker and the beautiful young Valentina is desperate to break into TV stardom. Beginning with an affair between Carlo and high school sweetheart Alessia (stunningly portrayed by Monica Bellucci), a chain of unfortunate choices and unexpected events unravels upon the family. [REMEMBER ME, MY LOVE will be released theatrically in the U.S. by Roadside Attractions.]
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(6) GENTE DI ROMA
(2003, Istituto Luce, 100 min.).

The latest film from acclaimed director Ettore Scola (A SPECIAL DAY; WE ALL LOVED EACH OTHER SO MUCH), GENTE DI ROMA is a wry, sarcastic look at modern Rome with all its eccentricities, racial divisions, tourist traps and ancient glory very much intact.

Scola describes the city in a series of episodic, neo-documentary style “essays,” traveling in and around the Eternal City during a typical day as his camera lingers on the homeless, loudmouthed bus riders, unfaithful wives and more. The encounter between a young punk and an old man who knows every possible nickname for “penis” is priceless.
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(7) VIAGGIANDO CON IL CHE (TRAVELING WITH CHE)
(2004, Surf Film, 110 min.), directed by Gianni Mina’.

In 1952, 23-year-old medical student Ernesto Che Guevara and his 29-year-old biologist friend Alberto Granado set out on a 6-month journey across South America, a trip that would change the way Guevara looked at the world. Over fifty years later, Granado returned to retrace his footsteps on that legendary journey with Italian documentary director Gianni Mina’ and his film crew, in this bittersweet portrait of youth and old age, rebellion and survival. A companion piece to the upcoming feature film THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (star Gael Garcia Bernal and director Walter Salles appear in this documentary). A selection of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
(8) IL MIRACOLO (THE MIRACLE)
(2003, RAI Cinema, 93 min.).

In director Edoardo Winspeare’s (PIZZICATA, LIFE BLOOD) third feature, a hit-and-run traffic accident leaves 12-year-old Tonio (a remarkable performance from newcomer Claudio D’Agostino) in a coma.Upon awakening, Tonio “saves” a fellow patient and is considered a miracle worker.

As his parents scramble to exploit his newfound gift, Tonio develops a secret bond with the “missing” driver who hit him. Paolo Canera’s astounding cinematography captures the southern Italian countryside at its most beautiful, as the film challenges notions of faith, love and miracles.
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(9) IL CUORE ALTROVE (INCANTATO)
(2003, Northern Arts Ent. 107 min.), directed by Pupi Avati.

In 1920’s Bologna, young Latin schoolteacher Nello (Neri Marcore’) is still a bachelor - to the consternation of his parents - until he meets the striking, wealthy and temporarily-blind femme fatale Angela (Vanessa Incontrada). Blinded by love, the inexperienced and gauche Nello falls prey to the manipulative beauty.

With the great Giancarlo Giannini as Nello's father, the adulterous and profane tailor to the Vatican. A universal fable about love by master Pupi Avati, with extraordinary cinematography, period costumes, lush music by Riz Ortolani and abounding quotations by Latin poets Lucretius, Ovid and Virgil - !
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(10) IL MESTIERE DELLE ARMI
(2001, Canal +, 100 min.)

Director Ermanno Olmi’s (TREE WITH THE WOODEN CLOGS) haunting, visually-ravishing medieval epic follows the ill-fated 1526 winter campaign of young Captain Giovanni De Medici (beautifully played by Bulgarian actor Hristo Jivkov) against overwhelming forces. Unfolding in a series of stunning images – mist along the shoreline, the spidery outlines of frozen trees, knights in full armor massed for battle – the film explores the young captain’s heartwrenching memories of his past, as his future grows more and more uncertain. Winner of nine Donatello Awards in 2002, including Best Film, Director, Screenplay and Cinematography (by Fabio Olmi, the director’s son).
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(11) CATERINA VA IN CITTA’ (CATHERINE IN THE BIG CITY)
(2003, Cattleya, 106 min.).

One of Italian cinema’s most interesting young filmmakers, Paolo Virzi’ (OVOSODO, FERIE D’AGOSTO) returns with this humorous and surprisingly adult portrait of a likable, somewhat naïve teenage girl, Caterina (Alice Teghil), whose life is turned upside down when her slightly psychotic teacher father, Giancarlo (wonderfully played by Sergio Castellitto, director of NON TI MUOVERE), decides the family should move to Rome.

Caterina is immediately torn between two different factions at school – the Preppies and the Communists – each trying to convert her to their way of life, while her long-suffering mother attempts to deal with Giancarlo’s increasingly desperate and bitter attempts to make something of his own life.
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(12)  BALLO A TRE PASSI (THREE - STEP DANCING)
(2003, Eyescreen S.r.l./Lucky Red, 107 min.).

With this astonishingly beautiful journey through the Sardinian landscape, first time director Salvatore Mereu follows the seasons and unfolds four peasant stories in a world almost untouched by modernity. In the spring of their lives, a group of rowdy boys get a ride in the back of a truck and are moved to tears when they discover the sea for the first time. In the heat of the summer, lonely mountain shepherd Michele (Michele Carboni) goes to the nearest seaside restaurant to sell his cheeses, only to find himself seduced by a gorgeous French pilot (Caroline Ducey). When nun Francesca (Yael Abecassis) leaves her quiet convent life to attend her sister's wedding, autumn weather with its abrupt rain-shower disrupts a village's joyful celebration. On a winter night, elderly Giorgio returns to his lonely apartment and calls a prostitute to come sing with him. A poetic and magical film that captures rural life with simplicity and great visual style, this is a strong example of the renaissance of Italian independent cinema. Winner of this year’s Donatello Award for Best First Film. [In Sardinian dialect with English subtitles].
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(13) NON TI MUOVERE  (DON’T MOVE)
(2004, Cattleya/Medusa, 119 min.)

Spanish actress Penelope Cruz (OPEN YOUR EYES) gives arguably her best-ever performance as a dark-eyed Albanian woman who falls into an emotionally-brutal, adulterous affair with married Italian physician Sergio Castellitto (who also directs).

Based on a prize-winning novel by Castellitto’s wife Margaret Mazzantini, the film is told in a series of fragmented flashbacks that unfold as the physician’s daughter hovers near death from a motorcycle accident, prompting him to recall and relive the last, self-deceiving years of his life. Winner of Donatello Awards for Best Actor and Actress. “Cruz’s performance… is bound to evoke comparisons with Charlize Theron’s recent, glammed down stint in MONSTER.” - Deborah Young, Variety.
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(14) Italian Shorts.
“L'Ultimo Cliente” (“The Last Customer”) (2003, Sacher Film, 23 min.).

Director Nanni Moretti’s (LA STANZA DEL FIGLIO, CARO DIARIO) latest film is a touching documentary on a New York pharmacy about to be demolished to make way for a skyscraper. Moretti examines the feelings of the Gardini family, who have put their heart and soul into running the drugstore, as well as the emotional farewells of the customers and the clearing out of the shop on the last day of business.

Next on the same bill are three shorts taken from I DIARI DELLA SACHER, a longer series produced by Nanni Moretti. These films are drawn from diaries that were donated by Italians to a national archive to document the changing Italian cultural landscape. Beautifully shot and interspersed with fascinating newsreel and archival footage: “Davai Bistre! Avanti! Presto!,” (2001, Sacher Film, 27 min.). Directed by Mara Chiaretti. A powerful, timely documentary about an Italian man’s experience as a Russian prisoner-of-war during WWII; “I Quaderni Di Luisa,” (2001, Sacher Film, 27 min.). Directed by Isabella Sandri. A woman’s testimony on enduring an abusive husband and how she finally escaped his clutches, as well as her oppressive cultural upbringing; “In Nome Del Popolo Italiano,” (2001, Sacher Film, 27min.). Directed by Valia Santella. A fascinating self-narrative from a career criminal, with music from the 1960’s jogging his memory as pen is put to paper.
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SPECIAL EVENTS:

(1) Slow Food Culinary Work Shop
(2) IV Seminar of Scientists and Researchers
“1901 – 2004: From Elettra to Marconi: Mars Orbiter – one hundred years of Italian talent bridging Old and New Worlds” “The New World of Biotechnology”
(3) “Italy on Film: La Bella Vita”
(4)Inauguration of the Historic Italian Hall
(5) Museum Folklore Performance: Sbandieratori
(Medieval flag throwers)
(7)Seventh Annual Art and Design Walk
Eight Italian Designer Showrooms and two Art Galleries on Beverly Blvd/ Melrose Avenue will host
(8)"Lazio Night: Roman Summer and Vespa Fashion Show”