Paola Cortellesi, Edoardo Gabbriellini, and Roberta Torre are the three Italian films competing at this year’s Rome Film Festival, taking place from October 18 to 29.
“C’è ancora domani” by Paola Cortellesi
One of the films is the well-known opening film, “C’è ancora domani.” It is Paola Cortellesi’s directorial debut, in which she also stars alongside Valerio Mastandrea, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Emanuela Fanelli, Giorgio Colangeli, and Vinicio Marchioni. Cortellesi plays a wife and mother of three children in post-war Italy who, thanks to a mysterious letter, discovers that there can be a better life.
“Holiday” by Edoardo Gabbriellini
The second film is “Holiday” by Edoardo Gabbriellini, a noir set among Generation Z teenagers. It is produced by Luca Guadagnino and features Margherita Corradi, Giorgia Frank, Alessandro Tedeschi, Alice Arcuri, Alessia Giuliani, Flavio Furno, Massimo Mesciulam, Alessio De Persio, Alessio Raffaghelli, Francesca Maselli, Anna Argenti, and Asia Spina. Set in Genoa, the story follows Veronica, an eighteen-year-old girl accused of killing her mother and her lover, who is released from prison. With the help of her friend Giada, she tries to navigate the world, the media, and an interrupted adolescence.
“Mi fanno male i capelli” by Roberta Torre
The third Italian film in competition, among the 18 films, is “Mi fanno male i capelli” by Roberta Torre, starring Alba Rohrwacher and Filippo Timi. “It is not a film about Monica Vitti, as I have heard people say,” explains the festival’s artistic director, Paola Malanga, “it is a tribute.” The plot tells the story of a beautiful blonde lady on the beach, footprints, waves, she collects something from the sand. Then she approaches a young man and tells him she is lost. A man watches her from a nearby house: Monica is losing her memory, Edoardo, her husband, tenderly accompanies her through the lives she reconstructs through Monica Vitti’s films, such as “La notte,” “L’eclisse,” “Deserto rosso,” “Teresa la ladra,” “Amore mio aiutami,” and “Polvere di stelle.” Antonioni, Michele Placido, Alberto Sordi, whom she dialogues with through a mirror, clothes, hats, feelings, and wanderings. After many stories from the South and Riccardo Shakespearean and his fabulous ladies, Roberta Torre elegantly, with participation and discretion, sketches a tribute to Monica Vitti and the power of dreams. Alba Rohrwacher twirls between memories and illusions, while a poignant Filippo Timi tries to hold her in our world.