ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2009 - 6th - 8th March
Festival Movies include....
* Her Whole Life Ahead (Tutta La Vita Davanti) - Friday 7.30pm
* Wild Blood (Sanguepazzo) - Saturday 4pm
* Lessons In Chocolate (Lezioni Di Cioccolato) - Saturday 7pm
* Days & Clouds (Giorno E Nuvole) - Sunday 4.3pm


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Title: Lessons In Chocolate (Lezioni Di Cioccolato)
Rating: 18 years and over (1hr 40m)
Country: Italy
When: Saturday 7th March 7.00pm
Adults $12.00; Concessions $9.00; Member/Child $8.50
We regret complimentary passes are not valid for festival screenings

Director: Claudio Cupellini
Cast: Luca Argentero, Violante Placido, Neri Marcor, Hassan Shapi, Josefia Forl, Monica Scattini, Francesco Pannofino

Winner of Best Comedy and Best Actress (Violante Placido) at the 2007 Monte Carlo Comedy Film Festival, Lessons In Chocolate is a fresh and delightful comedy where humour and pathos are mixed in the right proportions.

Mattia, a building contractor in Perugia on a promising career path, is about to close the biggest deal of his professional life, when his illegally-hired worker Kamal is badly injured when he falls off some scaffolding. Karim threatens to sue him unless Mattia takes his place in an advanced chocolate making course! Kamal had came to Italy from his native Egypt to realize his dream of opening his own pastry shop, needing a diploma to do so, and now Mattia has no choice but to take Kamal's place in the school and pretend to be him. But there, Mattia meets the model student Cecilia, who for her part, is anything but indifferent to his charm... Among laughs, misunderstandings and mouth-watering recipes, Mattia will discover a way to bring his and Kamal's disparate cultures together while finding love and life at the same time.

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Title: Days and Clouds (Giorno E Nuvole)
Rating: 18 years and over (2hrs)
Country: Italy
When: Sunday 8th March 4.30pm
Adults $12.00; Concessions $9.00; Member/Child $8.50
We regret complimentary passes are not valid for festival screenings

Director: Silvio Soldini
Cast: Margherita Buy, Antonio Albanese, Giuseppe Battiston, Alba Caterina Rohrwacher, Carla Signoris, Fabio Troiano

Popular writer-director Silvio Soldini (Bread and Tulips, Agatha and the Storm) returns with another beautifully made gem to savour. This thoughtful and absorbing drama brilliantly renders an increasingly familiar nightmare: an upper middle-class family whose comfortable lives suddenly disappear. The day after a lavish birthday party, Elsa discovers that her husband Michele was out-manouvered by his former partners and pushed out of the company he helped found. He hasn't worked in months. Soon, the altered circumstances begin to bite, causing a schism in the marriage, and further strain with their 20-year-old daughter.

Margherita Buy, one of Italy's greatest actresses, is simply magnificent in the lead role in this honest and ultimately optimistic film about commitment. The cast is uniformly great, with Buy collecting the David di Donatello Award for Best Actress, and Rohrwacher for Best Supporting Actress.

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Title: Her Whole Life Ahead (Tuta La Vita Davanti)
Rating: 18 years and over (2hrs)
Country: Italy
When: Friday 6th March 7.30pm
(Tickets includes finger food & entertainment from 6.00pm - bookings essential, limited seating)

Director: Paolo Virz
Cast: Isabella Ragonese, Sabrina Ferilli, Elio Germano, Valerio Mastandrea, Massimo Ghini, Micaela Ramazzotti,

"Hands down one of the best Italian comedies in recent years." - Variety

This acclaimed, irresistible new film from Paolo Virzi, is a sharp and witty satire that centres on the lives, loves and struggles of the employees of an Italian call centre. Marta is a brilliant philosophy graduate who can't manage to secure work in her chosen field. A chance encounter with a young mother leads her to a part-time position as a telemarketer. Her new workplace, led by the outrageous Daniela, fosters a distinctly American style of motivational exercises and cutthroat sales techniques, but incongruously, Marta takes to her new job like a fish to water. On the surface, with its surreal juxtaposition of motivational psychology and reality-show feel, Virz's vision is more whimsical comedy than biting reportage. But like other masters of the popular 'commedia all'italiana' genre, Virz's underlying critique of Italian society pulls no punches.

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Title: Wild Blood (Sanguepazzo)
Rating: 18 years and over (2hrs 30m)
Country: Italy
When: Saturday 7th March 4.00pm
Adults $12.00; Concessions $9.00; Member/Child $8.50
We regret complimentary passes are not valid for festival screenings

Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
Cast: Monica Bellucci, Luca Zingaretti, Alessio Boni, Maurizio Donadoni, Giovanni Visentin, Luigi Diberti, Paolo Bonanni

WINNER - Franois Chalais Award, Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2008

In Sanguepazzo -- which premiered to a ten-minute standing ovation at Cannes -- Marco Tullio Giordana uses modern-day stars Monica Bellucci and Luca Zingaretti to portray the renowned actors of Fascist cinema, Luisa Ferida and Osvaldo Valenti. The heart of this film is Luisa, ambitious, principled and in love with two men: seducer and gambler Osvaldo and Golfiero, the gay director who makes her a star. With Golfiero unattainable, Luisa and Osvaldo soon become inseparable companions. Eventually, Golfiero joins the Resistance movement as Osvaldo - addicted as much to fame and his self-importance as he is to drugs - opportunistically allies himself with the Fascists. Giordana strikes several universal, timeless notes here: the proximity of show business to power and the fact that celebrities are equally loved and loathed for the very excesses that bring them fame - talent, fearlessness or recklessness.

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All festival films are restricted to persons 18 years of age and over. We regret complimentary passes are not valid for festival screenings. All films have English Subtitles.

Festival Opening - Friday, 6th March

Funzione from 6.00pm - ticket price includes finger food; complimentary glass of sparkling wine and entertainment . RESERVED SEATING FOR OPENING NIGHT - bookings are essential due to limited capacity.

Festival Movies include....
* Her Whole Life Ahead (Tutta La Vita Davanti) - Friday 7.30pm
* Wild Blood (Sanguepazzo) - Saturday 4pm
* Lessons In Chocolate (Lezioni Di Cioccolato) - Saturday 7pm
* Days & Clouds (Giorno E Nuvole) - Sunday 4.3pm

Phone 5475 7777 to book your Opening Night ticket...

Title: ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2009
Rating: 18 years and over
Country: Italy
When: 6th - 8th March

Downloadables:
"Italian Film Festival 2009" Front of Brochure
"Italian Film Festival 2009" Back of Brochure

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2009 Film Club Memberships - available now

Membership entitlements include:

*Discounted tickets to every movie -- adult tickets are normally $12, however when you show your membership card, you receive your ticket for $8.50

*2 free movie tickets -- these tickets can be used by you or you are welcome to invite a friend to use these free tickets at any session over the year, however they cannot be used on the first Sunday of each month which is Film Club Night

*Monthly newsletter -- posted to members at the end of each month which lists the movies and screening dates for the upcoming movies. The newsletter also has movie reviews and any information relevant for Film Club members

*Invitation to Film Club Nights -- on the first Sunday of each month we hold a special function for Film Club members which include a screening of an art-house movie and a catered get-together where you are offered a complimentary glass of wine. Additional glasses can be purchased at just $4.50 per glass, alternatively the bar is open for beer and other alcoholic beverages.

* Invitation to Film Discussion Groups - in-formal, fun discussions with like-minded movie goers

Phone us now to join - 5475 7777 (business hours) - or bring your membership form and payment along with you to the February Film Club Function

Yearly Subscription: $38 (Year: March 08 - March 09)
**** ADDED BONUS: Start using your 2009 membership from 1 February 2009

Visit the website: http://www.mve.org.au/cinema/film_club.html