From December 13 to 17 Riga will host the New Italian Cinema Festival for the second year in a row, offering audiences the opportunity to watch recent movies by eight emerging Italian directors at cinema "Splendid Palace", in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in Riga and N.I.C.E. New Italian Cinema Events.

 

“Italian cinema is alive and kicking” according to the Ambassador of Italy to Latvia, Alessandro Monti. “N.I.C.E. returns to Riga to offer Latvian movie-lovers a glimpse into the creativity of the younger generation of Italian directors”.

 

“N.I.C.E. New italian Cinema Festival is a much-awaited event in our cinema. It is an opportunity not only to see films, but also to inspire conversations with young Italian filmmakers. It encourages new cooperation between our countries,” says Daira Āboliņa, the artistic director of cinema "Splendid Palace".

 

The Festival features eight movies: “Fireworks” by Giuseppe Fiorello, “Me and Spotty” by Cosimo Gomez, “The Grand Bolero” by Gabriele Fabbro, “An Italian gourmet crime story" by Davide Minnella, “Like Turtles” by Monica Dugo, “Olympia’s Way” by Corrado Ceron, “Amanda” by Carolina Cavalli and “The Last Night of Amore” by Andrea Di Stefano. Directors Cosimo Gomez, Gabriele Fabbro and Monica Dugo will be in Riga to meet the audience at the end of the screenings of their movies in Splendid Palace.

 

The program

The Festival will open on December 13 at 18:00 with director Giuseppe Fiorello's drama "Fireworks" (Stranizza d'amuri). The movie is inspired by the tragic double murder committed in the Sicilian town of Giarre in 1980 that took the lives of two young boys killed because of their homosexuality. The movie will be followed by an online Q&A session with the director. Surreal comedy "Me and Spotty" (Io e Spotty) will be shown on the same day at 20:45: before and after the screening, director Cosimo Gomez will meet the audience present at Splendid Palace.  

 

On December 14 at 18:00, director Gabriele Fabbro will be present at the screening of his feature film "The Grand Bolero". MovieMaker magazine has named Fabbro one of the most popular Italian contemporary screenwriters. On the same day at 20:30 Davide Minnella's comedy "An Italian gourmet crime story" (La Cena Perfetta) will be screened. The movie tells the story of a kind-hearted mafia guy who runs a restaurant and a young chef striving for perfection: when they meet, they discover that they share a love for food and a dream of earning a Michelin star. The screening will start by an online Q&A session with the director.

 

Friday 15 December will be dedicated to education: directors Cosimo Gomez, Monica Dugo and Gabriele Fabbro will meet the students of the National Film School of the Latvian Culture Academy.

 

During the weekend, on December 16 at 18:00, director Monica Dugo's debut film "Like Turtles" (Come le Tartarughe) will be screened: Dugo will meet the audience before and after the screening. At 20:30 it will be the time of comedy "Olympia's Way" (Acqua e Anice) by Corrado Ceron, which tells the story of an elderly pop singer, Olympia, suffering from dementia and her journey with a young girl to the places and people who loved her and made her a star.

 

The festival will close on December 17, offering viewers the opportunity to watch director Carolina Cavalli's first feature film, comedy "Amanda" (Amanda) at 18:00 (after the screening online Q&A with the film's director) and director Andrea Di Stefano's thriller "Last Night of Amore" (L’ultima Notte d’Amore) at 20:30.

 

Movies are in Italian with English subtitles and Latvian voiceover. Admission to screenings is free with the purchase of a 0.00 EUR ticket at www.splendidpalace.lv and at the "Splendid Palace" cinema box office.

 

About N.I.C.E.

 

Riga is part of the international journey of N.I.C.E. as the festival takes place every year in numerous locations. “N.I.C.E. Festival is now in its 33rd edition and we hope we will able to repeat the success recorded over three decades of events around the world. Always keeping its mission well in mind, N.I.C.E. has succeeded in creating a series of recurring events capable of making the new Italian auteur cinema known around the globe” comments Viviana Del Bianco, artistic director of the Festival. “What drives us forward year after year is the great attention and open approach that international audiences have always showed towards our initiatives and to all new things in visual culture”.

 

In 2023 N.I.C.E. started his journey from the US with events in New York, Philadelphia and Washington: it will close its year of cinema in Florence for the Donatella Carmi Bartolozzi Prize, when the winner of this year’s edition will be announced. In between, NICE has travelled the world through the cooperation of the Italian diplomatic, consular and cultural network - touching base in several cities including Baku, Dubai, Dublin and Riga.

N.I.C.E. is animated by a small but very active staff that spends its energy to ensure that new Italian cinema is known and appreciated around the world. The Festival is supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Municipality of Florence, Tuscany Region and Rai Cinema.

 

“The films selected for 2023 include works from established directors and first and second works of great value, ranging from comedy to drama, proving how, despite the difficulties of recent years, Italian authors are more active and motivated than ever,” says Viviana Del Bianco, artistic director of the Festival.

 

Films will be shown in Italian with English subtitles and simultaneous translation into Latvian.

 

Films are screened with the support of the Italian Embassy in Latvia and N.I.C.E.  Italian Film festival support.

 

 

FIREWORK (STRANIZZA D’AMURI)

 

Director: Giuseppe Fiorello
Cast: Gabriele Pizzurro, Samuele Segreto, Fabrizia Sacchi, Simona Malato, Enrico Roccaforte, Antonio De Matteo, Roberto Salemi, Giuseppe Spata, Anita Pomario, Alessio Simonetti, Raffaele Cordiano, Giuditta Vasile
Screenplay: Andrea Cedrola, Carlo Salsa, Giuseppe Fiorello, Josella Porto
Cinematography: Ramiro Civita
Editing: Federica Forcesi
Set Design: Paola Peraro
Costumes design: Nicoletta Taranta
Music: Giovanni Caccamo, Leonardo Milani
Producer: Eleonora Pratelli, Riccardo Di Pasquale
Production: Iblafilm, Fenix Entertainment, Rai Cinema, con il supporto/with support by Ministero della Cultura
Distribution Italy : Bim Distribuzione [Italia]
Distribution World sales: Pulsar Content [Francia]
Country: Italia / Year: 2023/ Film run: 134’

 

June 1982, Sicily. While Italians dream of winning the World Cup, two adolescents dream of living their love story without fear. Gianni, 17, is bullied because of his homosexuality but his life changes when he meets by accident Nino, 16, a captivating and innocent boy. The profound friendship they develop will without embarrassment turn into love, as they start working together for Nino’s father, shooting fireworks. When their bond is discovered by their families, the consequences are as violent as the times and mores are conservative. The two teenagers are separated by force but ready to challenge everything and everyone, convinced their love can defeat death.

 

BIOGRAPHY (Catania 1969) 
Fiorello was born in Catania, Sicily, the youngest of four children. In 1994, Giuseppe began his career in the entertainment business as a disk jockey on the nationally-aired Dee Jay Radio, using the name Fiorellino. That same year, he made his debut on
television as a presenter for the Mediaset programme Karaoke. Four years later in 1998, he made his screen debut in the film L'ultimo capodanno, directed by Marco Risi. He played the part of Gaetano Malacozza. Since then he has performed regularly in films and television fiction, as actor and/or writer : L'uomo sbagliato, Joe Petrosino, La vita rubata, Giuseppe Moscati, Lo scandalo della Banca Romana and Volare in which he portrayed singer Domenico Modugno, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Terraferma, and Fireworks (2023).

 

AN ITALIAN GOURMET CRIME STORY (LA CENA PERFETTA)

 

Directed by: Davide Minnella
Cast: Salvatore Esposito, Greta Scarano, Gianluca Colucci aka Fru, Gianfranco Gallo, Antonella Attili, Antonio Grosso
Screenplay: Stefano Sardo, Giordana Mari, Gianluca Bernardini Fotografia / Cinematography: Fulvio Lucisano, Federica Lucisano
Editing: Sara Petracca:
Set Design: Cristiana Scipioni
Costumes design: Grazia Materia Musica/Music: Michele Braga Produttore / Producer: Fulvio Lucisano, Federica Lucisano
Production: IIF - Lucisano Media Group, Vision Distribution, con il contributo/supported by Ministero della Cultura
Distribution Italy: Vision Distribution Italy Distribuzione estera / World Sales: Vision Distribution (Italy)
Country: Italy/ Year 2022 / Film run , 90’ 
Italian Film Festival - Australia 2022: New Italian Cinema

 

Carmine is a good-hearted mafia guy who runs a money-laundering restaurant. Consuelo is a chef in search of perfection. When they connect, they discover they share a love for food and the dream of winning a Michelin star. This odd relationship will give them both a second chance and an opportunity for redemption.

 

BIOGRAPHY
Davide Minella (Gallipoli, 1979). Director, screenwriter and television author. Degree in Public Relations from Iulm in Milan, Mediaset Fiction School and the Fandango Laboratory of Film Direction and Production. In 2014 he made Ci Vorrebbe un Miracolo. He won numerous awards in Italy and abroad. Come si Deve has been presented at the 60th Berlin Film Festival and Special Mention for Screenplay at the 2011 Nastri D'Argento, and finally Potere dell'Oro Rosso, a special event at the 2015 Rome Film Festival and winner of more than 100 awards.

 

AMANDA (Amanda) 

 

Directed by: Carolina Cavalli 
Cast: Benedetta Porcaroli, Galatea Bellugi, Michele Bravi, Monica Nappo, Margherita Missoni, Giovanna Mezzogiorno 
Screenplay: Carolina Cavalli
Cinematography: Lorenzo Levrini 
Editing: Babak Jalali 
Set Design: Martino Bonanomi 
Costumes design: Francesca Cibischino 
Music: Niccolò Contessa 
Producer: Annamaria Morelli, Antonio Celsi, Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Gangarossa, Moreno Zani, Malcom Pagani 
Production: Elsinore Film, Wildside, I Wonder Pictures, Charades, Tenderstories, Ministero della Cultura, with the support of Film Fund Luxembourg, Eurimages, Regione Campania, Toscana Film Commission
Distribution Italy: I Wonder Pictures [Italia], Curzon Film [Irlanda], Oscilloscope Stati Uniti
Distribution World Sales: Charades [Francia] Paese / Country: Italy/ Year 2022 / Film run: 93’

 

Amanda, 24, lives mostly isolated and has never had any friends, even if it’s the thing she wants the most. When she discovers that as toddlers her and Rebecca used to spend a lot of time together, Amanda chooses her new mission: to convince her that they are still best friends.

 

BIOGRAPHY Carolina Cavalli (Milano), actress, writer and director. In 2018 she won the Solinas Experimenta Serie award and shot the pilot of Mi Hanno Sputato nel Milkshake (Rai Fiction, Premio Solinas, Tapeless Film) as staff-writer and co-director. Since 2018 she has been working as staff-writer and co-scriptwriter for TV series and independent feature films (supported by Mibact, 4) MEDIA / Creative Europe Grant, Rai Cinema Development fund). In Fall 2022 will see the release of his first novel, Metropolitania .

 

 

OLIMPIA’S WAY (ACQUA E ANICE) 

 

Directed by: Corrado Ceron 
Cast: Stefania Sandrelli, Silvia D'Amico, Paolo Rossi, Luisa De Santis, Diego Facciotti, Paolo Cioni, Giancarlo Previati, Stefano Bicocchi aka Vito 
Screenplay: Federico Fava, Corrado Ceron, Valentina Zanella 
Cinematography: Massimo Moschin 
Editing: Davide Vizzini 
Set Design: Massimo Pauletto 
Costumes design: Marzia Paparini 
Music: Daniele Benati, Claudio Zanoni 
Producer: Nicola Fedrigoni, Valentina Zanella 
Production: K+, RaiCinema , wid supported by Emilia-Romagna Film Commission and Toscana Film Commision 
Distribution Italy: Fandango Distribuzione
Distribution World Sales: Fandango [Italia] 
Country: Italy/ Year 2023 / Film run 115' 
La Biennale di Venezia 2022: Giornate degli Autori - Eventi Speciali

 

An elderly pop singer, suffering from dementia, sets out on a journey to the people who loved her and to the places that made her a star. She hires a girl with little life experience as a driver and escort. The two women will learn to love each other, until the girl understands that the singer is asking her to be much more than a driver. Because she hasn't told anyone that that trip, for her, will be her last.

 

BIOGRAPHY Corrado Ceron (Vicenza, 1980) Obtained a philosophy degree at the Catholic University in Milan and then a degree in film directing in Rome. In 2013, he directed Un amore di plastica, which earned him the prize for best short film at the Social World Film Festival in Vico Equense. The following year, as an assistant director, he tackled the feature film Diminuta by Bruno Saglia. In 2015, he helmed the short Scorciatoie, which won numerous awards at festivals. The year after, the screenplay for Zanzare, which he co-wrote with Federico Fava, was shortlisted for the Solinas Award. In 2018, Ceron directed the short film Apnea, which took home the top prize at the inaugural edition of the Vertical Movie Festival in Rome.

 

 

SPOTTY & ME (IO E SPOTTY) 

 

Directed by : Cosimo Gomez 
Cast: Michela De Rossi, Filippo Scotti, Paola Minaccioni, Violetta Zironi, Alessia Giuliani, Laura Dondoli, Rosa Canova, Gelsomina Pascucci, Mario Russo, Giacomo Tamburini, Stefano Bicocchi aka Vito 
Screenplay: Cosimo Gomez, Luca Infascelli
Cinematography: Francesca Amitrano 
Editing: Federico Maria Maneschi 
Set Design: Noemi Marchica 
Costumes Design: Ginevra De Carolis 
Music: Pivio, Aldo De Scalzi 
Producer : Carlo Macchitella, Antonio Manetti, Marco Manetti, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio Production: Mompracem, Rai Cinema, Ministero della Cultura, with the support of: Film Fund Luxembourg, Eurimages, Regione Campania, Toscana Film Commission
Distribution Italy: Adler Entertainment -Italia
Distribution World Sales: Illmatic Film Group - Italia Paese / Country: Italy/ Year 2022/ Film run: 90’
Taormina Film Fest 2022: In Concorso - Premio della Giuria Popolare

 

Matteo, 27 old, is a motion graphic designer for a production cartoon film company in Bologna. He is introvert, speaks very little, and almost grumpy. In his solitary universe, he gets back from work and gets dressed as a dog and pretends to be Spotty, doing a perfect imitation of an anthropomorphic dog, a role that makes him feel good with himself, unlike when he is just a “human being”. One day Matteo posts a search online for a dog sitter. Eva replies, a 25-year-old off site student, who lives a chaotic life, loses small jobs one after the other and has only highly improbable romances. After overcoming the initial embarrassment of Spotty’s true nature, surprisingly over the weeks, a special challenging relation begins between the two of them.

 

BIOGRAPHY (Firenze, 1965)
Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in the set design section. Assistant set designers started in cinema and opera working with great masters such as Ermanno Olmi, Giuliano Montaldo, Franco Zeffirelli. Since 2002 he began writing several set designs for films and dramas, (to date over twenty). In 2012, he won the Premio Solinas - Storie per il cinema. in 2017, as author and director with the film Brutti e Cattivi and in competition at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, in the Orizzonti section and received six David di Donatello nominations, including best first-time director, four Golden Globe nominations and two Nastri D’argento nominations.

 

 

LAST NIGHT OF AMORE (L’ULTIMA NOTTE D’AMORE)

 

Directed by : Andrea di Stefano 
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Linda Caridi, Antonio Gerardi, Francesco Di Leva, Camilla Semino Favro, Martin Francisco Montero Baez, Mauro Milone, Carlo Gallo, Mauro Negri, Fabrizio Rocchi, Katia Mironova, Chandra Perkins 
Screenplay: Andrea Di Stefano
Cinematography: Guido Michelotti 
Editing: Giogiò Franchini 
Set Design: Carmine Guarino 
Costumes Design: Olivia Bellini 
Music: Santi Pulvirenti 
Producer: Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Gabriele Moratti, Marco Colombo, Marco Cohen, Benedetto Habib, Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli 
Production: Indiana Production, MeMo Films, Adler Entertainment, Vision Distribution 
Distribution Vision Distribution [Italy], Squareone Entertainment [Austria], Universal Pictures [France], Squareone Entertainment [Germany], Squareone Entertainment [Switzerland]
Country: Italy/ Year 2022 /Film run: 124’
Berlinale 2023: Berlinale Special Gala
Universal Pictures International [Stati Uniti], Focus Features International [Stati Uniti]

 

On the night before his retirement, the Franco Amore lieutenant is called to investigate a crime scene where his best friend and long-time partner Dino has been killed during a diamond heist. We soon find out that Amore was involved in the diamond heist and learn how the love of his wife Viviana will help him survive this fatal night.

 

BIOGRAPHY – ( Roma, 1972 ) Among his films as director, interpreter, screenwriter, we remember. L'ultima notte di Amore (2023), Escobar (2014), Contronatura (2005), Cuore Sacro (2005), A luci spente (2004),Almost Blue (2000), Prima che sia notte (2000), Il fantasma dell'opera (1998), Il principe di Homburg (1996), remember: Bang Bang Baby (2022).

 

 

THE GRAND BOLERO (THE GRAND BOLERO)

 

Directed by: Gabriele Fabbro
Cast: Lidia Vitale, Ludovica Mancini, Marcello Mariani, Filippo Prandi
Screenplay: Gabriele Fabbro, Ydalie Turk
Cinematography: Jessica La Malfa
Editing: Gabriele Fabbro
Set Design: Serena Viganò
Costumes Design: Music: Martino Lurani Cernuschi, Sean Goldman
Producer: Gabriele Fabbro, Fulvio Biavaschi Produzione / Production: G&F Pictures
Distribution Italy: gfpictureswebsite@gmail.com
Distribution World Sales : gfpictureswebsite@gmail.com
Country: Italy/ Year 2022 /Film run:90’

 

During the covid-19 lockdown in Italy, Roxanne, a cynical mid aged pipe organ cleaner struggles to control her impulsive attraction to her new 20 years old mute assistant.

 

Biography Gabriele Fabbro ( Milan 1996 ) 
Named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the top 2022's screenwriters to watch, Gabriele Fabbro was born in 1996, in Milan, Italy. He's a film director with a BFA degree in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy. Since 2011, he wrote, directed and produced over 30 productions including features, short films, music videos and commercials. Among his most recent works, he directed the music video "If You Run (2020)" for Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age). His latest short film "8 (2019)" screened at the 76 Venice Film Festival and his first feature film "The Grand Bolero (2021)", premiered at the 2021 Austin Film Festival, was one 2022's most awarded features from Italy and was in competition for the David di Donatello Awards, Italy's equivalent to the Oscars.

 

 

LIKE TURTLES (COME LE TARTARUGHE)

 

Directed by: Monica Dugo
Cast: Monica Dugo, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Edoardo Boschetti, Francesco Gheghi, Angelo Libri, Sandra Collodel, Annalisa Insardà
Cinematography: Gianni Mammolotti
Editing: Paola Teaverso
Set Design: Emanuela Zappacosta
Costumes Design: Nicoletta Taranta
Music: Pier Cortese
Producer: Cinzia Rutson
Production: Do-Go & C. Production, Biennale College Cinema
Distribution Italy: Illmatic Film Group [Italia]
Country:Italy / Year 2022 / Film run 82'

 

Daniele, Lisa, Sveva and Paolo, an apparently perfect middle-class family in a beautiful house in the historic center of Rome One day the husband empties the closet and leaves away. The empty wardrobe becomes, for Lisa, the ideal place to take refuge and work out the separation.

 

Biography Monica Dugo is known as an Actor, Screenplay, and Director. 
Monica Dugo is known for Come le tartarughe (2022), Romanzo siciliano (2016) and Domani Smetto (2015)