Italian film Summertime (L’estate Addosso) from director Gabrielle Muccino will play as part of the 2017 Lavazza Italian Film Festival at Cinema Paradiso and Luna SX this coming September.

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The film tells the story of a gay couple living in San Francisco who take in two teens traveling from Italy to start a new life in America. The four become fast friends and embark on enthusiastic explorations of love, life, and themselves, trying to discover and define who they are during a summer they’ll never forget.

The film is the latest work from Muccino, one of Italy’s most successful directors who has also made several successful films in the USA. After establishing himself in his native Italy, Muccino launched his US career making The Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds with Will Smith.

He later made Playing for Keeps starring Gerard Butler, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jessica Biel and Dennis Quaid, and Fathers and Daughters starring Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried.

Summertime is his first Italian feature since he started making movies in America over a decade ago.

Check out the film’s Italian trailer

Other films appearing in the festival include;

Fortuna starring Jasmine Trinca (Wondrous Boccaccio LIFF’15) in a performance that earned her the Best Actress Award in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and the Best Lead Actress Award at this weeks Nastri d’Argento Awards. Sergio Castellitto’s emotionally charged tale of a single mother fighting for her independence will captivate audiences. Also stars Stefano Accorsi (HBO’s The Young Pope).

Box-office smash hit and 2017 Nastri d’Argento Award winner for Best Comedy It’s the Law! (L’ora Legale) from directing duo Salvo Ficarra and Valentino Piconet about small town politics in the Sicilian village of Pietrammare where the tainted leadership of a crooked mayor is set to be challenged. The ensemble cast includes Ficarra and Picone alongside Vincenzo Amato, Leo Gullotta, Tony Sperandeo and Antonio Catania.

From the director of Welcome to the South (LIFF ’11) and Welcome to the North (LIFF ’12) Luca Miniero comes the hilarious new comedy Messy Christmas (Non C’e Piu Religione) set on the small island of Porto Buio where the town mayor (Claudio Bisio, What a Beautiful Surprise LIFF ‘15) enlists the help of local Islam convert Bilal (Alessandro Gassman, God Willing LIFF ‘15) to find a child to play baby Jesus in the traditional Christmas nativity scene… but as the island birth rate has been zero for years the only solution may be to change Jesus’ nationality, and even his religion!

Directed by Massimo Gaudioso, screenwriter of numerous Italian films such as Tale of Tales  (LIFF ’15) and Gomorrah, comes An Almost Perfect Marriage (Un Paese Quasi Perfetto) starring Silvio Orlando (HBO’s The Young Pope, The Human Factor LIFF ‘14). Set in the stunning mountains of the Lucan Dolomites of Southern Italy, this small town is deserted by most of its youth leaving just a small group of ex-miners. But when a new factory is announced, this could be the solution to all the town’s problems.

Winner of the Italian Golden Globe for Best Comedy, Francesco Amato’s Let Yourself Go stars Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty LIFF ’13) as a Jewish psychoanalyst who lives on the same floor as his ex-wife Giovanna. After a minor illness, his doctor prescribes physical activity and at the gym he meets Claudia, a personal trainer who will change his life.

Mirko Frezza plays a hardened ex-con who returns to his working-class Rome suburb in the moving drama I Was a Dreamer (Il Piu Grande Sogno), directed by Michele Vannucci and starring Alessandro Borghi (Don’t Be Bad LIFF ‘16, Fortunata LIFF ‘17). But the path to redemption is difficult when your father is a criminal and temptation is around every corner.

The feature debut from Simone Godano Wife & Husband (Moglie e Marito) is a body-swap comedy starring Pierfrancesco Favino (Suburra) and Kasia Smutniak (Perfect Strangers LIFF ‘16) as Andrea and Sofia. After ten years of marriage they are on the verge of divorce but when a scientific experiment leaves their bodies seemingly irreversibly swapped, they have no choice but to live each other’s lives… and they are in for some surprises.

Benedict Cumberbatch narrates the fascinating documentary Naples ’44 (Napoli ’44) adapted from British Intelligence Officer Norman Lewis’s memoir. Lewis entered war-torn Naples with the American Fifth Army in 1943 at the end of WWII observing the complex social cauldron of a city that contrived every day the most incredible ways of fighting to survive. This is a powerful condemnation of the horrors of war.

Giuseppe Piccioni’s These Days (Questi Giorni), follows four young women on a road trip to Belgrade in an adventure which will mark a turning point in their lives. Featuring Margherita Buy (Me, Myself & Her LIFF ‘16) alongside Filippo Timi (Vincere LIFF ‘09) and Sergio Rubini (Mafia & Red Tomatoes LIFF ‘15).

Director Lisa Azuelos confirms her status as a strong director of actors, with Italian model-turned-actress Sveva Alviti, stealing the show in every scene of Dalida. Based on the true story of acclaimed music icon “Dalida” who gained celebrity in the 50s, singing in Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew and German – she had a repertoire of hits as vast and varied as her private life was tumultuous and tragic. Also starring Italian heartthrob Riccardo Scamarcio (Wondrous Boccaccio LIFF ‘15) as her brother Orlando.

Available for school bookings is From Naples with Love (Troppo Napoletano) a joyous romantic comedy about Ciro, an 11-year old kid who falls head-over-heels for a new girl at school and loses his once healthy appetite causing his panicked mother Barbara (singer Serena Rossi) to take him to a child psychologist!

OIP Staff