The full program of the popular Australian festival is finally available. It includes 37 feature films and 2 short films, with 33 Australian Premieres.
But the program has many more gems and surprises, including some retrospectives.
This year’s Special Presentations include the 2018 winner of Best Original Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival, Alice Rohrwacher’s third film Happy as Lazzaro (Lazzaro felice); and from Matteo Garrone, the director of Gomorrah comes Dogman - the Cannes Film Festival award-winning tale of a dog-lover in desolate Southern Italy who is driven to terrifying extremes by a violent local bully.
There will also be comedy, for instance the winner of the 2018 Best Comedy Nastro d’Argento award Like a Cat on a Highway (Come un gatto in tangenziale), and the box-office hit Couple Therapy for Cheaters (Terapia di coppia per amanti) which sees a pair of cheaters end up on a therapist’s couch to resolve their relationship crisis.
Among the films on offer, The Last Prosecco (Finché c'è prosecco c'è speranza), by Antonio Padovan, is a comedic mystery which follows a seemingly bumbling inspector (Giuseppe Battiston) who tries to solve the death of a local Prosecco wine maker.
And this year there will be a Festival guest coming from Italy, Turin-born actress Valeria Solarino, who features in the film As Needed, (pictured below), There’s No Place Like Home and I Can Quit Whenever I Want 3: Ad honorem.
The 19th edition of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival will be opening in Sydney on September 11 with Paolo Sorrentino's Loro. The festival will be closed by the most famous of all Italian horror movies Suspiria (1977), by Dario Argento.
Last but not least, this year the Lavazza Italian Film Festival will celebrate the work of renowned Turkish-Italian director and scriptwriter Ferzan Özpetek.
The Lavazza Italian Film Festival will be presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney: 11 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinemas, Palace Central
Canberra: 12 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Electric Cinemas
Melbourne: 13 Sept – 7 Oct, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Kino
Cinemas, The Astor Theatre
