Italian Cinema will be represented by seven films at the next 61° BFI London Film Festival (October 4-15th), one of the major European festivals sponsored by the prestigious British Film Institute, a world-class institute for the propagation and preservation of the Seventh art. An eclectic and disturbing selection, which also features Dario Argento’s cult film Suspiria, 40 years after the creation presented in the section - precisely - 'Cult'.
Gianni Amelio's Holding Hands will have its European premiere in the 'Love' section while Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name which premiered at Sundance moving on to Berlin and now Toronto continues to make its Festival rounds as it will be presented here in London at the Mayor’s Gala in the presence of the Mayor of London who coincidentally is also the director of the Suspiria remake still to be released.
Two second works, in the 'Giving' section, come from Cannes, opposite in style, yet both linked to the coming of age novel set in Italy’s deep South: A Ciambra by Jonas Carpignano (to be released in Italian theatres today) and Sicilian Ghost Story by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.
It is significant that the great international festivals recognize and appreciate the narrative courage of authors whose film making steers away from established schemes to tell actual stories. This also applies to Vincenzo Marra's Equilibrium (section: Journey) after being presented in Giornate degli Autori at the upcoming Venice Festival, where the land of fires is told with more than a hundred-story sequences. From Venice  arrives also Nico, 1988 di Susanna Nicchiarelli.
Also worth mentioning are Italian coproductions Looking for Oum Kulthum by Shirin Neshat from Venice Days and Toronto and Three Peaks by Jan Zabeil, already shown in Locarno and next Toronto.
The London Festival acknowledges an Italian cinema able to overcome, with two highly respected and widely loved masters such as Amelio and Argento, two well-known "traveling" directors such as Guadagnino and Marra, and two more recent experiences which have gained international attention Such as directors Carpignano and Grassadonia & Piazza. An acknowledgment from a festival that for over 60 years has shown tradition, mobility and a varied look at different cultures.
The presence of films and talents at the London Festival is organized by Filmitalia dept' of Istituto Luce Cinecittà.
>Click here< for full info about selected films.