Italian Film Festival 2022 Opening Night
Palace Cinemas
Sydney, Australia
13 September 2022
A highlight for film buffs on the annual cinema circuit is ST. Ali’s Italian Film Festival, which in 2022 incarnated again presented by Palace Cinemas in all major cities on terra australis.
While there is no shortage of country-specific film festivals in Australia, the Italian variant is a league above and an exercise par excellence in terms of truly celebrating the essence of the country’s filmmaking tradition.
Each year the well-curated program runs the gamut with not merely covering contemporary flics and documentaries, but dedicated retrospectives paying homage to the greats of Italy’s grand directors as well as idiosyncratic comedies like the Opening Night’s Belli Ciao, starring comedic duo Pio and Amedeo in the respective roles as formerly inseparable friends reuniting after years of separation in what culminates in a humorous culture clash between the country’s North and South.
The retrospectives are a personal favourite of each year’s programming and with Pier Pasolini being the focus of 2022, three of his most iconic cinematic literary adaptions, i.e. The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron and Arabian Nights, are presented in a bid to shed light on the century of his birth and form a highlight of the festival, which is complemented by Sophia Loren-starring classics and counterpointed by present-day motion pictures, resulting in an impressive and well-curated melange of thirty-seven movies.
Not unlike it was the case in previous years, the Opening Night of the Italian Film Fest is never not a joyous and vibrant affair that creates a tangible buzz that sets the scene and serves as a prelude to experiencing the magic of cinema.
