The ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL BANGKOK celebrates in 2019 the 5th edition organized by Dante Alighieri Cultural Association – Bangkok, with main sponsorship of Generali Thailand, in the frame of the “Italian Festival Thailand”, the cultural events calendar by Embassy of Italy – Bangkok, from 16th to 26th of May 2019, during the celebration of 2nd WEEK OF ITALIAN CINEMA IN THE WORLD (“Fare Cinema 2019”, the annual venture dedicated to Italian movie industry by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Culture).

SHOW.

The number of movies is grown to 10, recent, original and high quality productions screened in two special new venues: SCALA THEATRE, the historic location in Siam Square with its unique retro art deco style, built in 1969, the last remaining operational standalone single-screen cinema in the country, with the opening ceremony on 16th of May; CINEMA OASIS, a modern and compact movie theatre and cultural foundation as well, located in Phrom Phong, where 25 screenings will animate an eight days program.

CULTURE.

The selection alternates movies from well-known festivals authors (Mario Martone’s “Capri – Revolution”, Alice Rhorwacher’s “Happy as Lazzaro”), unusual genres for the Italian movie industry as the mythological adventure (“Romolus & Remus – The First King”), the musical (“Forever You”) and the brilliant young cinema with four first feature films as well (”“There is a light”; “We’ll be young and beautiful”; “Travelling with Adele”; “The strange sound of happiness).

OPENING MOVIE

FOREVER YOU

(UN’AVVENTURA) (Italy 2019 – musical – 105’)

– Thursday 16th May – 20.00 – SCALA Theatre

– Saturday 25th May – 21.30 – Cinema OASIS

1970s. Matteo has been secretly in love with Francesca since they were kids, but she left the small town in which they grew up to travel the world following the cultural liberation’s wave. Once back, Matteo decides to finally make her fall in love with him, even if she’s no longer the simple girl he remembered. A brilliant and romantic musical with spectacular choreographies and the overwhelming songs from the Italian seventies.

Production Company: Fabula Pictures, Lucky Red, Rai Cinema. Cast: Laura Chiatti, Michele Riondino, Valeria Bilello, Alex Sparrow, Thomas Trabacchi. Director: Marco Danieli. Screenplay: Isabella Aguilar

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ROMOLUS & REMUS – THE FIRST KING

(IL PRIMO RE) (Italy/Belgium 2019 – mythological drama – 127’)

– Friday 17th May – 21.00 – Cinema OASIS

– Saturday 25th May – 19.00 – Cinema OASIS

The First King , a tale with no narrative precedents, brings the viewer to an unknown world where the forces of nature and primitive humanity intertwine with the beliefs and superstitions that ruled life at that time. In the Eighth century b.C., the area spanning the banks of the Tiber and the hills of Lazio is occupied only by rudimentary villages. This is a wild world open to exploration and conquest and one day will witness the founding of Rome. Here everybody fights to survive, and the universe of beliefs, mysticism and religion is the only means for men to understand the world. Our characters move in this world, fighting for their life, and fanning the flame of a dream that is bigger than them, a dream of glory and destruction.

Production Company: Groenlandia, GapBusters Rai Cinema. Cast: Alessandro Borghi, Alessio Lapice, Tania Garribba. Director: Matteo Rovere. Screenplay: Filippo Gravino, Francesca Manieri, Matteo Rovere.

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CAPRI – REVOLUTION

(Italy/France 2018 – drama – 122’)

Venice 75 – official selection

– Sunday 19th May – 21.00 – Cinema OASIS

– Friday 24th May – 21.00 – Cinema OASIS

The year 1914, and Italy is about to go to war. A commune of young North Europeans has found on Capri the ideal place to live their lives and practise their art. But the island has its own powerful identity, in the person of a young woman, a goatherd named Lucia (Marianna Fontana). The film describes the encounter between Lucia, the commune, headed by Seybu (Reinout Scholten van Aschat), and the young village doctor (Antonio Folletto). And it describes a unique island, whose Dolomite cliffs plunge into the waters of the Mediterranean, and which at the start of the 20th century acted like a magnet for all those driven by ideals of liberty and progress.

Production Company: Indigo Film, Pathé Pictures, Rai Cinema. Cast: : Marianna Fontana, Reinout Scholten van Aschat, Donatella Finocchiaro, Antonio Folletto. Director: Mario Martone. Screenplay: Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo.

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HAPPY AS LAZZARO

(LAZZARO FELICE)

(Italy 2018 – surreal drama – 130’)

Cannes 71 – Official selection – best screenplay

– Saturday 18th May – 21.00 – Cinema OASIS

– Sunday 26th May – 21.00 – Cinema OASIS

Lazzaro is such a pure hearted young man that many would consider him to be an idiot. He might be a peasant but he’s worthy enough for the friendship of spoiled aristocrat Tancredi. They find joy in a forgotten pastoral world of deception and lies. The truth will separate them, but Lazzaro’s loyalty will withstand the test of time when he is catapulted alone into a bleak metropolis.

Production Company: Tempesta, Pola Pandora, Ad Vitam, Amka Films Productions, Rai Cinema. Cast: Adriano Tardiolo, Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Chikovani, Sergi Lopez Director: Alice Rohrwacher. Screenplay: Alice Rohrwacher.

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THE STRANGE SOUND OF HAPPINESS

(Italy/Germany 2017 – documentary – 90’)

First feature film

– Saturday 18th May – 19.00 – Cinema OASIS

– Wednesday 22nd – 21.00 – Cinema OASIS

– Sunday 26th May – 17.00 – Cinema OASIS

After years drifting, Diego returns to Sicily. His dream of becoming a musician has not worked out. He has no job and no plans for the future but the sound of an ancient musical instrument, the mouth harp, points the way. From the torrid coasts of Sicily, Diego journeys to the frozen flatlands of Yakutia in Siberia where he becomes part of a prophecy from a century ago. The “sound of happiness” is at last there.

Production Company: Stefilm, Kick Film, ARTE in association with YLE. Director: Diego Pascal Panarello. Screenplay: Diego Pascal Panarello.

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TRAVELLING WITH ADELE

(IN VIAGGIO CON ADELE)

Adele, a twenty-five year old girl who suffers from mental disorder, has never met her father and has always lived under the protective wing of her mother Margherita. Everything changes when her very existence is overturned by the latter’s sudden and unexpected death. Abandoned by all her relatives, Adele will meet Aldo, an elderly, sixty-five year old actor, who was summoned to Apulia in order to pay his last respects to the deceased Margherita. Aldo discovers that he is the girl’s biological father and he must tell her the truth. And so begins a journey through an inhospitable Apulia in which two perfect strangers transform an improbable relationship into something unique and unforgettable, one that by degrees resembles what they never thought they could be together: a father and daughter.

WE’LL BE YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL

(SAREMO GIOVANI E BELLISSIMI)

Isabella still sings Tic Tac, the song that made her famous in the early nineties, when she was only seventeen. Her place is the Big Star, which has also become her second home. Her young son Bruno is her guitarist. The two are inseparable, they perform every night together and they share a ramshackle but happy life of unpaid bills and midnight strolls around the city. Bruno, however, dreams of a different musical career. Light touches of comedy and the music bring to life the slow but necessary separation between mother and son, a crucial and painful detachment. Just like the end of any other love story.

WHEREVER YOU ARE

(OVUNQUE PROTEGGIMI)

THE STARTUP

(Italy 2017 – comedy – 97’)

Almost every adolescent dreams of inventing an app. This is what Matteo, a teenager annoyed has the ability to do. He creates a social platform where people negotiate job offers. At the beginning, no one believes in his project, but Matteo never loses his faith, and, in the end, he succeeds. At the age of 19, he suddenly receives national praise and becomes rich and popular. His ‘Start Up,’ which includes dozens of thousands of subscribers, becomes appealing to the most important companies. Success will soon take its toll.

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THERE IS A LIGHT

(IL PADRE D’ITALIA)

A touching road movie about parenthood, responsibility and finding your limits. Mia, a pregnant, vagrant singer, meets Paolo, a sensible and heartbroken gay man, in a club and the pair hit it off immediately. Borrowing (or stealing?) a company van, they embark on an epic road-trip from the north to the south of Italy. In truth, they’re both trying to run away from something in their lives that scares them; but for Mia, the ticking time bomb that is her baby can’t be diffused. Paolo has his own demons to contend with – can the pair find happiness on the run?