The 26th Edition of the Victoria Film Festival brings two Italian features to its audiences: The Disappearance of My Mother and The Traitor. The Istituto Italiano di Cultura and the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver renew their support of Italy’s presence at the festival.
Presented by the Victoria Film Festival with the support of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura and the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver.
The Disappearance of My Mother (Western Canadian Premiere)
Director: Beniamino Barrese | 94 min
February 10 | 3:15pm | Silver City #3
February 12 | 4:00pm | Capitol 6
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Benedetta Barzini wants to disappear, “The work we’re doing is a work of separation,” she says to her son. An iconic fashion model and an extraordinarily interesting woman, she became a muse to Warhol, Dali, and Avedon in the 1960s.
As a radical feminist in the 1970s, she fought for the rights and emancipation of women. But at the age of 75, she becomes fed up with all the roles that life has imposed upon her and decides to leave everything and everybody behind, to disappear to a place as far as possible from the world she knows.
Hiding behind the camera, her son Beniamino witnesses her journey. Having filmed her since he was a child in spite of all her resistance, he now wants to make a film about her, to keep her close for as long as possible – or at least, as long as his camera keeps running. As she flows from tender to tempestuous, Beniamino is there to capture a remarkable life which makes for a deeply personal portrait. The making of the film turns into a battle between mother and son, a stubborn fight to capture the ultimate image of Benedetta – the image of her liberation. – Kathy Kay, Festival Director
The Traitor
Director: Marco Bellocchio | 145 min
February 13 | 8:30pm | Odeon
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The Traitor profiles real-life mafia boss turned stool pigeon Tommaso Buscetta whose exposé of his colleagues changed the course of the mafia.
In the early 1980s, an all-out war rages between Sicilian mafia bosses. Tommaso Buscetta (Pierfrancesco Favino), a made-man, flees to hide out in Brazil. Back home in Italy, scores are being settled, and Buscetta’s allies are killed off one after another.
Arrested and then extradited by the Brazilian police back to Italy, Buscetta makes a decision that will change the entire story of the Mafia: He decides to meet with Judge Falcone and betray the eternal vow he made to the Cosa Nostra.
The films of Italian director Marco Bellocchio have explored the social and political contradictions of his country. His prolific 50-year career has been closely focused on the complexities of Italian history. In The Traitor he chooses not to glorify the ‘men of honor’ and
instead mixes brutal violence with vibrant locations and dark humour to provide a visual masterpiece with an appreciable sense of the era. The Traitor blends archival footage (of Falcone’s tragic death) alongside entertaining court scenes that revel in the thrust and parry of the debate and the arrogance of the gangsters when it seemed impossible to bring them to justice.
In the end there is a message of hope “the mafia is not invincible; it had a beginning and will have an end. – Randy Waldie, Festival Advisory Committee