The Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto is pleased to co-present the Italian participation at the 2021 online edition of Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival.
THE ROSSELLINIS
Film Screening | Q&A
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Revered as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, Roberto Rossellini left an indelible mark on cinema and an enormous inheritance of family conflict. The Rossellinis is a compelling look inside a complicated cinema dynasty forced into group therapy by one of their own. As the first grandson of a genius, suppressed by the weight of lofty expectations and his struggle with addiction, Alessandro Rossellini doesn’t feel he’s lived up to the name. So at age 55, he picks up the camera and travels around the world, trying to reconcile with the family he loves but could never find his place in. With never-before-seen archival footage and an absorbing conversation with his famed aunt, actress Isabella Rossellini, this family drama offers an abundance of compelling insights into their relationships, revealing old secrets and tragic moments in their lives. On the surface, the Rossellinis are a family born of spectacle, fame and wealth—but here, they ironically yield a rare example of tender authenticity in the world of film.
Director: Alessandro Rossellini
Country: Italy | Latvia
Duration: 90 minutes
Year: 2020
Language: Italian | English | Partial Subtitles
Availability: Geo-blocked to Canada
BLOOM UP – A SWINGER COUPLE STORY
World Premiere
Film Screening | Q&A
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Hermes and Betta are a middle-aged Italian couple who run the neighbourhood pet store by day, but by night arrange extravagant sexual encounters with multiple partners. As swingers, this loving and deeply entwined couple allows one another to freely explore their desires and sexual cravings with trust and respect. With uncanny beauty in the camerawork, the director and cinematographer Mauro Russo Rouge’s lens leaves nothing to the imagination. Up close and personal, we plunge into the back rooms of clubs, the intimacy of homes and the wide-open spaces of the night skies, bearing witness to the couple’s carnal pursuits. But even the deepest relationships and strongest connections are at times tested. Will their hunger for the taste of others ultimately drive a wedge between them?
Director: Mauro Russo Rouge
Country: Italy
Duration: 88 minutes
Year: 2020
Language: Italian | Full Subtitles
Availability: Geo-blocked to Canada
MOLECULES
North American Premiere
Film Screening
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In February 2020, filmmaker Andrea Segre was in Venice when a still-mysterious virus froze the city before his eyes. Piazza San Marco emptied, the logger-jammed Grand Canal went still, and spaces filled instead with a strange, hollow quiet. Lockdown had given the town back to nature and returned something unexpected to Segre as well—memories of his late father, Ulderico. Raised in Venice, he was as reserved in his career as a molecular physicist as he was with his children. Using old Super 8 family films and an unanswered letter he wrote to his father decades earlier, Segre’s captivating investigation into his father’s silences and absences beautifully dissolve into the emptiness of Venice itself. Through this arrested landscape stripped down to its natural frailties and lack of solidity, Segre unearths the roots of his father’s and his own unease. Capturing an extraordinary experience for a city and for a son, Molecules makes real those things one can’t see but knows exist.
Director: Andrea Segre
Country: Italy
Duration: 68 minutes
Year: 2020
Language: Italian English | Partial Subtitles
Availability: Geo-blocked to Canada
WE ARE THE THOUSAND
Canadian Premiere
Film Screening | Q&A
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The spirit and culture of rock ‘n’ roll can always be traced back to the fans. For a group of Italian friends, their passion for this genre of music sparked a novel idea: they put a call out to gather a thousand musicians to play music together, in hopes of coaxing the iconic band Foo Fighters to come to perform a concert in their small town. One of the most curious and ambitious “band wanted” signs ever turns out to be a bigger success than its organizers dreamed. The Rockin’ 1000 group’s collective rendition of “Learn to Fly” goes massively viral, catching the eye of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl himself. What started out as a shot in the dark ends up creating literally the largest rock band in the world, showcasing just how much music can unite and bring joy to all those who are willing to listen.
Director: Anita Rivaroli
Country: Italy
Duration: 78 minutes
Year: 2020
Language: Italian | Full Subtitles
Availability: Geo-blocked to Canada