Nelson film lovers can escape to Italy this winter, with tickets now on sale for the Italian Film Festival.
The nationwide festival will screen 27 films at State Cinemas Nelson from 25 July to 16 August.
Now in its 11th year, the festival is curated by New Zealand-Italian filmmaker Paolo Rotondo and partner Renee Mark. The programme combines contemporary Italian releases, classic favourites and documentaries.
“We use popular films from the previous year’s Italian releases as a starting point when curating the festival programme,” Paolo says.
“Through film, we are invited into lives that are not our own, but almost at a safe distance, through the screen. We can empathise and feel, be inspired or exasperated by others’ experiences and actions in lives completely different to ours.”
Opening the Nelson season is Somebody to Love, the romantic comedy that became Italy’s biggest box office hit last year. Other highlights include Diamanti, set in a glamorous Roman fashion house in the 1970s, the restored classic Bread and Tulips, and The Tasters, based on the true story of women forced to taste Adolf Hitler’s meals during the final days of the Second World War.
The programme also features political dramas, westerns and documentaries, including films celebrating writer Umberto Eco, composer Ennio Morricone and the rediscovery of a lost Caravaggio painting.
Tickets and the full programme can be found at www.statecinemas.co.nz/italian-film-festival
