Country: Italy – Wimbledon Film Club

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is based on a 2016 novel by Ermanno Rea, brought to the screen by the distinguished and prolific Italian auteur Mario Martone, who was born in Naples in 1959 and has since directed more than 30 films. Now a Rome resident, he was during the 1990s associated with the new wave of Neapolitan cinema…
I Vitelloni

With his third film, 33-year old Fellini made his name and found his voice: evolving from Italian Neo-Realism into a freer, more poetic and episodic style.The narrative is sprinkled with many of his recurrent motifs: variété and carneval; storms and windswept beaches, the Catholic Church; the happy fool and the wise child – all bound…
The Ciambra

A moving crime-drama in the Italian neo-realist style written and directed by Jonas Carpignano. A 14 year old Romany boy moves between the Italian, African and Romany communities in a small town in Italy’s far south. He’s had to grow up fast and he’s learning to be one street-smart teenager, when adult responsibility falls on…
The Mafia Kills Only in Summer

Putting an irreverent rom-com spin on the organized crime genre, this deceptively sunny rites-of-passage drama marks the big-screen debut of Pierfrancesco “Pif” Diliberto (b. 1972), best known in Italy as a television host and current-affairs satirist. Taking its title from one of the myths that the film’s young hero is taught to believe, The Mafia…
Youth

Sorrentino’s follow up to The Great Beauty sees an ageing conductor with his old friend in an Alpine spa. Together they reflect on life while fending off an envoy from the Queen to stage a royal gala. A beautiful ode to music and cinema. Independent. 5 wins.
Salt of the Earth

Award-winning documentary of the 40 years of photographer Salgado’s immensely influential work. With footage of the photographer himself and interviews with family and colleagues, the film presents his images which captured the changing face and impact of humanity as well as the planet’s beauty. ‘The Salt of the Earth is a visually stunning and oftentimes…
Human Capital

This biting and stylish economic crisis murder mystery is based on Stephen Amidon’s prescient 2004 novel set in Connecticut, with the action transplanted to prosperous Milan. The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve. Writer/producer/director Paolo Virzi…
Le Herisson

Adapted from Muriel Barbery’s international bestseller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, writer-director Mona Achache’s first film follows three main characters, an 11 year old girl and two eccentric characters in her building. Paloma (le Guillermic), a serious, articulate but deeply bored pre-teen has decided to kill herself on her 12th birthday, disgusted by the futility…
The Battle Of Algiers

This cinematic masterpiece of political drama is so convincing that director Pontecorvo announces at the beginning that no newsreel or documentary footage has been used in the making of the film. The Battle of Algiers tells the story of the early years of Algeria’s National Liberation Fronts fight for independence from the French in the…
Bicycle Thieves

This classic neorealist masterpiece brings poetry to a poor family mans struggle to find work in post war Italy. Antonio Ricci is an unemployed man supporting a wife and two children. He is delighted to at last get a good job hanging up posters, but on the sole condition that he has a bicycle which…