Cinema Italia @ Malta also pays tribute to Dante Alighieri on his 700th death anniversary with restored 1911 film

Some of the best Italian films released in the last years are being shown in Malta for the first time as part of the Cinema Italia @ Malta festival, which returns to the cinema at Spazju Kreattiv after last year’s online edition.

The festival, which runs from Friday to July 24, includes a tribute to Dante Alighieri on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the death of the ‘father of the Italian language’.

The 1911 film L’inferno, which was restored in 2011, is considered to be the first colossal film in Italian cinema history.

Cinema Italia @ Malta opens on Friday with Notturno by Gianfranco Rosi, the director of award-winning works such as Sacro Gra and Fuocammare, and who shot his latest film in three years in the Middle East on the borders between Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon.

The docu-film, showing in Arabic and Kurdish with English subtitles, narrates the daily life and struggles of a community that adapts and resists through thick and thin despite being immersed in the continuous drama of civil wars, dictatorships, invasions and foreign interference.

Screening of L’Inferno to feature a live soundtrack

The next film lined up is Giorgio Diritti’s Volevo Nascondermi (Hidden Away), a biopic dedicated to artist Antonio Ligabue (1899-1965). Actor Elio Germano, who masterfully interprets Ligabue, brings to light the inner turmoil that plagued the controversial artist’s life. The film triumphed at the David di Donatello 2021 awards, winning the awards for best film, best director, best actor in a leading role, best cinematographer, best art direction, best hairdresser and best sound. It will be showing on Saturday with English subtitles.

Also showing on Saturday is Giorgio Verdelli’s Paolo Conte. Via Con Me, dedicated to one of the most extraordinary interpreters of Italian music. The documentary goes through the almost 50-year-long career of the eclectic Conte, featuring songs, concerts and friends of the singer. 

Paolo Conte. Via Con Me traces the career of the Italian artist.

Luca Marinelli, one of the most talented actors in the current Italian film scene, plays the lead role in Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden, an adaptation of Jack London’s novel of the same name. The intense film, showing on Sunday with English subtitles, tells a story of personal and professional (re)birth set in Naples.

The festival closes on July 24 with the screening of the 1911 silent movie L’Inferno, directed by Giuseppe De Liguoro, Francesco Bertolini and Adolfo Padovan.

Adapted from the first canticle of Dante’s La Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy), the picture is considered to be the first colossal film in the history of Italian cinema. It was painstakingly restored in 2011, allowing the viewer to fully appreciate the atmosphere and scenes inspired by Gustave Doré’s illustrations.

Martin Eden, an adaptation of Jack London’s novel of the same name.

The screening will feature a live soundtrack by Italian jazz player Marco Castelli. The saxophonist and composer will give an original interpretation of the film’s music.

Cinema Italia @ Malta is an initiative of the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta, organised together with Spazju Kreattiv and in collaboration with the Master’s in Film Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta, under the auspices of the Italian Embassy.

For tickets and a detailed schedule, visit www.kreattivita.org.

For more information about the festival, e-mail segreteria.iiclavalletta@esteri.it, call 2122 1462 or visit www.iicvalletta.esteri.it.

Notturno narrates the daily struggles of a community in the Middle East.