Three Italian Films Headed to the Berlin Film Festival & Another Two Headed to Sundance

A scene from Dafne

Three Italian films will be in competition at the 2019 Berlin Film festival, both in the Panorama section.

Agostino Ferrente's Selfie is the story of two Neapolitan teenagers who film themselves with an iPhone to tell about their difficult neighbourhood, their daily life, the friendship that bonds them together.

Federico Bondi's Dafne is the story  of a woman with Down syndrome who is coming to terms with the death of her mother while caring for her father.

Adapted from Roberto Saviano's best-selling novel, La Paranoia del Bambini was directed by Claudio Giovanese and speaks of the world of teenage crime bosses in Naples as they compete for power.

Claudio Giavanese's La Paranza dei Bambini

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The Disappearance of My Mother

The Disappearance of My Mother by Benjamin Barrese is the story of his mother, Benedetta, an iconic former fashion model. Benedetta Barrese rose to fame in the 1960s as a muse to artists Andy Warhol, Salvator Dali, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. As radical feminist in the 1970s, she fought for the rights and emancipation of women. But at the age of 75, she became fed up with all the roles that life imposed upon her and decided to leave everything and everybody behind, to disappear to a unknown place as far as possible from this world.

Hiding behind the camera, her son Beniamino witnesses her journey. Having filmed her since he was a kid 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.

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.

The film will premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.

Those Bad Things

Here in North America, two Italian films have made the official lineup of the 2019 Sundance Film festival.

Loris Giuseppe Nese's Those Bad Things is the story of a daughter whose parents made bad decisions during her childhood. Set in the suburbs in the region of Campania, the days go by slowly as she copes with the consequences of her parents' choices.

The 11-minute short will be shown in the festival's International Narrative Short Films section.

Click here for more information about the Sundance Film Festival.