Italian Films from the 70th Venice Film Festival Reach Audiences Worldwide

Antonio Albanese and Gianni Amelio, Photo by Claudio Iannone

For the first time ever, the Italian films screened at the Venice International Film Festival will be featured in a film series in Beirut, Lebanon. The film event “Venezia Cinema a Beirut,”organized by the Biennale di Venezia with the Italian Institute of Culture in Lebanon, will run from February 20 through February 25, 2014.

According to Labiennale.org, four Italian films from the Official Selection of the 70th Venice Film Festival will be presented at the Metropolis Empire Sofil – Acharafieh in Beirut. The event will open with "L’intrepido" by Gianni Amelio. The following day, audiences will be treated to Emma Dante's "Via Castellana Bandiera" with the star Elena Cotta, winner of the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, on hand for a discussion. Monday's screening on February 24th will feature "La prima neve" by Andrea Segre, and the closing film will be the Golden Lion winner, "Sacro GRA" by Gianfranco Rosi.

Similar initiatives have been organized in recent years by the Biennale di Venezia to promote Italian cinema around the world, including 2005 in Brazil, 2006 in Russia, 2009 in China and 2012 in Korea. In addition to Beirut, the Italian films of the 70th Venice International Film Festival were screened in other film series organized in Brazil and Korea. There are more scheduled in the coming months in China, Russia and for the first time in Croatia and Singapore.