Italian Cinema Today

Antonietta De Lillo 's 2005 film made its North American premiere that year at Lincoln Center's annual film series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. That's where I saw it at an afternoon screening and was mesmerized by the cinematic world that I became lost in. The film is now available to stream on Vimeo for three days thanks to the Marano Ragazzi Spot Festival. Set toward the end of the 17th century, an apparently fragile Portuguese noblewoman with great intelligence and determination strongly embraces the ideas of the revolution. Conscious of her own limitations and weaknesses, she decides to fight for the affirmation of her ideals. In attempting to bring Naples around to the revolutionary winds blowing through Europe at that time, at the age of 47, she ends up on the scaffold, and is killed along with hundreds of her collaborators under the fury of the Bourbon dynasty. This woman is Eleonora Fimentel de Fonseca, poet, writer, journalist and courageous intellectual....

This morning, the winners of the Nastri d’Argento for Best Documentary were announced. Among the winners is Antonietta De Lillo, a director I’ve admired for years. I first saw her work at the 2005 edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, an annual film series held at Lincoln Center, which showcases contemporary Italian films. There, she presented “Il resto di niente”, a beautiful story about courage and determination set in the 17 th century, adapted from Enzo Striano’s novel. Her latest film, the documentary “Oggi, insieme domani” (OIDA or in English- Today Tomorrow Together) is a film which speaks to the complexities of love and relationships in this day and age, and the current social revolution happening in Italy- in particular with same-sex marriage. I asked De Lillo a few questions about the making of this film and the current situation of modern love in her country. Our interview was done in Italian, so both versions are included. What inspired you to create this proje...