Italian Cinema Today

A wildly successful Christmastime film, earning over $8 million at the box office when it premiered in 2018, "La befana vien di notte" (“The Legend of the Christmas Witch”) is a wholesome holiday comedy that the whole family can watch. Directed by Michele Soavi, the film stars two of Italy's most diverse contemporary actors, Paola Cortellesi and Stefano Fresi, as gift-giving foes. Paola (Cortellesi) is a grammar schoolteacher by day, but at night, she turns into La Befana, the Christmas witch, a mystical being who brings gifts to the good kids and coal to the naughty ones.   On one of her Befana nights, she was attacked by a dog that tore her Befana gift list. When she returned home from a night of riding on her broomstick, delivering gifts to children all over the world, she realized that she had forgotten one child. When she discovered the torn-up list, she figured out who the child was, got back on her broom, and headed straight to his house. Having arrived late, the b...

A Smetto Quando Voglio trilogy is currently in the works and shooting for the second installment will get started in Rome this March. The original cast- Edoardo Leo , Valeria Solarino , Paolo Calabresi, Stefano Fresi, Libero De Rienzo, Pietro Sermonti, Lorenzo Lavia and Valerio Aprea - is reportedly returning and some new faces may be joining them. I credit director Sydney Sibilia and his amazing cast with making the funniest, most clever film I have ever seen. The story recounts a group of professors and scientists who lost their jobs and were forced to find work washing dishes and pumping gas just to make ends meet. Completely fed up, Pietro (Edoardo Leo) comes up with a plan to develop a legal drug that he could sell to club kids looking for a quick high. He enlists the help of his fellow down-on-their-luck geniuses, which include an economist, chemist and anthropologist. The group goes on to make money beyond their wildest dreams. But with th...