Italian Cinema Today

Dating back some 4,000 years, the sport of falconry is still widely practiced today.  With origins in the Middle East, falconry is a highly-regarded pastime, which, in some cultures, also serves as a male rite of passage. Italian filmmaker Yuri Ancarini explores an annual falconry competition that takes place in the vast desert of Qatar in his visual masterpiece, " The Challenge ."  Ancarini combines the spectacular desert landscape of the Arabian Peninsula with a dramatic soundtrack and candid moments to give an intimate look into the world of the falconers. Several types of predators from the raptor species of birds are used in falconry. Ancarini focuses on hunters with majestic hawks and falcons as they embark on a testosterone-filled weekend of fast cars, motorcycles, meat-feasting, big spending and competition. The three and a half-minute static shot in the opening scene is a precursor to the patient cinematography and infinite landscapes that are to come....

Two Italian filmmakers are in the lineup of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual series: New Directors/New Films. Ravenna-Born video artist Yuri Ancarani will present his film, The Challenge . The film documents the history of the hunting sport, falconry, which dates back to 2000 BC. In the West, it was the favorite sport of the medieval aristocracy, and in contemporary Arab culture, its prestige remains unaltered. Yuri Ancarani crosses the Persian Gulf to accompany a falconer to an important competition, and what follows is the story of an intense weekend in the desert. Alessandro Comodin will present his second film,  Happy Times Will Come Soon  ( I Tempi felici verranno presto ). Set in the woods of northern Italy, Happy Times Will Come Soon is the story of the mysterious fate of two young fugitives that decades later has become something of an urban legend. Through dramatizations, interviews and speculations about the wolf-...