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Italian Film Week

whatsapp image 2022 05 09 at 12.50.22 pm

Presented in collaboration with our Institute and the Embassy of Italy to the UAE and the Consulate General of Italy in Dubai, the long-awaited Italian Film Week returns to Cinema Akil for its second edition after a two year hiatus with a program that confronts the notion of isolation that suspended its presence. Paying homage to the late Monica Vitti (1931-2022) the program will present three of her most iconic performances in collaborations with Michelangelo Antonioni which launched a career that would dub her the “Queen of Italian Cinema”. Solitude, alienation and aloofness characterize the classic trifecta and the four contemporary films in the program. Exile takes centerstage through the Italian Film Week with stories of being with one’s own seeking meaning, defiance, refuge, creative pursuit and vengeance. The program brings together stories of characters in exile – heroes, heroines, pariahs, lone wolfs, proclaimed geniuses, subjects of political-violence, mavericks and tragic royals; a spectrum of individuals vying for survival and pursuit by taking matters into their own bodies or windmills of their minds. The Italian Film Week 2022 presents Monica Vitti in three roles of a woman exiled to her interior longings in L’Avventura (1960) La Notte (Night, 1961) Deserto Rosso (1964) and yet another tribute with Giuseppe Tornatore’s documentary on the late maestro Ennio Morricone; a mastro beholden to his craft Ennio (2021).The program also premieres in the UAE Haider Rashed’s debut feature Europa (2021) a young refugee’s attempt to flee the violence of borders inflicted upon him, the 19th-century outcast adventure The Tale of King Crab(2021) the second collaboration between Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis and in A Chiara (2021) in one teenage girl’s run with the mafia in a determined solo investigation through Calabria’s underbelly in Jonas Carpignano’s latest feature film.The program will run from 13-20 May at Cinema Akil.

Monica Vitti: 1931-2022
Monica Vitti, also known as the “Queen of Italian Cinema”, embodied the eternal enigma of modernity. She firstly shaped one of the most important decade for Italian cinema together with director Michelangelo Antonioni, before reinventing herself into delightful comedic roles in the 70s and 80s. In L’Avventura (1960), which will establish Antonioni as a real cinematic voice and Vitti as a star, she effortlessly embodies forgiveness and grace on the volcanic Aeolian islands. The following year, she once again joins Antonioni’s cast in La Notte (1961): Jeanne Moreau and Marcello Mastroianni play a disintegrating couple who later meets Vitti, the triggering element revealing how isolated the two main characters are. In the last film of their ‘60s collaboration, Deserto Rosso (1964), Vitti wanders like a ghost ambushed in a post-industrial nightmare. In Antonioni’s films, Monica Vitti blooms – Cinema Akil is thrilled to pay tribute to this true Italian artist, the face of Italian cinema.
 

Screenings

ENNIO
directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Documentary | 2021 | PG | 156 min | Italian/English 

MAY 13TH  
3:45 PM

MAY 20TH
5:00 PM

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EUROPA
directed by Haider Rashid
Drama | 2021 | PG 15 | 75 min | Arabic, Bulgarian, English

MAY 13TH
7:00 PM

MAY 14TH
4:45 PM

MAY 17TH
10:00 PM

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L’AVVENTURA
directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Drama | 1960 | PG 15 | 145 min | Italian/English

MAY 13TH
9:15PM

MAY 17TH
7:00 PM

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LA NOTTE
directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Drama | 1961 | PG 15 | 122 min | Italian, French, English

MAY 14TH
7:00 PM

MAY 18TH
9:30 PM

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DESERTO ROSSO
directed by Michelangelo Antonioni
Drama | 1964 | PG 15 | 115 min | Italian

MAY 15TH
7:00 PM

MAY 19TH
9:15 PM

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A CHIARA
directed by Jonas Carpignano
Drama | 2021 | PG 15 | 121 min | Italian

MAY 15TH
9:30 PM

MAY 18TH
7:00 PM

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THE TALE OF KING CRAB
directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
Drama | 2021 | PG 15 | 105 min | Italia

MAY 19TH
7:00 PM

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Consulate General of Italy in Dubai

  • Organized by: IIC Abu Dhabi e Ambasciata d'Italia
  • In collaboration with: Cinema Akil