Social & External
The people behind it
Antonio Pandolfo
Stefania Blandeburgo
Cesare Biondolillo
Giuseppe Battiloro
Marco Manera
Salvo Cambria
A foreign writer is in Sicily and believes that careful observation is enough to understand Sicilian culture and Sicilians. However, through his stories, he learns that you cannot know or understand Sicily or Sicilians through mere observation. You have to stand beside its people, shoulder to shoulder (Spalla a Spadda), share their struggles and their victories. Only then can you begin to understand
In 827 A.D., eager young warrior Tariq and a tight-knit band of Black soldiers are lured into war by a beguiling, exiled general looking to settle a score against the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. To defeat the Romans, Tariq and his friends must sacrifice themselves to change the face of Europe, forevermore bringing a new culture to the continent and beginning two centuries of Moorish rule in Sicily.
Against the backdrop of a Sicily in the midst of a water emergency, two residents of the small town of Rocca Fiorita tackle the problem, one relying on reason, the other on faith. Sebastiano, a farm owner, represents rationality. To prevent his horses from dying, he tries to call the municipality and force them to intervene at the main pump. Nerina, an Italian-American woman and fervent religious believer, decides to organize a special procession to ask for mercy from Our Lady of Help. The two opposing views will lead to a conflict between the two.
A deported gangster trains an Italian convict to take over his operations in the U.S.
In 1061, a handful of Norman mercenaries, led by the son of a noble family from Hauteville-la-Guichard, a village in the Normandy bocage, set foot on the Sicilian coast. Roger de Hauteville and his troops had been commissioned by the Pope to reconquer the island from the Arabs, who had seized it in 831. These fearsome warriors took thirty years to achieve their goal, but when they finally entered Palermo in 1071, their leader became an enlightened ruler. Relying on the high quality of the local Arab administration, particularly in tax matters, he set about building what was to become one of the most prosperous and advanced kingdoms of his time.
Adele and Sofia, childhood friends now in their thirties, reunite after years apart to fulfill a dream they once shared: reaching the summit of Mount Etna. But something feels off, and a bitter confrontation breaks out, opening old wounds and unveiling deeply buried secrets. They separate just as the volcano begins to tremble. Adele presses on alone, haunted by the wish that she had turned back and reached the crater together with Sofia to listen to the mountain’s magical breathing.
An enormous shroud of white cement covers a hillside in the remote of western Sicily. It is both land art and a memorial to the town of Gibellina that was devastated by an earthquake in January 1968. It’s a work by the Italian artist Alberto Burri. He covered the ruins of the town with white cement and fissures function as pathways that wind through an area of roughly 20 acres. Petra Noordkamp captures Il Grande Cretto di Gibellina by Alberto Burri as an experentiental work of art filled with a sense of place and history.
A documentary film about the independent band UZEDA who brought a disruptive sound from Sicily to almost everywhere.
Sicily, July 1943. At dawn on Operation Husky, photojournalist Robert Capa and a young Italian American soldier find themselves isolated in the Sicilian countryside. An encounter with a humble farmer and his son transforms a forced stop into a moment of suspension from the conflict, culminating in a photograph that will become a symbol of the Italian Campaign.
Letizia Battaglia (1935–2022) stands among the greatest figures of Italian social documentary photography. At nearly forty, this mother of three left everything behind to become a photojournalist and started working for the newspaper L’Ora. She captured her native Palermo with rare intensity, documenting both the brutal grip of the Cosa Nostra on the city and the everyday lives of its inhabitants with a focus on women and children. A committed activist, she became politically involved in the fight against the mafia during the 1980s. In this intimate portrait, Letizia Battaglia tells her story through her most iconic photographs. Through her gaze, at once tender and piercing, the full complexity of Palermo comes to light.
Gibellina, the city rebuilt from the dream of a great man, Ludovico Corrao. From the 1968 earthquake to its rebirth through art.
People in Catania for centuries live on a verge of an active volcano. What are their attitudes, and how precisely can we predict the volcano's activity today?
On the outskirts of Augusta lives Orazio: a mechanic by vocation. Due to countless misadventures he cannot open a workshop. To give vent to his anger, he transforms mopeds and scooters into “glittered motorized umbrellas.” Glitter helmets and hyper-colored decorations dress him up; thus begins his passion for “light” understood as a superior force.
Ricordu (“memory” in Sicilian) is a deeply personal film about my grandfather, his homeland, and the legacy it has left within our family. What began as a simple attempt to film our holidays with my brother became a reflection on Sicily, memories, and the bonds that connect us. Through fragments of his story, I tried to capture what this land means to him… and what remains of it within us. I hope this film touches you as deeply as it touched me. Enjoy the film !
Ritornato is a story of a man who returns home to take care of his dying mother and promises to fulfill her last wish: to be buried alongside her father in Sicily. While there, he discovers a family secret that will change his life forever and help him find a new beginning.
Among the narrow alleys of Via Panneria and Piazza Monte di Pietà, in the ancient heart of Palermo, the echo of a miracle still resonates. Here in 1624 lived Vincenzo Bonelli: grief-stricken by the plague, he climbed Mount Pellegrino to end his life. Saint Rosalia appeared to him, entrusting her relics to save the city. Where her first votive shrine stood, a timeless devotion endures. For over a century, alongside Palermo's official Festino, this neighborhood has celebrated its intimate 'Festinello'—a visceral experience blending pure devotion with the warmth of 'schiticchielli' (traditional street banquets). Today, only about twenty people keep this tradition alive. This documentary tells the story of their poetic resistance as guardians of an invaluable cultural heritage. It is a vibrant hymn to life, memory, and community: 'Viva Palermo and Santa Rosalia!'
Sequel to Barbie (2023) in early development. Plot TBA.
Dwayne Kennedy Live! Filmed in 2002 in front of a live studio audience.
An episodic satire of the political and social status of Italy in the seventies, through the shows of one day of a television channel.
Comedy about the flawed Italian healthcare system of the time and a doctor's expeirence with it.
Antonio, a former variety actor, keeps his daughter in an excellent boarding school by organizing small scams with his friend and colleague Felice. Commissioner Malvasia good-naturedly persecuted him. When their respective unsuspecting children fall in love, the two fathers make peace.
A small Sicilian town elects a new, honest major but quickly learns that playing by the rules is not as easy as it seems.
During a sun-soaked Sicilian summer, aimless filmmaking undergrad and back-seat radical Tanino has a fling with Sally, a dreamy American tourist from an upper background. When summer ends, Sally flies back home, without ever reaching out. Clueless, a smitten Tanino decides to pay her a surprise visit under the pretense of returning a camera she left behind. But when he gets there, he quickly realizes the reality of America—and his relationship with Sally's—is far from the idealized version his small-town boy imagination conjured.
Gilberto, 50enne, si fa coinvolgere in una cosiddetta speed-date, una gara in cui i protagonisti devono trovare un partner in 3 minuti. Arrestato, deve confessare tutto in presenza della moglie che lo sbatte fuori di casa. Rifugiatosi da amici scopre che il suo migliore amico è amante della moglie e comincia a tentare di avviare nuove relazioni che falliscono tutte.
Lizzie McGuire has graduated from middle school and takes a trip to Rome, Italy with her class. And what was supposed to be only a normal trip, becomes a teenager's dream come true.
Three characters' misadventures in semi-deserted, summertime Rome: a dim-witted mama's boy falls for a tourist; a would-be womanizer struggles to find company for his sex tourism trip to Kraków; a hippie is drawn into his father's schemes to bring him back into polite society.
Sara and Nicola are married and in love. Their lives seem to be perfect: they have an angelic six-year-old daughter, thriving careers and a stable marriage. The birth of their second child, which disrupts the family balance, leads to tragicomic scenarios.
Sergio Benvenuti is a shy seller of contracts for a Roman company of music, but because of his character he cannot find even a customer, so he asks for help from a fellow named Nadia.
A collection of dark-humoured vignettes, including tales of a cardinal with a liberal congregation, a motorist and a hitchhiker, mentally challenged tramps, parents contemplating their daughter's participation in a pornographic film, and a conniving husband.
When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
A commitment-phobic 27-year old’s relationship is put to the test when she and her boyfriend attend 7 weddings in the same year.
Paramutual Pictures wants to know where all the money is going so they hire Morty to be their spy. Morty works for Mr. Sneak and gets a job in the mail room so that he can have access to the lot. But all that Morty ever finds is that he can cause havoc no matter what he does.
Jimmy Dolan is a college basketball coach who wants a big promotion. To get it, he needs to make a dramatic find. He ends up deep in Africa, hoping to recruit Saleh, a huge basketball prodigy Jimmy glimpsed in a home movie. But Saleh is the chief's son and has responsibilities at home, since the tribe's land is threatened by a mining company with its own hotshot basketball team.
Offensive lines. Full-contact comedy. Kevin Hart hosts this all-star roast of NFL legend Tom Brady.
Kids from a huge apartment complex in Rome form a secret society to unite their forces and get back at the nasty adults who 'oppress' them, playing pranks on them to expose their weaknesses.
A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
In a rowdy stand-up set, Shane Gillis riffs on his girlfriend's Navy SEAL ex, touring George Washington's house and being bullied by an Australian Goth.
In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
