Dolce! THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE has got to be one of the sweetest films to screen this year. It is one of two special presentations at this year’s ST. ALi Italian Film Festival.
Ostensibly a celebration of community and friends, THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE amps up the adage that you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends, people who forge a family more bonded than blood.
Annamaria is a contrary Sicilian countess, single mother to two children, Martina and Sandro, who asks her oldest friends, Allesandro and Arturo, to take care of her kids while she is hospitalised for some medical tests.
The couple live in a close knit middle class neighbourhood with a coterie comprising transgender Mina, a middle aged heterosexual couple and a bubbly busy body spinster.
Their fifteen year relationship has lost its fizz and infidelities are causing a fracture, not the perfect time to become foster parents.
Directed by Ferzan Ozpetek with a screenplay by Ozpetek, Silvia Ranfagni and Gianni Romoli, THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE is sweet and savoury, with touches of sour and bitter. The opening scene is a portent of the dark denouement, an image in stark, dark contrast to the body of the narrative.
Stefano Accorsi and Edoardo Leo are splendid as the attractive couple with Jasmine Trinca equally so as the recalcitrant Contessa. Serendipitous, THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE will screen along with the short film BEING MY MOM, the directorial debut of Jasmine Trinca,
The 2020 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival will open with a new live-action version of the classic fairy tale PINOCCHIO. From the Director of Gomorrah and Dogman, Matteo Garrone’s seven-time Nastro d’Argento award-winner is an enthralling Gothic fantasy starring Roberto Benigni as the woodcutter Geppetto.
To celebrate the 20th anniversary – and in honour of the late great Ennio Morricone, one of the world’s greatest film composers – the Festival will close with Giuseppe Tornatore’s MALENA (Malèna) starring Monica Bellucci.
The Centrepiece selection for the 2020 programme is Marco Bellocchio’s multi award-winning crime drama THE TRAITOR (Il traditore), which was the big winner at Italy’s 65th David di Donatello Awards – the country’s equivalent of the Oscars. The absorbing film sees Pierfrancesco Favino deliver a powerhouse performance as Tommaso Buscetta, a Sicilian Mafia boss-turned-police informer.
This year the Festival is also launching the ST. ALi Italian Film Festival eTicket Bundle. Escape to Italy with 5 eTickets for $55 or 10 eTickets for $100. The ticket bundle is available to buy online only until September 30 and is valid for the duration of the 2020 Italian Film Festival. This is a Palace Movie Club exclusive offer.
ALL TICKETS NOW ON SALE. For more information visit: www.italianfilmfestival.com.au
The 21st ST. ALi Italian Film Festival presented by Palace screens in the following locations:
Sydney: 29 Sept – 18 Oct, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinemas, Palace Central.