The improbable relationship between a young orphan violin virtuoso and composer Antonio Vivaldi in early-18th-century Venice is at the heart of acclaimed opera and theater director Damiano Michieletto’s debut feature. Cecilia (Tecla Insolia) lives at the Ospedale della Pietà, a secluded home for abandoned girls run by no-nonsense nuns, while she awaits the return of the man with whom she will enter an arranged marriage when he returns home from war. But when the Pietà brings on Vivaldi to serve as their new musical instructor, Cecilia’s life takes a turn, and the possibility of a hitherto unimagined future emerges. Written by Ludovica Rampoldi. Primavera is a gripping, gorgeously realized meditation on the seldom-simple relationship between talent and destiny.
Acclaimed Italian filmmaker Mario Martone brings to the screen an intimate and deeply human story inspired by the life and writings of Goliarda Sapienza. Set against the backdrop of Italy in the early 1980s, Fuori follows Sapienza, a celebrated writer whose time in prison leads to an unexpected friendship with two fellow inmates. Once released, the three women navigate the challenges of rebuilding their lives, discovering that the bonds formed behind bars can be as transformative as they are enduring.
Led by a remarkable performance from Valeria Golino as Sapienza, Fuori is a moving exploration of friendship, resilience, and the search for belonging beyond society’s margins. Adapted from Sapienza’s 1983 novel, the film blends emotional depth with a vivid sense of place, offering a portrait of women determined to define themselves on their own terms.
Two lifelong friends drift through the towns and back roads of northern Italy, filling their days with conversation, misadventures, and the search for one more drink. When they befriend a young architecture student struggling to find his footing, an unlikely trio sets off on a journey that is by turns funny, melancholy, and unexpectedly wise. Francesco Sossai’s charming comedy is a warmhearted reflection on friendship, growing older, and finding connection in life’s detours.
Post-film discussion presented by Tina Chiappetta-Miller, Associate Professor In-Residence, Italian Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Connecticut
Set in postwar Rome, Bellissima follows Maddalena, a devoted working-class mother who becomes determined to secure a film career for her young daughter after a major studio announces a search for a new child actress. Convinced that stardom will provide opportunities she never had, Maddalena throws herself into the competitive audition process, encountering the promises and disappointments of the movie business along the way.
Featuring a remarkable performance by Anna Magnani, Bellissima is both a vivid portrait of a mother’s ambitions and a thoughtful look at the allure of fame. As Maddalena confronts the realities behind the dream factory, the film reveals the tensions between aspiration, dignity, and unconditional love. Combining humor, emotion, and sharp social observation, Visconti’s classic remains one of the defining works of Italian cinema.
A fascinating, patient observation of papal arcana, Massimiliano Camaiti’s hypnotic and sensitive documentary captures the process by which, each year at the Monastery of Saint Cecilia in Rome, two newborn lambs are blessed and afforded treatment befitting His Holiness himself, cared for closely by a cloistered nun who prepares their wool for its destiny as part of a sacred vestment to be worn by the Pope on June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. A Venice Film Festival selection in the College Cinema section, Agnus Dei is an indelible, transfixing glimpse at movingly mystical procedures carried out in a sacred, somewhat obscure place while the winds of change blow outside its walls.