La grande quercia (1997)

Italian for Beginners

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.

Rififi

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

A Bronx Tale

Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.

Ossessione

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

Bicycle Thieves

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Theorem

A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Four corrupted fascist libertines round up 9 teenage boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of sadistic physical, mental and sexual torture.

The Italian

Set in 2002, an abandoned 5-year-old boy living in a rundown orphanage in a small Russian village is adopted by an Italian family.

By the Gun

A rising Boston gangster (Ben Barnes) endangers those around him when he starts to make moves without the knowledge of his boss (Harvey Keitel).

The Earrings of Madame de...

In France of the late 19th century, the wife of a wealthy general, the Countess Louise, sells the earrings her husband gave her on their wedding day to pay off debts; she claims to have lost them. Her husband quickly learns of the deceit, which is the beginning of many tragic misunderstandings, all involving the earrings, the general, the countess, & her new lover, the Italian Baron Donati.

Looking for Alibrandi

Josie Alibrandi is 17 and doesn't know where she belongs. This year, however, everything is going to change. Josie will face her fears, uncover secrets and even discover the true identity of her father.

The Horseman on the Roof

In a time of war and disease, a young officer gallantly tries to help a young woman find her husband.

Allegro non troppo

The film is a parody of Disney's Fantasia, though possibly more of a challenge to Fantasia than parody status would imply. In the context of this film, "Allegro non Troppo" means Not So Fast!, an interjection meaning "slow down" or "think before you act" and refers to the film's pessimistic view of Western progress (as opposed to the optimism of Disney's original).

Il Sorpasso

Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer. When their journey starts to blend into their daily lives though, the pair’s newfound friendship is tested.

Cheeky

While scouting out apartments in London for her Venetian boyfriend, Carla rents an apartment overlooking the Thames. There, she meets the lesbian hyper-horny real estate agent Moira.

All Ladies Do It

After five years of marriage, Diana discovers the joys of adultery, claiming that she can save her failing relationship through betrayal.

1987

In 1987, Ricardo is 17 years old. This summer, Ricardo has a busy schedule: loose his virginity, find a way to get into bars, have a car, spend time with his friends. In order to rapidly make money, Ricardo decides to use his italian inheritance and take a shortcut in the medium of crime. But things will go wrong...

Illusione

During the 1950s, a Greek concert pianist meets the love of her life in Trieste, Italy. After they marry, she follows him to the United States -- where a cruel fate awaits her.

La Cura

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A Place of Our Own

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Snack Bar Budapest

While his girlfriend recovers from a medical procedure, a corrupt lawyer becomes entranced by the grand visions of a mob boss.

Story of G.I. Joe

War correspondent Ernie Pyle joins Company C, 18th Infantry as this American army unit fights its way across North Africa in World War II. He comes to know the soldiers and finds much human interest material for his readers back in the States. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2000.

Creators: The Past

Where do we come from and where do we go ? The eternal question of humanity which religions have tried to answer over the centuries - lt's the end of the year 2012. The Universe is about to undergo an imposing planetary alignment and a Total Eclipse will soon be upon Planet Earth. Great vibrational changes are imminent and set to disturb us. The eight members of the Galactic Council, led by Lord Ogmha (William Shatner), meet to discuss the effects of the imminent alignment. They are 8 creators (aliens) and each one of them governs a Planet. They are each responsible for the security and well-being of a 'LENS'. Together they balance the conflict and allegiance of the Universe. Treason puts Earth in danger and the LENS, the hard disc (crystal core) containing the recording of the entire history, DNA, memories and nucleus of mankind is hidden somewhere in Italy. Everyone is searching for it. If the Lens is opened and in the wrong hands it could reveal to the human beings the shocking

Il solco di pesca

A former priest has become bored to the point of impotence by the easy availability of beautiful women. He misses the shame of the priesthood which made sex more enjoyable, and this leads to his strange fascination with photographing asses. He gets involved with a sexy married woman, but he is more interested in her virginal maid.

Marriage Italian Style

During World War II, a man falls for a woman in Naples, leading to a two-decade affair. When she learns he plans to marry someone else, she schemes to make him marry her, having secretly borne his children.

When Will I Be Loved

Feeling undervalued by her boyfriend, a young woman begins to explore her sexuality with other people.

Senso

A troubled and neurotic Italian Countess betrays her entire country for a self-destructive love affair with an Austrian Lieutenant.

Day of the Cobra

An American narcotics agent is murdered in Italy. The head of the department decides to hire Larry Stanziani, 'The Cobra'. Larry, a former agent and now a third-rate private detective, uses the opportunity to get even with an old enemy, but soon he finds out he's facing a relentless organization

Why

Giuseppe Di Noi, an Italian surveyor living in Switzerland, gets arrested at the border while going back to Italy with his family for a vacation. But can someone tell the man why?

Conspiracy of Hearts

In wartime Italy nuns in a convent regularly smuggle Jewish children out of a nearby internment camp. The Italian army officer in charge suspects what may be going on but deliberately turns a blind eye. When the Germans take over the camp security the nuns' activities become far more dangerous.

The Flesh

A beautiful film which is basically about a man, a piano player, who meets and falls in love with a beautiful and voluptuous woman, who, by some strange procedure, leaves the man unable to move but with a permanent priapism! After some time he becomes sick of it and she relieves his paralysis. Eventually she gets bored and decides to leave, but he can't take it because he loves her…

Ritual of Love

This movie is based on the true story that made headlines all over the world: the story of a relationship gone sour between a Japanese man very much in love with a French model. Some time later, it was discovered that the woman was turned into "sushi." At that time the man had already eaten a few body parts. To the arresting officers in Paris, he justified his acts as a proof of profound passion. In the late 80's many books and films find inspiration by the sinister love story.

Love and Anger

Five short stories with contemporary settings. In New York, people are indifferent to derelicts sleeping on sidewalks, to a woman's assault in front of an apartment building, and to a couple injured in a car crash. A man, stripped of his identity, dies in bed with actors expressing his agony. A cheerful, innocent young man walking a city street in a time of war pays a price for this innocence. A couple talks about cinema while it watches another couple talk of love and truth on the eve of one character's return to Cuba. Striking students take over a university classroom; an argument follows about revolution or incremental change.

The Saracen Woman

Montreal, 1904. Giuseppe and Ninetta own a boarding house where they welcome their fellow Sicilians. One day, as he comes to the defence of one of his boarders, Giuseppe accidentally kills Theo, his French Canadian best friend’s son-in-law. This drama depicts the tensions between people from different ethnic backgrounds and their life-changing impact. Based on a true story, 'The Saracen Woman' paints a portrait of Italian immigration to Quebec and the affinities and conflicts that arose from the clash of two different cultures.

Hangin' with the Homeboys

Two African-Americans and two Puerto-Ricans (though one pretends to be Italian) go out on the town on a Friday night. They will be forced to get to know each other — and even worse, learn to like each other as friends.

La notte più lunga dell'anno

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Origini

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Syndicate

An honest cop named Joshua Marino is transferred to the city of Plainview, New York, where the streets run dirty with crime and corruption. Meanwhile, an aging crime boss pressures his eldest son to carry on his legacy while a washed up detective is hot on his tail.

Her Private Hell

A young Italian girl comes to London, and is tricked into posing nude for risqué magazines.

Girl in the Window

A romantic drama partially set in Amsterdam, this standard tale starts out in a mining area in Holland where conditions are about as rough as they get. Two of the miners, Italians Federico and Vincenzo take off together for the city's red-light district, where the women pose in windows for prospective customers. There the duo meet Else and Carrel who are willing to leave their windows to spend a weekend at a resort with the two men. Soon Else has fallen in love with Vincenzo and the future of the two hookers, as well as the miners, seems to look brighter.

La Orca

A teenage girl is kidnapped by 3 guys and taken to an abandoned house in the country, where she is made to write her own ransom letter. She soon discovers that one of her captors is infatuated with her and she will use those feelings to stay alive.

One Punch

Matteo is pressured into the family business when he fails his exams. Out for his 18th birthday, he struggles to choose between his family responsibilities and his adolescent friendships, culminating in an act of violence.

Sinyora Enrica ile İtalyan Olmak

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The Murri Affair

Based on a true incident, this tells the story of a troubled young man who kills his sister's reactionary, violent and abusive husband and is eventually arrested for the murder. However, the dead husband happened to be a member of the Italian nobility, and the trial starts to turn into more of a prosecution of the defendant's socialist politics and the activities of his father, a well known liberal social reformer, than the actual crime itself.

Rasputin

Grigorij Efimovic Rasputin (1869-1916) the mystic and self-proclaimed holy man. The saint-demon and the simple peasant. About the plot against Rasputin, hated and feared at the highest levels of government because of his surreal influence on the Tsar.

Dedee

Dedee is a prostitute, working in Monsieur Rene's night club on Antwerp's harbour. The porter is Marco, her pimp. Dedee is not happy, until she meets Francesco, an italian sailorman. They fall in love and Dedee begins to dream about an escape of her daily dullness.

General Gramophone

Halit Berati, a virtuoso clarinet player, is invited by the Italians to record his music, which is to be sold along Italian records.

In the Valley of the Moon

In the Valley of the Moon, follows a young man working as a hitman for the Italian mob in 1977. He takes a job in Petaluma, California, posing as a potential buyer at an open house to confront the realtor who he suspects has a sinister connection to his past.

The Flavor of Corn

Lorenzo, a handsome first-year professor in an isolated Italian village, falls under the spell of his most beguiling pupil, a dark-haired, starry-eyed 12-year-old named Duilio. As Lorenzo's relationship with his heartless girlfriend deteriorates, he finds himself walking the fields with his loving student. When their idyllic friendship is questioned by Duilio's suspicious stepmother, Lorenzo is brought to a crisis of conscience.

Perfect Strangers

During a dinner, a group of friends decide to share whatever message or phone call they will receive during the evening, with unforeseen consequences.

Teresa

An Italian war bride has problems dealing with her husband's possessive mother.

Those Happy Years

A narcissistic artist's world turns upside down after his wife's affair and a disastrous exhibition of his work.

The Bachelor Father

Lonely in his English country estate, Sir Basil decides to gather his grown (albeit illegitimate) children around him in his declining years. He uses a ledger which keeps track of the payments he has been making to ex-lovers to locate 2 of them, and a third is found by a lawyer in New York, her mother was too proud to accept any money. Sir Basil is a curmudgeon, and his three adult children have a hard time with him at first. Toni, the American, is a free spirit who had a budding career in show business. Jeffery is English and a semi-gentleman, and Maria is Italian, with a Latin temperament. They begin to bond, especially Sir Basil and Toni, whose outgoing personality finally wins over the old man. But past lives begin to creep back into the picture and threaten the old man's plans for a life filled with his children.

La buona uscita

The plan of a rich criminal to avoid a trial by expatriating involves many characters.

Outlaws of Love

This film is very much a docudrama which portrays the difficulties of Italian life circa 1963 due to the absence of a divorce law. Five scenarios with different actors portray realistic situations where divorce is clearly warranted but, because marriage was strictly in the purview of the Catholic Church at that time, which strictly forbade divorce, these people are shown to suffer the consequences in their daily lives. Italy got its first civilian divorce law in 1970.

The Guilty Generation

The children of feuding gangsters fall in love and fight to escape their parents' notoriety.

Quello che resta fuori

The incommunicability of today's young people through disturbing and decadent sounds.

Verdiana

After a big fight, a couple wakes up with an unbelievable problem: he can't speak and she can't hear anything. Doctors and exams are useless. A female Zen Master and a very special plant come to their aid.

Die Blume der Hausfrau

About a group of door-to-door salesman who try to sell vacuum cleaners from "Vorwerk", a German manufacturer.

Kind Hearts and Coronets

When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.

Everybody Wants to Be Italian

Are all relationships based on lies? Jake Bianski runs a fish market in north Boston, surrounded by Italians. For years, he's carried a torch for Isabella, an ex-girlfriend now married with three children and no interest in Jake. Yet, he tells everyone she's his girlfriend, including Marisa, a veterinarian his employees set him up with at the Italian singles club. She's interested in him until he tells her about his girlfriend, then he's persistent in asking her to be his friend. As the friendship bumps along, Jake realizes that reality may be better than fantasy, but what if Isabella changes her mind about Jake, and what if it comes out that Marisa, like Jake, isn't Italian?