The Italian job

“I think the thing that’s special about it is that you get to escape to Italy for a couple of hours.” For Benjamin Zaccola, that subjective summation captures the essence of the Italian Film Festival, which opened this week at Palace Norton Street.

The Festival is an initiative of Palace Cinemas. Benjamin Zeccola is the company’s executive director and has been involved with the Festival since its inception. “It’s a family business for us,” he said. “I’ve worked in it since I left school in 1992; dad started it 30 years ago.”

Started as a labour of love, the Festival, celebrating its tenth birthday this year, has quickly grown to become a national program. Having come from Melbourne, it is set to tour Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra once it departs Sydney. “The quality of films coming out of Italy is very, very good, but the distribution isn’t widespread,” Mr Zeccola said. [We have] 18 new films and retrospectives this year.”

The retrospectives refer to a selection of the most outstanding Festival films from the last decade, including ‘100 Steps’, ‘Crime Novel’ and ‘The Consequences of Love’.

Mr Zeccola noted the disparity between Italy’s film output and the public’s general recognition of the role played by the country in world cinematic circles. “Italy makes about 180 films a year,” said Mr Zeccola. “They have ‘Cine Citta’ in the middle of Rome – it’s where all the Clint Eastwood-Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns were made, and of course Federico Fellini worked there as well.”

The Festival’s opening night screening featured Cannes-nominated drama ‘Vincere’, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno as Ida Dalser, first wife of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The film, by Marco Bellocchio, tells the hidden story of Dalser’s role in the tyrant’s rise to power.

The Italian Film Festival will screen in Sydney until October 12.