Special Events

30 anni di Cinema a Ponticelli (30 years of cinema in Ponticelli)

The story of Arci Movie is also a bit of the story of the last 30 years of Ponticelli, a neighborhood of 50,000 inhabitants on the eastern outskirts of Naples. A story made of testimonies, memories, images, love for culture and for an area that, with the promotion of cinema in the name of sharing, has been able to change its perspective. So many are the well-known faces who took part in the 1990s in the battle to save Cinema Pierrot, a historic theater bound to become a supermarket like so many others. So many activists, educators and citizens who were protagonists of a cinema story that has left marks in the community like few other experiences in the recent history of Naples

Barber Ring

A difficult life, that of Manuel Ernesti, former boxer of the Italian national team. A childhood spent in squats, redemption as a boxing champion, financial difficulties and a rebirth as a successful barber and entrepreneur. Finally, the birth of a social project called Barber Ring, in which Manuel teaches both the barber profession and the discipline of the noble art of boxing. A way to lend a hand to all those guys who come from difficult realities like him, as he follows them, helps and supports them to build a better future for themselves.

 

 

La brigade (Kitchen Brigade / Sì Chef! - La Brigade)

 by Louis-Julien Petit (fiction, France, 2022, 105'), Italian premiere

Cathy is a stubborn 40-year-old sous chef. This year, she is finally about to fulfill her lifelong dream: Opening her own gastronomic restaurant. But nothing goes as planned. Facing serious financial difficulties, she reluctantly accepts a job in the cafeteria of a shelter for young migrants. While she hates her new position, Cathy’s skills and passion for cuisine start to change the kids’ lives. And they also have a lot to teach her...

 

 

Everything Will Be Ok

 by Rithy Panh (doc, France/Cambodia, 2022, 98'), Italian premiere

If animals took power, would they behave like humans? Would they make similar mistakes, bringing the world to the brink of an ecological disaster? Would they have the same thirst for power and the same cruelty? Would they choose to rule through demagogy, terror, or totalitarianism? Would they use images to make art or for reprehensible purposes? Would they get along with the “ancients” - meaning the humans, or would they enslave them? Would they be able to resist the temptations of evil and have empathy towards their fellow creatures and all living beings on the planet?

 

 

 

Fuorigioco - Una storia di vita e di sport

 by Pier Paolo Paganelli (doc, Italy, 2022, 87'), World premiere

Fuorigioco tells the story of Italian soccer player Beppe Signori: his life, but more importantly the years he lived in the shadow of infamy and suspicion. A sports journey destroyed by an accusation that turned out to be without evidence.
The strength of a man who, after being expelled from soccer, losing TV contracts and the possibility of coaching, refuses the statute of limitations on his charges and extends the trial time to begin his battle: to be proclaimed innocent.

 

Il gioco di Silvia (Silvia's game)

 by Valerio Lo Muzio, Emiliano Trovati (doc, Italy, 2022, 74'), World premiere

Silvia, aka Jessica, lives a comfortable life and loves it: her work as a sex worker allows her to earn a lot of money, and despite the stigma towards her profession, over time she has built a solid family and friendship environment around herself, where she can realize her desire for success and financial well-being. A client's proposal, difficult to refuse, will push Silvia to reconsider the value of her own freedom, in a game of mirrors in which stereotypes and prejudices end up being reflected in her own image.

 

 

Grossman

 by Adi Arbel (doc, Israel, 2021, 55'), Italian premiere

“What I search for in my writing are the moments when I’m able to touch both life and death.” World renowned author David Grossman, whose novels have touched the hearts of many, like you’ve never seen him before. Through previously unavailable materials, the film reveals the most secret and intimate side of the writer as he shares the personal stories alongside his novels that are larger than life.

 

 

Invito al viaggio - Concerto per Franco Battiato

 by Pepsy Romanoff (doc, Italy, 2022, 156'), Italian premiere

Franco Battiato has crossed the world of music intercepting different listeners and artists, but always close to his sensibility. They reaffirmed his value in the concert Invito al viaggio, held at the Arena di Verona on 9/21/2021, which put together the Orchestra Filarmonica dell’Opera Italiana Bruno Bartoletti, conducted by Carlo Guaitoli, and figures from the world of entertainment, such as Alice, Bluvertigo, Juri Camisasca, Carmen Consoli, Emma, Max Gazzè, Fiorella Mannoia, Mahmood, Morgan, Gianna Nannini, Subsonica, Paola Turci and many others. The repertoire maintains the original arrangements, on timbres and nuances intended to reflect Battiato's musical journey. Not only songs but also orchestral moments, in a kind of testimony in movement.

 

 

Les jeunes amants (The young lovers/I giovani amanti)

 by Carine Tardieu (fiction, France, Belgium, 2021, 112')

Seventy-year-old Shauna, a sophisticated, free-spirited and independent woman and a retired architect, has set aside and given up on her love life, but one day she accidentally runs into Pierre, a forty-five-year-old happily married doctor and father, who had made a deep impression on here during a short encounter fifteen years earlier. He still sees her as an attractive woman, but they are both wary of starting a relationship. While Pierre’s family life soon falls apart, Shauna fights against emotions and feelings that she thought were only in the past.

 

 

 

Mr. Landsbergis

 by Sergei Loznitsa (doc, Lithuania/The Netherlands/USA, 2021, 248'), Italian premiere

Vytautas Landsbergis is a music professor and a charismatic leader of the Lithuanian independence movement. In 1990, he was in the forefront in the political process that took his country out of the Soviet Union and forced Gorbachev to recognize its sovereignty. 30 years after the historic collapse of the USSR, Mr. Landsbergis shares the hidden story behind his nation's fight for independence. Combining interview and archive footage, Sergej Loznitsa paints a mesmerizing portrait of a man who made history.

 

 

 

Natural Born Driver L'incredibile storia di Ivan Capelli

 di Gionata Zanetta (doc, Svizzera/Italia, 2022, 65'), World premiere

A filmmaker father captures episodes of his son's sports life on camera since his teenage years, producing hours and hours of footage. Perhaps did he know that the kind-looking, determined little boy would become a Formula 1 star? To tell the story of the racing career of Ivan Capelli, a driver who started from Milan, author Gionata Zanetta reworks the previously unreleased family material through an original mixed technique, blending animated moving watercolors illustrations with recontextualized archival images and photographs. A biopic that exudes a healthy and dangerous 1970s recklessness from every frame and revolutionizes the genre in its own way.

 

 

 

Nel mio nome (Into My Name)

 by Nicolò Bassetti (doc, Italy, 2022, 93'), Italian premiere

Nico is thirty-three, Leo thirty, Andrea twenty-five, and Raff twenty-three: they come from various parts of Italy. They begin their gender transition at different times in their lives. Day after day they have to face the obstacles of a strictly binary world with great courage. Having a decent and fulfilling life is a matter of survival. They must be steadfast, infinitely patient, and above all, they are aware that to overcome adversity they need a good dose of irony.

 

 

Pleasure

 di Ninja Thyberg (fiction, Sweden, The Netherlands, 2021, 109'), Italian premiere

Bella arrives in Los Angeles from her hometown in Sweden, with dreams of becoming the next porn superstar. However, as her ruthless ambition leads her into increasingly dangerous territory, Bella struggles to reconcile her dreams of empowerment with the reality of the darker side of her industry. Thyberg’s captivating debut addresses powerful ideas of consent and agency in sex work, through a fearless and uncompromising viewpoint.

 

 

The Princess

 by Ed Perkins (doc, UK, 2022, 106') Italian premiere

More than two decades after her untimely death, Princess Diana continues to evoke mystery, glamour, and the quintessential modern fairy tale gone wrong. As a symbol of both the widening fissures weakening the British monarchy and the destructive machinery of the press, the Princess of Wales navigated an unparalleled rise to fame and the corrosive challenges that came alongside it. Crafted entirely from immersive archival footage and free from the distraction of retrospective voices, this hypnotic and audaciously revealing documentary takes a distinctive formal approach, allowing the story of the People’s Princess to unfold before us like never before.

 

 

Radiopornopanda

 by Mauro Russo Rouge (doc/fiction, Italy, 2022, 81'), World premiere

“We do know that our job is not ‘normal’, as much as the one of those working in the so-called acrobatic construction. But this does not mean that those who do sex work should be stigmatized and not considered serious enough. It’s just a different life choice, but equally dignified and valid.” Through the real life of Pandina and Pandone, Radiopornopanda explores the world of paid online couple shows. The journey of a couple who have made this type of expression their professional activity, told through the voyeuristic gaze of the director.

 

 

Rimini

 by Ulrich Seidl (fiction, Austria/France/Germany, 2022, 114'), Italian premiere

Richie Bravo, once upon a time a successful pop star, chases after his faded fame in wintry Rimini. Addicted to gambling, he funds his dissolute lifestyle with concerts for busloads of tourists and sexual performances for his female fans. His world starts to collapse when his adult daughter suddenly breaks into his life asking him everything he has never given her as a father, including money. Meanwhile, his elderly father who suffers from dementia goes round and round in an Austrian nursing home.

 

  

 

The Story Won't Die

 by David Henry Gerson (doc, USA/Germany, 2021, 83'), Italian premiere

A Syrian rapper, tortured by Bashar Al-Assad for his lyrics, uses his music to survive one of our century's deadliest wars. Together with other creative personalities of the Syrian uprising, a Post-Rock musician, a breakdancer, and visual artists, young artists who believed change was possible, he tells us his story of revolution and exile in a new documentary reflecting on a global battle for peace, justice and freedom of expression.

 

 

 

Tytöt tytöt tytöt (Girl picture/Girl, Girl, Girl)

 by Alli Haapasalo (fiction, Finland, 2022, 100'), Italian premiere

Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö are girls at the cusp of womanhood, trying to draw their own contours. Best friends Mimmi and Rönkkö work after school at a food court smoothie kiosk, frankly swapping stories of their frustrations and expectations regarding love and sex. Volatile misfit Mimmi, unexpectedly swept up in the thrill of a new romance with Emma, struggles to adjust to the trust and compromise required by a lasting relationship. Meanwhile, the offbeat, indefatigable Rönkkö hits the teen party scene, stumbling through a series of awkward encounters with members of the opposite sex while hoping to find her own version of satisfaction.

 

 

 

Under Havet (Undersea)

 by Jannik Splidsboel (doc, Denmark/Egypt, 2022, 53'), International premiere

Photographer Nanna Kreutzmann, who documented disasters and conflicts for a long time, one day is overcome by emotional stress. The camera seems to weigh a ton. Years of shooting wars, tsunamis, and bloody revolutions become too much. She thus decides to reinvent herself as a freediver and underwater photographer and she found a world that can give her peace.