All this will be screened at the Cinema Nouveaus screened by Nedbank during the fifth edition of the WINDOW ON ITALIAN CINEMA festival. This festival is even greater this year in as much as it forms part of the larger event called the ITALIAN FESTIVAL organised with the Italian Trade Commission, Italian Embassy and Istituto Italiano di Cultura.
The public will be enticed by the following works by Marco Risi: Mery per Sempre, Ragazzi Fuori and Tre Mogli. Off the Biennale circuit, audiences will have the following Italian delights to look forward to: Nobel by Fabio Carpi, Controvento by Peter del Monte and Voci by Fabio Giraldi.
Marco Risi, son of the legendary Italian director, Dino Risi, was born in Milan on 4 June 1951. He began his career in cinema as assistant director to his uncle Nelo and Duccio Tessari. In 1979 he writes the script for Caro Papà / Dear Daddy, and the following year that of Sono fotogenico / I'm Photogenic both films directed by his father. In the future, Marco would write almost all the scripts. Marco Risi makes his debut as a Director of film in 1982 with Vado a Vivere da Solo / I'm going to live on my own. IN 1987 he directs the moving film Soldati, 365 all'alba / Soldiers, 356 at dawn. It is in this film that he moves his attention to a more realist cinema that depicts the anger and discomfort felt by youth. This theme again comes to the fore in films like Mery per sempre (1989), Ragazzi Fuori (1990), Il muro di gomma (1991) and Il branco (1994). In 1998 he changes genre and directs a film noir called L'ultimo capodanno based on the novel by Niccolò Ammanniti. 2001 marks yet another change in direction when he directs the comedy Tre Mogli / Three wives. The star of the film, Francesca D'Aloja, in fact Marco Risi's wife delivers a splendid and humorous performance.
However, Risi's talents do not only lie in the field of directing. In 1992 together with Maurizio Tedesco, Marco Risi founds the production company, SORPASSO FILM, named after his father's last and great masterpiece of the same name.
Both Marco Risi and Francesca D'Aloja will be in South Africa for the opening of the film festival to be held on 5 June in Johannesburg.
For more information contact:
Claudia C.J. Fratini
Istituto Italiano di Cultura
Tel: (012) 343 6678
e-mail:
