Saturday, July 29, 2017

Intervista a Paolo Rotondo, Artistic Director del Cinema Italiano Festival!




Ciao Paolo,
The Cinema Italiano Festival is about to hit Auckland and we are all very excited about it.
This is the second edition organized by you and your wife Renee Mark, and I want to thank you, on behalf of the Italian Community and Kiwis who love and support Italian culture, for making it possible.
Grazie a voi, e un piacere. It’s a pleasure, after all it’s rare not to enjoy cinema.


1) When did you decide to take on the challenge of organising this festival?
I had dreamed of being involved in an Italian Festival of film for over fifteen years. When attending Film Festivals overseas as a filmmaker over the years I became very interested in the value of Festivals themselves. Having been involved with the old NZ Italian Film Festival run by Tony Lambert, when it ceased to exist after 2014, I immediately knew I had to do something. As an Italo-Kiwi living in NZ, Italian Cinema had always been a way for me to keep connected to some of the ideas and the cultural climate of Italy from afar.  It feels to me like it was meant to be and with my wife Renee (the brains behind the enterprise) it became a reality.


2) Tell us something about the movies you have selected this year. There seems to be a very broad variety of choices: from new releases to classics, from fiction to documentaries…
Italian culture cannot easily be quantified or explained in a single film or with a particular style. Italy is such a diverse country, that I felt like the Festival needs to reflect this. This year I was particularly moved by the powerful expression of traditions and history in a contemporary context. For me this mix of modernity and ancientness can be seen as something unique and precious in Italian culture. I am also very passionate to bring New Zealand audiences a broad and surprising look at Italian culture. Through documentaries, thematic choices, classics, dramas and comedies I can expose kiwis to the dynamic nature of Italy. You couldn’t get more different films from say Quo Vado / Where am I going? to  Fuocoamare / Fire at Sea, yet both in hilarious and eloquent ways express the complexity of Italy in superb and totally different cinematic ways.

3) Where do you see the Festival in five years from now?
I look forward to The Cinema Italiano Festival being established as an essential event on the New Zealand cultural calendar. I see The Cinema Italiano Festival as a window into many aspects of Italian culture and business. I want Italians in New Zealand to feel an enormous sense of pride and along with kiwis feel that they simply must be part of it. The world and business of Cinema is changing rapidly and we want to be at the crest of those changes. In five years we will have a ‘famiglia’ of loyal businesses and patrons that will feel they simply have to be part of our celebration.

4) tell us where the opening night will be? We are curious to know a little bit more about it.
We are rapidly becoming famous for our opening nights, its.  We will have our opening night at one of Auckland’s most charming boutique Cinemas The Bridgeway Theatre on August 31. Vino by Carpinetto, Banfi and Zabu, birra by Peroni and aqua by San Pellegrino. Esteemed Chef Antonio Crisci of Poderi Crisci will be creating some sensational stuzzichini. We will kick the Auckland Cinema Italiano Festival 2017 with a classic, the beautifully restored Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck, quite possibly the greatest ever romantic comedy.

Cinema Italiano, the Italian Film Festival in New Zealand, will run in Auckland for two weeks,
from 1 September to 14 October at:
The Bridgeway 122 Queen Street, Northcote, Auckland   Tel.: 09 481 0040  www.bridgeway.co.nz
Click here for the full programme

ENQUIRIES +64 27 2244541 renee@cinemaitaliano.co.nz


Wednesday, July 12, 2017

Win Italy with the Dante Raffle!



This year's Dante School Raffle has some amazing prizes!
To be in to win just buy at raffle ticket from the Dante Alighieri Society, tickets are on sale now at the Dante School, or through our volunteers, and all day util 3pm on 1 October (the Festival Italiano Day) in Newmarket.


First Prize

2 x Lufthansa Premium Economy Class return tickets from any airport in New Zealand to any Lufthansa destination in Europe!




Imagine yourself and your partner or best friend flying all the way to Europe in Premium Economy
Class with Lufthansa!
Yes, this year's winner will take home 2 x Lufthansa Premium Economy Class return tickets from any airport in New Zealand to any Lufthansa destination in Europe! (Of course we strongly recommend Italy as you final destination, but the choice will be yours!)
Prize pack worth approx. $10,000.
Click on the terms and conditions to find out more.

2nd Prize An Italian dinner for four at Palazzo Italia Restaurant in Newmarket, valued at $300
(alcohol not included)








3rd Prize
Learn to make fresh pasta like they do it in Bologna!
A pasta class for two at Pasta & Cuore in Mt Eden, valued at $220







4th Prize
A beautiful Italian necklace from Simply Italian Jewellery
valued at $190











5th Prize
A delicious hamper of Italian products from Sabato in Mt Eden, valued at $150.
(content may vary slightly from image)









Tickets: $5 for 1 or a pack of 5 tickets for $20. Draw will be held publicly at 3:30pm on stage at the Festival Italiano, Sunday 1 October 2017, in the presence of a Police Officer. Winners, if not present, will be notified by phone. Results will be published on this website.  Thank you to our generous sponsors the entire raffle taking will go towards the Dante Italian School for Children. Lottery Licence number: LT80005475. For more info contact info@dante.org.nz

Monday, July 10, 2017

Intervista alla scrittrice Viola Di Grado

Some of you may have met young Italian writer Viola Di Grado at the Auckland Writers Festival last month, but if you missed her here is an exclusive interview with Matteo Telara for the Dante Blog.

Happy reading.

       

Pluripremiata autrice, non solo in Italia (con il suo primo romanzo Settanta acrilico trenta lana è stata la più giovane vincitrice del Premio Campiello Opera Prima e la più giovane finalista del Premio Strega) ma anche all’estero (ricordiamo, tra i vari riconoscimenti, il primo posto raggiunto dal suo secondo romanzo Cuore Cavo, nella lista Goodreads del Man Booker International Prize) e accreditata orientalista (si è laureata in lingue orientali all'Università di Torino e si è specializzata in filosofie dell'Asia Orientale alla University of London), Viola Di Grado è universalmente considerata una delle scrittrici più rappresentative degli ultimi decenni, un'autrice nella quale tematiche complesse (in particolare l'incomunicabilità, l'alienazione e l'illusorietà dell'io) e ricerca linguistica (che si avvale spesso di "sottili smottamenti anaforici" e di una varietà di linguaggi simbolici quali ad esempio quello degli ideogrammi) convergono nella realizzazione di opere d'indiscussa originalità.


1) Settanta acrilico trenta lana, pubblicato quando avevi 23 anni, ha vinto il Premio Campiello Opera Prima per “l’invenzione linguistica spinta fino alla visionarietà” e ha fatto di te e la più giovane finalista del Premio Strega. Com’è nato questo romanzo? E che intenzioni avevi (se ne avevi) quando l’hai scritto?

Volevo inventare qualcosa che non c’era. Utilizzare una lingua (il cinese) come personaggio di una storia. Stabilire nuove coordinate di tempo, un tempo irregolare che segue i moti della mente, che s’inceppa con il dolore e si riattiva con la vitalità. Volevo raccontare in forma narrativa una storia che

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Photos from the Dante Play 2017: Ultimo Posto Disponibile



Thank you all for coming the the Dante Play Ultimo Posto Disponibile
Bravissimi Director Matteo Telara and all the actors, Warren Shepard, Diana Mead, Romi Patel, Dorothea Lewis and Prudence Moyle.