The cooperation between the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney and the Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, the cultural hub of Liverpool City Council in the Australian city, organizing film festivals focusing on contemporary Italian productions, continues for the seventh consecutive year. This year, the title of the film festival was ‘A lieto fine – Happy ending’, with a clear reference to the choice of ‘light’ feature films to contribute to a progressive recovery of all production and leisure activities, necessarily slowed down and/or confined to private environments due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The last online screening for 2021, scheduled for 9 November (7 pm, local time), is “Bangla” by director Phaim Buyan (2019). The film will be in Italian and Bengali with English subtitles.
The main character – and director – Phaim is a second-generation immigrant from Bangladesh, born in Rome and an Italian citizen. Phaim and his Bengali friends speak the local language so profoundly that they could have been Romans for generations. But life is not easy. He has to juggle a job as a museum director, a family closely tied to its cultural traditions, a religion with strict principles, and a new girlfriend. The film, set in the Roman suburb of Torpignattara, is essentially a witty romantic comedy.
An introduction by Cristiana Palmieri will precede the film’s screening. She is an executive in medical education and a researcher at the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sydney, where she completed a Ph.D. in Sociolinguistics and Adult Education. Palmieri is a film enthusiast and, among other things, contributes as a film critic and journalist to FRED Film Radio, a London-based online radio station covering film festivals around the world.
Viewing the film is free of charge, but booking is required: https://www.casulapowerhouse.com/visit/casula-powerhouse-film-program/2021- films/Bangla Once booked, you will receive a link to watch the film.