The Festival of Italian Comedy in Israel, a film festival organised by the Tel Aviv Film Library in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Tel Aviv, brings Italian films to film libraries throughout Israel every December. The title of the 6th edition is “Comedy is finished”.
Commedia all’italiana is a comic-satirical film genre of neorealist derivation that first became widespread in Italy between the 1950s and the 1970s. This year’s Festival presents two sections, one modern and one classic, the latter dedicated to Vittorio De Sica. It opens in Tel Aviv on 19 December with a screening of “I nostri fantasmi” [“Our ghosts”] directed by Alessandro Capitani, in the presence of the Israeli actress Hadas Yaron. All the films selected for the Festival will be shown in the film libraries of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Rosh Pina, Sderot, and Cinema Ofakim. In addition to “Our ghosts” the modern section includes “Comedians” directed by Gabriele Salvatores, “Maledetta primavera” [“Sirley”] by Elisa Amoruso, “Divorzio a Las Vegas” [“Divorce in Las Vegas”] by Umberto Carteni, “Io sono Babbo Natale” [“I am Santa Claus”] by Edoardo Maria Falcone, “Cambio tutto!” [“Say it Loud”] by Guido Chiesa, “Tutti per 1 – 1 per tutti” [All for 1, 1 for all”] by Giovanni Veronesi, and “Una notte da dottore” [“A Doctor’s Night”] by Guido Chiesa. The films in the section dedicated to Vittorio De Sica are: “Darò un milione” [“I’ll Give a Million”] directed by Mario Camerini (1935), “Pane, amore e fantasia” [“Bread, Love and Dreams”] by Luigi Comencini (1953), “Il segno di Venere” [“The sign of Venus “] by Dino Risi (1955), “Padri e figli” [” Fathers and sons “] by Mario Monicelli (1957) and ‘”Il Vigile” [“The Traffic Policeman]” by Luigi Zampa (1960).
