Canadian Premiere
Veteran filmmaker Paolo Taviani, whose accolades include both a Grand Jury Prize and Palme d’Or from Cannes, returns with his surrealistic exploration of the legacy of one of Italy’s most celebrated writers, Luigi Pirandello. Rather than a biopic, Leonora Addio explores Pirandello after death in his immaterial form as a collection of ashes in a Greek vase, and its delicate transportation from Rome to Sicily. This takes place after the defeat of Italy’s fascist government, with which Pirandello had a conflicting relationship. With stark black-and-white cinematography that portrays a post-war Italy with frank verisimilitude, the film calmly depicts various aspects of Italian culture and institutions, such as the church, superstition, the working class, and loyalty to one’s hometown.
The last act of the film sees an adaptation of one of Pirandello’s short stories, featuring scenes of brutality and coming face-to-face with senseless violence. The two stories fit together as a fantastical consideration of an artist, both through his life (or rather, his remains), work, and complex influence on a nation’s literature.
FIPRESCI Prize, Berlin 2022
Presented by
Fabrizio Ferracane, Matteo Pittiruti, Dania Marino, Dora Becker, Claudio Bigagli
Italy/France
2022
In Italian with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Quincy Mayes Brazilian Soul Experience
The Quincy Mayes Brazilian Soul Experience is thrilled to present a special performance showcasing the diverse, Afro-centric roots of samba, soul, and funk alongside a screening of the essential Brazilian film City of God. Please note there will be no Standby available for this event.
Chez Jolie Coiffure
Having immigrated to Belgium from Cameroon, Sabine manages Chez Jolie Coiffure. Her salon patrons, many of them undocumented immigrants, are not only be made to feel beautiful but can also escape the daily difficulties and harsh realities of their lives.
No Other Land
Deemed by many critics one of the essential films of 2024, a multiple festival award winner and a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, No Other Land is a reminder that mass expulsion is by no means a new reality for Palestinians.
Credits
Producer
Donatella Palermo
Screenwriter
Paolo Taviani
Cinematography
Paolo Carnera, Simone Zampagni
Editor
Roberto Perpignani
Original Music
Nicola Piovani
Director
Photo by Gerald Bruneau
Paolo Taviani
Paolo Taviani co-directed films with his brother Vittorio from the early 1960s. They dedicated themselves to evoking the past and to adapting literary works to film in the second phase of their career. Their film Caesar Must Die (2012) won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and the David di Donatello award for Best Film and Best Director from the Accademia del Cinema Italiano. With this work, Paolo, at 86 years of age, filmed for the first time on his own for his highly personal farewell to Vittorio and to the moviemaking they did together.
Filmography: Good Morning Babylon (1987); You Laugh (1998); Caesar Must Die (2012); Rainbow: A Private Affair (2017)