Skip to main content
The Birthday Party film image

The Birthday Party

Il compleanno di Enrico

North American Premiere

At the height of the Y2K scare, young Francesco is confronted with some new realities when he attends his friend Enrico’s birthday party at a remote country home.

 

This short is playing before the feature film Bitten.

Director
Cast

Nicola Cannarella, Matthias Tormen, Denis Fasolo, Elia Luciani, Luisa Trigilla

Credits
Country of Origin

Germany/France/Italy

Year

2023

Language

In Italian with English subtitles

Film Contact
18+
18 min

Credits

Producer

Cecilia Trautvetter, François-Pierre Clavel

Screenwriter

Francesco Sossai

Cinematography

Giulia Schelhas

Editor

Francesco Sossai

Original Music

Non voglio che Clara

Director

Francesco Sossai headshot

Francesco Sossai

Francesco Sossai was born in the Italian Dolomites area. He started filming short films at an early age. He moved to Rome where he graduated in English and German Literatures. He was then admitted at the DFFB – German Television Film Academy in Berlin. His first feature length film “Altri Cannibali” celebrated its world premiere at PÖFF 2021 where it was awarded as „Best First Feature“. The film subsequently had its Italian premiere at the 39th Torino Film Festival and was screened worldwide in numerous other festivals. Francesco is currently working on his second feature „Le città della pianura“, a coproduction between Italy and France. He lives in Veneto, Italy.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

Buffalo '66

Dir. Vincent Gallo
110 min

Vincent Gallo's directorial debut is an eccentric, provocative comedy which laces a poignant love story with both a sombre, washed-out naturalism and surreal musical vignettes. This one is something different...

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

The Big Lebowski

Dir. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
127 min

The Coens' whacky, warped slacker generation riff on Raymond Chandler, a shaggy dog story which delights in going sideways at every turn. Jeff Bridges is the Dude, and what he really wants is to get his rug back...

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

The Thin Red Line

Dir. Terrence Malick
170 min

After a 20-year hiatus, Terrence Malick re-emerged with this earching adaptation of James Jones's autobiographical novel about the WWII battle of Guadalcanal. The Thin Red Line is a lyrical, meditative war movie, a philosophical discourse on war itself.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Out of Sight

Dir. Steven Soderbergh
123 min

Adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel about the mutual attraction between an escaped bank robber and the FBI agent on his tail, Out of Sight is sexy and romantic, cosmopolitan, and full of Soderbergh's sleight of hand, shuffling time like a card sharp.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Memory of Princess Mumbi

Dir. Damien Hauser
80 min

In 2093, a filmmaker arrives in the African village of Umata, where he meets Princess Mumbi, a woman torn between love, legacy, and the future of storytelling. It's a fabulous genre-blending fable about memory, invention and cinematic resistance.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Late Fame

Dir. Kent Jones
96 min

Based on a novella by Arthur Schnitzler (Eyes Wide Shut) this is a sly, poignant comedy about vanity and art from director Kent Jones, starring Willem Dafoe as a mailman belatedly acclaimed for a book of poetry he wrote in his youth.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre