Excerpt from Beth Accomando's 2008 review of the San Diego Italian Film Festival
The San Diego Italian Film Festival, now in its second year, "invites you to celebrate life in the social piazza of cinema with recent films that depict life in Italy."
Although just in its sophomore year, the festival has a maturity about it. Maybe you get that feeling from the level of conversation at the panel discussions. The first year I had the honor of being part of a panel following a screening of I'm Not Scared and the authors and academics, along with the audience members provided a very lively, lengthy, and in depth conversation about the film. The willingness of the festival organizers to set aside a good chunk of time for discussion reflects a different attitude than most of the other festivals that are usually more pressed for time with a greater number of films packed into fewer days.
The only event that's not free is the Gala… If last year is any indication of what this year's Gala will be like then be prepared for some incredible food and film.
- Beth Accomondo
Why we love the Piazza
At my table in our piazza, all the Italians pass by with their stories: old, young, sweet, angry, lovers arm in arm or arguing, the happy or depressed, seeking or relaxing. Here past and future meet, here history lives and also has a place at the table, and here we see and hear conversations from all over, from past and future, all speaking of passion and hope and despair. And with a good dose of laughter.
This year our piazza has the past especially in a genre, commedia all'italiana. And there is also the director who, in his forays into many genres, carries on a long conversation with his predecessors, Pupi Avati known for his deft touch in every story type, and the current acknowledged heir of commedia all'italiana, Paolo Virzì, a master and yet young enough to be the new guy. We have these two speaking to each other and to us across the festival, retrospective for Virzì, gala celebration for Avati.
And there's always room for more in the piazza. Importantly, all our films are San Diego premieres. They show up here only in our piazza, and you'll see these only by spending some time with us. And several of these films have wonderful directors making their debut appearance on the big screen: Giuseppe Gagliardi, Daniele Gangemi, Ivan Polidoro, Pietro Reggiani, Massimo Andrei, Giulio Manfredonia. Come, sit with these guys, all have great stories. Visit our piazza, taste italianità.
Thank you for joining us for the 2009 San Diego Italian Film Festival.
Victor Laruccia, Executive Director SDIFF
Voices of the feSTIVALE
The "voice" of the SDIFF is enriched by the combined 60 years of study of Italian culture, history, film and art that our three professors bring to the festival. Their discussions and reviews of the films make them more than entertainment – but really an invitation to see through the window of these Italian films into the life and culture of Italy.
Victor Laruccia, Ph.D.
Executive Director SDIFF
Born in Santiago, Chile. Learned reading/writing as an Italian Catholic, western Pennsylvania. Escaped to Culver Military Academy high school -Cum Laude, 1959. On to Yale (twice!), found west coast better. Three years US Marine Corps, administrator. First graduate of UCSD Muir Independent Studies (Music Art Drama). Ph.D. at UCSD. Taught film studies Brown University and UCSD. Left for City of Pasadena, Telecommunications Administrator & Director KPAS, TV. Telecom Consultant through '95. Retired. Started SDIFF with three other crazy Italians at House of Italy in '04.
Prof. Clarissa Clò, SDSU
Program Director SDIFF
Clarissa Clò is Assistant Professor of Italian and Director of the Italian Language Program in the Dept. of European Studies at San Diego State University. She teaches Italian language, literature, culture and cinema. She received her Ph.D. in Literature from UCSD. She specializes in contemporary Italian Cultural Studies. Her research interests include feminist, migration, and postcolonial studies, film, music, and popular culture. She has published on Italian cinema, regional documentary filmmaking, music subcultures, circum-Atlantic performances, Italian American women writers, postcolonial literature and Mediterranean studies. She is a native of Modena, Italy.
Prof. Pasquale Verdicchio, UCSD
Program Director SDIFF
Born in Naples, Pasquale Verdicchio moved to Canada as a teen. Since 1986 he has taught literature, film and writing in the Dept. of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. Considered a leading translator of major Italian writers, he has englished the work of Pasolini, Merini, Caproni, Porta, and Gramsci among others. His poetry, reviews, criticism and photography have been published in journals around the world. As an author his books include Devils in Paradise: Writings on Post-Emigrant Cultures Bound by Distance: Rethinking Nationalism through the Italian Diaspora and the poetry collection This Nothing's Place (2008).
Working with Joseph Annino and Victor Laruccia, he began presenting Italian films at the House of Italy, a series that has transformed into the SDIFF in its current format.
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