Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2012

Overview

It might be a blazing stereotype of a nation and its people, but Italians are passionate. They know food, they know wine, they know love and, boy, do they know drama.

For all of the above pictured on celluloid, head along to a Palace Cinemas late September and October for the Lavazza Italian Film Festival. This annual celebration of the creative talents of Italian filmmakers is always a sight to behold.

Topping this year's fest is the comedy hit Welcome to the North (Benvenuti al nord), the sequel to Welcome to the South that won the Nastri d'Argento Award for Best Screenplay. Exclusive preview screenings of Woody Allen's new film, To Rome with Love, starring Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody himself (among a cast of other familiar faces) will also feature at the festival. Other standouts are Caesar Must Die (Cesare Deve Morire), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, and the divorce comedy A Flat for Three (Posti in Piedi in Paradiso).

Italian comedies are big and bawdy, dramas are dark and insular, and romances make you want to find the closest person and make sweet passionate love. Nothing is sedate; Italian films are always life on steroids in the best possible way, so make sure you don't miss this highlight of the international film calendar.

Image from Welcome to the North.