Giulio, now a divorced middle-aged man, returns to the family villa in Tuscany. The place brings back bitter and sweet memories of his youth as the youngest of a large patriarchal family and of the beautiful Anna, relentlessly pursued by all his brothers but ultimately won over by him.

　　The house that's been a home to many, the walls that have witnessed the tide of three generations are presently just a costly toy that the family wants to get rid of. Overcome with emotions, and now aware of the significance of the property, Giulio decide to buy all his relatives' shares and move back to the villa with his family ......more

Silvio Soldino directs this gentle comedy about a housewife who temporarily flees from the grinding tedium of her household duties and drifts into a world of amicable weirdos. When Rosalba (Licia Maglietta) is accidentally forgotten by her tour bus at a roadside restaurant, she does not wait there as instructed. She decides to hitchhike home, but on a whim, she ends up in Venice instead. Quietly exhilarated at the prospect of being alone for a spell, she checks into an inn run by a kindly Icelander (Bruno Ganz) who is plotting his own suicide. Her plans to return the next day are thwarted when she misses her train and does not have enough money to buy another ticket. Soon she is gainfully employed at a flower shop run by an irascible old anarchist. Though her teenaged sons do not seem all that bothered by their mom's absence, Rosalba's husband grows increasing agitated at the interruption in his routine, so he hires a bumbling detective to track her down ......more

Written and directed by Italian filmmaker Pupi Avati, Il Cuore Altrove is a romantic drama centering on Nello, a college Humanities teacher played by Neri Marcoré. His parents are well-to-do tailors who work for the Pope, and they don't approve of Nello's line of work. At their urging, Nello moves to Bologna where he meets and falls in love with Angela, a local blind girl played by Vanessa Incontrada. But their relationship isn't a simple one. Her parents don't believe that a simple teacher is worthy of their daughter, his parents protest because she is blind, and her ex-boyfriend may not be completely out of the picture. Adding one more wrench in the gears is a doctor who might be able to restore Angela's sight, leading Nello to wonder if she'll still feel for him if she isn't blind. Giancarlo Gianinni also stars as Nello's father......more

Gabriele Salvatores' kidnapping drama lo Non Ho Paura (I'm Not Scared) is about a boy dealing with issues he cannot quite comprehend. While playing outside one day, nine-year-old Michele (Giuseppe Cristiano) discovers Filippo (Mattia Di Perro), who is chained to the ground at the bottom of a hole. Michele witnesses town baddie Felice (Giorgio Careccia) nearby and suspects something bad is happening. Michele is unsure whom he should tell about his discovery, eventually spilling the beans to his closest friend. Michele's parents learn of his discovery and warn him to forget whatever he saw. I'm Not Scared was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival......more

A man introduces the woman he's worshiped from afar to the great love of his life - silent movies - in this romantic drama from Italy. Martino (Giorgio Pasotti) is an avid movie enthusiast whose greatest passion is the silent cinema. Martino's both works and lives in Italy's National Museum of Cinema, located in Turin's fabled Mole Antonelliana, where he keeps the place clean and indulges himself by caring for the aging equipment and souvenirs. Martino also has a crush on Amanda (Francesca Inaudi), an attractive woman who works as a cook at a nearby diner. One day, after Amanda gets in a screaming match with her abusive boss, she throws a pot of boiling oil at him, and finds herself wanted by the police. While the cops, her car-thief boyfriend (Fabio Troiano), and her best friend (Francesca Picozza) all look for Amanda, she hides out in the museum. So when Martino finds her, she asks him to help hide her. As Martino's idealized love for the cinema collides with the real-life desire he feels for Amanda, he introduces her to his secret world of silent movies and the special meaning they hold for him. Ironically, given the love and care its characters display for vintage celluloid, After Midnight (aka Dopo Mezzanotte) was primarily shot on digital videotape.......more

One man's work ethic and sense of personal responsibility sends him on a great journey in this drama from filmmaker Gianni Amelio. Vincenzo (Sergio Castellitto) has devoted most of his adult life to working in a steel mill, where he looks after the machines and sees that they're in good repair. One day, Vincenzo gets the news that the mill is going out of business and the equipment has been sold to a concern in China. While Vincenzo is upset about the loss of his job, before long something greater is weighing on his mind - one of the machines sold to the Chinese has a defect that led to the death of Vincenzo's co-workers years before, and he's convinced if he doesn't do some preventative maintenance on the equipment, another worker could be killed. Determined to prevent a needless fatality, Vincenzo flies to China and sets out to find the faulty machine, with the help of Liu Hua (Tai Ling), a young woman serving as his interpreter. La Stella Che Non C'e (aka The Missing Star) was screened in competition as part of the 2006 Venice Film Festival.......more