Known for Sound
Nicola Piovani (born 26 May 1946) is an Italian light-classical musician, theater and film score composer. In 1998, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score for Roberto Benigni's film Life Is Beautiful (1997). After high school, Piovani enrolled at the Sapienza University of Rome, receiving his degree in piano from the Verdi Conservatory in Milan in 1967, and later studied orchestration under the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. In 1971 and 1973 collaborated for the music of two albums of the songwriter Fabrizio De André: Storia di un impiegato and Non al denaro non all'amore né al cielo. In 2008, after De André departure, Piovani wrote the music for the film Amore che vieni, amore che vai, inspired by a novel of De André himself, Un destino ridicolo. Among his more popular works is the score for the Federico Fellini film Intervista, his second of three collaborations with the famous director, the others being Ginger e Fred (Ginger and Fred in English) and La voce della luna (The Voice of the Moon). Years later, he composed a ballet titled Balletto Fellini. In 2000, his Academy Award-winning score for Life Is Beautiful (La Vita è bella) was further nominated for a Grammy Award in the "Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media" category, losing to Randy Newman. In 2005, he was a member of the jury at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival. In light of his recent work with French directors, notably Danièle Thompson, Philippe Lioret, and Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, the French Minister of Culture gave him the title of Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on 21 May 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival. To date, Piovani has over 130 film scores to his credit, including films such as Slap the Monster on Page One (1972), The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974), Flavia the Heretic (1974), Le Orme (1975), A Leap in the Dark (1980) The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982), and Kaos (1984). The music for the latter is considered by many as one of the best film scores ever done. However, he is reported to believe that "Too many film scores make a composer a hack, but in the theatre music is above all craftsmanship". Accordingly, he continues to work in musical theatre, and also composes concert and chamber music. Piovani also composed the first opera Amorosa presenza on a libretto by Aisha Cerami and Nicola Piovani, based on the novel by Vincenzo Cerami and is performed at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste in January 2022. In 2023, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy. In 2024, Piovani composed the score for Loris Lai's debut feature film, How Kids Roll. Source: Article "Nicola Piovani" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Born
May 26, 1946 (age 80)
Birthplace
Rome, Italy
Filmography
189 films, 13 shows


Brunello: The Gracious Visionary
2025 · 2h 1m
country: Italy
A farmer's son transforms into a fashion mogul, building a billion-dollar luxury empire while staying true to his humanistic values and commitment to ethical business practices and fine craftsmanship.


Il Labirinto di Creta
2024 · 1h 1m
country: Unknown
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari perform “The Labyrinth of Crete,” an opera for children written and directed by Nicola Piovani. Two clowns, Don Cosimo and Papèla, tell the story—loosely based on the exploits of Theseus—who, chosen to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, faces the monster with the help of Ariadne.


My Paper Dolls
2023 · 1h 40m
country: Italy
End of the 70s in the Treviso area. Two decisive moments in the lives of three teenagers of the Bottacin family: Primo, Anna and Tiberio. The passage from puberty to pre-adolescence experienced between first loves and rugby matches and that from the world of the countryside to the world of the city.


Lord of the Ants
2022 · 2h 14m
country: Italy
Based on true events of the late 60s in Italy, poet, playwright and myrmecologist Aldo Braibanti is prosecuted and sentenced to prison for the love he shares with his barely-of-age pupil and friend, Ettore. Amidst a chorus of voices of accusers, supporters and a largely hypocritical public, a single committed journalist takes on the task of piecing together the truth, between secrecy and desire, facing suspicion and censorship in the process.


Il sangue e la parola - Non la spada ma la parola illumini la via
2022 · 1h 40m
country: Unknown
Il sangue e la parola (Blood and Words) “Not the sword but words illuminate the way” is a cantata by maestro Nicola Piovani with lyrics freely adapted from Aeschylus' The Eumenides. Performed by the orchestra and choir of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma with Andrea Pennacchi as narrator. The concert also includes performances of symphonic suites from La notte di San Lorenzo (The Night of San Lorenzo) and La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful).


Amorosa presenza
2022 · 2h 6m
country: Unknown
From the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the world premiere of ‘Amorosa presenza’, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Vincenzo Cerami, and the opera debut of Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani. Conducted by Maestro Piovani, with stage direction by Chiara Muti.


I fratelli De Filippo
2021 · 2h 19m
country: Italy
The story of the De Filippo brothers, children of Eduardo Scarpetta.


Anaïs in Love
2021 · 1h 38m
country: France
A young woman struggling to stay on top of everything in her life meets a married publisher and begins an affair with him.


The Best Years
2020 · 2h 9m
country: Italy
Italy from the '80s to the present day, through the dreams, loves, successes and failures of four friends.


Hammamet
2020 · 2h 7m
country: Italy
The last years of Bettino Craxi, one of the most important and controversial italian leader of the 1980's.


Mi chiamo Altan e faccio vignette
2019
country: Italy


Aspromonte: Land of The Forgotten
2019 · 1h 27m
country: Italy
At the end of the 1950s in Africo, a small village in the southern valley of Aspromonte, a woman dies in childbirth because a doctor fails to arrive on time. No road connects Africo with the other villages. In the wake of this tragedy, all of Africo’s citizens -including children - abandon their usual occupations and unite to build their own road. Giulia, the new schoolteacher, comes from the North with a mission to teach standard Italian to help bring cultural cohesion with Africo and the rest of Italy. But she will have to contend with the local mafioso Don Totó, who is determined to ensure this the town remains cut off, and thus, under his power.


The Traitor
2019 · 2h 31m
country: Brazil
Palermo, Sicily, 1980. Mafia member Tommaso Buscetta decides to move to Brazil with his family fleeing the constant war between the different clans of the criminal organization. But when, after living several misfortunes, he is forced to return to Italy, he makes a bold decision that will change his life and the destiny of Cosa Nostra forever.


Sinfonia delle Stagioni
2019 · 1h 23m
country: Unknown
To mark the tenth anniversary of the L'Aquila earthquake, Nicola Piovani will conduct *The Symphony of the Seasons* for soloists, children’s choir, narrator and orchestra from the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio.


Una festa esagerata
2018 · 1h 33m
country: Italy
Mirea is about to be 18 years old, and her family is prepearing a big party for her. Teresa, Mirea's mother, wants to gain notoriety, so begins to spend recklessy for the celebration. When the day finally comes, an unexpected death puts it at risk.


There's No Place Like Home
2018 · 1h 43m
country: Italy
An extended family reunites on an idyllic island to celebrate their grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. However, a storm causes them to get stuck in there longer than expected, causing secrets and long-held grudges to break out.


In arte Nino
2016 · 1h 40m
country: Italy
Biopic about Italian actor Nino Manfredi, focusing on the period between 1939 and 1959, depicting his difficult beginnings, his passion for acting and the encounter with the love of his life, Erminia.


The Confessions
2016 · 1h 43m
country: France
A G8 meeting is being held at a luxury hotel on the German coast. The world's most powerful economists are gathered to enact important provisions that will deeply influence the world economy. One of the guests is a mysterious Italian monk, invited by Daniel Rochè, the director of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the monk to receive his confession, that night, in secret. The next morning, Rochè is found dead...


Nicola Piovani con l'Orchestra Rai
2016 · 2h 31m
country: Unknown
From the Arturo Toscanini Auditorium in Turin, Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani takes centre stage in his dual role as conductor and composer, alongside the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. The programme features soundtracks from films by the Taviani brothers, Roberto Benigni and Federico Fellini.


L'amore non perdona
2015 · 1h 22m
country: France
A woman, a man, two cultures and years separating them: will Adriana and Mohamed overcome the prejudices of the world around them? A sincere love story in the heart of Southern Italy.


Hungry Hearts
2015 · 1h 49m
country: Italy
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.


Banana
2015 · 1h 21m
country: Unknown
Giovanni, known as "Banana" because of his mania for wearing a Brazil jersey, is a 14-year-old boy trying not to give up on his dreams in a world of frustrated, giving up and courageless people. Out of Competition "Sezione Cinema al parco" Giffoni 2015


La trattativa
2014 · 1h 48m
country: Italy
What are we talking about when we talk about negotiations? About the state's concessions to the Mafia in exchange for ending the massacres? About who assassinated Falcone and Borsellino? Of the eternal coexistence between the Mafia and politics? Between the mafia and the church? Between the Mafia and law enforcement? Or is there more? A group of actors enacts the most relevant episodes of the affair known as the Mafia-state negotiation, impersonating mobsters, secret service agents, high officials, magistrates, victims and murderers, Freemasons, honest and courageous people, and courageous people up to a point. Thus one of the most intricate events in our history becomes an exciting tale.


Cherry on the Cake
2012 · 1h 23m
country: France
Amanda believes men are too complicated and has lost faith finding the perfect one. Her friend and a psychoanalyst have a plan how to make her fall in love. She insists that Amanda not stay home alone on New Year's Eve, and only gets her way after swearing that all the other guests will be couples, except for Maxime, a gay colleague. But Maxime leaves at the last minute to join his lover in Amsterdam, and Antoine, recently separated from his wife, arrives alone at the party.


Le Chef
2012 · 1h 24m
country: Belgium
A veteran chef faces off against his restaurant group's new CEO, who wants to the establishment to lose a star from its rating in order to bring in a younger chef who specializes in molecular gastronomy.


The Cézanne Affair
2009 · 2h 4m
country: Italy
Gabriele returns home in southern Italy to bid farewell to his father Ernesto, a former stationmaster in a small town not far from Bari. The old man reawakens in Gabriele memories of his childhood, of his loving mother, his uncle, his friends... but also of his father's rage and bitterness over his failure in achieving his artistic ambitions: Ernesto was convinced he was destined to be a famous painter, and was willing to sacrifice everything for this belief, even his own dignity – and this made his son swear that he wouldn't turn out like him. Only now, many years later, through chance and circumstances, Gabriele begins to understand Ernesto and to see what sort of person his father really was.


The Big Dream
2009 · 1h 41m
country: France
Italy, 1968. Aspiring actor Nicola enrolls in the police to pay for his studies, ending up undercover among college students protesting the government, the Vietnam War and the values of their parents' generation. However, he complicates his mission by falling for Laura, a bourgeois girl dreaming of a better world.


Welcome
2009 · 1h 50m
country: France
Bilal is 17 years old, a Kurdish boy from Iraq. He sets off on an adventure-filled journey across Europe. He wants to get to England to see his love who lives there. Bilal finally reaches Calais, but how do you cover 32 kilometers of the English Channel when you can't swim? The boy soon discovers that his trip won't be as easy as he imagined... The community of struggling illegal aliens in Calais


Change of Plans
2009 · 1h 40m
country: France
So called friends at a dinner party end up acting like a dysfunctional family.


Ballerina
2008 · 15m
country: Unknown
The film tells the story of an aspiring dancer who from Eastern Europe is reached in Italy with the mirage of realizing the dream of her life which instead turns into a nightmare. Against her will she will be forced into prostitution.


Amore che vieni, amore che vai
2007
country: Italy


Odette Toulemonde
2007 · 1h 40m
country: France
Objectively, Odette Toulemonde has nothing to be happy about, but is. Balthazar Balsan has everything to be happy about, but isn’t. Odette, awkwardly forty, with a delightful hairdresser son and a daughter bogged down in adolescence, spends her days behind the cosmetic’s counter in a department store and her nights sewing feathers on costumes for Parisian variety shows. She dreams of thanking Balthazar Balsan, her favorite author, to whom – she believes – she owes her optimism. The rich and charming Parisian writer then turns up in her life in an unexpected way.


Don't Worry, I'm Fine
2006 · 1h 36m
country: France
A 19-year-old searches for her twin brother after he runs away from home, following a fight with their father.


Avenue Montaigne
2006 · 1h 46m
country: Belgium
A young woman arrives in Paris where she finds a job as a waitress in bar next on Avenue Montaigne that caters to the surrounding theaters and the wealthy inhabitants of the area. She will meet a pianist, a famous actress and a great art collector, and become acquainted with the "luxurious" world her grandmother has told her about since her childhood.


The Tiger and the Snow
2005 · 1h 54m
country: Italy
Love and injury in time of war. Attilio de Giovanni teaches poetry in Italy. He has a romantic soul, and women love him. But he is in love with Vittoria, and the love is unrequited. Every night he dreams of marrying her, in his boxer shorts and t-shirt, as Tom Waits sings. Vittoria travels to Iraq with her friend, Fuad, a poet; they are there with the second Gulf War breaks out. Vittoria is injured. Attilio must get to her side, and then, as war rages around him, he must find her the medical care she needs. In war, does love conquer all?


L'ombra cinese
2004 · 1h 31m
country: Italy
Maigret investigates the murder of a philandering businessman found dead in an apartment building full of colorful tenants.


La trappola di Maigret
2004 · 1h 31m
country: Italy
A serial killer is stalking the streets of Paris and Maigret has to resort to setting a trap in order to catch him.


The Light
2004 · 1h 45m
country: France
Camille arrives in Ouessant, the island of her birth off the Brittany coast, to sell the family home. She spends a last night in the house during which she discovers a secret. In 1963 a man came to work with her father, who was the Jument lighthouse operator. He only stayed two months, but his presence proved to be a disturbing catalyst.


My Magical Friend Sams
2003 · 1h 36m
country: Germany
Sams in danger, it is said, when Mr. Taschenbier's son Martin brings the Sams back into the household, which, however, is kidnapped shortly afterwards by the sports teacher because of his special skills.


Fellini's TV Advertisements
2003 · 35m
country: Italy
Immediately preceding INTERVISTA, director Federico Fellini made GINGER AND FRED (1986). For that film, Fellini created a number of comically exaggerated television advertisements, but most ultimately went unused and unseen until they were presented in this 2003 collection for Italian television.


Pinocchio
2002 · 1h 50m
country: Italy
Roberto Benigni adapts the classic children's tale by Carlo Collodi for the big-budget family-oriented comedy Pinocchio.


Il nostro matrimonio è in crisi
2002 · 1h 30m
country: Italy
A young couple a few days before the wedding. She is caught by an identity crisis, gives up everything and finds refuge in a New Age community. Here she finds a real Guru who tries to enlighten her on her way to wisdom. He, in the meantime, will make all efforts to bring her back to him.


The Slurb
2001 · 1h 40m
country: Germany
One Saturday, the Slurb, a strange little creature with a proboscis nose, enters Mr. Taschenbier's life. Slurb, who immediately adopts the shy Mr. Taschenbier as his "daddy," is, however, his sheer opposite: he is cheeky and chaotic and throws his well-ordered life into sheer chaos. But when Taschenbier discovers that he can fulfill all his wishes with the help of Slurb's blue freckles, his life suddenly changes. He appeases his bad-tempered landlady, Mrs. Rotkohl, and he can finally get one over on his nasty neighbor, Mr. Lürcher. Everything could be so nice if Mr. Taschenbier didn't fall in love with his pretty colleague Mrs. März and if the Slurb didn't almost burst with jealousy...


The Son's Room
2001 · 1h 39m
country: Italy
A psychoanalyst and his family go through profound emotional trauma when their son dies in a scuba diving accident.


Viper
2000 · 1h 35m
country: Italy
Viper is the nickname Leone, a blacksmith in a small Sicilian village, gave to his wife, who ran off with another man. The war ends: the fascists disguise themselves first as communists and then as Christian Democrats, and the poor survive by dancing and drinking. Leone's daughter Rosetta becomes pregnant; Leone dies, and the newborn (named Fortunato) is taken from his very young mother, who ends up in an institution. When Rosetta comes of age, she is reunited with her "witch" mother and her son.


La carbonara
2000 · 1h 49m
country: Italy
Cecilia is a commoner who runs an inn, where the specialty is the "spaghetti alla carbonara". Moreover, the woman is tied to the movement of young patriots, named "Carbonari", who want a united Italy, and are struggling against the power of the pope. Cecilia believes she lost her husband in a fatal accident, and has made a new lover: Fabrizio, who is also a patriot. One day the guy's saved by a monk, when he is about to be imprisoned by the soldiers of Cardinal Rivarola. The monk is the husband of Cecilia, not dead in the accident, and now he helps her to fight against the power of Rome with the Carbonari.


Love in the Mirror
1999 · 1h 44m
country: Italy
In 17th century France, a theater troupe is allowed by its patron to go to Paris to produce an erotic play. The head of the troupe dreams of fame while his wife, the leading actress, and a new leading girl fall for each other.


Running Free
1999 · 1h 21m
country: United States
The tale of the extraordinary life and times of Lucky, a horse that was born in captivity but achieves his dream of running free with the help of a stableboy.


Sweet Idleness
1999 · 1h 59m
country: Belgium
This movie depicts the two years that young Stendhal spent in Italy. Stendhal, that time still known simply as Henri Beyle, is living the life of a wanderer, looking for a direction in his life, meeting famous Rossini and falling in love with young widow Giuseppina. A story of love, betrayal and an analysis of women and men's minds and souls.


La fame e la sete
1999 · 1h 30m
country: Italy
Alex, Ivo and Pacifico three Sicilian twin brothers are reunited for their father's funeral.


No Trains No Planes
1999 · 1h 45m
country: Belgium
The film takes place in a small cafe on the forecourt. When Gerard, one of the regular visitors, appears in the cafe to inform him that he is leaving, the usual course of the cafe's life suddenly breaks.


Life Is Beautiful
1997 · 1h 56m
country: Italy
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.


The Impostor
1997 · 1h 39m
country: Argentina
This drama is based on a novel and incomplete screenplay by the late Maria Luis Bemberg. In 1930s Argentina, wealthy Sebastian (Antonio Birabent) leaves his Buenos Aires home for the family estate on the pampas. His family, concerned for his physical and mental health, arranges for Sebastian's childhood friend Juan (Walter Quiroz) to check on Sebastian's situation. Juan finds the highly erratic Sebastian caught in a doomed relationship with the Danish daughter of religious sect members. Unfortunately, Juan also becomes obsessed with the young woman, and Sebastian's suspicions increase.


Freshwater Man
1997 · 1h 30m
country: Italy
Antonio takes a hit on his head when he's out to buy a jar of mushrooms for his wife, and loses his memory. He reappears five years later unaware that time has passed.


Camere da letto
1997
country: Unknown


La mia generazione
1996 · 1h 35m
country: Italy
Italy, early 80's. A political terrorist is being transferred northward from Sicily for a conjugal visit; during the journey, a police captain tries to make him cooperate.


Bad Kid
1995 · 1h 30m
country: France
The struggles of a 28-year-old mother in Lyon who tries to combine her love life and raising her 12-year-old rebel son.


The Flying Dutchman
1995 · 2h 20m
country: Belgium
Late 16th century, persecuted protestantism and general dissatisfaction with the Catholic Habsburg rule in the Netherlands lead to large-scale plundering and vandalizing of churches, only harshening the Spanish Inquisition, sparkling the Eighty Years War.


The Tit and the Moon
1994 · 1h 26m
country: Spain
A child does not stand the idea of having a new brother and dreams about drinking milk from the breasts of his mother again. The child asks the moon to bring him a tit only for him.


Kim Novak Is on the Phone
1994 · 1h 40m
country: Italy
A heavily indebted film producer tries to get back on his feet by producing a film starring Kim Novak. He also hopes to start a new relationship with his estranged son.


Caro diario
1993 · 1h 41m
country: Italy
Nanni Moretti recounts in his diary three slice-of-life stories marked by a dry, ironic gaze: in the first, he rides his Vespa through a deserted, sun-drenched summertime Rome; in the second, he visits a reclusive friend on an island, who ropes him into an impromptu journey between islets in search of quiet; and in the last, he finds himself grappling with an unknown illness.


Per amore, solo per amore
1993 · 1h 53m
country: Italy
In 1st century BC Palestine, Joseph is a carpenter who wants to travel and see the world, but destiny makes him meet young Mary. The two fall in love and marry. One day, Mary becomes pregnant and tells Joseph an unbelievable truth... He decides to stay on her side, but things won't be easy.


Amok
1993 · 1h 30m
country: France
Whenever people are released from their society's constraints, there is the possibility that they will behave badly, at least according to the rules of the society they have left behind. This seems to have been particularly the case for Europeans living in colonial establishments in Africa and Asia. In this drama, based on a story by Stefan Zweig, Dr. Steiner (Andrzej Seweryn) was caught with his fingers in the till at a German hospital. Rather than prosecute him, they gave him the option of emigrating elsewhere. He chose to serve at a clinic in a remote part of Portuguese Goa. He has been on his best behavior for years, but when the beautiful wife (Fanny Ardant) of a diplomat comes to him asking for an abortion, he is tempted to ask for sexual favors in return, and his life swiftly goes out of control.
Una questione privata
Una questione privata
1993 · 1h 25m
country: Italy


Living Naked
1993 · 1h 43m
country: France
A documentary about French naturism with some perspectives from Germany. The film includes discussion on the history of French naturism; distinctions between naturism and nudism; nudism in various historical, social, cultural and political contexts; and personal shares from many individuals. Naturists from a wide age range, young children to adults in their 80s, speak to how naturism supports self-acceptance, acceptance of others, deep meaninful relationships, wellness and vitality.


Jamon Jamon
1992 · 1h 34m
country: Spain
José Luis has a cushy corporate job at the lingerie factory his mom owns. After he falls in love and proposes to Silvia, a beautiful laborer on the underwear assembly line, his mom enlists Raul, a potential underwear model and would-be bullfighter, to seduce Silvia.


Utz
1992 · 1h 38m
country: Germany
Hugh Whitemore adapted Bruce Chatwin's novel for this tale of a New York antique dealer who travels to Prague to buy the porcelain collection of the late Baron Utz, only to become embroiled in the wreckage of the dead man's unusual life history after he discovers that the collection is missing.


The Siege of Venice
1991 · 1h 15m
country: Italy
Venice, eighteenth century. The young Rosanna, widowed on her wedding day, discovers that she is the sole heir to an enormous patrimony, becoming in this way the most coveted party of the Serenissima.


Out of Life
1991 · 1h 37m
country: Belgium
Patrick Perrault, a photo-journalist covering the war in Beirut in the late 1980s, is himself caught up in the hostilities when one day he is picked up and bundled into a car at gun-point. Blind-folded, he is taken to an unknown location where he discovers that he is being taken hostage by Lebanese guerrillas.


In nome del popolo sovrano
1990 · 1h 52m
country: Italy
1849 - Ciceruacchio declares the Independent Republic of Rome, but the French and the Austrians try to bring back the Pope to Rome.


The Mountain
1990 · 1h 38m
country: Switzerland
It's 1922. A weather observer and his wife live in a remote cabin high in the Swiss Alps. As this drama begins, they are being joined by a third person, an Austrian who coveted the job the Swiss man had won in this bleak location. Not only that, but he also has his eyes on the Swiss man's lovely wife. The Austrian has charm, so he wins some hospitality from the couple. The three live together for a little while, but the rivalry between the two men soon erupts with tragic consequences.


Traces of an Amorous Life
1990 · 1h 45m
country: Italy
What is love? In how many forms can it manifest itself? 14 short episodes about love, spanning generations of lovers...to answer.


Night Sun
1990 · 1h 52m
country: France
Based on Leo Tolstoy's novel, Father Sergius, Night Sun stars Julian Sands as Sergio, a nobleman in 18th-century Italy who is expected to marry a duchess, Nastassja Kinski. Upon learning that she was previously the King's mistress, Sergio turns his back on society and becomes a monk. While at the hermitage he tries to resist all sexual temptations before him and soon becomes known as a miracle worker. Eventually he succumbs to a young seductress and knowing he is undeserving of the adulation, leaves the hermitage to travel around as a homeless beggar.


The Voice of the Moon
1990 · 2h
country: France
Odd couple Ivo Salvini, recently released from a mental asylum, and former prefect Gonnella wander through the countryside and discover a dystopia made of television commercials, beauty pageants, rock music, Catholicism, and pagan rituals.


Dark Illness
1990 · 1h 53m
country: Italy
After his father's death, a middle-aged screenwriter struggles with his obsessions and neuroses.


Palombella rossa
1989 · 1h 29m
country: France
Michele is an MP for the Italian Communist Party who loses his memory in a car crash, though hardly anyone around him seems to notice. During a crucial water polo match on the eve of election day, he gradually begins to remember his past life, revealing a man whose personal and political identity crisis mirrors that of Italian communism itself.


Australia
1989 · 2h 20m
country: Belgium
Following a stint as a WWII fighter pilot, Belgian-born Edouard falls in love with an Indonesian woman, has a daughter with her and immigrates to Australia, all without the knowledge of his family back home. Years later, his love has passed away, and he's raising his daughter on his own. When his brother calls seeking help with his failing wool-processing company, Edouard agrees to temporarily return home to aid him.


12 Directors for 12 Cities
1989 · 1h 42m
country: Italy
Promotional omnibus film, made for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, featuring portraits of 12 Italian cities.


La moglie ingenua e il marito malato
1989 · 57m
country: Italy
A thief caught red-handed tells the landlord a very strange fact that happened to him looking through the keyhole of another apartment where he was stealing.


La soule
1989 · 1h 35m
country: France
In the debacle of the battle of Vitoria in Spain in 1813, Pierre Cursey was robbed of the horses of his unit by a fugitive. He is taken prisoner and sent to a floating pontoon. He managed to survive but vowed to find the traitor who had put him through hell. He finds him two years later in a village in the Dordogne. Francois Lemercier is the town's shoemaker and above all the captain and hero of the local soule team, a ball game that dates back to the Middle Ages. Cursey will discover in Lemercier a man of chivalrous honor.


'o Re
1989 · 1h 35m
country: Italy
One of the key factors in Italian unification was the overthrow in 1860 of Francesco, the King of Naples and the two Sicilies, who went into elegant but impoverished exile in Rome with his Queen, Maria Sofia. This seriocomic drama follows the deposed royals as they adapt to their new lives. The former king has recognized the political finality of his deposition, but his queen has taken to traveling in men's clothing all over Italy trying to foment an uprising to restore them to the throne. She is also frantic to have a baby, an heir, but the king has become celibate as a kind of homage to his beloved mother; he spends all his time lobbying the Vatican to get her declared a saint.


I cammelli
1988 · 1h 39m
country: Italy
Ferruccio, who knows everything about camels, and Camillo, who acts as his manager, go to Milan to take part in a telequiz.


It's Happening Tomorrow
1988 · 1h 27m
country: Italy
1848, Tuscan countryside. Edo and Lupo are two peasants running away after having robbed their boss. Chased by mercenaries, they'll meet bandits, damsels in distress, eccentric nobles, and revolutionaries along the way.


Manifesto
1988 · 1h 36m
country: United States
In a small European country, the king is scheduled to visit a small, quiet and "safe" village. It turns out that while the village may indeed be small, it's neither as quiet nor as safe as it's expected to be.


Intervista
1987 · 1h 48m
country: Italy
Federico Fellini welcomes us into his world of film making with a mockumentary about his life in film, as a Japanese film crew follows him around.


The Bride Was Beautiful
1987 · 1h 32m
country: Hungary
The teenage boy, Giuseppe, lives with his mother in Cammarata, a Sicilian mountain village. His father left the family years ago, and has since then settled down as a guest worker in West-Germany and established a family. Under local moral rules, Maria is a so-called "white widow", who must stay faithful to her husband even if he never returns to her again. Maria and the newly arrived young doctor fall in love with each other. Their happiness is frowned upon not only by Giuseppe, but the entire village as well as the distant husband.


Exploits of a Young Don Juan
1986 · 1h 40m
country: France
In 1914, sixteen year old Roger returned home from boarding school during vacation to find his puberty hit hard in a house filled with beautiful women. These women have previous engagements with other men who are away, and during this time, Roger impregnates them all, including his aunt and sister, then devises plans to cuckold the men.


The Professor
1986 · 2h 51m
country: Italy
Young Franco is imprisoned for murder and rises to become the feared and powerful 'Professor', taking control of Naples' underworld from behind bars.


Let's Hope It's a Girl
1986 · 2h
country: France
A multifaceted exploration of the pointlessness of sexual stereotypes. Liv Ullmann is a countess who, after her divorce, takes over the family farm. Realizing that she can't rely on the patriarchal society structure for assistance, Ullmann runs the farm herself with the help of her female servants and relatives. When the Count (Philipe Noiret) comes back into her life, he and his male buddies find themselves outclassed by the expertise of the ladies.


Ginger and Fred
1986 · 2h 5m
country: France
Amelia and Pippo are reunited after several decades to perform their old music-hall act, imitating Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, on a TV variety show.


The Mass Is Ended
1985 · 1h 34m
country: Italy
Young Father Giulio returns to Rome, where he was born and raised, to replace a priest who has left the clergy to start a family. He is delighted to reunite with his loved ones, especially his mother, sister, and old friends. Once radical leftists like Giulio himself, the latter are now each coping in their own way with the defeat of the revolution. Soon, however, Giulio realizes that despite his best efforts, he seems unable to solve the problems troubling those around him.


The 2 Lives of Mattia Pascal
1985 · 2h 58m
country: Italy
Based on 'Il fu Mattia Pascal', one of Pirandello's many stories concerning the transitory nature of the intangibles "truth" and "identity". Mattia Pascal is a downtrodden average man, treated like trash by his fiancée, scorned by his associates, and cheated out of his inheritance by contemptuous relatives. The dispirited Pascal heads to Monte Carlo, accruing a fortune and also assuming the identity of a less fortunate gambler who killed himself. The "new" Pascal is treated with a dignity and respect that overwhelms him--and nearly kills him.


Secrets Secrets
1985 · 1h 35m
country: Italy
Young terrorist Laura shoots both a judge and a comrade, and over time her violent act becomes a thread linking the lives and fates of several other women. Each has her own secret, including the lawyer who listens to Laura as if in a ‘trance’: moments before, she discovered her husband was cheating.


Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cacasenno
1984 · 2h 1m
country: Italy
During the reign of King Alboin, the peasant Bertoldo, sly and smart, manages to always get away with pranks and pleasantires with great mastery, and, even if his clumsy wife Marcolfa and their foolish son Bertoldino always put him in trouble, his shrewdness and acumen save him from any unfortunate situation...


Kaos
1984 · 3h 8m
country: Italy
Five stories center on a werewolf, a feudal landlord, peasants, a ghost, and a mother and her sons.


Blow to the Heart
1982 · 1h 45m
country: Italy
The son of a university professor discovers his father's secret life and has to decide what to do about it.


The Night of the Shooting Stars
1982 · 1h 45m
country: Italy
The Night of San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, is the night when dreams come true in Italian folklore. In 1944, a group of Italians flee their town after hearing rumours that the Nazis plan to blow it up and that the Americans are about to arrive to liberate them.


The Eyes, the Mouth
1982 · 1h 33m
country: France
A rich Italian's shocking suicide means different things to his twin brother, mother and pregnant lover.


The Marquis of Grillo
1981 · 2h 19m
country: France
In 18th-century Rome, impish aristocrat Onofrio del Grillo amuses himself by playing pranks on all sorts of people — his reactionary family and fellow nobles, the poors, the French occupiers trying to modernize society, and even the Pope himself.


The Soup
1981 · 2h 50m
country: Italy
Two homeless men in Rome are arrested due to a misunderstanding. In jail, they meet a man who has been arrested for eating and running from restaurants. Together they embark on a series of escapades around Tuscany.


Vacation in Val Trebbia
1980 · 50m
country: Italy
Director Marco Bellocchio returns with his family to his homeland, in the province of Piacenza. The journey is an opportunity to confront oneself with one's past, as well as with the nostalgia of an era.


A Leap in the Dark
1980 · 1h 54m
country: France
Mauro, a judge, is worried about his older sister Marta, who took care of him since he was a boy, and now suffers from mental illness and suicidal thoughts. She seems to recover from her depression when Mauro acquaints her with Giovanni, a brilliant actor at the edge of legality. However, Mauro becomes unconsciously jealous of their relationship.


In the Highest Heavens
1977 · 1h 25m
country: Italy
A group of pilgrims in the Vatican is trapped in an enclosed elevator. Then chaos erupts, and repressed urges come to the surface.


Sun of the Hyenas
1977 · 1h 44m
country: Netherlands
In a small, self-sufficient Tunisian fishing village, German developers set up a hotel infrastructure, with the complicity of local councillors. The lives of the villagers are turned upside down.


Victory March
1976 · 1h 58m
country: France
The drawbacks and difficulties of military life are explored in this film. Paolo Passeri is a college graduate, somewhat spoiled, somewhat effete, who finds himself in an officer training program under the stern martinet, Captain Asciutto. He gradually becomes acclimated to the military mind-set, and when the Captain's wife decides to take a romantic interest in him, he does not report her dangerous peculiarities to anyone.


Footprints on the Moon
1975 · 1h 36m
country: Italy
Alice, a young translator, finds the real world slowly merging with her recurring nightmares as she tries to solve the puzzle of her recent memory loss. A postcard leads her to the island of Garma where the locals seems to know her. Is she who she thinks she is? And what significance does her dream of an astronaut abandoned on the moon have?


Vermisat
1974 · 1h 23m
country: Italy
Luigi Tagrana, a hopeless social outcast living on the industrial outskirts of northern Italy, scrapes together a meager living by gathering worms to sell as bait. His days are spent in a bleak, repetitive cycle of labor and solitude amidst a decaying landscape, moving in and out of hospitals and prisons where he is treated as a number rather than a person.


Flavia the Heretic
1974 · 1h 42m
country: France
Puglia, southern Italy, around 1400. A convent is invaded by the Tarantula cult, whose fanatical and crazed members desecrate the sacred place by committing obscene and bloody acts.


The Perfume of the Lady in Black
1974 · 1h 43m
country: Italy
Sylvia, an industrial scientist, is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.


Morel's Invention
1974 · 2h
country: Italy
A castaway arrives on an island. He thinks it's uninhabited, but he sees a palace with also a hidden room. Soon he sees some people walking, dressed with old-fashioned clothes. He is afraid because people don't see him, like a ghost.
Daniele and Maria
Daniele and Maria
1973 · 1h 40m
country: Italy
Directed by the Oscar-winning screenwriter Ennio De Concini, Daniele e Maria (1973) is the tale of a forbidden romance between a rich and reclusive boy and the poor girl whose kindness opens up his formerly sheltered life. As the familiar setup from Romeo and Juliet suggests, the romance can only have a tragic ending as Maria is whisked away from her love and is forced into a loveless marriage organized by the rich family sheltering Daniele…


Slap the Monster on Page One
1972 · 1h 27m
country: France
Days before the general election, after a girl from a rich family is murdered in an attempted rape, the editor-in-chief of a conservative tabloid tries to derail the police investigation in order to help the right-wing candidates supported by his bosses.


N.P. - The Secret
1972 · 1h 30m
country: Italy
An engineer invents a revolutionary machine capable of automating all industrial production, thereby eliminating the need for human labor. His groundbreaking innovation, intended to free humanity from work, instead leads to his abduction and brainwashing by unknown forces. He is then left to wander the city, stripped of his memories and identity.


In the Name of the Father
1971 · 1h 49m
country: Italy
In 1958 Angelo, a rich and spoiled boy, enters a religious school, where students are tired of its vice-rector, and the strict rules and old-fashioned teaching methods of priests. Soon, Angelo exerts strong leadership among his peers and incites turmoil among them, helped by intellectual Franco and shy Camma. They expel the prefect from the school, organize a Grand Guignol show, and disappear the corpse of an old professor.


Tin Girl
1970 · 1h 35m
country: Italy
Mr. Rossi lives in a small town. He works in a large financial company and is considered to be rather original and eccentric by his colleagues because he doesn't own a car and insist on rollerskating to and from work. One afternoon, from his office windows, he catches sight of an intriguing girl and decides to follow her...