05/10/2018 - Alice nella città, the independent section that runs in parallel section to Rome Film Fest and focuses on issues pertinent to younger generations is back from 18 to 28 October

With 11 films in the Young Adult Competition, six special events and three TV series, Alice nella città – the independent section that runs in parallel section to Rome Film Fest – is back from 18 to 28 October. Focusing on issues pertinent to younger generations, the programme’s 16^th edition, directed by Gianluca Giannelli and Fabia Bettini, includes various world premieres, directorial debuts and original films. 

The film set to pre-open Alice nella città is Johnny English Strikes Again [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by David Kerr, starring Rowan Atkinson. "Mr Bean" will be in Italy on 7 October to accompany the film, and also to meet with film students.

Deliberated over by a jury of 27 young men and women from all over Italy, the 11 titles in the Young Adult competition are united by the theme "blood ties." The Elephant and the Butterfly [+see also:
film review
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interview: Amélie van Elmbt
film profile] – the second feature film by the director Amélie van Elmbt, produced by the Dardenne brothers and with executive production by Martin Scorsese –focuses on a three-day period during which a child is reunited with her unknown father. The British director James Gardner tells a delicate identity story in Jellyfish [+see also:
film review
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interview: James Gardner
film profile], while coming from Israel is Broken Mirrors by Imri Matalon and Aviad Givon, a powerful story of rebellion starring Shira Haas (Foxtrot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Samuel Maoz
film profile]). For a Happy Life is the debut filmby Salima Glamine and Dimitri Linder, (formerly an assistant to numerous Belgian directors, including Bouli Lanners and Joachim Lafosse) while In Your Handsby Ludovic Bernard is a classic coming-of-age story, confirming the talent of Kristin Scott-Thomas and Lambert Wilson. Italian cinema is represented in competition by two films: Twin Flower [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Laura Luchetti, a story about friendship and lost innocence, and Butterfly [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman, an authentic story about a real-life family, whose youngest daughter is the first Italian female boxer in history to qualify for the Olympics, at just 18 years of age. The new and awaited film by Peter Hedges (Oscar nominee for the About a Boy screenplay), Ben is Back sees a performance by his son Lucas Hedges, focusing on the destructive power of a young drug addict. Jim Loach returns to Alice nella città with the coming-of-age film Measure of a Man, eight years after his first film screened at Rome, Oranges and Sunshine [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jim Loach
film profile]. Last but not least is The New Romantic (Canada) by Carly Stone and Behold My Heart (United States), the second filmby Joshua Leonard, produced and starred in by Marisa Tomei.

The Out of Competition sections hosts the Brazilian animation film Tito and the Birds byGustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar and Andrè Catoto, as well as Dilili in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which marks Michel Ocelot’sreturn to direction, with an adventure in the Paris of the Belle Époque. Among the most anticipated special events is Remi, Nobody's Boy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Antoine Blossier, an adaptation of the famous novel by Hector Malot, as well as A Kid Like Jake by Silas Howard (winner of an Emmy for Transparent), Up and Down by Paolo Ruffini, Qui è ora by Giorgio Horn, All You Ever Wished For by Barry Morrow and to close the special events, the film that moved Cannes Film Festival, Capernaum [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Nadine Labaki.

Worthy of a mention among the European films in the Panorama section is the first film by the Irish directorMorgan Bushe, The Belly of the Whale [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a drama about the invisible generation of self-destructive teenagers who abuse drugs in today's Reykjavik, Let Me Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Baldvin Z
interview: Kristin Thora Haraldsdóttir
film profile], by the talented Icelandic director Baldvin Z and The Tower [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mats Grorud
film profile], the first animated feature film to combine stop motion and 2D by the Norwegian director Mats Grorud. In the Panorama Italia section is the documentary Backliner by Fabio Lovino and the closing film Ti presento Sofia [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Guido Chiesa. While the masterclass with Andrej Končalovskij is an absolute must.

(Translated from Italian)