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Winner, Lion of the Future (for best first film), Venice 2008
Best First Film, London Film Festival
MID-AUGUST LUNCH (Pranzo di Ferragosto)
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Fri March 19, 6:30 & 8:00; Sat March 20, 4:30, 6:00 & 8:00, Sun March 21, 6:00 & 7:30 Mon March 22, 6:30 & 8:00; Fri March 26, 6:30; Mon March 29, 6:30, Tues March 30, 6:30
Director: Gianni Di Gregorio // Italy 2008 // 75 mins // 35mm // Rated: G
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Related Links: View Trailer | Official Site | Read "Revisiting Mid-August Lunch" in The Economist Blog
A festival favourite at VIFF 09, screenwriter Gianni Di Gregorio’s directorial debut feature garnered three awards at the Venice Film Festival 08. This pearl is a charming and unpretentious comedy-of-manners that centers on a middle class bachelor, his 93-year-old mother and three other ladies of advanced years.
"This Italian gem, ideally watched with a group of gently sozzled but discerning friends and relatives, gives family entertainment a good name. Gianni Di Gregorio, the picture's writer-director, plays Gianni, an amiable, undemonstrative man in his fifties who still lives with his 90-year-old mother. During Rome's midsummer Ferragosto celebrations, he finds himself saddled with caring for two other men's elderly mothers (plus an aunt) and presiding over a feast to keep them all sated and smiling. It squeezes more insights, compassion and gently bubbling gags into its 75 minutes than most films could manage in double that time, and leaves you feeling like you've been simultaneously hugged and tickled. Weirdly, Di Gregorio also wrote the violent and incisive crime drama Gomorrah, which I suppose you could call another family film, in the Corleone sense at least..." - Ryan Gilbey, theartsdesk.com
MID-AUGUST LUNCH manages to say something essential about the vulnerability, peculiarities and charms of the elderly in a manner that feels spontaneous. The excellent ensemble of amateur actors and actresses crowns this surprising, warm-hearted masterpiece.
"It's a wonderfully patient, delicately observed film; warm, generous, never for a moment sentimental or patronising, never exploiting dottiness and eccentricity. The performances of the old ladies are pitch-perfect." - Philip French, The Observer
"Charming and gently hilarious film... a gem whose intelligent, gentle, deadpan, humour is entirely irresistible..." - Natasha Senjanovic, Hollywood Reporter
"A sure-fire pleaser" - Jay Weissberg, Variety
Download photos + press kit here
Screener Available
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