Going for the usual genre

by NAOMI ARNOLD - Nelson

Last updated 11:36 29/10/2009

LITTLE ITALY: The 14th Italian Film Festival runs from November 4-18 at the Suter Theatre and State Cinema.

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We're a predictable bunch. After nine years in the business, Italian Film Festival director Tony Lambert has a finely tuned sense of what Kiwi audiences will lap up come festival time.

"It's very simple. They love romantic comedies. It's obvious this year more than any other."

Mr Lambert has a lineup of 17 films ready to roll when the festival season starts in Nelson on November 4. The festival will once again showcase the best of the year's Italian cinema – drama, comedy, documentary, sprawling historical epics and, of course, the romantic comedy.

Mr Lambert says the French do a good one, but the Italians are the masters of the genre.

"They do it with a bit more style and realism," he says. "While they're funny and sometimes silly, there's actually a strong realistic streak running through them as well, and that's typical of all the romantic comedies in this year's festival."

That serious theme might be like the one in Scusa ma Ti Chiamo Amore (Sorry If I Love You), about the relationship between a bright, gorgeous 17-year-old girl and a hunky yet ageing advertising executive. Mr Lambert thinks that type of storyline is fitting today; if not the fact that the middle-aged bloke is a hunk with a teenage love interest, then at least the struggling ageing man bit.

"It's that story which is so relevant nowadays, where young girls are asserting themselves and middle-aged men are very uncertain about what they're meant to be doing and where they're going and how it affects their lives and business and everything else."

Choosing the films is pleasurably hard yakka. Mr Lambert watches about 40 Italian movies from the Berlin and Cannes festivals as well as selecting a few others not on the festival circuit. It's then a case of "begging and borrowing" films from sales agents and distributors, which he says has become easier as the festival's reputation has grown in its 14 years.

Although he's in the business of escapism, reality has bitten the festival financially. Mr Lambert says this year has been "significantly" difficult. Patronage is booming but the festival has lost half its revenue from partners, although major sponsors Cathay Pacific, Peroni and DHL Global Forwarding have stuck around.

But the audiences still come, and seem to agree with Mr Lambert's hard-won picks. He says the feedback is always glowing.

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"People love the films. So many people say they loved the movie and they're so looking forward to the festival coming back. I get emails, letters even."

However, he won't be drawn on any must-sees.

"No, no, I don't do that. Just pick a time when you'd like to go to the movies and go and watch that film."