John Francis Lane

Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth

Presented by the late literary critic Edward Said, this thirty-seven minute 1992 documentary reflects on director Gillo Pontecorvo's youth and politics in an attempt to understand his approach to filmmaking.

Suffocating Heat

On June 30, 1990, in Rome, Marie Christine is getting ready to take her son Pietro and Paolo to their father for the weekend. As the Football World Cup is taking place in Italy, Rome is flooded with supporters; the traffic is chaotic and French-born Marie Christine, who works as a translator, finds a bag that belongs to Miriam, who must leave the next day. Marie Christine decides to find her to return her passport, but one Giuliano Ferrini tries to prevent this. So Marie Christine finds herself navigating through a hot Roman night in a city she doesn't know, among people she never dreamed could inhabit the same city.

Francesco

The life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) as related by followers who gather after his death to tell stories so that Leone can record them: a privileged and virile youth, a prisoner of war, an heir who turns away from his father and gives all to the poor, a beggar for others, and an inspiration to friends who accept the Gospels' life of poverty.

Black Tunnel

The attempt to kill a guy connected to the mob fails when he and his assassins get trapped in a mountain tunnel.

Moses the Lawgiver

The epic story of Moses, who led the Israelites out of slavery, parted the Red Sea and received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. Originally a TV Miniseries recut for theaters

The Antichrist

An Italian nobleman seeks help after his paralyzed daughter becomes possessed by the spirit of a malevolent ancestress.

The Canterbury Tales

Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.

Don Giovanni

Spectacular Italian comedy-drama directed by Carmelo Bene. The narrative follows how Don Giovanni tries to seduce a young woman who is manically searching for Christian icons. The film is loosely based on Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly's short story "The Greatest Love of Don Juan", from the collection “Les Diaboliques”. The film premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.

L'oro di Londra

The boss has come up with something: Ed, outwardly a brave London citizen, attacks with a well-trained accomplice a van of the British Central Bank. The gangsters capture a million pounds sterling and can escape unrecognized. Scotland Yard is the target of the mockery, it comes to a government crisis. Only the hint of a child, who happened to witness the coup, brings the genre law enforcers on the right track.

The Rover

A former counterrevolutionary pirate befriends a mentally ill young woman and this in turn leads to tragedy when she falls in love with a French naval officer.

El Greco

Greek painter Domenikos Theotokopoulos (Mel Ferrer) woos a beauty (Rosanna Schiaffino) and faces the Inquisition in 16th-century Spain.

The Conjugal Bed

A forty-year-old employee marries a seemingly quiet girl who turns into a mantis after the wedding.

I 4 moschettieri

4 con men take the place of the real musketeers and manage to steal the Queen's necklace but then give it back to her, moved by her tears.

Il Sorpasso

Roberto, a shy law student in Rome, meets Bruno, a forty-year-old exuberant, capricious man, who takes him for a drive through the Roman and Tuscany countries in the summer. When their journey starts to blend into their daily lives though, the pair’s newfound friendship is tested.

The Passionate Thief

On New Year's Eve, a young woman and an out-of-work actor complicate a pickpocket's plans to ply his trade.

Run with the Devil

The trials and tribulations of a group of artist friends and a gay gallery owner living in the Via Margutta neighbourhood of Rome. Stefano is a talented painter, devoted to his art but not interested in promoting himself, while many of his fellow artists are far more adept at selling their persona than creating art.

La Dolce Vita

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.