Umberto Eco: A Library of the World

"One evening, without any particular expectations, I went to the Lavanderia a Vapore theatre in Collegno, headquarters of the Balletto Teatro di Torino, directed by Loredana Furno, and I saw Sexxx, the ballet by Matteo Levaggi. I’m not a fan of modern dance, but I think this is why my fascination that evening was sincere and convinced. Above all, I was struck by the way the choreographer was able to take the explicit gestures and movements of sexual communication and transform them into the language of dance. And since body language is one of the topics I have been interested in filming since that ‘scandalous’ Guardami, I was already sufficiently motivated to transform the ballet into a movie." - Davide Ferrario

Filmed in the coal country of West Virginia, "Matewan" celebrates labor organizing in the context of a 1920s work stoppage. Union organizer, Joe Kenehan, a scab named "Few Clothes" Johnson and a sympathetic mayor and police chief heroically fight the power represented by a coal company and Matewan's vested interests so that justice and workers' rights need not take a back seat to squalid working conditions, exploitation and the bottom line.

Soccer is an alien world for Walter Vismara, an unfamiliar terrain he's always avoided. But when his job hangs in the balance, he's thrust into the role of goalkeeper by his soccer-obsessed boss. Forced into a relentless routine of practice sessions and taunts, Walter finds himself trapped in a nightmare. His troubles escalate when he discovers his beloved in the arms of his archenemy, adding a personal dimension to his challenges. Determined to prove his worth, Walter devises a plan: to play the fool outwardly while secretly honing his skills. As he navigates this comedic yet challenging journey on the soccer field, will Walter emerge victorious and finally earn the respect he deserves?

Having just moved back in with his working-class parents, twentysomething on-and-off philosophy undergrad Walter navigates turn-of-the-millennium Turin and Gen-X ennui.

A beautiful fugitive draws a shy film buff out of his shell while she hides in the museum — the cavernous interiors of the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, Italy — where he works as night watchman.

A prison-set musical about a female theater director who sets up a reinterpretation of the Crucifixion.

Adelaide is a 40-year-old literature teacher married with children. One day, she learns about the murder of a wealthy and arrogant co-worker of hers, strangled in her own home. Adelaide meets Gaetano, the charming inspector dealing with the case and decides to help him in the investigation, much to her husband's chagrin.

In February, 1945, Primo Levi (1919-1987) and other Auschwitz survivors set off for home. The journey took more then eight months. Sixty years later, a film crew retraces Levi's steps. Levi's words, mainly from "The Truce" (1963), tell us what he experienced. In turn, we see Poland's hollow post-war factories, nationalism in the Ukraine, Soviet-style Communism in Belarus, the abandoned town of Prypiat (Chernobyl), poverty and emigration from Moldavia, Italian factories in Romania, and on across Hungary and Slovakia to Munich where Levi's rage found no listeners. Then home to Turin. An aged Mario Rigoni Stern remembers his friend. What has changed? Some issues of the war remain unsettled.

An independent porn actress, diagnosed with cancer, reconnects with her father and finds love with a fellow patient. Despite her illness, she continues her career, but her path takes a tragic turn.

How the citizens of Malta fought for independence from Britain in 1919. When the Army was sent to quell the riots and the British government covered up the bloody encounter, more than 100 Maltese were accused of instigating the violence and jailed.

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.