Il paese del melodramma

La famiglia Ricordi

Lord of the Ants

Based on true events of the late 60s in Italy, poet, playwright and myrmecologist Aldo Braibanti is prosecuted and sentenced to prison for the love he shares with his barely-of-age pupil and friend, Ettore. Amidst a chorus of voices of accusers, supporters and a largely hypocritical public, a single committed journalist takes on the task of piecing together the truth, between secrecy and desire, facing suspicion and censorship in the process.

The Hawks and the Sparrows

A man and his son take an allegorical stroll through life with a talking bird that spouts social and political philosophy.

Before the Revolution

The study of a youth on the edge of adulthood and his aunt, ten years older. Fabrizio is passionate, idealistic, influenced by Cesare, a teacher and Marxist, engaged to the lovely but bourgeois Clelia, and stung by the drowning of his mercurial friend Agostino, a possible suicide. Gina is herself a bundle of nervous energy, alternately sweet, seductive, poetic, distracted, and unhinged. They begin a love affair after Agostino's funeral, then Gina confuses Fabrizio by sleeping with a stranger. Their visits to Cesare and then to Puck, one of Gina's older friends, a landowner losing his land, dramatize contrasting images of Italy's future. Their own futures are bleak.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

Sylvia, an industrial scientist, is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.

Who Saw Her Die?

Between a four-year gap in the murder of a young girl, the daughter of a well-known sculptor is discovered dead, and her parents conduct an investigation, only to discover they are in over their heads as the body-count keeps rising.

Especially on Sunday

Four lighthearted stories set in the idyllic Italian countryside: an old grouch is befriended by a stray dog; a lonely widow spies on her newly-wed son and daughter-in-law; a German tourist tries to seduce a younger nurse. The fourth segment was cut in the US by its distributor Miramax.

Pretendo l'inferno

Hotel Fear

A young girl and her mother run a hotel during the war. When the mother dies, the girl finds herself at the mercy of her sex-crazed guests. Soon enough, a cloaked figure starts killing off everyone that tries to harm her.

Man from Deep River

A photographer in the rain forest is captured by wild natives, and after months of living with them, he marries the chief's daughter and helps protect the village from a vicious cannibal tribe.

Solitaire

A three-billion-lire hit. A bloody hold-up. A sole survivor. Hunted down by fate and ruthless gangsters, Leo Piazza finds himself with a "hot" suitcase on his hands. Forced to go into hiding, time is running out. The killers want him dead so they can retrieve the loot and the showdown draws near... A nocturnal and silent anti-hero, Piazza moves like a zombie, like the living dead.

The Last Fashion Show

The triumph of the designer Federico Marinoni in the world of Milanese fashion was marred by the tragic death of the maison's main model and the designer's muse, Alexandra Larsson, who was hit by a hit-and-run car while on her way to celebrate her consecration as a top model .

Uomini senza donne

Alex and Max are two "bachelors" who share the same house: Alex, advertising copywriter, is boxing, is an impenitent dongiovanni and does not hesitate to betray his colleague and girlfriend Paola; Max, saxophonist, neglects his ulcer and is attracted, yes, but also scared, by women.

The Trap

A woman becomes obsessed with a man she can't have, and carries the torch for more than 15 years.

The House in the Wind of the Dead

Italy, 1947. Attilio is a Fascist and disgraced former movie star. Out of desperation, he joins a band of robbers for a heist. After the robbery, Attilio and the robbers take refuge in a house that proves to be deadly.

Francesco Barilli - Il cinema e la follia