he Italian Film Festival has been running for over 12 years now and this year’s event promises to bring the full spectrum of Italian Film to Melbourne and beyond, from opening night film and Italian box office hit Welcome to the South (Benvenuti al Sud) to a retrospective trilogy of films by cult horror auteur Dario Argento.

As a tribute to the diversity of Italian cinema, Argento’s melodramatic horror Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) will screen alongside Italy’s answer to Paris Je t’aime, The Ages of Love (Manuale D’amore 3. Starring Robert de Niro in an Italian-speaking role opposite Monica Belluci,The Ages of Love presents three intersecting love stories brought together by a taxi driver who plays cupid.

John Turturro is most known for his acting roles and a regular character in Coen brother films, but plays director and presenter in his tribute to the music of Naples, John Turturro’s Passione. The film is part documentary, part jukebox musical; an all out, all dancing, mixed genre piece that points to the stylisation of his earlier directorial piece and musical Romance and Cigarettes.

The Italian Film Festival runs in Melbourne from September 14 to October 5.

italianfilmfestival.com.au