41° Parallelo [2] has begun. The American spin off of the Napoli Film Festival, run by Davide Azzolini, takes its name from the common latitude of Naples and New York, and will be bringing Italian cinema to the Film Society of Lincoln Center [3] and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò [4]
between November 26 and December 3.

“Both cities are used to welcome and absorb passing cultures”, says Antonio Monda  professor of Italian Cinema at New York University, journalist for La Repubblica and one of the festival's organizers. 'Absorb' and 're-elaborate' are two common words for this edition. It is a moment in which the image of Naples is weakened under the weight of the tons of undisposed garbage, and 41° Parallelo is a terrific opportunity for promoting “the larger hidden part of the iceberg, that moves forward and produces culture”, says Director Davide Azzolini. “It's an opportunity to show how alive this city is” adds Monda, “and how strong the will is to look outwards and not simply feel sorry for ourselves”.

The event begins with a retrospective entitled Scrivere il Cinema: The Films of Suso Cecchi D’Amico, [5] a tribute to the great Roman screenwriter who died last July. It is uncommon for a retrospective to center upon a screenwriter, and the choice of Lincoln Center for this occasion confirms the legendary part that D'Amico played in the history of cinema, not only Italian. A collaborator - among others - of Antonioni, De Sica, Visconti, Rosi, and Monicelli, Suso Cecchi D'Amico established herself in a mostly male environment as a refined, prolific, and talented screenwriter. This series, wanted by Davide Azzolini, gives the American public the opportunity to see seven masterpieces written by the Roman writer on the big screen, with English subtitles.

41° Parallelo will then move from the Upper West Side to Greenwich Village, at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò of the New York University where, on December 1, will take place a screening of the documentary Suso. Conversazioni con Margherita D’Amico by Luca Zingaretti [6], from 2007. The same day there will be a panel entitled Screenwriting Italy: A conversation on Suso Cecchi D’Amico, with Caterina D'Amico, Masolino D'Amico, journalist Antonio Monda and Kent Jones. Last but not least there will be a screening of Mario Monicelli's I soliti ignoti [Big Deal on Madonna Street], in the subtitled edition generously provided by The Criterion Collection [7].

For Antonio Monda, bringing Naples to the big screen is a very hard enterprise, if not impossible; “it's a city that relies upon its strong point of diversity and cannot be defined in a punchline, a clich, or a stereotype”. So to knock down narrative shortcuts, Casa Italiana will host in its auditorium a showcase of ccurrent Neapolitan cinema. December 3 will be dedicated to a few young and upcoming talents, with three films (a short, a documentary, and a feature film) Made in Naples. On the program are In Purgatorio, by Giovannni Cioni, about the Neapolitan plague of 1652 and the birth of a cult that can still be breathed in the alleys of Naples; Reset, a short by 32-year-old Nicolangelo Gelormini and Corde by Marcello Sannino, a movie about the youngest boxer of the Ventaglieri rione of Naples, Ciro Pariso.

Antonio Monda took the opportunity to announce that during Cardinal Sepe's New York visit in January, he will organize a special event at  Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò regarding cinema and Naples. Also Azzolini expressed his happiness for being able to use  41° Parallelo as a launching pad for such an important event for the image of Naples in the world. “The Cardinal is one of the few voices that has continued to speak about Naples' uniquenesses also in its darkest moments”.

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Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
24 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011

December 01, 2010  

SUSO. CONVERSAZIONI CON MARGHERITA D'AMICO, Luca Zingaretti, Italy, 2007 (58', in Italian, English subtitles)

followed by
Screenwriting Italy: A conversation on Suso Cecchi D'Amico
with Caterina D'Amico, Masolino D'Amico, Antonio Monda and Kent Jones.

and

BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET [I soliti ignoti], Mario Monicelli, Italy, 1958 (106', in Italian, English subtitles)

December 03, 2010  (06:00 PM )

IN PURGATORY (IN PURGATORIO)
directed by Giovanni Cioni
produced by Teatri Uniti
Italy/France/Belgium, 2009 (72 min)
 

RESET
directed by Nicolangelo Gelormini
produced by Vertigo Film
Italy, 2010 (17 min)
 

CORDE
directed by Marcello Sannino
produced by Parallelo 41
Italy, 2009 (55 min)

In ITALIAN with ENGLISH subtitles