A few Italian films to catch at this year’s London Film Festival. The Festival is running from the 8th-19th October 2014.

Check out our other recommended films: Jammie & ECs films to see at the London Film Festival

LEOPARDI – Director Mario Martone

Wednesday 8th, 6.00pm – NFT3 Thursday 9th, 6.00pm – VUE ISLINGTON 1 Strand: Love (135 mins)

Mario Martone’s Leopardi illuminates the life and soul of one of Italy’s most significant and influential poets. From his early days at home under his father’s watchful gaze, through to  leaving home and discovering that he does not fit into Italy’s high society, to love affairs in Florence followed by an immersion into a cholera ridden working class Naples, this sweeping, detailed film demonstrates the interrelation between the life and literature of this most freethinking of iconoclasts, strikingly portrayed by Elio Germano.

Screens with INTO THE WAR (L’ENTRATA IN GUERRA), dir. Roland Sejko, from the 9×10 anthology (10 mins).

I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT – Director Sydney Sibilia

Saturday 11th, 12.15pm – CURZON MAYFAIR Wednesday 15th, 8.45pm – ODEON COVENT GARDEN Strand: Laugh (100 mins)

When Pietro is laid off from his university job, he decides to start up his own business. He recruits a group of his fellow down-at-heel university professors to enter the drug trade, albeit dealing only drugs made with yet to be banned substances. But their naivety is soon exposed as they fall foul of those on both sides of the law. Sydney Sibilia’s debut film is a comedy of misadventure with a smart, topical edge.

Screens with PANIC (PROGETTO PANICO), dir. Paola Randi, from the 9×10 anthology (10 mins).Paola Randi will be introducing her film, as well as the 9×10 anthology on Saturday 11th.

BLACK SOULS – Director Francesco Munzi

Saturday 11th, 8.45pm – CINE LUMIERE Tuesday 14th, 3.15pm – VUE7 Strand: Thrill (103 mins)

An adaptation of a novel by Gioacchino Criaco, itself based on a true story, Francesco Munzi’s Black Souls puts a new spin on the Italian family feud, playing out like a contemporary western. When a minor spat triggers the hostility of a rival clan, three brothers from Southern Italy who are steeped in the life of the ‘Ndrangheta (the Calabrian equivalent of the Mafia), are caught up in a spiral of events and emotions that escalate out of their control, heading towards tragedy.

Screens with BORDERLANDS, dir. Alina Marazzi, from the 9×10 anthology (10 mins).

THE WONDERS – Director Alice Rohrwacher

Monday 13th, 8.30pm – VUE5 Wednesday 15th, 8.45pm – HACKNEY PICTUREHOUSE Strand: Journey (110 mins)

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Alice Rohrwacher’s second film (after her critically acclaimed 2011 debut Corpo Celeste) tells the beguiling story of a summer in the life of 12 year old Gelsomina, whose family – exiled from modern life in rural Italy – is disrupted by the arrival of a bizarre TV talent show from the city, and a delinquent German boy from a rehabilitation program, who comes to work on their bee-keeping farm.

Screens with UNA CANZONE, dir. Alice Rohrwacher, from the 9×10 anthology (10 mins).

HUNGRY HEARTS  – Director Saverio Costanzo

Tuesday 14th, 6.30pm – VUE5 Thursday 16th, 6.15pm – CINE LUMIERE Friday 17th, 12.30pm – NFT1 Strand: Love (109 mins)

Winner of the Best Actor (Adam Driver) and Best Actress (Alba Rohrwacher) Awards at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Hungry Hearts tells the story of Jude (American) and Mina (Italian), who after a chance meeting in a New York restaurant washroom, embark on a whirlwind romance, marry and swiftly become pregnant. But their charming romance gives way to something darker and more disturbing when Mina’s obsessive protectiveness of her newborn son begins to endanger his life, and Jude has to act quickly, pushing both newlyweds to their emotional limits.

Screens with MY DUTIES AS BRIDE (IL MO DOVERE DI SPOSA), dir. Claudio Giovannesi, from the 9×10 anthology (10 mins).

THE DINNER – Director Ivano De Matteo

Thursday 16th, 12.00pm – VUE5 Saturday 18th, 2.35pm – CURZON MAYFAIR Strand: Dare (92 mins)

Two brothers meet regularly for dinner at a fashionable restaurant with their wives. Their teenage children are also close school friends. One fateful night, the children are out, and something horrific happens, leaving the families with a terrible moral dilemma. The polite chitchat and civility of dinner disintegrate, as both couples demonstrate how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love. An enthralling psychological drama based on Dutch author Herman Koch’s best-selling thriller ‘Our Children’.

Screens with TUBIOLO AND THE MOON (TUBIOLO E LA LUNA), dir. Marco Bonfanti, from the 9×10 anthology (10 mins).

*** Locations ***

• CINÉ LUMIÈRE
  Institut Français / 17 Queensberry Place, London, SW7 2DT
• COV. GARDEN
  Odeon Covent Garden / 135 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8AH
• HPF
  Hackney Picturehouse / 270 Mare Street, London E8 1HE
• ISLINGTON
  Vue Islington / 36 Parkfield Street, London N1 0PS
• MAYFAIR
  Curzon Mayfair / 38 Curzon Street, London, W1J 7TY
• NFT
  BFI Southbank / Belvedere Road, South Bank, London, SE1 8XT
• VUE
  Vue West End / 3 Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7AL