Italy's 8½ Cinema Festival launches across 17 Brazilian cities

The 13th edition of the 8½ Festa do Cinema Italiano runs from 25 June to 1 July, with additional screenings in some cities until 15 July. The travelling festival visits 17 Brazilian cities, including São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Recife, Porto Alegre, Salvador, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Belém and others.

Sponsored by Generali, the programme showcases ten titles such as Mario Martone’s “Fuori”, Johnny Depp’s directorial return “Modi – Three Days on the Wings of Madness” starring Al Pacino and Riccardo Scamarcio, Nanni Moretti’s restored classic “Caro Diario”, and the Italian‑Brazilian documentary “Os Irmãos Segreto” by Federico Ferrone and Michele Manzolini, narrated in Portuguese by Paulo Betti. Other selections include “A Última Rodada”, “Primavera”, and the socially‑charged drama “O Menino da Calça Rosa”.

Festival director Stefano Savio highlighted the aim to bring “the best of contemporary Italian cinema” to Brazilian audiences, while Margherita Marziali of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura noted that the event “is very important because it presents Italian contemporary cinema on the big screen, a powerful teaching tool.”