Manuel De Sica

Once upon a time there was a garden, a refuge, a safe haven - 'The Garden of the Finzi Continis'. It came to life in Giorgio Bassani's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel recounting an unfulfilled love story between two young Jews in Ferrara, while fascism was raging in Italy in the late 1930's. In 1972, Vittorio De Sica's film adaptation of the book won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Since then, the fictional space of the garden became so tangible that people from all over the world come to Ferrara to look for it. Fifty years after winning the Oscar, reality and fiction come together once more, as we walk through an imaginary garden and bring to life the book, its author, its main protagonists, history, love, friendships and betrayals.

Elena is a beautiful, 35-year-old accomplished woman who has an unhealthy obsession with perfection. Elena's well-ordered life is thrown into chaos, however, when she meets Adriana, an 18-year-old seductive young woman who offers passion and excitement, and Hector, an older man who offers Elena stability and security. Elena quickly realizes though that Adriana is too immature and too young for her, so she tries to end their romance, but for Adriana the rejection is just another game to play

A documentary about Vittorio de Sica with clips of his films and testimonials from friends and family.

Several groups of Italians experience amusing adventures and tests of character on the Caribbean island of Antigua. Some of the characters are there simply for rest and relaxation, while others act with different motivations. Multiple plot lines unfold simultaneously as different characters' stories are presented.

Set against the sun-soaked shores of Italy in the summertime, seven different tales unfold about life, love, loss, family, and friendship.

Looks back at the Sciuscià, its success abroad, its influence on later filmmakers, its Oscar win, and the social conditions at the time of its production.

A brief overview of the inspiration and process behind making Cemetery Man.

How the cinema industry does not respect the author's work as it was conceived, how manipulates the motion pictures in order to make them easier to watch by an undemanding audience or even how mutilates them to adapt the original formats and runtimes to the restrictive frame of the television screen and the abusive requirements of advertising. (Followed by “Filmmakers in Action.”)

A story set behind the scenes of the annual Miss Italia pageant, with its load of young girls and recognizable characters.

Milanese and Naples people go to Cortina d'Ampezzo on Christmas holidays

At the end of the 18th century, a couple of libertine Tuscan aristocrats welcome in their villa (and into their bedroom) an handsome young revolutionary, hoping to rekindle their marriage.

June 1944. In the newly liberated Rome, Roberto Rossellini and Sergio Amidei decide, against all odds, to make an unprecedented, true-to-life film on the tragic events that occurred during the Nazi occupation: Rome, Open City .

Two Italians are on holiday in Aspen in Colorado. The first one is Lorenzo whose daughter is crazy about Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210 actor) and wants to meet him at all costs. The second one wants to win back his wife who has left him because of his gambling problem.

Four homosexual men in their 40s have issues and no small degree of self hatred. Yet, can laugh at themselves and their comrades and often do.

7 segments about life in 1990s Italy: two MPs from the opposite sides of the political spectrum spend the night together; during their honeymoon, a woman cheats on her husband with her favorite soap opera star; a married man pretends to be ill to seduce his younger nurse; a family discovers that their son's beautiful fiancée is transgender; an unsatisfied single woman is duped by her celebrity crush for Kevin Costner; two best friends want to have fun; a couple on a tropical holiday is fascinated by their indigenous masseuse.

A cemetery man has the unusual problem of the dead rising from the grave. Himself and his assistant must end these creatures' lives again after they are reborn. Everything is going well until "She" comes along and stirs things up a bit.

In the 1950s, a big stir was made by a book (and its corresponding movie) called The Ugly American. Its subject was the grievous damage done to local cultures by well-meaning but essentially clueless (and frequently arrogant) representatives of the U.S. Since then, the phenomenon of cultural damage cause by arrogant tourists and visitors has been demonstrated to be something everyone is capable of. In this thoughtful, comic drama, the subject is Italians overseas. In this film, Malindi Kenya is the playground of rich Italians.

A wealthy millionaire decided to commit suicide but meets a homeless with whom he experiences a lot of funny adventures until finally makes order in his life.

This coarse bedroom farce takes place at the St. Moritz ski resort over a Christmas vacation. Among the couples whose lives intersect are a widowed artist honeymooning with his second wife, a gay man traveling with his son and his lover (and hiding each from the other), a snobbish couple from Milan who have been forced to share a suite with a pair of crass Romans, etc.

Alfredo è un rozzo riparatore di motociclette romano amico del Conte Max, uno spianato gentiluomo ed ex-gaudente. Quest'ultimo invita Alfredo nella sua residenza a Campo dei Fiori e gli insegna il galateo, il francese e come si gioca a poker. Le risate cominceranno quando Alfredo conosce ed insegue a Parigi la bellissima fotomodella Isabella Matignon.

Maurizio works in a dubbing studio and puts sound effects into cartoons. One day his hands turn into cartoon ones, with a life of their own.

Director Maurizio Nichetti is invited on TV to introduce a screening of his neo-realist classic 'The Icicle Thief'. He is horrified to discover that his black-and-white tale of life in poverty is constantly interrupted by garish color commercials, and even more horrified when a power cut in the studio causes film and commercials to mix up – a glamorous model finds herself in the arms of an unemployed pauper, while his wife finds herself in consumers' heaven. Nichetti has to break into the film to try to sort everything out.

Elvio Battistini works as a ticket taker in the local cinema of the small town where he lives. He has a prosthesis in one leg, the result of an accident, but he tells anyone who will listen it is a war injury. Giuseppe Mondardini, is also an older man living alone in what was the splendid family home. When Elvio and Giuseppe meet, they hit it off immediately. A trip to a cooler area is in order, so Mordardini unveils his ancient automobile.

Love triangles often provoke the most unpredictable behavior. Will anybody end up happily in love at the end of this amorous debacle? One outrageous scene after another leads to a series of romantic escapades that will leave viewers bewitched, bewildered, and thoroughly entertained.

Police commissioner Lo Gatto is in charge of the local Italian police station within Vatican State. During an investigation, following the murder of a Vatican priest, he decides to question the Pope! For this reason Lo Gatto is sent to a Sicilian remote island Favignana. There is very little for the commissioner to do on the quiet island, so Lo Gatto decides to investigate the vanishing of a tourist which quickly becomes a very complicated affair.

Two reckless friends Leonardo (Adriano Celentano) and Luciano (Renato Potstsetto) are just doing whatever they want and getting into endless alterations. When one of them decides to marry, their friendship is in a crisis ...

In 1936 Italy, Elio returns home from Africa with a present for his wife in the form of Zerbal (Laura Gemser), the daughter of a tribal king. Unbeknown to him, his neglected wife Alessandra (Lili Carati) has formed a relationship with Elio’s otherwise frigid secretary Velma (Annie Belle) who is less than pleased at Elio’s return

A group of students from the San Crispino school for boys take a holiday in the United States, traveling from New York to Los Angeles. Young Father Don Buro has great difficulty controlling the youngsters, especially trouble making ex-student Peo, and finds himself distracted by the attractive single mother of one of the boys.

Walter is a non-commissioned officer of the Navy, while Raf is a ship's cook. They become great friends but unfortunately they fall in love, without knowing it, with the same girl Sonia.

Anna and Calogero are in love and living together in a low-scale apartment while going to the University of Milan. When Anna discovers she is pregnant, Calogero handles the situation like the moral coward he is.

Judge Pennisi deals with a lot of citizens every day, some of them criminals, but almost always ordinary people, suffering from a wide range of problems.

A sex comedy anthology containing four stories, each from a different country (England, France, USA and Italy). "An Englishman's Home" "The French Method" "Armando's Notebook" "Skippy"

A band of thugs belonging to an organized crime family assaults several casinos at the same time creating death and panic in their wake. As they flee the scenes of their crimes police begin to close in on them, so they quickly hide themselves in a villa owned by a wealthy industrialist taking him and his family hostage.

Antonio Barozzi moves from Lago Maggiore to Rome to become an actor. He does not realize his agent and acting coach are only manipulating him to further their own careers.

In Caro papá, Dino Risi is telling the story of the decadent lifestyle, and dysfunctional family, of a wealthy businessman (played to perfection by Risi's favorite leading man, Vittorio Gassman). Risi paints his portrait against a backdrop of an Italy where the new permissiveness has run rampant, traditional socio-cultural values have been usurped by consumerism, and the streets have become an open battleground for politically extremist groups (the '70s were dubbed "The Years of Lead" due to the great number of terrorist acts, and politically motivated assassinations).

Angela and Marco are a new brother and sister, they live in a large country house outside the rest of the world, united by an at least ambiguous relationship, which goes far beyond fraternal affection.

Bored aristocratic Parisian couples begin affairs with each other which only brings trouble.

Gianna comes to Italy to work as a concierge in a Roman apartment building, where she promptly falls into the amorous clutches of various tenants and shop workers, regardless of their age or sex.

In the slang of the underworld or "mala" there is a special term for cop: "Madama". But if word were to get around that the "Madama" is Vito (Christian De Sica) they might even start to like the guy. Vito is a funny sort of a cop. For a start he doesn't like the uniform (he never wears it). Things might even go smoothly for him, if it weren't for an incredible number of beautiful girls who always manage to get in his way. Especially one girl Angelo (shouldn't that have been Angela? No, the girl's name really is Angelo). Problems arise too, with his direct supervisor, who also happens to be a relative. But Vito puts up with it all and manages to stay his usual calm and polite self, even when he risks getting killed.

Noblewoman Livia and her friend Marquis Cecco Ottobuoni take revenge against politician Fabrizio Siniscalchi, Livia's lover who dumped her for political reasons, by setting him up with a young prostitute Anna to cause a scandal.

Concetta Li Cause, deprived of her husband Oreste by the Mafia, is coveted by Bologna Marcello and Charles postman. Besides the two, there are other suitors because the widow is rich; but Cosa Nostra deploys its resources to prevent the woman from finding a new partner.

After attending esoterical studies with a wise man, Cagliostro, a mysterious Italian count, received the gift of supernatural powers. He started to travel all over Europe to heal the poor. But he is also a member of a pre-revolutionary lodge the aim of which is to give freedom to the populations of Europe. This cannot be tolerated by the 18th century's establishment and bought the Pope and the regal house of France try to eliminate him. So Cagliostro is locked up in a castle, while his wife is killed. But when in 1795 the door of his cell is opened there is nothing inside but a sword...

The charming Adriana gets sick after her husband's death. Her brother-in-law takes her on a journey to meet a doctor, while love overwhelms them.

A two bit actor is a dead ringer for a mafia boss who has been killed by a rival gang. He's hired by the dead man's gang to take his place in public.

Forced to support herself, her children, her physically incapacitated husband and her obtrusive brother and mother, a downtrodden working woman contracts tuberculosis. She is granted a brief vacation at a health spa, where a whole new world — and potential new life — is opened up to her.

Paolo and Maria are two elementary teachers, who love each other, but can not have a child.

The fast career of a young Neapolitan among contraband, gambling dens, bribes and illegality. He will upgrade its rank till the maximum level of the "Family".

A blind pianist tries to figure out who is responsible for a string of murders using a black cat with its claws dipped in curare.

Two spouses discover a corpse that mysteriously disappears and then reappear in their suitcase. This is stolen by a couple of teens who are suspected, like the first two, of murder.

A young man unwantedly gets caught up in an international gang war in this humorous crime farce!

In late 1930s Ferrara, Italy, the Finzi-Continis are a leading family: wealthy, aristocratic, and urbane; they are also Jewish. Their adult children, Micol and Alberto, gather a diverse circle of friends for tennis and parties at their villa with its lovely grounds, and try to keep the rest of the world at bay. But tensions between them all grow as anti-Semitism rises in Fascist Italy, and even the Finzi-Continis will have to confront the Holocaust.

Globe-trotting clothes-horse Julia, who's harboring a secret, embarks on a 10-day fling with Valerio in Italy.