Bob Messini

We are in the mid-60s, when a very young Mariele Ventre gave birth to the very first formation of the Piccolo Coro, originally composed of only eight children. In a few years the Piccolo Coro becomes a real school of choral singing. In its 56 years of history, there have been hundreds of small voices that have brought the music of Zecchino d’Oro and its repertoire around Italy and the world.

Gabriele is a divorced dad who owns a music store and is completely focused on taking care of his 10-year-old daughter Sofia who spends time with both parents. One day he bumps into his old friend Mara who - for the first time since his separation - reignites his desire to be in a relationship. There is only one problem, Mara hates children!

A 40-year-old world-famous chef with anger management issues is assigned to run a cooking class at a centre for young people with autism.

Beatrice is a blabbermouth and a so-called billionaire countess who likes to believe she’s in intimacy with world leaders. Donatella is a young quiet tattooed woman, locked in her own mystery. They are both patients of a mental institution and subject to custodial measures.

With humor and wit, Crushed Lives – Sex or Kids? takes on the probing but taboo question: what happens to our sex lives after children? New father Saverio films a documentary to get to the bottom of this matter after an uninspired sex session with his wife. Interviewing couples at various stages of parenthood, Saverio unearths the fear and anxieties that seem to universally plague his peers as they collectively experience the quiet devastation of a dying bedroom. Honing in on this seldom fully explored theme of adulthood, director Alessandro Colizzi brings us on a sincere and funny journey into life encumbered by children and the fainting sexual imagination that seems to go with it. - Vivian Yuen

A ne'er-do-well who's married to a millionnaire realizes his financial trouble might be solved if his wife was dead - and sets out a plot to achieve just that. A remake of Dino Risi's "il vedovo".

An acclaimed novelist struggles to write an analysis of love in one of three stories, each set in a different city, that detail the beginning, middle and end of a relationship.

After spending most of his life being defeated by his rival Ottone, meek Biagio tries to commit suicide – but in the hereafter he's offered a chance to come back to life for a week as Dennis, Ottone's trusted business partner.

Cetto and its city council were arrested, but in prison the conspiratorial former mayor makes no earning name as the gratitude of the powerful secretary. These decide to replace some MPs mysteriously killed precisely with Cetto and two other characters: Rodolfo Favaretto and Frengo Stop

Garage owner Angelo and big-time film producer Alberto find themselves occupying neighbouring beds in a Rome hospital after suffering heart attacks. Alberto is a gregarious joker - and chain smoker - who has a strong effect on the impressionable Angelo. However, as one of the men's condition deteriorates, the other becomes more deeply involved in his personal life.

Bologna, 1954. Taddeo, a young man of 18 whom everyone calls Kid, dreams of becoming one of the regulars of the mythical Margherita Café, located under the portico across from his family's home. Through a ploy, he manages to get work as the chauffeur for Al, the neighborhood's most glamorous and mysterious resident. Having been taken under Al's wing, Taddeo gets to witness the adventures of Bep, who is in love with Marcella the entraineuse; the trials and tribulations of Gian, an aspiring singer and the victim of a horrible practical joke; the crazy behavior of Manuelo, a small-time robber with a sex phobia; the meanness of Zanchi, inventor of the elastic necktie; and the bizarre manias of Sarti, a ballroom dancing champion who wears his tux day and night. And Taddeo's home life is no less out of the ordinary, considering his mother is being led on by the family physician while his grandfather has fallen head over heels for a well-built piano teacher.

Now 25, brilliant Marta seems to have her whole life ahead after majoring in philosophy, but she has to face the ugly truth for young graduates in Italy: a complete lack of work opportunities outside of temp jobs. While babysitting for single mother Sonia, she starts to work at the call center of a company selling junk to housewives, quickly rising through its ranks and experiencing first-hand the fanatical and exploitative competition culture pushed on young employees. Around her revolve other people, like delusional supervisor Daniela, her boss Claudio, fragile coworker Lucio, and well-meaning but inconsistent union official Giorgio.

Racial integration is Elena's profession and passion, not only filling her working day as a cultural mediator assisting immigrants, but spilling over into her home life as well. All too often her husband Carlo must attend charity events where he feels distinctly out of place. During one of these evenings, Carlo meets Nadine, a beautiful black woman.

Luca is a famous actor working on his new film as both its star and director. One day he gets extremely sick and, while at the hospital, rethinks his life.

When her social-climbing father is relocated from small-town North to his native Rome, 12-year-old Caterina enrolls to his old school, finding herself in an completely different environment where students rigidly divide themselves in subcultures based on social class and their parents' political affiliation.

Rome, 1929. The Pope's tailor sends his only son, 35-year-old virgin Nello, to more liberal Bologna hoping he will find a wife. His head full of ideas on romantic love instilled by classical poetry, Nello hopelessly falls for Angela, a beautiful blind woman who indulges him only to win back her fiancé.

Italy, 1914. Two teachers take their pupils for a school outing from Bologna to Florence.