The Fifth edition  of the Italian Film Festival in Atlanta opened up with over 500 people participating in the cocktail followed by the much anticipated screening of the 35mm of La Dolce Vita of Federico Fellini to honor the 50th anniversary of the original screening at the Rialto in 1961 and what a success it was. We obtained the original print from Istituto Luce, the Italian National Film Archives, as a simple DVD just wouldn’t do. The pre-screening party in the lobby of the Rialto Center for the Arts featured the excellent Italian food of Fritti and Sotto Sotto and was enlivened by the rich sounds of the Trevor Eich Jazz Ensemble. This kicked off the screening of the 6 films in competition during the following 3 days and, as always, the audience voted for the Best Film in the Festival by giving high marks to all of them.

The results of the votes were: The romantic drama “Dieci Inverni” with 7.569; a story of jailed love “Dalla Vita in Poi” with 7.813; the generational differences of “Genitori e Figli” with 8.561; Miami 2010 FF winner “Ex” with 8.731; first work of Director Edoardo Leo “Diciotto Anni Dopo” with 9.010; and the winner, from Accademy Award winning Director Gabriele Salvatores, the delightful comedy “Happy Family”.

As in the previous edition the Festival presented its award winning selection of short films “Life is Too Short” and the documentaries promoting new up and coming talent from Italy.

We are hard at work to expand our program for next year under the auspices of our partners Georgia State Univerity, Cencia, Rialto Center for the Arts and our generous corporate and private sponsors.