The Trial Begins

Tough, gripping drama about a committed, principled priest taking on the Mafia and risking his life in a poverty-stricken parish in Naples.

Acclaimed documentarist Vincenzo Marra's work This Session Is Open constitutes an exercise in cinema direct filmmaking at its purest. Sans narration or any discernible viewpoint, the picture remains stringently objective in its inside portrayal of an Italian courtroom, during the assassination trial of a mafia unit called the 'Neapolitan Camorra.'

Life of an apartment block administrator in Naples.

Thirteen European directors explore the theme of Sarajevo; what this city has represented in European history over the past hundred years, and what Sarajevo stands for today in Europe. These eminent filmmakers of different generations and origins offer exceptional singular styles and visions.

Four Neapolitan and a Tunisian fishermen risk their lives by fishing in waters not far from Sicily. Before long, the camorra learns of their actions, and their licenses to fish the local waters are revoked. With nowhere to turn, they head back to North African waters, but the behavior of one member of the crew starts to endanger the others on board. The partially improvised dialogue by the cast of mostly untrained actors is delivered in the local Neapolitan dialect, which lends great authenticity to the story.

Vento Di Terra (wind of the earth) is an Italian film about an 18 year old boy (Vicenzo Pacilli) from a poor suburb of Napoli, Italy who finds himself burdened by expectations of supporting his mother after his father dies from an unexpected heart attack. Working in a blue-collar factory job, Vince soon finds that he does not have enough money to support himself, let alone his frail recently widowed mother. His sister departs to Cassano to finally end her employment drought by getting a job in the local FIAT factory. Vince is left alone to support his mother. He gets involved in a heist, and then out of guilt confesses his sin to a close family friend, who suggests he joins the Italian army. In the army Vince meets a new found friend through his training period, and they are soon deployed together to the war torn state of Kosovo in the Former Yugoslavia, where he is exposed to the brutality of war.

Marco, a cynical and ambitious young lawyer, lives in Bari with his partner Martina and their eight-year-old son Mateo. Martina had left Chile and moved to Italy when she met Marco. Their relationship has run its course, however, and Martina longs to go back to her country with Mateo, but Marco, the loving father left out of the equation, is adamantly against the idea. The couple clash for weeks on end, until Martina abruptly leaves the country with their son, goes back to Chile and virtually vanishes. With no news of Mateo, time seems to stand still for Marco. Anguished and unable to cope, he finally rallies and sets off in search of his son.