New Italian Cinema Events - is a cultural organization founded by Viviana Del Bianco in Florence. Its primary goal is to promote contemporary independent Italian cinema worldwide through film screenings and cultural events in Europa, United States and Asia. This Fall, N.I.C.E. returns in-person after two years online, celebrating its 32nd edition in the United States dedicated to Italian cinema and meeting with directors and critics.

“This festival means promotion, but also ideas and projects for a cinema and an audiovisual. At the same time, we consider it useful to confirm the criteria for selecting films based on the variety of themes proposed. There are sometimes dramatic films that tell stories of social distress, related to problems inherent in the world of crime and corruption, or to more personal spheres such as adolescent and female growth.

But also comedies that, although they are funny, are played on the edge of an irony that highlights the social difficulties of today’s world, the phenomenon of immigration, sexual diversity, the various ways and styles of life, etc.” said Viviana Del Bianco, artistic director of N.I.C.E.

The screenings will be hosted by long-standing supporters of the Festival such as Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò and the Italian Cultural Institute of New York; the iconic Maysles Documentary Center, located in West Harlem, with the support of the Consulate General of Italy.

NICE will open with Our Ghosts, by Alessandro Capitani. For fear that the social workers will take his son away from him, a father decides to hide with his son in the attic and live like ghosts; Next to screen is Journey Into The Twilight by Augusto Contento, a deep animated documentary that walks the roads that lead into the cold darkness of the Italian decline, based on films by Marco Bellocchio

The following will be the premiere of Small Body, by Laura Samani: Italy, 1900. Agata is a young woman who embarks herself on a desperate journey to reach a mysterious sanctuary to save her daughter’s soul from the eternal damnation of Limbo.

NICE will close On Nov. 19th with two screenings: Californie by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman, their first feature film about a story of the five year trajectory of a young woman from Morocco who tries to fit into a small town near Naples and Europa by Haider Rashid. An intense thriller about an immigrant on the border between Turkey and Bulgaria.

Guests will include: Producer and film critic Adriano Aprà and Directors Laura Samani, Haider Rashid e Sonia Giannetto.

New York City, November 14 - 19

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH

FILM SCREENING: Our Ghosts, by Alessandro Capitani
Italian Cultural Institute - 6:30pm - 686 Park Ave, New York, NY 10021
Free and Open to the Public
Director Alessandro Capitani on video at the screening (previously recorded)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH (Opening Night)

FILM SCREENING: Journey Into The Twilight by Augusto Contento
NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò - 6:00pm - 24 W 12th Street, New York, NY
This event is in collaboration with CIMA (Center for Italian Modern Art)
Free and Open to the Public.
Screening to be followed by a Q&A with: Producer and film critic Adriano Apra’, NYU Professor
of Contemporary Italian Studies, David Forgacs and Nicola Lucchi, Managing Director of CIMA,
Center for Italian Modern Art. Moderated by Casa Italiana Director Stefano Albertini

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18TH

FILM SCREENING: Small Body by Laura Samani
NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò - 6:30pm - 24 W 12th Street, New York, NY
Free and Open to the Public
Screening to be followed by a Q&A with Director Laura Samani and Casa Italiana
Director Stefano Albertini

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH (Closing Night)

FILM SCREENING: Californie by Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman
Maysles Documentary Center - 4:30pm - 343 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10027
Entrance by donation
Directors Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman Director Alessandro Capitani on Video
at the screening (previously recorded)

FILM SCREENING: Europa by Haider Rashid
Maysles Documentary Center - 7:30pm - 343 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10027
Entrance by donation
Screening to be followed by a Q&A with Director Haider Rashid, Editor Sonia Giannetto and
Creative Producer Arthur Soleimanpour.