‘Cannes a Firenze’ at Spazio Alfieri

A scene from ‘Happy End’

For the fourth consecutive year, the international film festival Cannes a Firenze will take place in Florence from June 19 to June 23 at Spazio Alfieri Cinema, located on via dell’Ulivo 10. Throughout the week, 10 of this season’s critically acclaimed films presented at Cannes will be shown to the public. The festival will also give audiences the opportunity to watch a Cannes classic, Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood.

To kick off this year’s Cannes a Firenze, a show by renowned photographer Alessandro Becattini will open on Monday the 19th. Becattini is a Florentine photographer who is well known for capturing moments at star-studded film festivals ranging from Venice to Cannes. His exhibition, which will take place in the foyer and projection room of the Spazio Alfieri Cinema, will include photographs from this year’s Cannes Festival featuring Sean Penn, Charlize Theron, and Diane Kruger.

Following the inauguration, there will be a screening at 7 pm of How to Talk to Girls at Parties by James Cameron-Mitchell. The film follows two teenage boys who go to a party to pick up girls, only to discover that the girls at the party are aliens from another planet. Nicole Kidman, who plays a peroxide blonde punk designer, won Cannes’ 70th Anniversary Award for her performance.

In addition to How to Talk to Girls at Parties, three other English-language films with Italian subtitles will be shown throughout the week. Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, a classic Western film that stars Eastwood himself as an aging former bandit who avenges the murder of a prostitute, is scheduled at 9 pm on the 19th. On Wednesday June 22, the film Patti Cake$ by Geremy Jasper will show at 9 pm. This film stars Danielle Macdonald as a young girl from New Jersey who attempts to make it as a rapper under the pseudonym “Patty Cake$”. A second screening of Patti Cake$ will be held on Friday, 23 at 7:45 pm.

Another English-language film, The Rider by Chloé Zhao, is on the program on Friday at 5:45 pm. Zhao’s film is notable in that it draws from the real lives of its actors. The film stars Brady Jandreau, who plays a rodeo star who is attempting to recover from a near-fatal fall off of his horse. As this year’s winner of the Art Cinema Award, The Rider should not be missed.

General admission to any one film screening at Cannes a Firenze is €8. ARCI, French Institute members, and Regional Media Tuscany cardholders will pay a reduced price of € 7 . A pass to see five films costs €30.  (margaux glovier)