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Mid-August Lunch

“In this unusually delicate Italian comedy Gianni, a happily retired bachelor in his late 50s, finds himself spending the August bank holiday stuck at home with his aged mother and three other assorted old biddies on his hands. Keeping them all happy, on their meds, on their diets, out of the bars, and warmly disposed to each other, the poor guy hasn’t worked so hard in his life. Veteran screenwriter and first-time director Gianni Di Gregorio plays Gianni, and the rest of the cast are non-professionals (the average age of the four actresses is 88). They are naturals. Simply and without undue comic emphasis, he has much to say that is funny and true about harried Italian males and their loving, if conflicted, relationships with their mothers; the minor, conniving underpinning social interaction; and, ultimately, the joys of an elaborate lunch on a long, hot summer day in Rome.” – Sandra Reid, New Zealand International Film Festival 2009

 

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Pranzo di ferragosto, Italy 2008

Director: Gianni Di Gregorio
Producer: Matteo Garrone
Production co: Archimede, MiBAC
Screenplay: Gianni Di Gregorio. Based on a story by Di Gregorio and Simone Riccardini
Photography: Gian Enrico Bianchi
Editor: Marco Spoletini
Music: Ratchev & Carratello

With: Gianni Di Gregorio (Gianni), Valeria De Franciscis (Valeria), Marina Cacciotti (Marina), Maria Calì (Aunt Maria), Grazia Cesarini Sforza (Grazia), Alfonso Santagata (Luigi), Marcello Ottolenghi (doctor), Luigi Marchetti (Viking)

75 mins, DV (16:9)

PG violence

Hamilton Film Society
Monday 2 April, 8.00pm

Palmerston North Film Society
Wednesday 8 August, 5.30pm

Greytown Film Society
Friday 7 September, 8.00pm

West Melton & Districts Film Society
Thursday 4 October, 7.30pm

Waitati Film Society
Tuesday 16 October, 8.00pm

Queenstown Film Society
Tuesday 6 November, 8.30pm