Italy's cinematic heavyweights are heading Down Under this spring with the ST. ALi Italian Film Festival.
Mamma mia, che spettacolo!
The 2025 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival runs September-October across Australian cities, delivering everything from Venice Film Festival winners to cultural phenomena that broke box office records back home. From Paolo Sorrentino’s latest masterpiece to restored giallo classics, this lineup showcases Italian cinema at its absolute peak.
Contemporary stories rooted in cultural tradition meet innovative filmmaking that respects classical narrative, plus performances that’ll remind you why Italian actors remain cinema royalty.
ST. ALi Italian Film Festival
- When: 17 September to 22 October
- Where: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Byron Bay, Ballarat, Ballina
- Italian Film Festival program here
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
La Grazia opens with Oscar-winning glamour
Paolo Sorrentino’s Venice Film Festival opener is the kind of film that reminds you why Italian cinema still matters so much. Oscar-winning director of The Great Beauty reunites with his muse Toni Servillo for their seventh collaboration – a political love story set during the final days of a fictional Italian presidency. Shot in Turin’s most opulent locations including actual castles, La Grazia promises Sorrentino’s trademark visual poetry and biting social commentary. With Anna Ferzetti (fresh from Diamonds) as his co-star, this is prestige filmmaking at its most seductive.
Sorrentino remains Italy’s most internationally celebrated auteur, and this Venice competition entry continues his exploration of power, beauty and moral decay in modern Italy. If you’ve ever been mesmerised by The Great Beauty, this is essential viewing.
Somebody to Love proves lightning can strike twice
Paolo Genovese struck gold with Perfect Strangers – most remade film in cinema history with versions across 24 countries. His follow-up, Somebody to Love, has already earned €14.6 million at the Italian box office with an ingenious concept: a first date between divorced teacher Piero and restorer Lara, where we hear their internal voices. Think Inside Out meets modern dating anxiety, with an all-star cast including Edoardo Leo and Pilar Fogliati navigating the minefield of contemporary romance.
This isn’t just high-concept comedy – it’s a dissection of modern relationships that’s both hilarious and surprisingly tender. Genovese has cracked the code of what Italian audiences want, and Australian viewers are about to discover why.
The Mountain Bride – Vermiglio dominates awards season
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival 2024 and Italy’s official Oscar submission, Maura Delpero’s atmospheric wartime drama is the kind of film that stays with you for weeks. Set in an Alpine village during WWII’s final year, it follows a schoolteacher’s family disrupted by the arrival of a Sicilian deserter. Tommaso Ragno and Martina Scrinzi lead an ensemble that earned seven David di Donatello awards including Best Film.
This is intimate epic filmmaking – a war story where you never see battle, focusing instead on how conflict transforms ordinary people. Venice jury president Isabelle Huppert called it essential viewing, and she’s rarely wrong.
Napoli – New York resurrects Fellini’s lost vision
Gabriele Salvatores, Oscar winner behind Mediterraneo, has brought to life an unpublished Federico Fellini treatment about post-war Neapolitan orphans stowing away to America. Pierfrancesco Favino anchors this immigration tale that earned €4.9 million in Italy and multiple David di Donatello nominations. Set in bomb-ravaged 1949 Naples, it follows two children chasing the American dream aboard a transatlantic liner.
This isn’t just any migration story – it’s the master’s final, unrealised vision brought to life with contemporary filmmaking craft. The combination of Salvatores’ proven directing chops and Fellini’s narrative DNA makes this unmissable for cinephiles.
Diamonds sparkles as Italy’s biggest hit
Ferzan Özpetek’s ensemble masterpiece dominated Italian cinemas with €16+ million – highest-grossing local film of 2024. This love letter to cinema’s costume designers follows two sisters (Luisa Ranieri and Jasmine Trinca) running a 1970s Rome couture house. With an 18-actress ensemble including Vanessa Scalera and Elena Sofia Ricci, it celebrates the unsung women who create movie magic behind the scenes.
It’s screening as the festival’s Prosecco Preview – expect sold-out sessions.
Sicilian Letters delivers contemporary mafia drama
Directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza team powerhouse actors Elio Germano and Toni Servillo for this Venice Film Festival competition entry about the cat-and-mouse game between a fugitive mob boss (based on Matteo Messina Denaro) and a disgraced politician working secretly with authorities. Psychological thriller explores loyalty, deception and the final days of traditional Cosa Nostra leadership.
This isn’t The Godfather nostalgia – it’s contemporary crime drama rooted in real events, examining how organised crime adapts to modern surveillance. Germano and Servillo’s magnetic performances make this essential viewing for anyone interested in Italy’s ongoing struggle with its criminal past.
The Boy with Pink Trousers becomes cultural phenomenon
Margherita Ferri’s devastating drama based on Italy’s first publicised cyberbullying suicide has become an unexpected cultural phenomenon, grossing €8.5 million and beating Hollywood blockbusters. Samuele Carrino plays Andrea Spezzacatena, a 15-year-old who faced relentless bullying after wearing accidentally pink-dyed trousers to school. Film sparked national anti-bullying conversations and inspired TikTok movements among Italian teens.
This isn’t exploitation cinema – it’s compassionate storytelling about a real tragedy that prompted legislative changes in Italy.
Deep Red returns in glorious restoration
Dario Argento’s 1975 giallo masterpiece gets the restoration treatment for its 50th anniversary. David Hemmings plays a jazz pianist who witnesses a brutal murder and teams with feisty reporter Daria Nicolodi to hunt the killer. This isn’t just horror nostalgia – it’s the film that defined an entire genre, complete with Goblin’s legendary progressive rock score and Argento’s revolutionary camera work.
Deep Red influenced everyone from John Carpenter to Brian De Palma to James Wan. This 4K restoration lets new audiences experience the technical innovation and psychological sophistication that made Argento the Master of Italian Horror.
The Illusion reimagines Italian unification
Roberto Andò directs comedy duo Ficarra & Picone alongside Toni Servillo in this satirical take on Garibaldi’s 1860 campaign to unify Italy. Rather than straightforward historical drama, The Illusion uses the legendary general’s Sicilian expedition to explore identity, nationalism and the gap between mythic narratives and messy reality.
This is history lesson as comedy, examining how national stories get constructed and reconstructed. With Servillo’s chameleonic performance anchoring the satire, it’s both entertaining and unexpectedly insightful about how Italians see themselves.
For more information, head here.
This article was made in partnership with Palace Cinemas.
