Gina Lollobrigida in the 1968 movie “Buona Sera Mrs Campbell”.

Antonio Albanese and Paola Cortellesi in “Like A Cat On A Highway 2”.

A still from the festival opener “The Ties”.

Anna Magnani, centre, in a still from “Rome, Open City”.

AS the spiritual home to visual arts, Italy has always punched above its weight in cinema, as the coming Italian Film Festival amply demonstrates.

Nostalgia dominates in this year’s event, seen in a retrospective paying tribute to the neo-realist director (and sometime husband of Ingrid Bergman) Roberto Rossellini and culminating in the classic film “Rome, Open City” will close the festival.

The film, which follows a group of characters coping under the Nazi occupation, will be screened after other Rossellini classics such as  “Amore”, “Journey to Italy”, “Paisan” and “Stromboli”.

Continuing the sentimental journey, the festival also pays homage to legendary screen goddesses Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Claudia Cardinale in films such as Vittorio De Sica’s “Marriage Italian Style”, Melvin Frank’s “Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell” and Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard”.

The theme of homage to the cinematic past is also seen in “Fellini Forward: From the Creative Genius of Federico Fellini”, a contemporary venture from directing duo Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper.

This year’s first night will feature the Australian premiere of Daniele Luchetti’s “The Ties”, the first Italian film to have opened the 2020 Venice Film Festival in 11 years. 

Based on the 2014 novel by Domenico Starnone, the lavish film follows a developing marital crisis, over a long period from the 1980s to now. Partly set in Naples, it’s been billed as having “Ferrante flavour”, a reference to best-selling novelist Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan tetralogy. 

A “family film” section looks to encourage future generations of Italian film-watchers, with the Christmas-themed movie, “When Mum is Away… With the Family”, following the misadventures of the Rovelli family and “Glass Boy”, about a young boy usually confined to his bedroom setting out to prove he can live like a normal child.

For ages 15 and over are “Sirley”, based on director Elisa Amoruso’s own adolescence and “Cam’s War”, which follows a young boy and his sister on a dangerous journey through an apocalyptic world – that’s also part of “The Female Lens” section.

A notable feature of the festival is its emphasis on covering various regions of Italy in its selections. From Calabria, for instance, comes the centrepiece selection “To Chiara”, the gripping story of a 15-year-old girl whose family life starts to unravel when she discovers her beloved father may have criminal ties. 

Although nearby Campania comes a close second. Lazio, of which Rome is the capital, unsurprisingly claims the lion’s share of the selections, with a recent hit in director Nanni Moretti’s film, “Three Floors”, which traces the disparate lives of three families who live in the same fashionable Roman apartment block.

Real life is the source of many selected films, as with “Padrenostro,” where a 10-year-old boy witnesses an assassination attempt on his father in a personal drama inspired by co-director Claudio Noce’s own family trauma. 

“Paolo Conte, Via Con Me” is a documentary following the life and work of Italian singer and composer Paolo Conte, interwoven with reflections by figures such as Roberto Benigni and Isabella Rossellini. 

“Tigers” from Lombardy is the true story of former Inter Milan player Martin Bengtsson’s ride through the dark side of professional soccer. 

And “Hidden Away” is a biopic about the troubled life of artist Antonio Ligabue, one of the most important Naïve artists of the 20th century. 

Comedy is not forgotten. “Three Perfect Daughters” sees three friends try to hinder the love affairs of their daughters, while “If You Care for Me”, from Piedmont, is a comedy about a man with a knack for accidentally setting off catastrophes who decides to help out people around him.

The outrageous “Like A Cat On A Highway 2”, the sequel to the comedy smash hit “Like a Cat on a Highway”, sees Paola Cortellesi and Antonio Albanese back as the foul-mouthed, tattooed Monica and radical-chic intellectual Giovanni, three years since the end of their love story.

Italian Film Festival, November 17-December 12. Book at italianfilmfestival.com.au