#4. The Cardboard Village
Director: Ermanno Olmi
Cast: Michael Lonsdale, Rutger Hauer, Massimo De Francovich, Alessandro Haber
Distributor: Rights Available
Buzz: With his origins and legacy primarily dating back to the latter years of Italian Neorealism, Olmi has gone on to further iconic status via a Palme d’Or for The Tree of Wooden Clogs and his Golden Lion for The Legend of the Holy Drinker. He vowed that his 2007 film One Hundred Nails would be his final fictional feature, but lo and behold, here he is again. Playing modestly out of competition in Venice a few days prior to TIFF.
The Gist: Confronting the recent surge in North African immigration that is rampant in Italy, Olmi’s narrartive concerns a priest whose church-in-crisis become a shelter for illegal immigrants. Extracting great emotional power from the simplest of scenario’s, this new film promises to be another strong entry in the aging maestro’s personal canon – and probably the last, too.
TIFF Schedule: Tuesday September 13 Scotiabank Theatre 2 9:30pm
Thursday September 15 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 9:00am
Sunday September 18 Scotiabank Theatre 2 3:45pm
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