The Tuscan Sun Festival And Tribeca Enterprises Announce Tribeca Firenze Film Line Up To Be Showcased During Acclaimed Arts Event In Florence, Italy

FLORENCE, Italy, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Tuscan Sun Festival and Tribeca Enterprises, the parent company of the  Tribeca Film Festival founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in lower Manhattan in 2002, announced today the list of world-class films to be featured as part of the film initiative, Tribeca Firenze. The newly established film program will have screenings 13 – 17 June in Florence's Odeon Cinema, one of Italy's most elegant and historic art noveau cinema-theatres located in the Palazzo Strozzino.  The Tuscan Sun Festival and Tribeca Firenze are made possible through the principal support of the Ente Cassa di Risparmio of Florence, and with the patronage of the City of Florence.  Gucci and the Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze are leading sponsors of the Festival.  Tickets for film screenings are available from 1 June via the Tribeca Firenze website, http://tribecafirenze.com, and the Tuscan Sun Festival website, http://tuscansunfestival.com.

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Tribeca Firenze will have multiple screenings a day during the event.  Films will be introduced by film-makers and Tribeca Enterprises representatives and will include Q & A sessions immediately following. 

"We are proud to present a thoughtfully curated selection of films, showcasing everything from art to genre, spectacle to music, and melodrama to documentary," said Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises. "We hope audiences will enjoy the addition of a film programme to the Tuscan Sun Festival, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to present these new works by some of the most compelling filmmakers at work today."

Barrett Wissman, IMG Artists Partner and Tuscan Sun Festival Founder and Director, said, "The Tuscan Sun Festival is delighted to include Tribeca Firenze in the programme for 2012.  The Festival has always been a platform for the world's greatest artistic talent and a celebration of the arts.  Integrating Tribeca Firenze films, particularly those featuring the theme of music, into the overall Festival programme is an exciting development."

Among the films to be screened, Tribeca Firenze will present the European premiere of The Zen of Bennett, with Tony Bennett and his son Danny Bennett, who created and conceived the film, introducing the film.  Mr. Bennett will also be giving a special performance as part of the Tuscan Sun Festival's 24 Hour Plays project on 18 June at Teatro della Pergola. He will choose four songs that will become the inspiration for the four plays that will be written, rehearsed and performed within a period of 24 hours, and will perform each song before the play that it has inspired.

The Tuscan Sun Festival is expanding its horizons by holding the festival for the first time in its new home of Florence. In addition to Tribeca Firenze, the Festival includes an expansive programme of events, culinary adventures, concerts and live theatre, including John Malkovich selecting and presenting some of his best films that will be included in the Tribeca Firenze programme, and performing as an actor and narrator in a special performance combining music, theatre and projections at the Teatro della Pergola on 17 June.

Tribeca Firenze Film Programme

Any Day Now, directed by Travis Fine, written by Travis Fine and George Arthur Bloom. (USA) – Narrative. In the late 1970s, when a mentally handicapped teenager is abandoned, a gay couple takes him in and becomes the family he's never had. But once the unconventional living arrangement is discovered by authorities, the men must fight a biased legal system to adopt the child they have come to love as their own. Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt star in Travis Fine's (The Space Between) touching and occasionally incendiary drama. Winner of the Narrative Award as part of Heineken Audience Award at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.  In English with Italian subtitles.

Beyond the Hills, directed and written by Cristian Mungiu. (Romania) – Narrative.  Alina, an emotionally disturbed young woman arrives in a remote mountainous region of Romania to visit her former orphanage classmate and one-time lover, Voichita. She is expecting to leave with her, but Voichita has become a devout novice at an Orthodox Church community run by a highly conservative priest. Despite a life of hardship, Voichita has found her calling in life.  An increasingly desperate Alina tries various strategies to undermine the priest and tempt Voichita away.  Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) delivers a captivating tragi-comedy of sexual hysteria and material want that is both mysterious and enthralling.  Winner of the Award for Best Screenplay and Best Actress award for actresses Cosmina Stratan and Cristina Flutur at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival In Romanian with Italian and English subtitles.

Dangerous Liaisons, directed by Stephen Frears, written by Christopher Hampton. (USA/UK) – Narrative.  Set in France around 1760, the Marquise de Merteuil needs a favour from her ex-lover, Vicomte de Valmont. One of the Marquise de Merteuil's ex-lovers, Gercourt, is betrothed to a young, virtuous, woman called Cecile de Volanges. The Marquise would like Valmont to seduce Cecile before her wedding day, thus humiliating Gercourt. Meanwhile, Valmont has a conquest of his own in mind: Madame de Tourvel, a beautiful, married, and God fearing woman. The Marquise doesn't think that Valmont can seduce Mme de Tourvel. She tells him that if he can provide written proof of a sexual encounter with Mme de Tourvel, she will offer Him a reward: one last night with her. Nominated for 7 Academy Awards and winner of 3, Dangerous Liaisons stars John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Michelle Pfeiffer.  In English with Italian subtitles.

First Winter, directed and written by Benjamin Dickinson. (USA) – Narrative. In this extraordinary debut feature, a blackout of apocalyptic proportions strands a group of Brooklyn hipsters in a remote country farmhouse with no heat and no electricity during the coldest winter on record. At first, it's all sex and drugs and acoustic guitars. But as the days go on and the food supply dwindles, struggles of power, jealousy and desire, threaten the group's ability to work together in order to survive.  In English with Italian subtitles.

Ripley's Game, directed by Liliana Cavali, written by Peter Berry, Frank Deasy and Charles McKeown. (USA) – Narrative.  Tom Ripley – cool, urbane, wealthy, and murderous – lives in a villa in the Veneto with Luisa, his harpsichord-playing girlfriend. A former business associate from Berlin's underworld pays a call asking Ripley's help in killing a rival. Ripley initiates a game to turn a mild and innocent local picture framer into a hit man. As Ripley draws the picture framer into the game, the master criminal questions if he can maintain control, stop at one killing and fight the unusual turn of developing a conscience. Ripley's Game picks up twenty years from where The Talented Mr. Ripley left off. Starring John Malkovich, Chiara Caselli, Dougray Scott and Ray Winstone, it is a dark, brutal thriller dripping with pitch-black humour.  In English with Italian subtitles.

Rust and Bone, directed and written by Jacques Audiard. (France) – Narrative. Put in charge of his young son, Ali, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, leaves the north of France for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Ali finds work as a bouncer at a local nightclub where he meets Stephanie, played by Marion Cotillard (Inception, Nine, La Vie en Rose), a beautiful self-confident woman.  Ali's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident. Rust and Bone is a passionate moving love story with true commitment and intelligence from its two leading players In French with Italian and English subtitles.

Wagner's Dream, directed by Susan Froemke (USA) – Documentary.  The stakes could not be higher as one of the theater's finest stage directors teams up with one of the world's leading opera companies to tackle opera's most monumental challenge: a new production of Wagner's Ring cycle—the four-part, 16-hour work that the composer first presented in 1876. Visionary director Robert Lepage begins a five-year journey to create the most ambitious staging in Metropolitan Opera history, featuring a 90,000-pound set ("The Machine") designed to realize all of Wagner's scenic instructions. An intimate look at the challenges of live theater and the risks that must be taken, the documentary chronicles the tremendous creativity and unflagging determination behind this daring attempt to realize Wagner's dream of a perfect Ring.  In English with Italian subtitles.

The World Before Her, directed by Nisha Pahuja. (Canada) – Documentary. Weaving together the seemingly opposing stories of the Miss India beauty pageant and a fundamentalist Hindu camp for girls, director Nisha Pahuja illuminates the situation of women across contemporary India, drawing surprising parallels in the way women are perceived and the opportunities that are afforded them in both modernizing and traditional cultures. The World Before Her is a riveting, thoughtful profile of the fundamental contradictions of a country in transition.  World Documentary Competition Award Winner at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.  In English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati with English and Italian subtitles. 

The Zen of Bennett, directed by Unjoo Moon, conceived, created, and produced by Danny Bennett. (USA) – Documentary. At 85, not only does Tony Bennett still have the smoothest pipes in the music business, he's got the kind of philosophy that has made him one of the most beloved and respected performers of the last six decades. Made with as much class and refinement as Tony himself, this is an insider's look at the icon as he records his latest duets collection with stars like Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, and – bittersweetly – the late Amy Winehouse. In English with Italian subtitles.

About The Tuscan Sun Festival:

Associazione Culturale del Sole and its producer, IMG Artists, are bringing the Tuscan Sun Festival to Florence for the first time, with a programme of leading international musicians, artists, actors and chefs. Working in tandem with some of Florence's most important venues and presenters, the festival represents another step in the city's ambition to strengthen its position as a leading cultural destination. Tickets for the Tuscan Sun Festival can be purchased from www.tuscansunfestival.com.

About Tribeca Enterprises:

Tribeca Enterprises is a diversified global media company based in New York City. Established in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, the company currently operates a network of branded entertainment businesses including the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival International, Tribeca Cinemas and Tribeca Film, a distribution label. It also has a strategic partnership with the Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.

The company's mission is to provide artists with unique platforms to expand the audience for their works and to broaden the access point for consumers to experience independent film and media.

About IMG Artists:

Dynamic, diverse and innovative, IMG Artists is the global leader in the performing arts management, touring, consulting, government advisory, facilities management, and festival business.  With ten offices in eight countries, IMG Artists stays ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of entertainment.

For further information, please contact:

Tristen Hennigs, International Press
[email protected]

Laura Ruggieri, Italian Press
[email protected]

SOURCE IMG Artists