Australia’s 20^thItalian Film Festival is set to wow audiences across the country with an array of cinema pieces celebrating the best of Italian culture, drama and humour.

The Lavazza Italian Film Festival will showcase 26 of the best new Italian films from the last year as well as classic cinematic gems, special presentations, receptions and galas across screens in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hobart and Byron Bay from September 17.

Highlights include: the Australian premiere of Ron Howard’s highly anticipated biopic Pavarotti; Edoardo De Angelis’ powerful and award-winning new film The Vice of Hope; Stefano Mordi’s taut thriller The Invisible Witness; Andrea Zaccariello’s super stylish and absorbing murder mystery I’m Not A Killer; winner of Best Comedy Film at the Nastri d’Argento Awards 2019, Bangla; and much more.

This year the festival will also pay special tribute to the great Bernardo Bertolucci, following his death last November.

In honour of the director, the festival will show his films: 1900, the 1976 historical drama featuring an international ensemble cast including Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda and Donald Sutherland; and his political thriller The Conformist, a visually intoxicating adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s novel about an upper-class follower of Mussolini.

The festival will also showcase the greatest artists of Italian history with Films on Art: The Italian Masters, including: Michelangelo – Endless, about the life and works of the incomparable genius Michelangelo Buonarroti, played by Enrico Lo Verso; andAmazing Leonardo, a high-end biopic which marks the 500^thanniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death starring Italian A-lister Luca Argentero (Eat Pray Love) as the artist, scientist and inventor.

Festival director Elysia Zeccola said it was important to make twenty years of the festival with a top class program this year.

“For 20 years we have shared our love of cinema and Italian culture striving to present the best new films from Italy for film-lovers and Italophiles around the country,” Ms Zeccola, said.

“The best critically acclaimed and award-winning films share the spotlight with the biggest box office hits, creating an entertaining program for audiences young and old,” she said.

Presented by Palace Cinemas, the 2019 Lavazza Italian Film Festival will take place from September 17 to October 23, with dates varying across locations. 

The festival’s full program can be found on its website