Alice nella città 2023: 21st Edition of Rome's Youth Cinema Festival

The 21st edition of Alice nella città, the youth-focused collateral section of the Festa del Cinema di Roma, runs from October 2023, directed by Gianluca Giannelli and Fabia Bettini. The program features 10 competition films, 4 out-of-competition films, 8 Italian films in the Panorama Italia section, 4 special screenings, 2 co-productions with the main festival, and the Sintonie selection (6 films from Venice 80 and Orizzonti, in collaboration with the Venice Film Festival). Also included are 2 restored films and 30 shorts. The opening film is Molly Manning Walker's "How To Have Sex," winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes, about three British teenagers exploring sexuality in Crete; it will be released in Italian cinemas by Teodora in early 2024 and later stream on MUBI. The only Italian film in competition is Gianluca Santoni's debut "Io e il Secco," starring Andrea Lattanzi and Barbara Ronchi, a buddy movie about a boy hiring a hitman to save his mother from domestic violence. Restored films include Costanza Quatriglio's "L'isola" (presented at Cannes Directors' Fortnight, shot on Favignana) and Pino Zac's "Il cavaliere inesistente" (stop-motion adaptation of Italo Calvino's novel).