This year’s Festival will present an award-winning programme of contemporary films at Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn Cinema and Palace Westgarth, as well as an exciting Michelangelo Antonioni retrospective at The Palace George Cinemas, the largest collection of films from legendary director ever screened together in Australia!

The Festival will open on Wednesday 25 October at Palace Cinema Como, South Yarra, with the Australian premiere of popular actor and director Carlo Verdone’s MY BEST ENEMY, the delightful smash-hit comedy that re-unites Verdone with his Manual Of Love co-star Silvio Muccino, followed by an official reception featuring a performance by Italy's pop-opera sensation Vittorio Grigolo.

Other contemporary film highlights include: Cannes Palme d’Or winning director Nanni Moretti’s THE CAIMAN; Academy Award-winning director Gabriele Salvatores’ slick thriller QUO VADIS, BABY?; Christina Comencini’s moving ‘family-secrets’ drama THE BEAST IN THE HEART starring the luminous Giovanna Mezzogiorno; Michele Placido's absorbing gangster epic CRIME NOVEL from the writers of the acclaimed The Best Of Youth; and renowned auteur Marco Bellocchio’s THE WEDDING DIRECTOR starring Sergio Castellito.

The Antonioni retrospective includes fifteen feature films, and four programmes of shorts and documentaries, with highlights including his first feature film CHRONICLE OF A LOVE (1950), his biggest success: the trilogy THE ADVENTURE (1960), THE NIGHT (1961) and THE ECLIPSE (1962) and his most famous international English-language films BLOW-UP (1966) and ZABRISKIE POINT (1970).

We look forward to seeing you soon. Ciao!