Australian filmmaking gets a surprise starring role in the 2025 Italian Film Festival which is screening in nine cities around Australia. The festival’s closing night film is Looking For Alibrandi, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It will be screened in a special 4K restoration at Palace Cinemas.
‘Migrant Stories Taking Centre Stage’ is the theme of the 2025 Italian Film Festival. Looking For Alibrandi, which stars Pia Miranda (pictured at top) as an Italian-Australian teenage girl, Josephine (Josie) Alibrandi, was ground-breaking in this regard. Before its release in 2000, Australian filmmakers had rarely looked into everyday lives of the country’s many ethnic minorities.
Her story, our story
“I was in high school in the 90s and I just loved this film!” says the Festival Director, Elysia Zeccola. “It resonated with me and so many people because many of us have felt like fish out of water, that we were different and didn’t quite belong. In this story, Josie, the Italian-Australian protagonist, represents every mixed-race Aussie kid trying to navigate high school and family issues and first romances to figure out who they really are. ”
It didn’t just resonate with the local Italian community, though. The Spanish, Portuguese and South American communities, who had similar cultural and Catholic backgrounds, relished it, as did the wider group of migrants that had been labelled ‘Wogs” such as Greeks, Serbs and Lebanese. For Sydney audiences, there was also the thrill of seeing local suburbs and schools starring on the big screen.
The migrant contribution
It’s not the only Australian film at the 2025 Italian Film Festival. Among the three documentaries on the program is Signorinella: Little Miss, which focuses on Italian women who emigrated to Australia after the Great War and Second World War, and how they adapted to life in this country. Some of their comments and experiences are very funny, but hindsight can be forgiving. For many, the early days in Australia were tough and miserable.
For Elysia, who is the National Festivals Director and at Palace Cinemas, the film has a particular resonance and she’s thrilled at having it among the 31 films at the 2025 Italian Film Festival.
“It’s hard to put into words how much this means to me,” she says. “Signorinella: Little Miss tells stories of women who were married by proxy (in their local town), waited a year for visas and paperwork and then boarded a boat for a six-week journey, leaving family and friends, to arrive on the opposite side of the world and meet a husband they had never met and start a life in a country where they didn’t speak the language. Their bravery is incredible!”
A growing fan club and community
In her ‘Welcome’ in the 2025 Italian Film Festival program, Elysia says: “We pride ourselves on screening the best new Italian films … alongside much-loved classics and the work of emerging talent. Thanks to the wonderful Italian community , our ever-growing family of sponsors, and all the non-Italians who love ‘all things Italian’ this is the biggest Festival of Italian cinema in the world, boasting over 90,000 admissions and growing every year.
In many countries overseas and in Australia immigrants are being demonised for political purposes by far-right extremist groups. Signorinella: Little Miss a great counter-argument to that puerile narrow-mindedness and stupidity.
“Migrants created work, they opened businesses, they employed people and they contributed enormously to this country – and they still do!” says Elysia. “My parents were both migrants so it does make me proud to share these stories and see the festival grow. Signorinella: Little Miss is narrated by Italian-Australian Greta Scacchi, who also stars in Looking For Alibrandi.
Diamonds looks at all the dramas involved at a fashion house that’s making costumes for a movie.
What to watch
There are 31 films at the 2025 Italian Film Festival, including one in German, The Tasters (Le Assaggiatrici), which is inspired by the true story of Margot Wolk, who was conscripted to be one of Hitler’s food tasters. That must have been a fun job! It’s definitely on my list. Another one to watch out for is Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film La Grazia, the Festival Centrepiece film, direct from its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
My Five Romances has already enjoyed
- The opening night film, Paolo Genovese’s Follemente/Somebody to Love, which had the audience in stitches and was the number one box office hit in Italy this year. It’s takes a highly original look at all the emotional and mental agonies that a man and a woman go through as they try to make an impression on their awkward first date.
- Diamanti/Diamonds. If you’ve seen the glorious aerial photo of the woman in a scarlet ballgown and its huge, flowering train that adorns the front cover of the festival program, this is the film it relates to. It’s a fascinating look at the lives, stresses, tensions and cameraderie among a team of seamstresses. Its most hilarious moments are the clash of egos between a film actress and theatre actress who have to work alongside each other for the first time.
We’ll have more on our favourite films at the festival shortly.
Somebody To Love is the perfect date night movie.
2025 Italian Film Festival host cities and dates
Canberra: 17 September – 15 October
Adelaide: 17 September – 14 October
Sydney: 18 September – 15 October
Melbourne: 19 September – 16 October
Ballarat: 20 September – 16 October
Brisbane: 24 September – 22 October
Byron Bay & Ballina: 25 September – 15 October
Perth: 25 September – 22 October
The festival won’t necessarily halt on the stipulated dates, though. Look out for extra ‘by popular demand’ screenings at your local Palace Cinema. M5R
