Cinema Italiano

This story has been corrected. See below.

This year's Cinema Italiano film festival promises to be another fine social affair, with six films on the bill -- and one making its American debut with its director and glamorous supporting actress in attendance -- plus a special dinner-and-a-movie Sept. 27.

5th ANNUAL CINEMA ITALIANO Place: The Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Academy of Arts Time: Sept. 25 through 30 Tickets: $7 general; $6 seniors, students and military; and $5 academy members. Flash pass allows advance seating for all screenings, $60; $50 academy members and members of the Friends of Italy Society of Hawaii. Call: 737-2426 or visit www.cinemaitalianoinhawaii.org

Festival jury members include Chris Lee, founder-director of the University of Hawaii's Academy of Creative Media and co-founder and president of Legendary Pictures (Lee also executive produced Tom Cruise's upcoming "Valkyrie"); screenwriter Neal Israel; longtime local filmmaker Edgy Lee; actors Jason Scott Lee and Daniel Dae Kim; and Peter Shaindlin, COO of the Halekulani Corp.

The schedule includes:

» "A Whole Life Ahead (Tutta La Vita Davanti)" (1 and 8 p.m. Sept. 25): This is the film's U.S. premiere, with director and co-writer Paolo Virzi and supporting actress Micaela Ramazzotti in attendance for a Q&A session following the 8 p.m. screening.

Marta, a brilliant philosophy student who graduated from college cum laude, sets out to find her first job. After dozens of fruitless job interviews, the strapped-for-cash Marta becomes a live-in baby sitter for a single mother and a temp at an international call center that tries to sell a kitchen robot.

Variety calls the film "hands down one of the best Italian comedies of recent years." But it's also an astute critique: "It's about the difficulty of living in Italy today," Virzi told the International Herald Tribune.

» "Days and Clouds" (Giorni e Nuvole)" (1 and 8 p.m. Sept. 27): Silvio Soldini's engrossing marital drama tracks the rift that occurs between a well-heeled couple when their fortune takes a turn for the worse. Margherita Buy won this year's David di Donatello Award (the Italian Oscar) for Best Actress for her performance as Elsa, wife to Michele (Antonio Albanese).

The festival is also offering a "Cine and Cena" special starting at 5 p.m. Sept. 27, as patrons dine al fresco and enjoy Italian antipasti from Che Pasta, a Roberto Pizza Party and gelato from La Geleria, all the while being entertained by the Hot Club of Hulaville. Afterward, a special screening of "Days and Clouds" begins at 6 p.m. Cost is $35 for dinner and the movie, or $30 for the dinner only. Check payment must be mailed by Tuesday to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Attn: Gina Caruso, Doris Duke Theatre, 900 S. Beretania St., Honolulu, HI 96814. There will be no refunds.

» "Don't Think About It (Non Pensarci)" (1 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30): In this droll and sharp comedy, postpunk guitarist Stefano (Valerio Mastandrea) misses his childhood home in Rimini. The girlfriend's gone, he's homeless, and all he has left is a guitar and a car with doors that don't always open.

Stefano's idiosyncratic family welcomes him with open arms, but he quickly learns they have, too, are facing crises: His sister Michela has given up her studies to train dolphins; brother Alberto is running both the family business and his marriage into the ground; mother Giuliana is taking classes from a kooky guru; and his dad, Walter, obsessively plays golf to escape from it all.

» "Good Morning, Heartache (Riprendimi)" (1 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 26): Giovanni (Marco Foschi) -- a husband, father and unemployed actor -- invites fledgling filmmakers Giorgio (Stefano Fresi) and Eros (Alessandro Averone) to film him and his wife/film editor Lucia (Alba Rohrwacher, also in "Days and Clouds") as they struggle to get temp work in the film business while trying to raise a child. When Giovanni walks out on Lucia and their baby on camera, Lucia allows the crew to film her personal crises as a single mother and abandoned wife. As Eros films Lucia's efforts to survive, he realizes he's falling in love with her. (The film was a Grand Jury Prize nominee at this year's Sundance Film Festival.)

» "Night Bus (Notturno Bus)" (7:30 p.m. Sept. 29): A frothy mix of film noir, romantic comedy and pulp thriller, this madcap crime caper is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Giampiero Rigosi. Franz (Valerio Mastandrea from "Don't Think About It"), a night bus driver on the airport route, is a deep-in-debt compulsive gambler. He encounters Leila (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a thief and compulsive liar who is unwittingly wrapped up in a blackmail deal involving the Italian president and a microchip that supposedly contains sensitive evidence against a Polish senior official.

» "Red Like the Sky (Rosso Come Il Cielo)" (1 and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28): This thought-provoking, enchanting film was inspired by the true story of Mirco Mencacci, one of Italy's most gifted sound editors (he worked on this film). Blinded by an accident at age 10, Mencacci discovers he has a talent for sound engineering while at a residential school for the blind. He helps his fellow students identify their own innate gifts, incurring the wrath of the headmaster, who doesn't believe his pupils have a future beyond switchboard operating and weaving. (Valeria Wenderoth, professor of Italian at the University of Hawaii and Star-Bulletin classical music critic, will give a talk following the 1 p.m. screening.)

CORRECTION » Peter Shaindlin is chief operating officer of the Halekulani Corp. A story on Page 6 of HiLife on the Cinema Italiano film festival said he was the former COO.