CIFF Friday, Block 3

SMILE
Dramatic (8 mins.) Italy, SC Premiere

Director/Writer: Matteo Pianezzi
Producer: Corso Codecasa
Cast: Martino Apollonio, Sara Sartini and Fabio Raimondi

Synopsis: Behind a clown’s makeup there is always a man with his story: the story of his life, that could be happy or not funny at all, even if his clothes and his makeup let us think something definitely smiley. If the Clown is a mime too, it would not be possible to ask him to tell us his story: he would not answer us. The only thing left to do is follow him to see where he takes us, and understand where he is going. We will find out that the Clown, the Mime and the Man are the same person, inevitably.

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COMMENCEMENT
Dramatic Comedy (94 mins.) Special Preview Screening
Director/Writer: Steve Albrezzi
Producers: Vero Shamo-Garcia, Charles Uy and Steve Albrezzi
Cast: Marin Hinkle, Arye Gross, Rick Gonzalez, Amelia Rose Blaire, Jennifer Warren and Alan Rachins

Synopsis: Bright and shiny Christa Richmond is at the top of her class and the world. She delivers the valedictory address at her university commencement and then heads home to conquer the rest of the universe…only to discover that in the next 24 hours her real education begins. Commencement is a funny, thoughtful and thought-provoking look at three generations of a middle-class family caught in the wake of the fiscal crisis.