Sicilia! is a 1999

1999 in film

The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...

 Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 black-and-white film directed by Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub

Jean-Marie Straub

Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet were a duo of filmmakers who made two dozen films between 1963 and 2006...

. Sicilia! follows a man returning to visit his homeland of Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, after living in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 for many years. The film is an adaptation of Elio Vittorini

Elio Vittorini

Elio Vittorini was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel Conversations in Sicily, for which he was jailed when it was published in 1941. The first U.S...

's anti-fascist novel Conversations in Sicily

Conversations in Sicily

Conversazione in Sicilia first appeared in serial form in Letteratura in 1938, and was first published as the novel Nome e Lagrime in 1941. The story concerns Silvestro Ferrauto and his return to Sicily after a long absence. The work contains a foreword & afterword by Ernest Hemingway...

, which was first published in 1941.

Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa

Pedro Costa

Pedro Costa is a Portuguese film director.He is acclaimed for using his ascetic style to depict the marginalised people in desperate living situations...

's documentary on Straub and Huillet, Où gît votre sourire enfoui? (alternately translated into English as Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? or Where Lies Your Hidden Smile?) was filmed while they were editing Sicilia!.

The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's Official Selection. It is run at the Salle Debussy, parallel to the competition for the Palme d'Or.This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob...

 section at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival

1999 Cannes Film Festival

The 52nd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 12-23, 1999. The Palme d'Or went to the French-Belgian film Rosetta by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.-Jury:* David Cronenberg * André Téchiné * Barbara Hendricks...

.

Cast

• Gianni Buscarino - Il figlio
• Angela Nugara - La madre
• Vittorio Vigneri - L'arrotino
• Carmelo Maddio - Il venditore di arance
• Ignazio Trombello - Poliziotto
• Simone Nucatola - Poliziotto
• Giovanni Interlandi - Il viaggiatore
• Mario Baschieri
• Giuseppe Bonta