MID-AUGUST LUNCH (PRANZO DI FERRAGOSTO)

The film is set in Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood, abandoned for the Ferragosto holiday on the 15^thAugust.  The celebration dates back to Roman times and also coincides with the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Although the film’s original title, Pranzo di Ferragosto, refers to lunch, the holiday can stretch from a long weekend to the entire month.  Gianni’s part-autobiographical tale involves 24 hours of chaos when a number of older men who want to get away for the holiday persuade him to look after their aged mothers as well.  These astonishingly lively, characterful women, not one a professional actor and all over 90, are the beating heart of the film.

The film critic Philip French wrote:

“It’s a wonderfully patient, delicately observed film; warm, generous, never for a moment sentimental or patronising, never exploiting dottiness and eccentricity.  The performances of the old ladies are pitch-perfect and, by the end, Di Gregorio’s casting of himself as Gianni seems both essential and inevitable.”

Among its many awards are:

• The International Federation of Film Critics Award
• The Luigi De Laurentis Award for a First Feature Film at the 65^th Venice Film Festival
• The Satyajit Ray Award at the London Film Festival and, interestingly,
• The Golden Snail Award at the Academy of Food and Film in Bologna.