Lido Cantarutti, director of the Italian Film Festival of Marin County in San Rafael, CA, recently announced the films for the six-week fall 2025 festival. The program features recent films exploring the comedic and dramatic range of contemporary Italian filmmakers. Cantarutti said, “We’re excited to feature the acclaimed film “C’é Ancora Domani”” (“There’s Still Tomorrow”) starring Paola Cortellesi as a working-class woman in post-WWII dreaming of a better future for herself and her daughter. The comedy/drama was the winner of six Italian Academy Awards and the highest grossing Italian movie post-pandemic. Four more comedies join the season’s roster.”
“A special film for me this season is “Trifole” (“Truffles”),” added Cantarutti. “It’s a poignant story of a truffle hunter named Igor and his truffle hunter dog Birba or ‘rascal’. Together they search for the prizewinning truffle that will save Igor’s home.”
The films selected for the festival are:
September 27: “A World Apart” (Un Mondo a Parte), comedy/drama, 2023, directed by Riccardo Milani
October 4: “High Stakes” (La Scommessa—Una Notte in Corsia), comedy, 2024, directed by Giovanni Dota
October 11: “My Killer Buddy” (Io e Il Secco), 2023, comedy/drama, directed by Gianluca Santoni
October 18: “When Mom is Away with the In-Laws” (10 Giorni con I Suoi), 2025, comedy, directed by Alessandro Genovesi
October 25: “There’s Still Tomorrow” (C’é Ancora Domani), 2023, comedy/drama/history, directed by Paola Cortellesi
November 1: “Truffles” (Trifole), 2024, adventure/drama, directed by Gabriele Fabbro
The films are shown at 4:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Angelico Concert Hall of Dominican University in San Rafael, CA. Single tickets are $26 each. A series ticket for all seven films is $138. Order tickets online at City Box Office at www.cityboxoffice.com, or at the festival web site at www.italianfilm.com.
This is the 48th year the Italian Film Festival has been produced by Festival director Lido Cantarutti. The festival displays modern and classic Italian films in a festive atmosphere. A Marin County newspaper describes the festival as “joining an Italian family for a night.”
From 2023-2025, the festival was voted one of “Marin’s Best of the County” by Marin Magazine. Lido Cantarutti has been honored by the Italian government on numerous occasions. In 2015, Lido was acknowledged by the President of the Republic of Italy with the promotion and conferral of the title of Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knight Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy). The award recognizes his years as director of the festival, and his three decades as an Italian language teacher at the College of Marin. Commendatore is the third of five levels of knighthood. Lido was previously honored as Cavaliere (Knight) and Cavaliere Ufficiale (Knight Officer).
