Genre: Drama Comedy

Language: Italian with English Subtitles

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Cast: Francesco Scianna, Margareth Made, Nicole Grimaudo, Lina Sastri

Released: 2009

Duration: 145 Minutes

Rating: M contains violence & offensive language

Distribution: Palace Films

Hollywood Foreign Press Association Awards: Best Foreign Language Film

'Baaria', the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival in nearly 20 years and one of the most expensive movies ever made in Italy, is an epic tale spanning three generations by multi award-winning director Giuseppe Tornatore ('Cinema Paradiso'). 'Baaria' was nominated for Best Film and Best Actor at the 2010 David di Donatello Awards and won Best Foreign Language Film at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Awards 2009.v

'Baaria' is a lushly romantic tapestry of 20th century Italian life as seen through the eyes of a Peppino as he grows up, matures, marries and revisits a collection of sentimental memories. 'Baaria' is the dialect term for Tornatore's native Bargheria, and the film unfolds in this hot, dusty Sicilian village where the young Peppino's childhood coincides with the rise of the Fascists, the declaration of war and liberation by the Allies. The older Peppino joins the Communist Party and falls in love with the beautiful Mannina; events that are to shape and define his adult years.

Tornatore teams up with legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone in this, their eleventh feature together. 'Baaria' also features cameos by stars Monica Bellucci, Raoul Bova, Donatella Finocchiaro and others.