Italian for Beginners
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Italian for Beginners (Danish: Italiensk for begyndere) is a 2000 feature film directed by Lone Scherfig. The film stars Anders W. Berthelsen, Lars Kaalund and Peter Gantzler. The film complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95, including use of handheld cameras and natural lighting. However, since Italian for Beginners has elements of a romantic comedy, it flouts the stereotype of art films.
[edit] Plot Summary
Three women and three men facing stressful lives alone register for an Italian course in a Danish village. The class serves as a way of bringing these various residents of the town, each of whom is dealing with loss or pain, out of their loneliness and into interactions with other people. When the teacher suffers a heart attack during class and ends up dying, the six classmates hold the class anyway and eventually take a vacation to Italy.
- The filmmaker has acknowledged that she based the story on a Maeve Binchy novel, Evening Class.
[edit] Awards
The film won the Golden Spike Award for the best film of the year at the Seminci film festival in Valladolid, Spain, and the Audience Award at the Warsaw International Film Festival in Poland. Peter Gantzler won the award for Best Actor at the Seminci festival.
