Sicilian Film Fest Miami

South Beach andMiami’s Design District Meets Sicily at the 6th Annual Sicilian FilmFestival April 7 to 13, 2011.  “Kick-Off”and Press Party Wednesday, April 6 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Vino e Olio.

Miami Beach, Fl…March 22, 2011…On April 6, 2011, the SicilianFilm Festival (SFF), 6thedition will hold a ‘kick-off’ and press party at Vino e Olio Restaurant in Miami’s Design District. SFFPresident, Emanuele Viscuso,Artistic Director, Salvo Bitontialong with their supportive team will welcome at a private reception mediarepresentatives, sponsors, and honorary guests that include directors, actors,writers, and celebrities from Italy:

Laura Delli Colli is an author, film journalist,and SFF guest speaker.  Delli Colli’sbook “The Taste in 100 Recipes ofItalian Cinema” is available for English speaking fans of Italianfilm.  She is the President of SNGCI(Italian Union of Cinema Journalists) and the director of the magazinepublished by the same organization.  Forthe last thirty years, she has been following show business and cinema, inparticular writing stories and reports for the daily La Repubblica and the weekly magazine Panorama.  In the 2011 Italian equivalent “Il Gusto del Cinema” (The Taste ofCinema), the book states that she has, “dressed up her professional passion forcinema with a personal one for excellent food: an unusual match ready to be‘tested in the kitchen!” 

Principe Francesco Caracciolo diMarano, Italianfurniture designer and owner/partner of Sirio,Miami;

Duchess Marina Ripa di Meana, Italian writer and celebrity;

Benedetta Paravia aka ‘PrincessBee’ an ItalianR&B songwriter also well known in the Middle East for her humanitarianefforts and organization ‘Angels’that helps child victims of war.  Hersong of the same title was granted and endorsed by UNESCO and the Holy Seeand received the Gold Medal from thepresident of the Italian Republic andthe Ministry of Youth’;

Luigi Valenti who has written and directed thedocumentary “Dalle Officine Ducrot allaScuola di Cinema/From the Ducrot Factory to the School of Cinema)” incompetition at the SFF and to be screened at 7:00 p.m. on April 13, 2011.

SFF sponsors will also sendrepresentatives.  The 2011 sponsors are: Ministerodei Beni e delle Attività Culturali, Assessorato Turismo Regione Siciliana,City of Miami Beach, Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority, ConsolatoGenerale d’Italia Miami, Societa Dante Alighieri Miami, Barry University, TheSchool of Adult Education, Miami Beach Cinematheque, Rai Italia, Rai Fiction,Accademia del Cinema Italiano, Filmoteca Regionale Siciliana, Queer Frame, AtlantideEntertainment, CinemadaMare, Salina Doc Fest, Fondazione RobertoGranata, Consiglio per loSviluppo Sostenibile Onlus, Comune di Carini, Com.Unica, Miami ArtGuide, The Beach Channel, 89.7 Classical South Florida, The Eurochannel, AroundTown Magazine, Biscayne Times, SunPost Weekly, DRW, Davie & the RanchesMagazine with the Weston Express also serving Cooper City, Speaker Web.tv, Radio Carini, Di Santo LLP,Attorneys at Law Gerson, Preston, Robinson, P.A. Certified Public Accountants,Emanuele Viscuso Trompe L’oeil Magnetude , RAC, Produttori di Sistemi diRiposo, G.H,Mumm, Donnafugata, BV Brands, Vino e Olio, Design District, CaféMilano Miami Beach, Valentino sul Mare Ristorante Miami Beach,Trattoria Sole,South Miami, Rosinella Miami Beach, Pelican, Miami Beach The Clay Hotel SouthBeach, The Relaxing Hotels Roma, Antico Palazzo Rospigliosi, and Roma ZaieraResort Siracusa.

Throughout the evening, Vino eOlio will offer a prix fixe, three-course dinner prepared by Chef Andrea Menichetti.  Reservations are encouraged by calling Vino& Olio Restaurant, 139 NE 39th Street, Miami, FL 33137,  (305) 573-0707, www.vinoeolio.com - $42.00 per person.

 Join theSFF team as they introduce Sicily to all of South Florida - its film, art,music, fashion, food and wine, and culture. The event also marks the opening of"Roberto Granata: A SicilianPhotographer in Hollywood."  Granata is recognized worldwide forhis portraits of Hollywood's most famous celebrities including Robert de Niro, Andy MacDowell, AnneHathaway, Diane Keaton, and Isabella Rossellini. Granata will be flyingin from Rome to speak about his professional work as photographer and head ofthe Fondazione Roberto Granata.  Proceeds from the sale and auction of his work(that spans over forty years) will help children who are displaced and orphanedby earthquake tragedies.  The proceeds havebenefitted orphanages or organizations that offer support to children in Haiti,Pakistan, and, in 2009, Italy where an earthquake struck the Abruzzo regionlocated east of Rome.

Theseven-day Sicilian Film Festival was created in Miami in 2006 by theSicilian-born sculptor, musician, writer, and designer Emanuele Viscuso. His most famous piece is the 45 foot largesculpture Wave-Bridge On TheImaginary located at the Milan Malpensa internationalairport.  Now residing in Miami Beach,Viscuso seeks to underline the importance of Sicily, its cinema,literature, art, food and wine, fashion, and culture on an international platform.  Describing his vision for the firstfestival held in 2006, he stated: “I imagined a kind of festival able tocombine films and culture, entertainment and friendship, information andcommunication.  From that moment realmiracles started happening. Incredible supporters appeared magically.Instinctive love and tremendous appreciation for this idea were revealed byfriends and sponsors. Extremely important people and institutions offered theirhelp. Many professionals were happy to participate with their work and sustain.All this happened in a few days.  I cansay, I eye-witnessed a miracle.”

ArtisticDirector, Salvo Bitonti is nowentering his fourth year as Artistic Director for the SFF.  Born in Siracusa, Sicily, he is a director ofover forty plays, screenwriter and professor of theatre and film direction atthe Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin and at Foggia University.  Indiscussing the 2011 SFF lineup, Bitonti states: “Sicily and Southern Italy havealways been linked to the United States through a deep, cinematicrelationship between Hollywood and Sicily that includes manygreat directors who originate from Sicily and southern Italy such asValentino, Capra, Scorcese, and Coppola. We are very proud to showcase a new generation of Italian directors aswell as many other great full-length and short films from Italy and othercountries.”

A complete schedule of events can be found on theSicilian Film Festival’s website www.SicilianFilmFestival.com.  More information on attending the lecture anddinner hosted by film journalist Laura Delli Colli: “The Taste of SicilianCuisine from Leopard to Baaria” on Monday, April 11, 2011 at Café Milano,Miami Beach as well as the closing event dinner/fundraiser and awards ceremonyon April 13, 2011 at SFF president, Emanuele Viscuso’s Miami Beach residence,can be obtained by calling (305) 710-4593 or emailing SicilianFilmFestival@gmail.com.  Both events are $50.00 per person.