Next at the disTHIS! Film Series -- Wednesday December 5th!
The Keys To The House (Le Chiavi di Casa)
Favoring subtlety over cheap sentimentality, Italian director Gianni Amelio tackles difficult material with a sublime touch, and offers a powerful cinematic treatise on mental illness, physical disability and child abandonment in the award-winning, THE KEYS TO THE HOUSE.
Gianni (Kim Rossi Stuart) plays a father who abandoned his mentally and physically disabled son, Paolo (Andrea Rossi), at birth. Paolo’s mother died during childbirth, so an aunt and uncle raised him. Fifteen years later, a guilt-stricken Gianni gets back in touch with the son he’s never met, offering to accompany him on a medical tip to specialist clinic for disabled children in Berlin. Paolo cautiously agrees, but the reunion is anything but easy. At the clinic, Gianni meets the mother of another disabled child and the interaction between the parents and children provides a thought provoking, thoroughly unsentimental dissection of the effects of disability on every member of the family.
KEYS TO THE HOUSE triumphs in many ways, not the least of which by giving rarely afforded screen time to two real disabled actors. Andrea Rossi is the disabled actor who plays Paolo. The other child also has c.p. and is played by the protagonist of the book on which the film is based, Born Twice by Giuseppe Pontiggia.
Throughout the film, director Amelio handles potentially touchy subject matter with rare dignity and respect, emotionally honest but never condescending, and ultimately offers a cogent statement that lingers long after the final credits roll.
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote:
"Takes a story that could be turned into the most florid kind of tear-jerker and ... tells it with an exactness and restraint that makes it powerfully effective."
Tom Dawson of the BBC reported:
"Intelligently steers clear of lachrymose speeches, swelling orchestral music, and cheap redemption."
V.A. Musetto of the NY Post concluded:
"Deals with the sensitive subject in a mature manner, refusing to descend into Hollywood-style schmaltz."
Awards & Recognitions
-- Best Foreign Film, Turia Awards (2006)
-- Best Director, Italian Nat’l Syndicate of Film Journalists (2005)
-- Best Film in 2 categories, Venice Film Awards (2004)
Keys To The House (Le Chiavi di Casa)
Italy, 2004
Running Time: 1:11
Language: Native Italian with English Subtitles
Director: Gianni Amelio
When: Wednesday, December 5th
Where: DCTV, 3rd Floor Screening Room. 87 Lafayette Street (By Subway: 6, N, R, Q, W, J, M, Z to Canal Street; go two blocks south) between Walker & White.
Time: 6:30 to 10:00 pm. Screening starts @ 7pm
Suggested Donation: $5
disTHIS! movies, talkback sessions and related events are open to the public. $5 suggested donation. This film is presented in native Italian with English subtitles. ASL interpretation available upon request. Space is wheelchair accessible. Snacks are provided and there is a cash bar for drinks, but space is limited to the first 65 people! Recent articles in the Tribeca Trib, New York Nonprofit Press and the NY Times -- and YOUR support -- have filled screenings to capacity. DON’T MISS OUT! Call 212.251.4092 to reserve YOUR seat or email: disthis@dnnyc.net
The disTHIS! Film Series, a project of the Disabilities Network of NYC in association with DCTV, is a monthly showcase of festival quality independent and international short, documentary and feature films with disability themes audiences are unlikely to see elsewhere. disTHIS! movies are always provocative; never quite what you’d expect. No handkerchief necessary, no heroism required. This is disability through a whole new lens. disTHIS! is made possible the generous support of The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, members of the Disabilites Network of NYC and our audiences.
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