In his feature directorial debut, director Andrei Kravchuk addresses with intelligence and poignancy the urgent issue of illegal adoption in Russia, already a well-documented international crisis. Based on the true story of a small Russian boy abandoned in an orphanage who goes in search of his birth mother, The Italian offers insight into contemporary Russian life. Winner of the international film critics prize at the 2005 European Cinema Festival, the Crystal Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, and Russia’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2006 Academy Awards. In Russian with subtitles. Rated PG-13. 99 mins.
“There is something slightly magical about the lighting, almost as if this were a fantasy land from which (six-year-old) Vanya might actually make an escape. This sense of unreality, of magical thinking and wishing, carries the story and Vanya through a remarkable journey.” Manohla Dargis, New York Times