Oslo – From a mystical Rome to the ruins of Pompeii, from Italy’s borders to the Balkan route, carrying lives and hopes across Europe, Italia-Oslo Express will take place in the Norwegian capital from October 2 to 4. The event offers a showcase for contemporary auteur cinema, highlighting the work of talented Italian directors and their distinctive visions of reality. The programme, hosted at Cinemateket, will feature two documentaries selected from the Venice Biennale programme: Agnus Dei, by Rome-born director Massimiliano Camaiti, and Below the Clouds, by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi. The festival will conclude with screenings of two projects by the Italian directing trio Gabriele Licchelli, Francesco Lorusso and Andrea Settembrini: the short film Blackout Dreams and Go, Friend, Go. The films will take audiences beyond Italy’s borders, following the routes taken by refugees across Europe and, much further afield, into a nocturnal black-and-white Cuba. The programme will also pay tribute to Marinella Pirelli, one of the few Italian artists associated with experimental cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. Her “cinematic experiences”, as she herself called them, Bruciare and Sole in mano, will be screened as part of the event. Each screening will be followed by a moderated question-and-answer session with the directors. The event is organised with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute in Oslo and Comites and is curated by photographer and filmmaker Sonia Ladidà. (9colonne)