The Italian Institute of Culture participates to the 29th Edition of the European Film Festival of Beirut with the film “Parthenope” by Paolo Sorrentino. The film was officially selected for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation and won the David di Donatello 2025 with 15 nominations.
The Festival – organized by the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, in partnership with Metropolis Cinema and in cooperation with the European Union Member States – features a thrilling selection of films from Europe, as well as short films by emerging Lebanese filmmakers, thus offering the spectators a cinematic journey that bridges cultures and celebrates the art of storytelling.
The release of the film in 2024 coincided with the celebrations for the 2500th anniversary of the founding of Naples. The film and the festivities intertwine ideally as a tribute to the city and its complex identity. In the film, the protagonist—who bears the same mythical name as the city—embodies Naples as a place of poignant beauty, desire, memory, and transformation. The themes explored, such as the passage of time, the search for meaning in life, and love, reflect the deep soul of a city suspended between the sacred and the profane, the ancient and the modern. Similarly, the 2500th anniversary celebrations honor not only the city’s long history but also its ability to reinvent itself while remaining true to its essence. Ultimately, both the film and the festivities portray Naples as an eternal place, where history, myth, and humanity merge into a single narrative.
SYNOPSYS
Parthenope – Directed by Paolo Sorrentino – Italy/France, 2024
The long journey of Parthenope’s life, from her birth in 1950 till today. A feminine epic, devoid of heroism but brimming with an inexorable passion for freedom, Naples, and the faces of love—all those true, pointless, and unspeakable loves. The perfect Capri summer, the lightheartedness of youth. Which ends in ambush. And then all the others—the Neapolitans, men and women, observed and loved, disillusioned and vital, their waves of melancholy, their tragic ironies and dejected glances. Life, be it ordinary or memorable, knows how to be very long. The passing of time offers up a vast repertoire of emotions. And there in the background, so close and so very far, is Naples, this ineffable city that bewitches, enchants, screams, laughs, and always knows how to hurt you.
Screening dates:
Metropolis Cinema, Mar Michael – Theater 1
- May 5th, 2025 – 8:30 pm
