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Yale Alumni Film Forum

As some of you may know, the postponed Yale International Alliance’s Conference on Global Citizenship in Rome featured a private tour of the iconic Cinecitta Studios led by our very own Mary Ann McDonald Carolan ’89 PhD, Professor of Modern Languages & Literatures and Director of the Italian Studies program at Fairfield University.  As our hearts go out to the Italian people, we seek to lift spirits with our virtual film forum with a talk from Professor Carolan exploring two of the countries lighthearted and memorable comedies. 

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Mid August Lunch (English Subtitled)

1h 12min 2009 NR

The charismatic Gianni Di Gregorio (co-writer of the smash hit Gomorrah) stars in his directorial debut -- an utterly charming tale of great food, feisty ladies and unlikely friendships during a very Roman holiday.

Free with Amazon Prime account.

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Bread & Tulips (English Subtitled)

1h 56min 2000 PG-13

Silvio Soldino directs this gentle comedy about a housewife who temporarily flees from the grinding tedium of her household duties and drifts into a world of amicable weirdos.

$3.99 Rental

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How to participate:

  1. Both movies can be found on Amazon. If you have an Amazon Prime account Mid-August Lunch is free. Bread & Tulips is a $3.99 rental.
  2. Watch the movies on your own at your leisure.

Register for the virtual film forum to hear Professor Carolan’s zoom talk and to ask questions.

Speaker

Mary Ann McDonald Carolan ’89 PhD

Mary Ann McDonald Carolan ’89 PhD

Mary Ann McDonald Carolan ’89 PhD is professor of Modern Languages & Literatures and Director of the Italian Studies program at Fairfield University (USA). In 2019 Prof. Carolan was the Tiro a Segno Fellow in Italian American studies at New York University. She is the author of The Transatlantic Gaze: Italian Cinema, American Film (State University of New York Press, 2014) which documents the sustained and profound artistic impact of Italian cinema upon filmmakers in the United States from the postwar period to the new millennium. Her current project, tentatively entitled Visions of Italy and America in Film, extends the analysis presented in The Transatlantic Gaze to focus on race and class. She is also completing another cross-cultural study, Orienting Italy: China through the Lens of Italian Filmmakers, that examines the ways in which Italian directors have employed documentary, historical fiction, and fictional narratives to represent China and its people both at home and abroad in Italy.

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