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Fabrizio Gifuni as Luigi with Anna Mangiocavallo as his little daughter Francesca, discussing Pinocchio

Francesca Comencini’s enchanted and wise The Time It Takes focuses on the father-daughter bond, specifically that with her own, the filmmaker Luigi Comencini, played by a profoundly moving Fabrizio Gifuni (the opposite of his character in Paolo Virzì’s Human Capital), from the days he directed his revelatory TV series of The Adventures Of Pinocchio in the 1970s, till Francesca herself embarks into moviemaking later on.

Fabrizio Gifuni and Anne-Katrin Titze at the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center share their memories of watching Luigi Comencini's The Adventures Of Pinocchio Photo: Fabrizio Gifuni

Gifuni’s Luigi is fantastic in how he elegantly maneuvers the fears his little daughter (Anna Mangiocavallo) faces, be it the scary fangs of a shark in her Pinocchio book, a real-life whale exhibited on the Piazza del Popolo in Rome, a white...

Michelangelo Antonioni’s La Notte, starring Monica Vitti, Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau screens in Cinecittà and Film at Lincoln Center’s Monica Vitti: La Modernista

Before the Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà’s 24th edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema luncheon at Leopard at des Artistes, I asked Fabrizio Gifuni, star of the Opening Night film, Francesca Comencini’s The Time It Takes (Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole with Anna Mangiocavallo) and directors Andrea Segre of The Great Ambition (Berlinguer. La Grande Ambizione with Elio Germano as Enrico Berlinguer), Sara Fgaier of Weightless (Sulla Terra Leggeri with Andrea Renzi and Sara Serraiocco), Alissa Jung of Paternal Leave, and Ferzan Özpetek of Diamonds (Diamanti with Luisa Ranieri and Jasmine Trinca) to name their favourite Monica Vitti films.

Monica Vitti: La Modernista

Michelangelo Antonioni’s masterpieces L’Avventura (4K Restoration); L’Eclisse opposite Alain Delon, La Notte with Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau,...

Paternal Leave director/screenwriter Alissa Jung with Anne-Katrin Titze on Luca Marinelli as Paolo: “Luca's performance gave me the opportunity to really dive in …”

Alissa Jung’s perceptive and compelling Paternal Leave (a highlight of Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà’s Open Roads: New Italian Cinema) stars fantastic newcomer Juli Grabenhenrich and the wonderful Luca Marinelli (of Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden and Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning The Great Beauty) with Arturo Gabbriellini (from Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are), Gaia Rinaldi, and Joy Falletti Cardillo. Other films not to be missed include the Opening Night selection, Francesca Comencini’s The Time It Takes (Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole) with Anna Mangiocavallo and Fabrizio Gifuni; Sara Fgaier’s Weightless (Sulla Terra Leggeri) with Andrea Renzi and Sara Serraiocco (Lamberto Sanfelice's Chlorine); Ferzan Özpetek’s Diamonds (Diamanti), a celebration of movie costume design, with Luisa Ranieri and...

Growing up surrounded by cinema and immersed in her father’s celebrated film career, Francesca Comencini found her early passion for the craft. In her adulthood, the acclaimed director has now crafted The Time It Takes, an intimate film reflecting on the profound influence of her renowned father, Luigi Comencini.

We meet Francesca as a young girl fascinated by the bustling energy of her father’s film sets. With natural ease, Luigi involves his daughter in the creative process, sharing his joy of storytelling. For Francesca, these early experiences ignite a lifelong love of cinema.

As she comes of age in turbulent times, Francesca struggles with finding purpose amid political unrest and social changes. She drifts away from the magic of film and into rebellion, until confronting personal demons with help from her stern yet compassionate father.

Crafted from a place of raw sincerity, The Time It Takes offers glimpses...