Entertainment Weekly – “The best of cinema”
Cannes Film Festival – The Certain Regard Award
Ebert & Roeper – “Two Thumbs Up”
“This is a luxury to be enveloped in a good film”
Seattle Film Festival – The Space Needle Award
Christian Science Monitor – This is epic filmmaking on a
profoundly human scale”
David di Donatello Award – Best Director
Palm Springs Film Festival – Audience Award
Rolling Stone – “The acting is electric.”
BBC- “A cinematic landmark”

Above is only a small sampling of the high praise for the film that will close out the 2008 Italian Film Festival, on Sunday Feb. 17th. After a wonderful week of drama, comedy, fabulous acting, the IFF will close with a special treat for Festival patrons. The Best of Youth, the 2004 film directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, has received multiple film festival awards and universal praise from critics. It is a special movie in many ways. The Best of Youth is a movie that has had numerous featured screenings at festivals all over the world, while seldom seen at your local cinema.

As the movie critic for TV Guide stated, “Rarely have six hours spent doing ANYTHING seemed so rewarding”………  Yes six hours.

“The 2008 Italian Film Festival wants to make this “rewarding” experience even more so, by presenting this film of extraordinary length and excellence with an intermezzo dinner”, says IFF Managing Director Ronaldo Patrizio-Steiner. The Best of Youth will be presented at the Guild Cinema, starting at 1PM, on Sunday Feb. 17th. Following the presentation of the first half of this cinematic experience, patrons will amble across Central Avenue to Scalo Northern Italian Grill for an intermezzo dinner. Host Steve Paternoster and Chef Steve Lemon will provide an authentic Italian feast, well-matched with the Festival’s movie finale.
Following the intermezzo, ticket holders will return to the Guild Cinema for the second half of the movie. Tickets are only $30 and limited to the theaters capacity of 146 seats. Tickets for The Best of Youth, and all other IFF presentations, can be purchased at the three Borders stores in Albuquerque, through this web site or by calling (505) 856-2988.

For a complete review of The Best of Youth, go to the Festival web site and hit its icon. You can also find several movie sites through Google.com and searching by title.

Running time: 6 hours.