(26 June 2017) Over 180 screenings in cinemas in six different Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Quebec City, Vaughan and Hamilton - which have attracted over thirty thousand box office sales. These are the record numbers of the sixth edition of the Italian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF) - the Canadian festival dedicated to contemporary Italian cinema which took place from June 8th to the 16th. Paola Cortellesi was the one to inaugurate the festival. She was awarded with Best Actress ICFF 2017 for her role in "Qualcosa di Nuovo" (Something New) by Cristina Comencini and "Mamma o papà?" (Mom or Dad?) by Riccardo Milani. Canada crowned Christian De Sica the king of the Italian comedy. On the closing night, he was awarded with the 2017 ICFF Career Award ICFF, the highest award given by the Canadian festival. In the past Claudia Cardinale, Al Pacino, Roberto Benigni, and Carlo Verdone have received awards from the ICFF. Giancarlo Giannini, Franco Nero, and Danny Aiello were awarded with the ICFF 2017 Trilogy Award. The three actors are the protagonists of the Mafia film directed by Frank D'Angelo, "The Neighborhood" presented at the world premiere at the festival. The 2018 People's Choice Award winner is Piefrancesco Diliberto, also known as 'Pif', for "In guerra per amore" (At War for Love). The ICFF is dedicated to the best of contemporary Italian cinema, but it has also included two retrospectives dedicated to two great directors: the unforgettable master of neo-realism Vittorio De Sica, while the other featured works by the king of Italian horror, Dario Argento. The Sicilian actor, Leo Gullotta, was awarded with the 2017 ICFF Excellence Award for his long and prestigious career and for his role in Ficarra & Picone's "L'ora legale". The actor's embrace with the numerous members of Sicilian immigrant community in Canada was very moving. Tony Nardi was awarded the 2017 ICFF Best Actor Award for his long career in Canadian cinema and for his very own repertoire of characters he played on the big screen. The ICFF is supported by IC Savings (Presenting Sponsor), The Ritz-Carlton Toronto, Empire Communities, Cityzen, Two Sisters Vineyard, and Delta Air Lines. The festival is partnered with TIFF, Cineplex, Cinémathèque Quebecoise, Casa d'Italia-UNITAS, Cinéma Cartier, the City of Vaughan, the Italian Embassy, the Consulate General of Italy in Toronto and Montreal, the Italian Institute of Culture of Toronto and Montreal, ICE Agency, the Vancouver Cultural Centre, Cinema Rio, and the L'Altra Italia. (Red)

OTHER AWARDS

The 2017 ICFF Best Short Film Award went to "Office Kingdom" by a team of four young and promising Italian artists who graduated from the Experimental Cinematography Centre based in Turin. The Italian-Canadian actor, Alan Barillaro, is this year's Oscar winner for Best Animated Short Film, for "Piper" and he also received the IC Savings Award for Outstanding Career ICFF 2017. The Italian-Australian director, Ruth Borgobello, was awarded the 2017 ICFF Excellence Award for his film "The Space Between", received with great warmth from the Canadian audience. "It is a special festival whose prestige grows every year," according to the artistic director of the ICFF, Cristiano de Florentiis, budgeting for the sixth edition of the film festival. "It is an event that is definitely a great tool for promoting our cinema and more generally, our culture in North America," concluded Florentis. The 2017 ICFF Critic Award went to "Fiore" by Claudio Giovannesi, for his ability to reproduce on the big screen the poem of one thousand emotions lived by the young and brilliant actress in his film.