Get set for the tenth annual Lavazza Italian Film Festival presented by Palace Cinemas, which will blaze across Australian cinema screens from September 16 until October 28. The Festival celebrates a decade of laughter, tears, suspense, high drama and unrequited love in 2009, with a brilliant selection of contemporary Italian cinema that will transport Australian audiences to this land of passion. Italians are renowned for boisterous emotions and zest for life, and this outstanding programme of films presents the country in her many colourful guises. The critically acclaimed, Cannes-nominated drama VINCERE has been selected as the Opening Night film. Part love story, part mystery and epic in its scale, VINCERE, from auteur Marco Bellocchio (GOOD MORNING, NIGHT), tells the little-known but heartbreaking story of Ida Dalsar, the first wife of Benito Mussolini, whose role in the tyrant’s rise to power has all but been airbrushed from history. Starring the ravishing Giovanna Mezzorgiorno (FACING WINDOWS) in a career-best performance, VINCERE is a film that will haunt you long after the credits have rolled.