Shreveport, Italian Style

The Robinson Film Center's Italian Film Festival begins tonight. Here's the full schedule. Scroll down more for film synopses.

WHAT: Italian Film Festival.
WHEN: today to Aug. 28.
WHERE: Robinson Film Center, 617 Texas St., Shreveport.
SCREENING COSTS: $8.75, general admission ($6.75, members) after 6 p.m.; $5.75, matinee admission ($4.75) before 6 p.m.

Screening and event schedule
Today (Aug. 22)
6 p.m. Opening night reception featuring food, wine tasting and live music. $25, or $30 with "The Bicycle Thief" admission. For reservations, call (318) 459-4124.
7:30 p.m. "The Bicycle Thief."

Saturday (Aug. 23)
2 p.m. "The Golden Door" followed by panel discussion.
4:15 p.m. "From Sicily to Shreveport: Our Own Immigrant Story" panel discussion.
5:30 p.m. "Divorce, Italian Style."
7:45 p.m. "Bread and Tulips."

Sunday (Aug. 24)
2 p.m. "My Brother is an Only Child."
5:30 p.m. "A History of Italian Cinema" lecture presented by Jefferson Hendricks, professor of English, Centenary College. Free.
7:15 p.m. "Cinema Paradiso."

Monday (Aug. 25)
5:30 p.m. "The Golden Door."
7:45 p.m. "Bread and Tulips."

Tuesday (Aug. 26)
5:30 p.m. "Divorce, Italian Style."
7:45 p.m. "The Bicycle Thief."

Wednesday (Aug. 27)
5:30 p.m. "My Brother is an Only Child."
7:45 p.m. "The Golden Door."

Thursday (Aug. 28)
7 p.m. closing night celebration.
7:45 p.m. "Cinema Paradiso."

"The Bicycle Thief" (above)
This Italian neorealist classic is set in depressed postwar Rome. A father and son search for a stolen bicycle the father needs to keep a job. Directed by Vittorio De Sica. 1949, not rated, 35 mm, 90 minutes.

"The Golden Door" (above)
The drama retells the early 20th-century Italian immigration story with dream-inducing imagery and emotional resonance. Directed by Emanuele Crialese. 2006, PG-13, 35 mm, 118 minutes.

"Divorce, Italian Style" (above)
The Oscar-winning satire focuses on a scheming Sicilian nobleman who aims to murder his way out of his current marriage -- divorce is illegal -- to marry his cousin. Directed by Pietro Germi. 1961, not rated, DVD-based projection, 105 minutes.

"Bread and Tulips"
A bored housewife heads to Venice, where she meets an eccentric mix of characters. Directed by Silvio Soldini. 2000, PG-13, DVD-based projection, 114 minutes.

"My Brother is an Only Child" (above)
Set in small-town Italy during the 1960s and 1970s, the drama involves brothers who aim to change the world. Directed by Daniele Luchetti. 2007, R, HD projection, 108 minutes.

"Cinema Paradiso"
In this Oscar-winning celebration of the power of movies, a boy forms a close friendship with an old projectionist. Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. 1988, R, 35 mm, 155 minutes.