Elvia Notari, 1875–1946 (Facebook)

Your Passport to Italy, Through Films

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

The San Diego Italian Film Festival has a new executive director. And with her arrival comes the return of monthly movies at Digital Gym Cinema in the East Village.

Milan transplant Valentina Cartareggia, a business communications specialist and event organizer for Italian Women USA, has already reignited the organization with a series of films meant to “challenge and inspire audiences” while bringing us closer to Italy’s expressive culture.

Cartarggia fills the shoes of the film festival’s founder, Victor Laruccia, who died in 2022 at the age of 80. Laruccia often showed up in-person at screenings for lively discussions about the films. Moviegoers are told they can expect the same interactions from Cartareggia.

Coming up in the lineup (7:00p, Feb. 26) is “Hey Joe,” a rousing love story set in 1944 between an American sailor in Naples and a young, poor Italian woman. Most of the movie was filmed on the streets of Naples.

The series continues (7:00p, March 26) with Rapito/Kidnapped, which depicts Italy’s ruthless papal law in the mid-1800s.

A documentary chronicling the career challenges of Italy’s first female film director, Elvira Notari, will be shown at 7:00p April 15, under the translated name of Beyond Silence.

It will be followed by The King of Laughter (7:00p, May 14), a story about a comic actor’s eccentric personal life and his extravagant stage productions.

Note: The 58-seat Digital Gym is one of San Diego’s last remaining venues that shows independent, cult and foreign films for an average price of $16 per movie. It is located at 1100 Market St.