Almost America

Almost America
ItalianCome l'America
Directed byAntonio Frazzi
Andrea Frazzi
Written bySandro Petraglia
Stefano Rulli
Produced byStefano Dammicco
Bruce Harvey
StarringSabrina Ferilli
Massimo Ghini
Henry Czerny
Tony Nardi
CinematographyAndré Pienaar
Edited byBridget Durnford
Music byLuis Bacalov
Production
companies
Eagle Pictures
Illusions Entertainment
Release date
  • 2001 (2001)
Running time
120 minutes
CountriesCanada
Italy
LanguagesEnglish
Italian

Almost America (Italian: Come l'America) is a Canadian-Italian drama film, directed by Antonio and Andrea Frazzi and released in 2001.[1]

The film centres on the Di Vitos, an Italian family who emigrate to Canada. Sabrina Ferilli stars as Antonia, who brings her children and her sister Paola (Gioia Spaziani) to Canada to join her husband Vincenzo (Tony Nardi), who came two years earlier to find work and build a home for his family; however, after discovering that Vincenzo began a relationship with another woman and fathered a child with her during his absence, she takes her children to Edmonton, Alberta to raise them as a single mother.[2] In Edmonton she befriends Mario (Massimo Ghini), a truck driver who becomes a new love interest for her and a father figure to her children, and trains as a nurse, eventually taking a job in the medical office of doctor Steven (Henry Czerny).[3]

The film was released in Canada as a theatrical film, but in Italy as a television miniseries.[4]

At the 23rd Genie Awards in 2003, François Séguin won the Genie Award for Best Art Direction or Production Design,[5] and Wendy Partridge was nominated for Best Costume Design.[6]

  1. ^ "Next best thing". South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 27, 2001.
  2. ^ "Czerny plays good guy for a change: Almost America focuses on immigrant issues". Calgary Herald, September 13, 2000.
  3. ^ "Well-acted film should be fascinating to Edmontonians". Edmonton Journal, March 10, 2002.
  4. ^ "Producer's almost famous". Calgary Herald, September 26, 2001.
  5. ^ "Ararat wins best-picture Genie, five in all". National Post, February 14, 2003.
  6. ^ "Ararat leads but Egoyan left out". The Globe and Mail, December 11, 2002.