The father and foreigner composer Carlo Siliotto at IIC Los Angeles

The Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles hosted the screening of “The Father and the Foreigner” (Il padre e lo Straniero, Italy, 2010), last Tuesday, November 22.
The movie had been already presented in Los Angeles last November 13, on the occasion of CINEMA ITALIAN STYLE 2011. For its artistic and cultural value, the Italian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with The Society of Composers & Lyricists, Italians in Films, the Italian Film Commission and the Consulate General of Italy, brought “The Father and the Foreigner” to Los Angeles for a second, successful screening.

In a Rome with echoes of the Middle East, a friendship develops between two very different men, the Italian Diego and the Arab Walid. The two men bond through the shared love for their disabled sons, who both attend the same rehabilitation centre. Through his relationship with Walid, Diego will question the meaning of 'different' and 'normal' and how he has lived his life until that point. The friendship will deeply change both, but Walid also has many secrets, in which Diego becomes unwittingly involved.

“The Father and the Foreigner”, interpreted by Alessandro Gassman, Amr Waked and Ksenia Rappoport, is inspired by the homonymous novel by Italian writer Giancarlo De Cataldo, who also collaborated with director Ricky Tognazzi at the movie script.

Author of the music is Carlo Siliotto, who was the special guest of the evening. Carlo Siliotto, born in Rome, started by studying guitar and violin and accomplished his studies on composition at the conservatory of music. In 1984 he decided to focus his attention on films scores. Since then, Carlo has written music for over 70 movies, working for directors from all over the world. More recently he composed the sound- track for the Italian film “Tutta Colpa della Musica”, by Ricky Tognazzi.

After the screening, Siliotto took part to a Q & A moderated by Laura Dunn, Executive Director of the Society of Composers & Lyricists. Guests had the chance to discover and appreciate the music creation process, which plays a fundamental role in the success of a movie.