Now in its sixth year, Open Roads 2006 opens with My Best Enemy, a recent popular favorite directed by and starring one of Italy’s best loved comedians, Carlo Verdone, making his second appearance in Open Roads. Ferzan Ozpetek, who previously presented his films Blind Fairies and Facing Windows, returns with his most recent film, Sacred Heart.

The filmmakers featured in this year’s edition continue that spirit of discovery and exploration that has in many ways inspired the series. Giorgio Diritti offers a provocative look at a remote Alpine community in The Wind Blows Around, a film largely spoken in Occitano, a now nearly forgotten language that’s a mixture of French and Italian. Massimo Andrei’s Mater Natura brings us to a somewhat hidden Naples, while Sergio Rubini’s La terra lets us discover small-town Puglia alongside a Milanese philosophy professor who had abandoned it decades before. So join us and rediscover the pleasures of an old friend — Italian cinema.