As part of Italian Heritage Month in Vancouver and in celebration of Italian Day on the Drive (Sunday, June 10), the Rio Theatre is programming screenings of select Italian titles in June.

On Sunday, June 10 – after you’re done noshing on canoli and strolling on the Drive – join us at 9:00 pm for a screening of Michelangelo Antonioni‘s first English language production (and only box office hit,) the newly remastered BLOW-UP. Set in the swingin’ mod London of the mid-1960s, David Hemmings stars as Thomas, a wealthy, nihilistic photographer who spends his time taking pictures of fashion models. But one day, he thinks he may have photographed something far more sinister: a murder. After taking pictures in the park, Thomas is horrified to find an ambiguous image lurking on the edge of the frame, which could be a shadow, but looks like a gun. The only thing clear is that the woman (Vanessa Redgrave) in the photo has appeared at his studio — and wants the pictures he took. With John Castle, Jane Birkin.

Thanks to our friends at Italian Day on the Drive, Il Centro Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver, the Vancouver Italian Film Festival, and the Italian Contemporary Film Festival for their ongoing support of this screening, and all the films selected for our annual Italian film series.

“A prize ’60s artifact, Michelangelo Antonioni’s what-is-truth? meditation on Swinging London is a movie to appreciate — if not ponder.” (The Village Voice)

“Inspiring everyone from Francis Ford Coppola to Mike Myers, Michelangelo Antonioni’s arty thriller remains an absorbing, eerie enigma.” (Total Film)

“The natural world is arrayed against the artificial scene; conscience is deployed against convention. If you’ve never seen Blow-Up, see it now, if only to see what part of the world was like 40 years ago.” (New York Observer)

Sunday, June 10
Doors 8:30 pm | Movie 9:00 pm

Tickets $10 advance HERE | $12 at the door

*Minors OK in the balcony! Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK! Please redeem at the door.

BLOW-UP (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966 / 111 mins / 18A) During the 1960s, a London photographer believes he has inadvertently photographed evidence of a murder only to have the evidence mysteriously disappear. Blow-up is a stylish study of paranoid intrigue and disorientation.