What better way to open Bedford Film Festival 2014 than by celebrating Bedford’s Italian heritage with an Italian film that was an official selection at Cannes 2013 and won the 2014 Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. Join us for drinks in the courtyard of The Higgins before local film director and, one of Bedford Film Festival’s founders, Richard Jobson opens the festival and introduces you to the Bedford premier of The Great Beauty.

Director: Paolo Sorrentino

Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli

Genre: Comedy/Drama Country: Italy Language: Italian (with English subtitles) Year: 2013

Duration: 142 mins Rating: 15 IMDB score: 7.7/10

Journalist Jep Gambardella has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and social circles.

Then when his sixty-fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.