At Toast we spend a lot of time pretending to be Italian by enjoying Italian-inspired foods, wines, and cocktails made with classic Italian drinks like Aperol, Campari and prosecco (see our favourite recipes below). 

So naturally we got very excited about news of the upcoming Italian Film Festival New Zealand, which begins a six month tour around the country starting in Christchurch this June and finishing in Napier in December. 

Highlights of the festival – such as a digitally re-mastered version of classic black-and-white comedy Roman Holiday (pictured above), which sees Audrey Hepburn as a British royal on the loose in Rome with Gregory Peck – have had us reaching for classic Italian cocktails like an Aperol Spritz, Negroni and Affogato (recipes below).

Toast’s picks of the festival include:

• Duel of Wine, a mockumentary comedy that follows a disgraced master sommelier wine expert as he tries to stage a comeback
• Perfect Strangers, a comedy-drama that explores what happens when a group of friends play a dinner party game where they place their mobile phones on the table and agree to make all texts and calls public 
• Where Am I Going?, a hilarious study of middle-management job-for-life work, which has become the highest grossing film in Italian cinema history

This week, Toast has seven double-passes to the Italian Film Festival to give away to lucky readers – one double film pass for each festival location below, (click on the link above for a list of films and screening dates in your location)...

• Christchurch   –   June 14 to 25
• Nelson   –   June 16 to 23
• Tauranga   –   July 7 t0 16
• Havelock North   –   July 26 to August 2
• Auckland   –   August 31 to September 14
• Wellington   –   November 1 to 14
• Napier   –   December 1 to 2

To enter, click here

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