Arts & Entertainment » Choice Events

Film | "Sicily: Land of Love & Strife"

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Che figata! This week The Cinema Theater will host a screening of the feature-length documentary "Sicily: Land of Love & Strife." In the film, writer, director, producer, and first-generation Sicilian-American Mark Spano explores the island's cultural and historic relevance, illuminating a land rich in natural beauty, food and wine, art, and diversity. Through his film Spano also seeks to counteract the region's association with organized crime, a connection furthered by pop culture's long-held fascination with the Mafia. Funds from the film screening will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Western New York.

The screening is on Sunday, April 7, at 1 p.m. The Cinema Theater, 957 South Clinton Avenue. Tickets are $20. VIP tickets, which include the screening, a meet-and-greet with the filmmaker, and an Italian dinner are $35 per person. A signing of Spano's companion book "Sicily: Land of Love & Strife — A Filmmaker's Journey" will be held on Saturday, April 6, at 1 p.m. at Small World Books, 425 North Street. That event is free and open to the public, with books available for purchase. facebook.com.