The Knights of the Quest

There’s more to Italian film than just the contours of Sophia Loren’s body, as the MFAH’s third annual Italian Film Retrospective proves. It brings together several films by one of the most admired Italian directors, 69-year-old Pupi Avati, for an in-depth look at one of the most prolific directors/writers of his time. Screening today is his 2001 epic The Knights of the Quest, which follows the journey of a small battalion of knights in Greece at the end of the 13th century. The group is trying to recover the stolen Holy Shroud and return it to the French. (The French? Maybe they just wanted to see how Jesus would look in a beret.)

Avati and his brother, producer Antonio Avati, will be in attendance at the screenings of The Story of Boys and Girls and The Heart Is Elsewhere later this month. The Italian Film Retrospective continues with Revenge of the Dead and A Midsummer Night’s Dance, among others. 7 p.m. Brown Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet. For information and a complete schedule, call 713-639-7515 or visit www.mfah.org/films. $6 to $7.
Sat., Sept. 6, 7 p.m., 2008