Teo has recently graduated from high school with dreams of becoming a writer. His parents are divorced. His father recently grew sick and crankier than ever; his mother is dating a man he loathes. Teo finds himself torn between getting a job to sustain himself and pursuing his dream.

That's the central conflict of 2011 film This World is for You from Italian director Francesco Falaschi, one of the movies selected for the first edition of New Italian Cinema Event (NICE) China, which is being held at Broadway Cinematheque MOMA in Dongzhimen, Dongcheng district, through December 26.

The film festival brings 10 Italian movies to Beijing, seven of which are first or second films from young Italian directors.

Cosimo Savio, the festival's development manager, said the goal of NICE is to bring the early works of young directors to foreign countries. Right now, such movies are gaining popularity in European countries, but they haven't been widely introduced in China, he said.

"Since the [Chinese audience] doesn't know much about the works of young Italian directors, in this way they can enjoy the works purely, without any prejudice," Savio said.

The typical Italian movie portrays real-life issues in comical ways. The movies focus on themes that will easily resonate with Chinese audiences, such as family or love, he said.

The festival kicked off December 17 and has seven more films in the lineup, including The Father and the Foreigner, a 2011 film by Ricky Tognazzi about the friendship between two fathers whose sons are both disabled, and Some Say No, a 2011 film by Giambattista Avellino that follows three classmates who decide to take action against the people that sabotage their lives.

Where: Broadway Cinematheque MOMA, 1 Xiangheyuan Lu, Dongzhimen, Dongcheng district.

When: Until December 26

Tickets: 40 yuan

Contact: 8438-8202