Licia Maglietta picked up Best Actress honours at the European Film Awards for her role as a dazzling bookshop proprietor in Silvio Soldini’s (Bread And Tulips) magic realist adventure, Agata And The Storm. Opening Australia’s 2004 Italian Film Festival, the whimsical, escapist ensemble romantic comedy was showered with nominations at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards.

Agata (Licia Maglietta) is a resplendent, fortysomething proprietor of a Genoa bookshop who has one of her customers, Nico (Claudio Santamaria), a much younger married man, in a romantic tailspin. When Agata tries to deny her passion for Nico, her emotional energy develops a life of its own, shattering light bulbs and short-circuiting electrical systems around her. Meanwhile, Gustavo (Emilio Solfrizzi), Agata’s successful architect brother, finds his own life turned upside down by the sudden discovery that he is adopted. His real brother turns out to be Romeo (Giuseppe Battiston), a womanising travelling salesman. As the destinies of Agata, Gustavo and Romeo converge with a host of other endearing and colourful characters, the world becomes a much lighter place.