A new weekend film series will launch next Sunday with a gentle Italian comedy, and a not so gentle documentary about the war in Iraq.

The 'Weekend Film Series', to be held monthly, is a joint production of Bermuda Documentary Film Festival director Duncan Hall and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).

'Mid-August Lunch', by director Gianni Di Gregorio (the screenwriter of Italian film 'Gomorrah'), will screen at 3 p.m. 'The Oath', by Academy Award-nominated director Laura Poitras, will screen at 4.30 p.m.

'Mid-August Lunch' won three prizes at the Venice Film Festival and earned Mr. Di Gregorio the Best New Director Award at the David di Donatello Awards (Italy's Academy Awards), won the Satyajit Ray Award at the London Film Festival for Best First Film, and was nominated for Best Picture at the European Film Awards.

"The film, in Italian with English subtitles, is an utterly charming tale of good food, feisty women and unlikely friendships during a very Roman holiday," said Mr. Hall. "Broke, and armed with only a glass of wine and a wry sense of humour, charismatic and handsome middle-aged Gianni takes care of his aging mother in the family's 'shabby chic' Rome apartment.

"When their landlord offers to forego the rent arrears if only Gianni will take care of his mother for the holiday weekend — and Gianni's doctor makes a similar offer — Gianni ends up with an apartment full of feisty women.

Can he keep four lively women well-fed and happy in these cramped quarters?

"The film features two Italian 'musts' — a son's devotion to his mother, and the unending quest to eat well," said Mr. Hall.

"The film is both a warmly vibrant family drama and a delicately balanced comedy of manners. It's a little gem."

Film critic Philip French of The Observer called it "the most likeable European picture of 2009", and Time Out New Yorkcalled it "a mouth-watering cinematic feast".

It has screened at many of the world's top festivals, including London, Berlin, Seattle and Karlovy Vary, and had a successful theatrical run in Italy.

Documentary film 'The Oath' is the second in a planned trilogy of films by Poitras about the United States war in Iraq.

The first film, 'My Country My Country', was nominated for an Academy Award.

'The Oath', which has won prizes at the Sundance, Edinburgh and Hot Docs film festivals, will screen in English and Arabic, with English subtitles.

Shot in Yemen, the film offers a quietly disturbing look into the inner workings of al-Qaeda through the eyes of two brothers-in-law, each of whom worked for Osama bin Laden. Abu Jandal, a former bodyguard to bin Laden, named names in the aftermath of 9/11 and now works as a taxi driver in Yemen. Salim Hamdan, a former driver for bin Laden, spent years in prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The film constructs a three-dimensional portrait of a conflicted ex-jihadist. It follows Jandal as he poses his young son on a blanket with grenades and an AK-47, and lectures disaffected youth about bin Laden. We get to know Hamdan, meanwhile, through letters written by him from prison, and follow his fate through a military trial process.

"The film provides us with a view of the 'war on terror' from the other side, which we rarely see," Mr. Hall said. "It is a deft exploration of the twin tragedies of terrorism and America's response to it."

Future dates for the Weekend Film Series include November 21, January 16 and February 20. The series will take a break in October for the presentation of the Bermuda Documentary Film Festival (Bermuda Docs), to be held October 22-24 at the BUEI.

Tickets to each film, $15, are on sale at the gift shop at the BUEI. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Bermuda Docs is on Facebook, where filmgoers can find trailers of the two films.