Italy: Love It or Leave It at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Handsome couple the toast of the festival circuit

Italy: Love It or Leave It, a documentary by Luca Ragazzi and Gustav Hofer, is screening at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema until Jan 31.

The film follows the couple as they search for a home outside their native Italy, which seems destined to retain its homophobic ways.

“Every day when you open your newspaper, you read the government saying something homophobic, a new law against immigrants,” Hofer said in an interview while the two were in Toronto for the Hot Docs Festival in May 2012. “You see all this and you ask yourself, What am I doing here?”

The film has screened at festivals around the world and won the Best Film Audience Award at the Milano Film Festival. The couple’s last documentary, Suddenly Last Winter, looked at the dismal state of gay rights in Italy.

Below is the video interview we did with Ragazzi and Hofer when they were in Toronto.

On occasion, the number of editors and other staff who contribute to a story gets a little unwieldy to give a byline to everyone. That’s when we use “Xtra Staff” in place of the usual contributor info. If you would like more information on who contributed to a particular story, please contact us here.

Read More About:
Video, Culture, Toronto, Arts

Keep Reading

Two photos by gay photographer Duane Michals, who passed in June of 2026

Remembering Duane Michals, the legendary gay photographer

The late gay artist redefined what was possible in fine art photography

New study finds Canadian trans youth rarely detransition

A group of Canadian researchers found that 97 percent of youth who seek treatment for gender dysphoria still identify as trans years later
Two photos from the Toronto bathhouse riots of 1971

The bleak history of the Toronto bathhouse raids

In 1981, Toronto police arrested nearly 300 gay men as part of a six-month undercover operation called “Operation Soap”
Two pride stamps from Canada Post highlighting The Turret nightclub and the 519 community center.

Canada Post just debuted four new stamps honouring queer historic sites

Places of Pride features four new postage stamps commemorating places and events that are pivotal to the country's queer history
Advertisement