Italian Cinema Today

Directed by Ricky Tognazzi, "Pietro Mennea - La Freccia del Sud" is the biographical story of athlete-turned-politician, Pietro Mennea, also known as "La freccia del sud" (Arrow of the South) for his remarkable speed as an Olympic sprinter, in particular, the 200 meter in which he held the world record for almost 17 years. His record time of 19.72 seconds, set in September of 1979, is still the European record. "Si lo so non posso cambiarlo il mondo, però ci devo pensare" - I know that I can't change the world but I have to think that I can.-     Throughout the span of his multi-faceted career as an athlete, lawyer, sports agent and member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, Mennea was known for his staunch values ​​and ethics. In his film, Tognazzi paints a portrait of this "Arrow of the South" as a somewhat stubborn, tenacious man with unyielding commitment, willing to make the necessary sacrifices to be the best that he could be,

The feature film " Montedoro" will make its world premiere at the Atlanta Film Festival in the Narrative Feature competition  on  March 28 and 29  at the Plaza Theatre.  Inspired by the true story of an Italian-American woman born in the deserted city of Craco and given up for adoption when she was a toddler to a family in New York.

Eugène Green’s latest project, La Sapienza , a journey through the art and culture of Italy and France, opens on Friday at the Film Forum in New York City.  La Sapienza strikes this reviewer as easily the most astonishing and important movie to emerge from France in quite some time. While its style deserves to be called stunningly original and rapturously beautiful, the film is boldest in its artistic and philosophical implications, which pointedly go against many dominant trends of the last half-century. Rather than apologizing for or “deconstructing” Western tradition, La Sapienza celebrates the West’s spiritual sources to the point that it might be called an apotheosis of European culture. Surprisingly or not, it comes from an American expatriate. Like  Henry James , T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound before him, native New Yorker  Eugène Green  moved abroad as a young man and became, it would seem, more European than the Europeans. Based in Paris since the ‘70s, he founded a t

  Istituto Luce-Cinecittà returns once again to the Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, in New York City Thursday, April 15 through Sunday, April 26, 2015, to showcase four contemporary Italian films: Hungry Hearts , Maraviglioso Boccaccio ( Wondrous Boccaccio), Palio , and Vergine Giurata ( Sworn Virgin) that were selected specifically to be shown at the Festival .     Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 15 th to April 26 th and will present an impressive number of Italian films as International or North America Premieres to the New York public and press. Four films by multi-award winning Italian maestri : directors Paolo e Vittorio Taviani, will present the brand new  Maraviglioso Boccaccio  (Wondrous Boccaccio), while director Saverio Costanzo and actress Alba Rohrwacher will launch Hungry hearts , distributed by IFC films. Straight from the Berlinale’s competition is Laura Bispuri’s first feature, Sworn Virgin , which will be shown in Competition.  

On January 10, 2015, the world said goodbye to one of the most innovative filmmakers it has ever seen, Francesco Rosi. Sadly, he was to make a visit stateside in April where he was to be honored as this year's artist in residence at Indiana University's annual Symposium on Modern and Contemporary Italian Cinema. Born in Naples on November 15th, 1922, director, Francesco Rosi studied law but always had a passion for film. In 1948, he put his law degree aside and leaped into the film industry as an assistant for the legendary director Luchino Visconti. Four years later in 1952, he debuted as a director with his own film, Camicie Rosse (Red Shirts). It proved to be a successful debut and caught the attention of international audiences. However, it was his 1958 film, La Sfida (The Challenge) that solidified his place in the industry as a director and paved the way for more politically driven films with strong social statements.In a career that has spanned more than half a c

Emanuela De Notariis is a dear old friend of mine whose work I've watched over the years devolop and express the very essence of her soul. Her latest project is aimed at helping stray animals throughout Italy, a cause very close to my heart. I talked with her about this unique project. Our interview is posted below in both English and Italian. Tell me about this association, Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali (ENPA)   and this exhibit? The ENPA is the oldest organization for animal protection in Italy, and was founded in 1871 by the Italian freedom fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi. Headquartered in Rome, it has smaller departments in every Italian region, active in all those sectors aimed to safeguard the wellbeing of animals. It’s a non-profit and therefore doesn't receive and government funding, and is operated through volunteer work. That’s why the "AnimalHumāna" project was born. It’s a series of art exhibitions and events in central-southern Italy that consists o

"La creazione di significato" (The Creation of Meaning) By Simone Rapisarda Casanova U.S. Premiere 19-20 March 2015 95 minutes Canada/Italy 2014 Language: Italian with English subtitles   Though its title arcs toward grand philosophical inquiry, the stirring power of Simone Rapisarda Casanova’s second documentary-fiction hybrid—winner of the 2014 Locarno Film Festival’s Best Emerging Director prize—lies in its intimacy of detail and wry political observation. Filmed with a painterly Renaissance beauty in Tuscany’s remote Apennine mountains, where memories of Nazi massacres and partisan resistance remain vivid, The Creation of Meaning centers on Pacifico Pieruccioni, an aging but defiant shepherd whose very livelihood and traditions are threatened by a New European reality of Berlusconi-caliber corruption (hilariously evoked in a profanity-laden radio-talk-show rant) and German land speculation.   Simone Rapisarda Casanova is a former computer sc

Virna Lisi's last film, "Latin Lover" is released today in theaters across Italy. Directed by Cristina Comencini, the all-female ensemble comedy tells the story of four sisters, ten years after the death of their father and famous actor, Saverio (Francesco Scianna), forced to face secrets buried in the past. There is the Italian daughter Susanna (Angela Finocchiaro), the French daughter, Stephanie (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the Spanish daughter, Segunda (Candela Peña), who is married to an unrepentant traitor and the youngest Swedish daughter (Pihla Viitala), that didn't see her father often. Then there is a possible fifth daughter, an American, Shelley (Nadeah Miranda) awaiting a DNA test. Virna Lisi plays the role of the first Italian wife, Rita. None of the daughters experienced a truly great father, but each has mythologized and loved him in different periods of his triumphant career.

UPDATE 2 January 2016 -Alessandro Rak's L'Arte della Felicità will air TONIGHT on RAI 3 at 23:30 Three Italian films will be featured at this year's edition of the Holland Animation Film Festival: L'Arte della Felicità (The Art of Happiness) by Alessandro Rak; L'Attesa Del Maggio (The Wait Of May) by Simone Massi; and Ogni Santo Giorno (Every Blessed Day) by Giorgio Bellasio. Rak's L'Arte della Felicità is the clever account of a taxi driver who lives in Napoli. He spends his days listening to the stories of his passengers while pondering the meaning of life and how happiness fits into the equation. Watch the trailer.. With the accents of a beautiful accordion hymn, Massi's L'Attesa Del Maggio  is a thought-provoking tale of life seen through a dream. Click here to watch it on Vimeo. Ogni Santo Giorno  is the story of a toddler's tender lesson in kindness. Click here to watch the film. The festival will be held from

"Anime Nere" is a dark tale set amidst organized crime in a small town in Calabria. The focus is on the rivalry between two families and the generations it has destroyed. Adaped from Gioacchino Criaco’s novel by the same name, the story is one of desperation in which characters are left with a complete void of hope for the future. The film is making its Chicago premiere this weekend at the 18th Annual European Union Film Festival. I caught up with its director, Francesco Munzi.  The movies that you've made- "Il resto della notte," "Saimir" and now "Anime nere" speak of corruption, immigration and organized crime. What fascinates you about these themes in society? I like speaking about minorities and immigration. The people of the south are also minorities, especially in this small mountain village. Often, the characters of the film spoke in dialect, and even the Italian version needed subtitles. When I speak of themes like crime an

Contemporary Italian cinema is gaining more momentum worldwide with each passing year. When I began writing for Fra Noi back in 2004, I could count on one hand the contemporary Italian film festivals held in America. Fast forward to 2015, and there are dozens of film series and festivals across the United States that showcase the newest trends in Italian cinema and culture. The popularity of all those series and festivals is grabbing the attention of film distributors, leading them to discover how much Americans really enjoy a good Italian movie. Francesco Munzi’s   Anime nere (Black Souls) is the latest example of this momentum. The film gained international acclaim when it premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, and it is now making its way across the film festival circuit in America before its   nationwide release begins on April 10th by Rialto distribution company.   Black Souls (Anime nere) is an unprecedentedly authentic depiction of the Calabrian crime organization