Italian Distributors Bridging Culture Between Europe and North America

Raoul Bova and Sarah Jessica Parker on the set of "All Roads Lead to Rome"

Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi are taking the distribution world by storm and bringing a whole new angle of Italian cinema to North America.

Iervolino who has been a producer since the age of 16, has produced, financed and distributed over 40 films. A partner and founder of a number different production companies, he is currently, the youngest and most highly regarded Italian entrepreneurs in the world of film-making.

With his Italian-Canadian origins (his mother is Canadian, his father Italian), after also having worked on different productions and co-productions with some of the country’s major film-makers and having shot no fewer than 8 films in 2011, in October of that same year he founded his own distribution company, Iervolino Entertainment S.p.A, which is now a part of the AMBI PICTURES Group, whose partners are Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi.

Andrea Iervolino has never left out his innate passion for films on powerful social issues and in this regard he is also president of the FCAI, an association that is committed to taking exposé and social commentary films into schools, something made possible thanks to the Cineschoolday initiative, for which Italian Life Senator Giulio Andreotti was a spokesperson in 2011-2012.

Iervolino’s latest ventures include “Italian Style Thriller”, which comprises three feature-length films in 3D and a series consisting of eight episodes that will have as their common denominator a genre that in the seventies led to Italy becoming a worldwide point of reference, namely Horror.

It is through this project that some young Italian directors have had the opportunity to once again bring this genre of movie, which had all but disappeared, back to life in Italy, creating them using present-day directing techniques with a view to venturing once again on the international scene.

AMBI Pictures and Distribution

Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi are partners in AMBI PICTURES, an investment company whose task is to provide financial backing for medium to high-budget international films featuring Hollywood names. Iervolino and Bacardi also founded AMBI Distribution. Based in Beverly Hills, it's a worldwide sales agency that integrates finance, production and distribution for AMBI Pictures.

Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi

I had a conference call with the two distributors during Toronto's Italian Contemportary Film Festival. They talked about their recently produced films, which include eight just last year- the action-thriller 2047 Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen; (My interview with “2047: Sights of Death” Screenwriter, Tommaso Agnese) the Barry Levinson directed drama, The Humbling, starring Al Pacino, Greta Gerwig, Kyra Sedgwick, Charles Grodin and Dianne Wiest; and the crime-thriller Hope Lost starring Danny Trejo, Mischa Barton and Michael Madsen.

Recently AMBI produced Andron – The Black Labyrinth, by Francesco Cinquemani starring Alec Baldwin, Danny Glover, Gale Morgan Harold III and the singer Skin. Andrea Iervolino and the director Marco Risi, in collaboration with Monika Bacardi produced Tre Tocchi, by Marco Risi. In collaboration with Paradox Studios, AMBI Pictures is also in production with the romantic comedy All Roads Lead To Rome starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Monika told me that the story brings together the Italian and American cultures.. and that she's really looking forward to releasing this film at the end of this year or in 2016, depending how production goes. We'll keep you posted.

AMBI Pictures is financing and producing with Franco’s Rabbit Bandini Productions and That’s Hollywood Pictures, a film directed by James Franco and based on Steinbeck’s gritty, realist style novel: In Dubious Battle. The film stars James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vincent D’Onofrio, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Bryan Cranston and Danny McBride.

The company has also recently ventured into the world of animation, with two animated features: Arctic Justice – Thunder Squad and East End. Iervolino and Bacardi, together with American Sniper Producer, Andrew lazar,are tackling Sci-Fi Thriller, Rupture, starring Noomi Rapace and directed by Steven Shainberg. The team is also in talks with the family of Federico Fellini to remake the iconic filmmaker's equally iconic film, La dolce vita.

Comments

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

"Roma 11:00" – The Tragic True Story of Desperation in a World of Poverty

There couldn’t have been a more perfect couple than Lucia Bosè and Raf Vallone in Giuseppe De Santis’ 1952 “Roma 11:00.” A tragic story based on true events, the film follows several young women in post-WWII Rome as they answer a job listing for a typist. When 200 women are in line on one staircase over several floors, a crack leads to the collapse of the entire staircase. Dozens were injured and one was killed. The tragedy spoke to the poverty and desperation that existed for so many Italians in the early 1950s before the ‘58 industrial boom began. Cesare Zavattini was one of the screenwriters. Elio Petri was the assistant director who interviewed many of the victims and cast a few in supporting roles. In addition to Bosè and Vallone, the film stars Carla Del Poggio, Massimo Girotti, Maria Grazia Francia, Lea Padovani and Delia Scala. The film is set in Largo Circense 37, while in reality the collapse took place in via Savoia 31, in the Salario district, on J...

'Salvatore Giuliano' blends documentary realism with dramatic storytelling

"Salvatore Giuliano" is a 1962 Italian crime drama directed by Francesco Rosi that dramatizes the real-life events surrounding the life and death of the legendary Sicilian bandit and folk hero. Giuliano rose to notoriety after the liberation of Sicily from fascist control in 1943, when he formed a gang that joined a separatist army. When the army dissolved, he and his gang intensified their outlaw activities. One of their most significant crimes was the Portella della Ginestra incident, during which dozens of men, women, and children were killed or wounded. This act prompted the authorities to launch an all-out war against Giuliano. His defenses slowly crumbled, and on July 5, 1959, his body was discovered in the courtyard of a house in Castelvetrano. That moment serves as the starting point for Rosi's film. Giuliano's fame is tied to his involvement in the Sicilian independence movement and his battles against both the Italian government and the Mafia in the 1940s a...

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

A Fellini family portrait “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann. Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...

Gianfranco Rosi to premiere 'Sotto le nuvole' at Venice Film Fest, exploring Naples' history

Documentary filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi will premiere his much-anticipated latest film at the upcoming 82nd Venice International Film Festival , which runs August 27 - Sept. 6. "Sotto le nuvole" (Below the Clouds) takes a deep dive into the rich history and culture of Naples and the area surrounding Mount Vesuvius. There has not been much information revealed but so far, we know that the film will focus on themes similar to those explored by Rosi in his previous works, such as the examination of Roman culture in "Sacro GRA" (2013) and Lampedusa's refugee crisis in "Fuocoammare" (2016). The film's synopsis reads, “The land around Vesuvius is a vast palimpsest. On the surface, underground and even beneath the sea of the modern city of Naples and its surroundings, the memory of history is etched into tunnels, walls and fissures, the remains of women, children and men — statues, buried cities. Only thin layers separate contemporary and ancient life, an...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog