72nd Venice Film Festival- Two Italian Films Chosen for the International Critics’ Week

Antonio Capuano's "Bagnoli Jungle"

The program for the 30^th edition of the International Critics’ Week (SIC), an independent section of the Venice International Film Festival, was announced in Rome.

There will be seven films total, all of which will be global premieres. Those seven will be in competition while another three films will be shown out of competition. The week will end with Italian film "Bagnoli Jungle" by Antonio Capuano.

According to the General Delegate Francesco Di Pace, in 1991, Critics’ Week was won by Antonio Capuano’s film "Vito and the Others". Twenty-four years later, Capuano returns to SIC with his latest film, Bagnoli Jungle, "the umpteenth example of his expressive freedom and courage".

Set among the ruins of a once thriving area, the film follows Giggino, Antonio and Marco, three generations that, throughout the chapters of the story, only occasionally cross paths. The three characters are immersed in a chaotic world of street musicians, house painters, nuns, gangsters, and starving migrants in what has become a contaminated, empty jungle.

Di Pace also explained that the opening and closing film themes are "Families on rocky ground, teenage unease and parental conflict, generations that come to blows not only in private but in the political sphere too, disorientation caused by the economic crisis that triggers people to make radical choices in their lives. This year the seven films being shown in competition will be accompanied, in an unexpected turn of events, by another, pre-opening, film, a powerful piece lasting 4 hours and 40 minutes entitled Jia (The Family)".

Below is the complete list of films that will be shown in SIC:

  In competition

  Ana yurdu (Motherland)
 by Senem Tuzen - Turkey, Greece 2015 / 98’

  Banat (Il viaggio) 
by Adriano Valerio - Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia 2015 / 82’

  Kalo Pothi (The Black Hen)
 by Min Bahadur Bham - Nepal, France, Germany 2015 / 86’

  Light Years
 by Esther May Campbell - United Kingdom 2015 / 90'

  Montanha
 by João Salaviza - Portugal, France 2015 / 100'

  The Return
 by Green Zeng - Singapore 2015 / 80'

  Tanna  by Martin Butler, Bentley Dean - Australia, Vanuatu 2015 / 104'

  Special events – out of competition

  Jia (The Family)
 by Liu Shumin - China, Australia 2015 / 280'
Pre-opening film

  Orphans
by Peter Mullan - United Kingdom 1998 / 95'
Opening film

  Bagnoli Jungle  by Antonio Capuano - Italy 2015 / 100'
 Closing film 

Comments

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 ...

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...

The Anthology Film Archives Presents: The Italian Connection: Poliziotteschi and Other Italo-Crime Films of the 1960s and '70's

June 19 – June 29 Influenced both by 1960s political cinema and Italian crime novels, as well as by French noir and American cop movies like "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection," many Italian filmmakers in the late-60s and early-70s gradually moved away from the spaghetti western genre, trading lone cowboys for ‘bad’ cops and the rough frontier of the American west for the mean streets of modern Italy. Just as they had with their westerns, they reinvented the borrowed genre with their inimitable eye for style and filled their stories with the kidnappings, heists, vigilante justice, and brutal violence that suffused this turbulent moment in post-boom 1970s Italy. The undercurrent of fatalism and cynicism in these uncompromising movies is eerily reminiscent of the state of discontent in Italy today. ‘The Italian Connection’ showcases the diversity and innovation found in the genre, from the gangster noir of Fernando Di Leo’s "Caliber 9" ...

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...

Riccardo Scamarcio Joins Cast of "John Wick 2"

Update to our original January 18 post.. - According to the Hollywood Reporter, the follow-up to John Wick has been given an official title — John Wick, Chapter 2 — and a release date from Lionsgate: Feb. 10, 2017. It's just been reported that Keanu Reeves is in Rome shooting his new film, "John Wick 2" with Italian actors Riccardo Scamarcio and Claudia Gerini . The film is an action-thriller and sequel to "John Wick". Shooting began last October in New York City. John Wick, played by Reeves, is a hitman that comes out of retirement to seek vengeance for the theft of his vintage car and the killing of his puppy, a gift from his recently deceased wife. The scenes being shot in Italy for the sequel reportedly take his career to the international level. Riccardo Scamarcio One of Italy's most recognizable faces, Riccardo Scamarcio has built a solid career based on the diversity in the roles he chooses and the intensity with which he plays the...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog