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Showing posts from November, 2015

The Museum of Modern Art - NYC presents Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective

"Fantasmi a Roma" Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective December 3–18, 2015 The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters – MoMA (11 West 53 Street New York, NY 10019)     The Museum of Modern Art celebrates the Italian cinema with Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective (December 3–18, 2015), presented by MoMA, in collaboration with Luce Cinecittà, Rome, and organized by Dave Kehr, Adjunct Curator, Department of Film, MoMA, and Camilla Cormanni and Paola Ruggiero, Luce Cinecittà. Exploring the filmmaker’s career from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s, Antonio Pietrangeli will feature 11 feature films, from Pietrangeli’s best-known work to a number of rediscoveries. The opening night will take place on Thursday, December 3rd at 8:00pm with the international premiere of the restored version of I Knew Her Well (Io La Conoscevo Bene) at MoMA. The film, which is also Pietrangeli’s last completed feauture, stars Ugo Tognazzi along with Stefania Sandrelli . Like an inversion of La

Director Gianni Zanasi presents "La felicità è un sistema complesso"

Director Gianni Zanasi is presenting his newest film this week at the Torino Film Festival. La felicità è un sistema complesso (Happiness is a complex system) is the story of Enrico Giusti’s (Valerio Mastandrea) whose job is to approach irresponsible managers who risk ruining their companies. He frequents them, he becomes their friend and he convinces them to leave their company, thus avoiding bankruptcy. It’s the strangest and most useful job he could invent for himself and Enrico doesn’t miss a trick. One morning, the parents of an eighteen-year-old boy and his thirteen-year-old sister die in an accident. The siblings are set to become the directors of a nationally-important industrial group. Enrico has to prevent this from happening: it should be an easy case, the crowning achievement of his career, but things get complicated. And the unexpected arrival of the foreign girlfriend of his brother makes things even more difficult. But actually, this is the case the man has been waitin

The Italian Connection to Indian Cinema

Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali, India 2002) George Eastman Museum I recently read about the George Eastman Museum acquiring the world's largest collection of contemporary Indian cinema. The donation includes more than 700 Bollywood, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu films and 6,000 film posters. It's important to note that there are at least 25 different types of Indian film industries, with language being the main difference. Bollywood, the name to describe the Hindi language industry, is India's biggest, and based in Mumbai. In 2014, this collection of Indian films was discovered in an abandoned multiplex in California. The prints had been shipped from India for release in specialized theaters in the United States. Unable to convert to digital projection, the multiplex abruptly closed in August 2013, and all of the release prints, posters, and projection equipment were left behind. If the Eastman Museum had not taken ownership of the material and provided an ap

The Films of Sicilian Director Salvo Cuccia

Interviewing Salvo Cuccia in Rochester, New York 2014 Born in Palermo in 1960, Sicilian director, Salvo Cuccia has emerged as a documentary filmmaker who tells the stories of unique individuals making their mark on the world. Vincenzo Tusa, Vittorio De Seta and Frank Zappa are three men from different walks of life. They each have two things in common.. a passion for their cause and Salvo Cuccia who told their story. Cuccia’s films are visually stunning, honest portraits, which present fascinating stories of people driven by their unbreakable passion. They offer introspections of people and their relationships to the environment and culture. The films, so articulately shot with subjects wildly passionate in their beliefs, transport the viewer directly to the location in which they were made. The music, mostly produced by local musicians intensifies the experience. Among these documentaries is Oltre Selinunte , the story of Vincenzo Tusa, a leader in preserving the

Interview: Director Alessia Scarso Introduces Sicily's Beloved "Italo" to American Audiences

Update March 23, 2017 Alessia Scarso's Italo is in the lineup of Portland, Oregon's 2017 Italian Film Festival, which runs April 7 - 19. Click here for details.  Based on actual events, Italo is the touching story of a stray dog adored by a small village in Sicily. Known all over Italy, Italo first appeared in the town of Scicli, located in the province of Ragusa, in 2008. Nobody knows for sure where the dog came from but he most likely belonged to a homeless man that passed away. Upon his arrival in Scicli, Italo’s presence was felt by all of the city. He frequented town meetings, masses, weddings and funerals. He was greeted tourists. He posed for selfies and protected his beloved citizens. In 2011, Italo was hit by a car. He was able to recover from the incident but the trauma combined with other age-related health issues took its toll and he died shortly thereafter. He is buried in the town and his grave has become a famous site, always adorned with flowers and notes

Interview: Neapolitan Tenor Pasquale Esposito on Turturro, Morricone, Fellini and his Beloved Napoli

If you don't know him yet, meet Pasquale Esposito.   Born and raised in Naples, Italy, he has been singing and performing for nearly his entire life.   It all started when he was just 7 years old and joined a local church choir.   The pastor of the church saw a special talent in Esposito and soon became his mentor, fostering that talent and guiding him towards a life in music.   He spent his adolescence performing in small clubs around Naples, studying music and taking vocal lessons from renowned coaches in the southern Italian city. When he was in his early 20's, he left his country to pursue a career in America.   It was not an easy road and success didn't come overnight.   Esposito had to deal with the language barrier and nostalgic moments of missing his family.   He persevered through those tough times and turned that nostalgia and his struggles into poignant songs and stories that he now shares with his fans. I caught up with Pasquale Esposito during a concert