Italian Cinema Today

The power of movies has proven itself time and time again throughout history. Cinema often mirrors the plights of society or recounts life-changing events. Such is the case with Peter Miller’s documentary film, “Projections of America.” My first encounter with Miller happened in 2006 when I reviewed his stunning, heartfelt documentary, “Sacco and Vanzetti.” Since then, we've remained in contact on social media and I've followed his interesting projects. One of them is the 2015 documentary, “Projections of America,” in which he focuses on the years immediately following World War II when Hollywood was called upon by the U.S. government to assist in a PR campaign that would shed a positive light on America throughout the world. Frank Capra’s primary screenwriter, Robert Riskin, was put in charge of writing a series of propaganda films that would be shown to newly liberated countries. After the fall of Mussolini, Italians were presented with a film from this series featuring the

The official trailer for "Le confessioni" - the new film of Roberto Andò with actors Toni Servillo, Pierfrancesco Favino​, Connie Nielsen and Daniel Auteuil has been released. The story's focus is on a luxury hotel in Germany where a meeting of G8 finance ministers take place. The officials are prepared to adopt a secret maneuver that will have very serious consequences for several countries. The group includes government officials, the director of the International Monetary Fund, Daniel Roché, and three guests: a famous writer of children's books, a rock star, and an Italian monaco, Roberto Salus. A unexpected, tragic event opens the flood gates to secrets, confessions and uncertainties. "Le confessioni" will be released in Italian theaters on April 21.

It was announced this week that Francesco Munzi will shoot a film in America. Munzi was hired by Studio 8 and Battle Mountain Films to direct a crime movie set in New York, in the underworld of cargo thieves. The story, written by Munzi with Zach Baylin, will star a young protagonist (not yet named) that will become the protégé of an influential criminal. This young protégé will be forced to choose between a career in crime and his family. Check back here for developments. In the meantime, read my interview with Francesco Munzi about his film, "Anime nere".

Assia Noris in a 1938 Telefoni Bianchi film My discovery last December of a 1915 silent film by Francesca Bertini made me curious about other lesser known genres of Italian cinema. That curiosity led me on a cinema adventure in which I discovered a genres I never knew existed such as Italian Futurism, Telefoni Bianchi and Propaganda films. Bertini's "Assunta Spina" boasts a melodic soundtrack and stunning cinematography that captures the Bay of Naples during an era in which most of our America-bound ancestors were passing through. Filmmakers Bertini and Gustavo Serena created a timeless story of love, passion and envy. The restored version shows images of Naples that are surprising clear for being shot 100 years ago. "Assunta Spina" was indeed ahead of its time, and Bertini was not shy in acknowledging it. In 1982 at the age of 90, she said in an interview, "It had been my idea to wander around Naples taking ordinary people from the streets. Now every

 A 12 miglia a largo Termoli sorge la piattaforma Rospo Mare, gestita da Edison, produce petrolio ed è collegata alla nave cisterna Alba Marina (Intervista anche in italiano) Here’s a statistic you may not have heard: Italy is the third largest producer of oil and the fifth largest of gas in Western Europe. In my series “Basilicata: Terra di Cinema”, I have written about the extraction of petroleum in the region, the dangers to the land and people, the effect on agriculture and the creative ways in which the filmmakers of the region are expressing their discontentment. Now, a new documentary film about offshore oil drilling in the Mediterranean Sea is gaining momentum right in time for an important vote. Filmmakers Marcello Brecciaroli, Salvatore Altiero and Manuele Bonaccorsi dedicated a year of their lives to make Italian Offshore to inform the citizens of their country about the truths of this drilling and the grave effects it is having on the

“La pelle umana delle cose, il derma della realtà, ecco con che cosa gioca anzitutto il cinema.” (A. Artaud) Questo è il momento della Basilicata nel mondo del cinema. La sua bellezza è tra le migliori presenze del cinema Italiano. Sembra che ogni settimana, esca un film fatto in Lucania. La regione sta veramente diventando conosciuta attraverso il mondo come la terra di cinema. La Riva , il nuovo cortometraggio del regista lucano Nicola Ragone sarà mostrato nell'ambito del V° Meeting Internazionale del Cinema Indipendente a Matera. Ho parlato con Ragone di questo film e del suo lavoro. Raccontami “La Riva”. La Riva è un cortometraggio scritto da Antonio Andrisani, prodotto dalla società di produzione Arifa Film, grazie al “Bando alla crisi”, promosso dalla Lucana Film Commission. E’ stato un progetto interessante, mi ha permesso di esplorare un orizzonte stilistico nuovo, un contenitore di personaggi, luoghi e situazioni particolari. Un mondo assurdo e grottesco, meta

Last week, Italian documentary filmmaker Roberto Minervini received a special mention Nastro d'Argento (Il Nastro Speciale) for his film, "The Other Side." Today, it was announced the film will be shown on Opening Night of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Art of the Reel film series. Minervini is becoming known for his hybrid form of filmmaking, which shows people essentially play themselves, creating the look and feel of a documentary, while the director clearly intervenes to create situations rather than observe them. His work is among the most interesting to emerge from the US in recent years, which may be surprising considering he is an Italian who has decided to poke his camera into the margins of American society. On the heels of his superb trilogy of Texas-based films ( The Passage , Low Tide , Stop the Pounding Heart ), Minervini moves his focus to Louisiana, where we come face-to-face with a group of people who seem to have stepped out of "Del

Montedoro , is the fascinating, true story of an Italian-American woman named Pia Mann, or Porziella Boffilo as she was originally named, whose journey to find her birth mother led her to Craco, a deserted town in the heart of southern Italy. What preceded that fateful journey was a life of pain, trials and emotional challenges. Pia’s earliest memories go back to her life as a toddler in Italy. She has blurry images of people, places and emotions like love and fear. She has fleeting recollections of meeting her adoptive parents in New York and then growing up in America, struggling between the loyalty and gratitude that her head was telling her to feel for her adoptive family, and the longing in her heart to know about her roots and where she came from.    An olive grove in Basilicata photographed by Antonello Faretta Montedoro is an expression of love by two people powered by different forces. On one hand, the film demonstrates the love and connection Pia Mann has for h