Documentary on the Family of Francis Ford Coppola getting International Attention

Update May 12, 2016

"The Family whistle" will be shown at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on May 19 in the "Classic" section. The Lucana Film Commission will be on hand to present the film along with the director Michele Russo. According to Paride Leporace, the director of the Lucana Film Commission, the film is "an 'epic that from Augustine to Carmine - reaches the last generation of the Coppola family to Sofia through the genius of Francis Ford Coppola, the most famous and influential living testimonial of Basilicata. The film features photography by Basilicata-born Ugo Lo Pinto, who for this work has just won the Indie Spec Best Cinematography Award at the Boston International Film Festival. Furthermore, historical documentaries made in Lucania by Cinematheque. - American Zoetrope and Cultural Ulysses have proved once again, that Basilicata is a land of Cinema internationally recognized."

Directed by Basilicata-born filmmaker Michele Russo, "The Family Whistle" is the story of the famed Coppola family of filmmakers and musicians that descends from Agostino Coppola, a poor immigrant from Bernalda, an impoverished village in Southern Italy. Interviews and archival footage portray how the family history has inspired these artists, and how they continue to renew their ties to the land of their origin.

The film made its U.S. premiere in April at the Boston International Film Festival and earned an award for its cinematography. It will be available for viewing at Cannes on May 19 at the Majestic Hotel between the hours of 10:30am and 17:30pm in the Italian Pavilion. in addition to the Lucana Film Commission, representatives from the numerous Italian film commissions will be present.

12 Maggio 2016

La Lucana Film Commission, con il patrocinio e il contributo di Sensi Cinema e della Regione Basilicata, sostiene il film “The Family whistle-Il fischio di famiglia”, selezionato al sessantesimo Festival di Cannes nella sezione Classic, organizzando il 19 maggio, giorno della proiezione del documentario, all’Italian Pavillon un incontro di promozione di questo significativo progetto cinematografico.

"Sosteniamo il regista Michele Salfi Russo, lucano di Bernalda, che con cuore e talento ha ricostruito la storia della sua famiglia oltreoceano incrociando l’epica artistica dei parenti Coppola". Così dichiara il direttore della Lucana Film Commission, Paride Leporace, che aggiunge: "un’ epopea che da Agostino a Carmine - continua Leporace- giunge all’ultima generazione di Sofia, attraversando il genio di Francis Ford Coppola, il più celebre e autorevole testimonial vivente della Basilicata. Con la fotografia del lucano Ugo Lo Pinto, che proprio per questo lavoro ha appena vinto l'Indie Spec Best Cinematography Award al Boston International Film festival, e i documentari storici della Cineteca lucana- conclude Leporace- American Zoetrope e Ulisse Cultural hanno realizzato un documentario che anche sulla Croisette, ribadisce, ancora una volta, che la “Basilicata è terra di Cinema riconosciuta a livello internazionale."

L'agenda della Lucana Film Commission a Cannes, si arricchisce di altri importanti appuntamenti. La fondazione cinematografica lucana parteciperà alle iniziative dell’Italian Film Commission, cui aderisce. Tra le principali si segnalano il meeting “Cosa offre l’Italia all'audiovisivo internazionale?”, che si terrà il giorno 19 maggio all’Hotel Majestic, dalle 10,30 alle 17,30, nell'area business del Padiglione Italiano, dove saranno presenti tutte le film Commission italiane.

Stretta collaborazione anche con il Centro del Corto italiano, che a Cannes presenta la nuova Italian Short Films Video Library, il primo catalogo digitale volto a promuovere sul mercato internazionale i cortometraggi realizzati nel nostro Paese. In questa ottica, la Lucana Film Commission, ed in virtù dell'importante produzione di cortometraggi che contraddistingue la cinematografia made in Basilicata, ha comprato degli spazi che ha offerto ai produttori e autori lucani per favorire occasioni di diffusione delle loro opera.

Comments

7 Days - 7 Women: Interview with Actress Sabrina Impacciatore

Photo by Rossella Vetrano On Day 6 of our series, 7 Days - 7 Women, in which we are profiling seven strong, talented women working as filmmakers, writers or visual artists, we talk with actress Sabrina Impacciatore about the diversity of her roles. Whether she's playing a devoted mother trying to protect her child, Jesus Christ's "Veronica" in Mel Gibson's controversial film, "Passion of the Christ" or a young woman coming of age, Impacciatore escapes into the life and mind of each character she takes on, sometimes so deeply that she believes she is actually them. It's a fine line between reality and fiction, but she treads it carefully and anyone watching her performance benefits from her emotional connection to the character that she becomes. I spoke with Impacciatore at the 2010 Open Roads: New Italian Film series in New York City. We talked about her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. She also gave me some insight into the diff

A Conversation With the Man Who Played Pasolini's Christ

There have been countless cinematic interpretations of the books of the Bible, but few have stood the test of time. One that qualifies as a classic is Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1964 “Il Vangolo secondo Matteo” (The Gospel According to St. Matthew). Considered by the Vatican to be among the best film adaptations of one of the Gospels, Pasolini’s 1964 film was shot in the regions of Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata. In an interview with RAI television while on location in Matera, Pasolini talked about the reasons for shooting there. “I chose two or three places in Basilicata. One is Barile, a town of Albanians. I needed a place for Bethlehem. Another location is Matera because it reminded me of Jerusalem,” he explained. Pasolini’s interpretation of St. Matthews’s Gospel is pure, with no added commentary. He said that he followed the Gospel word for word without adding a single syllable. He explained in the interview that his idea to make the film happened by coincidence. “In October of 19

Anna Foglietta: Actress and Activist with Old School Elegance

One look at actress Anna Foglietta in her any of her roles, and the Golden Age of Italian cinema comes to mind. Among Italy’s most sought-after actresses today, Foglietta brings to the table a classic eloquence of yesterday while representing Italy’s modern woman. Born in Rome in 1979, Foglietta began her career in 2005 with a role in the RAI television series La squadra . Her character Agent Anna De Luca had a two-year run on the series as she was transitioning to cinema with Paolo Virzì’s 2006 ensemble project 4-4-2- Il gioco più bello del mondo . Since then, she has become one of Italy’s most diverse actresses, transforming herself into interesting, layered characters for comedies and dramas alike. Aside from a small part in Anton Corbijn’s 2010 film The American starring George Clooney, Foglietta’s work began reaching mainstream American audiences in 2015. As Elisa in Edoardo Leo’s 2015 comedy Noi e la Giulia , Foglietta showed her funny side playing a goofball pregn

Michelangelo Frammartino's "Il buco" — Unearthing our past

When a team of speleologists descended 700 meters into the Bifurto Abyss in Cosenza, Calabria, in 1961, they discovered that the underground caverns were the third deepest in the world and the deepest in Europe. Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Frammartino retraces that mission six decades later with a cast of locals and their livestock in his latest documentary, “Il buco” (“The Hole”). Inspiration for the film came while he was on location shooting his 2007 documentary, “Le quattro volte” (“Four Times”). Officials in the Pollino mountains, which stretch between Calabria and Basilicata, showed him what appeared to be just another sinkhole. Frammartino failed to understand their enthusiasm until they tossed a large stone into the void. It disappeared without making a sound. He was so overcome by the experience and the eerie landscape, he was haunted for years, compelling him to make his current film, one of many rooted in nature. “I was born in Milan, but my family is from Calabria. My pa

The Rochester Global Short Film Series

Now in its fourth year, the Rochester Global Short Film Series is a celebration of world cinema. The first edition was held in Rochester, New York in March of 2020 just before the world paused for the global pandemic. We pride ourselves in providing a platform for the voices and perspectives of independent filmmakers. Home of Eastman Kodak and nicknamed "The World's Image Center", Rochester has a long history of supporting the performing arts. It is the birthplace of numerous renowned artists including Oscar-winning actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Oscar-nominated actor John Lithgow, Oscar-nominated actor Robert Forster, actress Kristen Wiig and soprano Renée Fleming. Silent film star Louise Brooks spent the last years of her life in Rochester writing her memoir, “Lulu in Hollywood.” Known for her independent spirit and displeasure with pretentiousness, she is one of the influences behind the event. The other influence is Susan B. Anthony, a women's rights activist wh

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog