The New York
Film Festival announced its lineup this week and will offer a diverse Italian
presence, which will include a contemporary documentary filmmaker, a female
director and a restored classic.
The Revivals section, which showcases masterpieces from renowned filmmakers whose works have been digitally remastered, restored,and preserved, will screen Gillo Pontecorvo’s epic film, "The Battle of Algiers". The film opened the NYFF in 1967 and will return this year to mark its 50th anniversary in a new 4K restoration. Legendary composer Ennio Morricone wrote the score, which sets the tone for the black-and-white cinematography and newsreel-effect footage. Pontecorvo’s account of the popular uprising that led to Algerian independence from the French took “documentary realism” to a new level, creating a structure in which the events themselves took center stage, cast the film almost entirely with non-actors, and filmed in grainy black-and-white to create a heightened “you are there” immediacy. Banned in France, embraced by the Black Panthers, and studied by the Pentagon following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, "The Battle of Algiers" is based on the book "Souvenirs de la bataille d’Alger" by Saadi Yacef (who also plays a character based on himself). The film was restored by Cineteca di Bologna and Istituto Luce – Cinecittà at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in collaboration with Surf Film, Casbah Entertainment Inc., and CultFilms.
The common trait that Alice Rohrwacher’s films have in common is their sense of fantasy. Perhaps it’s the atmospheric lighting or the long, complicated silences between her characters. Whatever the process, she consistently succeeds in achieving a surreal atmosphere and this is the trademark and signature style of her work. She also tends to tell stories from the point-of-view of innocence, whether it be a child or teenager. In accepting her awards and talking about her work, she comes across as humble and grateful for the success she has had. The Film Society of Lincoln Center Deputy Director Eugene Hernandez describes Rohrwacher as “a distinctive filmmaker with a warm, infectious spirit.”
Award-winning
director Gianfranco Rosi will present his documentary, "Fire at Sea"
(Fuocoammare). Winner of this year's Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival,
this screening will mark Rosi's debut at the New York Film Festival, although
he presented his 2014 "Sacro Gra" at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's
annual series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. "Fire at Sea" is an
observation of Europe’s migrant crisis from the vantage point of Lampedusa, a
Mediterranean island where hundreds of thousands of refugees, fleeing war and
poverty, have landed in recent decades. Rosi shows the harrowing work of rescue
operations but devotes most of the film to the daily rhythms of Lampedusa, seen
through the eyes of a doctor who treats casualties and performs autopsies, and
a feisty but anxious pre-teen from a family of fishermen for whom it is simply
a peripheral fact of life. The film
shows an ongoing tragedy, which doesn't show any signs of ending. The films is scheduled to be released nationwide on October 21, 2016.
The Revivals section, which showcases masterpieces from renowned filmmakers whose works have been digitally remastered, restored,and preserved, will screen Gillo Pontecorvo’s epic film, "The Battle of Algiers". The film opened the NYFF in 1967 and will return this year to mark its 50th anniversary in a new 4K restoration. Legendary composer Ennio Morricone wrote the score, which sets the tone for the black-and-white cinematography and newsreel-effect footage. Pontecorvo’s account of the popular uprising that led to Algerian independence from the French took “documentary realism” to a new level, creating a structure in which the events themselves took center stage, cast the film almost entirely with non-actors, and filmed in grainy black-and-white to create a heightened “you are there” immediacy. Banned in France, embraced by the Black Panthers, and studied by the Pentagon following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, "The Battle of Algiers" is based on the book "Souvenirs de la bataille d’Alger" by Saadi Yacef (who also plays a character based on himself). The film was restored by Cineteca di Bologna and Istituto Luce – Cinecittà at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in collaboration with Surf Film, Casbah Entertainment Inc., and CultFilms.
Alice
Rohrwacher
Earlier this
year, the Film Society of Lincoln Center announced its 2016 artist in residence
is the Tuscan native director Alice Rohrwacher. The "artist in
residence" program was launched in 2013 by Jaeger-LeCoultre and the Film
Society of Lincoln Center as an annual initiative designed to support
filmmakers at an early stage in the creative process against the backdrop of
New York City and the New York Film Festival. “I can’t imagine a better gift
than to spend time in New York, take part in the events at the New York Film
Festival, and to have the time to research in local archives and libraries for
my next film,” said Rohrwacher upon being named. During her residency, Rohrwacher
will continue to write her third feature, “My Bitter Land” about the adventures
of a man living on the margins of his society who can seemingly travel through
time.
Born in
Florence in 1981 to an Italian mother and German Father, Alice Rohrwacher
attended Torino University where she graduated with a degree in Classic
Literature. Her first jobs after college included writing for theater and
playing music. She entered the film industry as an editor of documentary films
before directing her first feature, “Corpo Celeste” (Heavenly Body), the tale
of a teenage girl painfully assimilating into the culture of southern Italy and
the Roman Catholic Church. The film premiered in Cannes Film Festival’s
Directors’ Fortnight in 2011, and was then selected for a number of
international film festivals before being released in the United States.
Rohrwacher’s
second feature, “Le meraviglie” (The Wonders) centers on a family of beekeepers
living in isolation in the Tuscan countryside. She called on her own experience
of growing up in two cultures with an Italian mother and German father. The
film explores the challenges of a newly immigrated German family trying to
succeed in Italy. The dynamic of their overcrowded household is disrupted by
the arrival of a silently troubled teenage boy taken in as a farmhand while a
reality TV show (featuring a host played by Monica Bellucci) is intent on
profiling the family. Both intrusions capture the attention of the eldest
daughter, Gelsomina, who is struggling to find her purpose in the world. Rohrwacher
gracefully conveys her adolescent sense of curiosity and confusion. The film
won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where it premiered
and features her sister. Italian A-lister Alba Rohrwacher.
In 2015 she
directed “De Djess,” a short film commissioned by Prada as part of its
women’s-only label Miu Miu. The ninth installment of the “Miu Miu Women’s
Tales,” the film was shown in the Venice Days section of the Venice Film
Festival. Also starring her sister Alba, “De Djess” features a stunning
designer dress with crystal beads, which practically comes alive with emotion.
The dialogue is presented as a made-up language and pokes a bit of fun at the
world of high fashion with its temperamental models and hysteric paparazzi. Watch "De Djess"..
Alice Rohrwacher is currently working on directing her first opera, a new version of “La Traviata” for Teatri di Reggio Emilia that will open in November. The 2016 New York Film Festival will run September 30 – October 16 at Lincoln Center. Click here for the complete lineup.
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