A Documentary for the Times at the Cleveland International Film Festival

Directed by Stefano Liberti and Enrico Parenti, and edited by Erika Manoni, Soyalism explores the contemporary issue of food production control becoming a huge business for a handful of giant corporations. Following the industrial production chain of pork, from China to Brazil through the United States and Mozambique, the documentary describes the enormous concentration of power in the hands of these Western and Chinese companies. This movement is putting out of business hundreds of thousands of small producers and transforming permanently entire landscapes. Launched in United States at the end of the Seventies, the system has been exported across the world, especially in large-populated countries such as China. From waste-lagoons in North Carolina to soybeans monoculture developed in the Amazon rainforest to feed animals, the movie describes how the expansion of this process is jeopardizing the social and environmental balance of the planet.

The documentary will be shown at the Cleveland International Film Festival on April 2, 3 & 4. Click here to buy tickets.

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Luminous Legacies: Yoichi Ohira’s Murano Glass at Magazzino Italian Art

A new exhibition in Cold Spring, New York, is bringing the luminous legacy of Murano glassmaking into focus through the work of Japanese artist Yoichi Ohira. “Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano” is on view at Magazzino Italian Art until February 2027. The exhibit showcases the work of Ohira, who became a leading figure in the design of Venetian glassworks on the island of Murano. The exhibition features works that highlight the uniqueness of Ohira’s art across the decades of his career. Ohira’s earliest Murano works blend Venetian glass techniques with his own style. These pieces show balanced shapes, clear surfaces, and striking color combinations. His Venezia e l’Oriente (Venice and the Orient) decanters reflect Venice’s ties to the East, creating vases inspired by Marco Polo’s tales with a modern twist. The exhibition shows Ohira’s respect for Murano’s glass masters, displaying objects alongside preparatory drawings that map ideas to the final works of art. It also explores ho...

The Legend of Alberto Sordi - Rome's Eternal Son

′′They will always judge you, whether you behave well or if you behave badly. So screw it and live as you want but above all don't listen to anyone.′′ - Alberto Sordi By giving his fellow Italians something to laugh about during tumultuous times, he emerged as his generation’s King of Comedy. One of Italy’s best-loved personalities, Alberto Sordi played a pivotal role in Italian cinema from the end of World War II to the postwar economic boom of the 1950s. During those tumultuous years, he gave his countrymen a hearty laugh when they might have otherwise cried. Former Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi perhaps said it best: “Alberto Sordi interpreted the feelings of Italians, especially in their most difficult and tough moments.” Born in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome in 1920, Sordi grew up in a creative household. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father, a professional musician for the Rome Opera House. A young Sordi joined the children’s choir o...

Alessandro Gassmann: Born to Act

Alessandro Gassmannin his directorial debut "Razzabastarda" Alessandro Gassmann is the son of the iconic Italian actor/director Vittorio Gassman and French actress Juliette Mayniel. He was born in 1965 and grew up around cinema royalty. He made his cinema debut in 1982 at the age of 17 in his father's autobiographical film, "Di padre in figlio." He went on to study his craft under his father's direction at the Theatre Workshop of Florence. Vittorio Gassman was very active in theater and seemed just as comfortable on stage as he did in front of the camera. Known for his powerful interpretations of Dante's "Inferno" and "Paradiso," it is no surprise that he nurtured his son's acting aspirations on stage before he launched his career in television and film. One of Gassmann's strong qualities, which he undoubtedly inherited from his father is his incredible range and ease in going from genre to genre. He can play ...

Netflix's 'Il Gattopardo" — A classic reborn

Netflix photo A new Netflix series adaptation of “The Leopard,” based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s seminal novel, is captivating audiences worldwide. Directed by British filmmaker Tom Shankland, the series revisits the iconic tale first brought to the screen by Luchino Visconti in 1963. Set against the backdrop of 1860s Sicily during the Risorgimento, the film follows Prince Fabrizio Salina (Kim Rossi Stuart), an aging aristocrat witnessing the decline of the Sicilian nobility and the rise of a new social order. As Garibaldi’s forces land in Sicily, the prince reflects on the now-fleeting aristocratic way of life. His nephew Tancredi (Saul Nanni) embraces the changes and aligns himself with the new order, famously stating, “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” Prince Fabrizio, once the epitome of male, moneyed privilege, finds himself grappling with a changing world where his way of life is becoming obsolete. He comes to realize that the aristocracy ...

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration. Nicknamed a “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as the actress who moved him most, Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times. Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...

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