Italian Cinema Today

The 2019 Venice Film Festival is officially underway.  One highly anticipated film is  Scherza con i fanti by Gianfranco Pannone and Ambrogio Sparagna.  The documentary covers over a hundred years from the Unification of Italy to the present to illustrate the varied relationship Italians have had with the military and power in general. The film combines rare stock footage with traditional folk songs and four diaries kept by a soldier for the Kingdom of Italy in the 1800s, a fighter in Ethiopia in 1935, a female resistance fighter during World War II and a sergeant in the Italian Navy in the Kosovo.  The film will be shown in the Sala Perla on August 31 as a Special Event in the program, Giornate degli Autori.    Click here for details on the screening.  Check out the trailer... 

Photo by John de Mirjian A new documentary that sheds light on a comic strip character that has become legendary is about to premiere at the 75th Venice Film Festival. Giancarlo Soldi's  Cercando Valentina  is the story of artist Guido Crepax's sensual, iconic character "Valentina". Here is a look at the actress who inspired her. Louise Brooks Black and white photographs of the silent film era preserve mystery and nostalgia from days gone by. Silent film star, Louise Brooks is often at the center of those fascinating portraits. Famous for her bob hairstyle and iconic flapper costumes, her influence and legacy reaches far beyond American shores. “Louise Brooks is my favorite actress,” revealed Italian director Marco Tullio Giordana when we spoke with him at the 2018 edition of Lincoln Center’s Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. “When I saw G. W. Pabst’s Lulù and then Augusto Genina’s Prix de Beauté (Miss Europe) with this extraordinary American actress, I fell madly

The city council in Federico Fellini's hometown of Rimini has approved the first of four stages planned for the realization of the Fellini Museum, which is due to open in 2020. Referred to as the “Fellini Experience”, the museum will offer fans and cinema aficionados a place to experience the work of the Italian cinema master of cinema in all its forms and dimensions. The museum will not be limited to a single exhibition place, rather the entire historic center of Rimini will house a wide cultural celebration. "It is our intention that the Fellini Museum will have to have the same role and centrality as the 'Guggenheim Museum for Bilbao, a cultural and art engine, which has the ambition to cover its precise space in the great international museum network. It will not be an immobile shrine but the dynamic of the legacy left by the Master,"  said the Mayor of Rimini, Andrea Gnassi. The project, which received funding from Mibac , will consist of three

Buon Ferragosto! Celebrate the European feasting holiday Italian-style with these two classics on Amazon  and The Criterion Collection. Pranzo di Ferragosto (Mid-August Lunch) Il Sorpasso

Free Spirits of Mario Martone's Capri Revolution on the coast of Gaeta “Città del Cinema” (City of Cinema) is a recent nickname given to a former fortress for the Roman Empire.  Located on the southern end of Rome’s region of #Lazio and bordering Naples' region of #Campania, Gaeta boasts picturesque mountainous shorelines and centuries-old structures. Scenes from Saverio Costanzo's HBO series  L'amica geniale ( My Brilliant Friend) were filmed in July along the city's seascapes .  The director shot scenes from the first season and returned to film scenes with director Alice Rohrwacher, his girlfriend and collaborator. The set was closed and for the most part, hidden from public view. The scenes were shot on the beach and in the sea. There's speculation that the scenes are part of a vacation plot of the two friends, Elena and Elisa, played by actresses Margherita Mazzucco and Gaia Girace.  Click here   to see a few photos of the shoot taken from a di

A brand new channel is set to launch via Amazon in December and will feature Italian movies of yesterday and today. Movie Italy will make available on demand the monumental classics that have stood the test of time as well as contemporary films, demonstrating the evolution of Italian cinema. The project is being spearheaded by Italian distribution company Minerva Pictures. I spoke with one of the project's organizers, Gianluca Curti, for the full story. How was this project born? From the awareness of the importance of Italian cinema and Italian culture in the history of the United States, we have therefore created a team to bring all our cinema to the United States- the home of cinema and Hollywood. We want to do a well-organized service for all Americans who love Italy and Italian culture, who love the Renaissance and our history, which is well told by the cinema, and, of course, to all Italians who live and work in the USA. How will it work? It will be a paid channe

One of the masters of commedia all’Italiana, he had a talent for deconstructing complex behaviors while maintaining his sharp sense of humor. Born in 1914 in northern Italy but with an affinity for the South, director Pietro Germi emerged as a leading filmmaker toward the end of the neorealist period and was instrumental in creating the commedia all’Italiana genre. What made his films unique was his ability to grapple with the social issues that were dominating Italy at the time, posing questions that needed to be asked, but in a way that was entertaining, clever, funny and visually beautiful. The 1954 film Mid-Century Loves is a 52-minute gem that contains five short tales of love directed by Pietro Germi, Mario Chiari, Roberto Rossellini, Antonio Pietrangelo and Glauco Pellegrini. Each vignette is a decadent piece of cinematic perfection with richly detailed sets, regional music and spectacular cinematography.  Germi’s segment, War 1915-18 follows the struggles of a youn