Italian Cinema Today

I saw a very intense short film last night at the Rome Independent Film Festival directed by a woman and starring a woman. L’Attesa (The Wait) follows a mother who is frantically trying to locate her son after she hears about a terrorist attack in London where he is studying abroad.  The film is 24 minutes long and is carried entirely by actress Lucianna De Falco. Her performance was so subtle yet intense, you could not help but think of Anna Magnani. De Falco is a character actress who has appeared in numerous movies over the years and has worked with the likes of Lina Wertmuller, Ferzan Ozpetek, Carlo Vanzini and Paolo Genovese. One of her more recent roles was in Ammore e malavita by the Manetti Brothers.  The short film was directed by a 23-year-old Neapolitan writer/director named Angela Bevilacqua. This is her second film. She actually made her first when she was just 17. The Theater of Memories premiered at the 44th edition of the Giffoni Film Festival. She publishe

She has immortalized two of the most memorable characters in American cinema and now she’s promoting her new film that mirrors issues facing the working class. Talia Shire became a household name in the 1970s with her role as Connie Corleone in "The Godfather" and Adrian Balboa in "Rocky"– two characters that went on to experience tremendous growth in the sequels of both films.  Shire and her brother, collaborator and director Francis Ford Coppola grew up in a family that embraced the arts. Their father Carmine Coppola was a renowned flutist and composer. He often took his children on the road when he performed. So there was always that creative energy and sense of adventure present in their childhood and adolescent years.  “What you have to understand is that Francis is probably the greatest writer. He and Mario (Puzo) did Shakespeare and the Greeks. So people who love "The Godfather" are really listening to literature. He went on and did what

Curated for the Rome Film Festival, the photo exhibit, Luxardo e il cinema , consists of images of iconic protagonists during the infamous Golden Age of Italian cinema, including Alberto Sordi, Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida. All the works, which will remain on display until December 1, belong to the 3M Foundation archive, a permanent cultural research and training institution and proprietor of a vast photographic archive of about 110,000 images. Through this exhibition, created in collaboration with Daniele Luxardo, nephew of the famous photographer, and curated by the photo critic Roberto Mutti, Fondazione 3M pays tribute to the great faces of Italian cinema. As a lover of cinema, Elio Luxardo had learned on the set to use lights in an innovative way to enhance faces. In his shots, the photographer manages to bring out the characteristics of each of his subjects, emphasizing the irony of one look and the seductive strength of another. Watch a clip from my

Three iconic women of Italian cinema took part in the Governors Awards on October 28 in Los Angeles. Sophia Loren gave a heartfelt tribute to her longtime friend and collaborator, director Lina Wertmuller, who received an honorary Oscar for her tremendous body of work that includes classic films like Seven Loves, Swept Away and Il Professore. Isabella shared the stage and translated Wertmüller's acceptance speech. Rossellini gave her own tribute that evening to American director David Lynch. She told the story of how the two met at a dinner when Lynch brought up the script that he was working on. Helen Mirren had turned down the lead role, and he was wondering if perhaps Rossellini would be interested in checking out his script. Well she did and the rest is history. That 1986 film, Blue Velvet , instantly became a contemporary classic and has remained a masterpiece of American cinema. The thriller co-stars Kyle MacLachlan and Dennis Hopper. Set in a small North Carolina town,

Adapted from the novel by Jack London, "Martin Eden" is the story of an unskilled laborer. When he meets Elena, the daughter of a wealthy industrial family, it's love at first sight. So as not to feel inferior to Elena's upper class lifestyle, he sets into motion his dreams of becoming a writer, hoping that it will help him rise above his humble origins. The steps he takes in achieving his goals turn out to change his life and his perspective. He experiences a "political awakening" and questions Elena's  bourgeois world. The film made its world premiere at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was recently shown at the New York Film Festival. That's where we caught up with the director, Pietro Marcello. He talked about his Italian adaption of an American novel and why he immediately had actor Luca Marinelli in mind to play the title role. Tell us about the challenges of adapting a book for cinema.. It was a very free transposition of "

On this first "Female Filmmaker Friday" in November,  I’d like to pay tribute to two iconic women filmmakers who shared a tender moment this week at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles. Sophia Loren payed tribute to director Lina Wertmüller in recognition of the long overdue honorary Oscar that she received this week. I subtitled the beginning when Sophia talks directly to Lina. I find the exchange so sweet and sincere as Lina is truly moved by the words of her longtime collaborator and friend. It’s such a relatable moment between these two great women, one 85 years of age and the other 91. How many old friends do we care deeply about but just don’t get the opportunity to see? It’s a beautiful moment and gave me the chills the first time I saw it.  Watch Lina's acceptance speech... The film that Sophia is referring to is called Blood Feud . It’s a suspense film that stars Loren along with Marcello Mastroianni and Giancarlo Giannini. It was made in