Italian Cinema Today

Singer/Songwriter Rosmy performs at the Giornate del Cinema Lucano in Maratea My editor at  Fra Noi Magazine recently asked me to write an article about my experience traveling through Basilicata and researching my origins there. If you've followed this blog for a while, then you know that I am always happy to offer my insight into contemporary Basilicata. New School Basilicata It has been 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America. I was living in New York City at the time and working at ABC News as a video editor. Seeing all that heartbreaking footage of people jumping to their deaths from the Twin Towers and then walking through the eeriness of Manhattan made me realize how precious life is and how we can literally be here one moment and gone the next. That realization led me to do something I had been putting off for years — perform a genealogical search of my maternal great-grandmother’s family in Basilicata. Of all my great-grandparents who emigrated from Italy, I ...

Each Sunday during the winter, we will be putting the spotlight on films with a culinary twist, whether it be an article, interview or just a post on one of our social media platforms. The focus for this series will be on the southern part of the Italian peninsula- in particular, the regions of Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily. During the summer, I traveled through central and southern Italy and spoke with a number of contemporary filmmakers of lucano origin about why Basilicata is emerging as a land of cinema. I asked these filmmakers what motivates them to stay in Basilicata when so many of their young counterparts have fled to northern regions in search of work. While in Rome, I met up with the accomplished, award-winning artist and filmmaker Gaetano Russo, who we will be visiting often in this series. He is from Bernalda and is very active in the filmmaking and artistic communities throughout the region. He is a cousin of Francis Ford Coppola and that is apparent b...

Nestled in the Dolomite mountains of southern Italy's rich, historic region of Basilicata, Castelmezzano radiates the same southern beauty as its  own  Alessandra Romano Baudelaire, a stunning, talented filmmaker who left for Los Angeles to work as an actress.  Although the move took courage and sacrifice, Romano Baudelaire has found her share of success in both leading and supporting roles.  After having recently visited her  picturesque hometown and meeting members of her beautiful family, I can understand how the sincere passion for her work and the desire to make the world a better place through her art ignited her need to give it all she had and chase after her dream.  Romano Baudelaire and I have been connected for some time on social media. In light of wanting to know more about the young people of her region- why some stay and others leave- I asked her about her work, her love of acting and her dreams for the ...