Italian Cinema Today

An icon of 1970s Italian cinema, he poured himself heart and soul into every part he played. One of the most masterful actors of his generation, Gian Maria Volonté was born in Milan in 1933. He studied his craft at Rome’s National Dramatic Arts Academy. Upon graduating in 1957,  he found work right away in theater and television, quickly earning acclaim for his skilled and passionate performances .  In one of his early roles, he played Ramón Rojo under the stage name Johnny Wells opposite Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s 1964 Spaghetti Western, “A Fistful of Dollars.” A year later, he played the role of a Native American in Leone’s follow up, “A Few Dollars More.”   His breakout role came in Elio Petri’s 1970 “Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto” (Investigation Of a Citizen Above Suspicion) , a satirical film highlighting the corruption among officials in power.  After a newly promoted unnamed police chief (Volonté) murders his mistress (Florinda ...

Carlo Levi and Anna Magnani  Fondazione Carlo Levi, Rome In my ongoing quest to learn more about 20th century artist and writer, Carlo Levi , I recently discovered one of his most celebrated masterpieces,  Ritratto di Anna Magnani  (Portrait of Anna Magnani), an  oil on canvas,  which was created in 1954.  His close friendship with Anna Magnani was news to me but what I found most fascinating about this portrait is the presence of Levi’s post-1935 style, his new pictorial approach referred to by art critics as the "wavy" brushstroke. He developed this style during his political exile in Basilicata in 1935 when he spent much of his time there creating stunning portraits of the contadini (peasants) he befriended, who served as the inspiration behind his infamous novel, Christ Stopped at Eboli , which was later made into a movie by Francesco Rosi . It fascinates me because it's further proof how much of an impact that one year of exile in Basilicata had on hi...

(Andate sotto per leggere la nostra intervista in Italiano) In Part Two of our series on the release of Francesco's Rosi's complete uncut version of Christ Stopped at Eboli, we are looking into a key scene in which Carlo Levi talks with Gagliano's mayor about the briganti freedom fighters and the peasants' never-ending struggles with red tape and government. He referenced the Siege of Melfi where he believes it all began, because up to that point, the region of Basilicata or the South for that matter had its own wealth. He went on to explain that the battle had a far-reaching effect on Lucania because not only were the riches taken and the city of Melfi destroyed, but the people were also killed. How does a culture recover when much of the population is wiped out? Today, when we speak of poverty in the South of Italy, it is worth noting that even though it was a few hundred years ago, the Siege of Melfi forever changed the region of Basilicata and impacted the...

The story and landscape of Lucania are in the spotlight during the month of April. A rare, uncut version of Francesco Rosi ’s 1979 film "Christ Stopped at Eboli" is being shown at the Film Forum in New York City’s West Village. The screenplay was adapted from the book by Carlo Levi, a doctor, writer and painter from Torino who was exiled to the southern region of Lucania (today, Basilicata) because of his political beliefs. The year was 1935 and Benito Mussolini's Fascist Party was in power. Levi was forced into exile due to the silencing of those who spoke out against fascism.  The uncut version is divided into four parts and lasts approximately four hours. The most striking difference from the two hour version is the visual decadence. The cinematographer, Pasquale De Santis, brother of director Giuseppe De Santis (Bitter Rice) , was Rosi's longtime collaborator. It's obvious from the composition of the shots and the slow pans of the unique Lucanian landsca...

A fascinating new project is in the works to correspond with the 2019 European Capital of Culture's designated city- Matera. Three regional directors are creating a documentary film, which will be comprised of four vignettes related to Matera and its neighboring towns. Matera 15/19 is a labor of love for these three lucani filmmakers who take pride in their region and would like to show the amazing transformation this newfound culture hub has made since the days of Carlo Levi's 1945 portrait of poverty and desperation in his book Christ Stopped at Eboli . The book was later made into a movie by  Francesco Rosi and although the book and film brought much-needed attention to he plight of the people, it has been tough for the region to shake those images. Even today, leading tourist books often written by authors who never stepped foot in the region refer to Levi's portrayal, calling the region underdeveloped and poor. Basilicata's new generation of fil...