Italian Cinema Today

Last Sunday we launched the eighth edition of our winter series Cinema & Cibo with an update from our first edition in 2014, a film shown that year at the Berlin Film Fest that has recently been made available online by Cineteca di Bologna. Click here for the story.  In this week’s edition,  a fun, quick recipe for a classic Roman dish and some recollections of the great Roman actor  Alberto Sordi . This interview took place in the mid-late 1990s. In this clip, he talks about how he and his actor friends didn’t have much money in the early days, so they just ate once a day and it was always prior to a performance to build up strength. During the interview, the host was insisting on talking about the beautiful women with whom he shared the screen and he seemed bashful about it, almost uncomfortable, saying that he never kissed on-screen and wouldn’t divulge the off-screen romances of his youth. Although he seems a little tired, I enjoyed this interview because his sub...

"Cinema is about the gaze, about where someone is looking. I love to make movies where a character is thinking the line but not speaking the line.” One of Italy’s most prolific and visionary filmmakers, Ferzan Ozpetek, draws inspiration from situations in everyday life and adds his unique point-of-view to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.  Born in Turkey in 1959, Ozpetek moved to Rome two decades later to work in theater and assist various film directors.  In 1997, he made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Hamam Turkish Bath , which went on to win two Golden Globes for Best New Director and Best Soundtrack. Since then, Ozpetek has directed some of the most beautiful and profound films of contemporary Italian cinema. He calls upon his own life experiences when deciding on a film project. He then builds upon that experience with his writing partner and close friend of more than 30 years, Gianni Romoli. Together, they transform an idea into a m...

It was just announced on Friday that director, Cristina Comencini will be attending the North American premiere of her latest film, Latin Lover at the 2015 edition of Lincoln Center’s annual film series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema. The female ensemble comedy tells the story of four sisters. Ten years after the death of their father, the famous actor, Saverio (Francesco Scianna), they are forced to face secrets buried in the past.The film explores the consequences of infidelity and how the offspring of multiple marriages and affairs have to deal with the voids, resentment and in this case, sisters from other mothers. I felt a lot of anger while I watched this film, anger towards the man that created all this drama, an arrogant, aloof, self-centered actor, portrayed perfectly by Sicilian born, Francesco Scianna. A few years ago, Maria Sole Tognazzi’s film, L’uomo che ama (The Man Who Loves) was presented at Open Roads. It showed infidelity through the eyes of a man whose fiancé ...

On the occasion of a film retrospective honoring German filmmaker, Wim Wenders, I thought we'd revisit a film he shot in Italy with actress, Giovanna Mezzogiorno. The "shooting" in the title of the film is not what it initially seems.  As a successful photographer of world-wide renown, lead character, Finn (Campino) leads a life that is as prominent as it is hectic. He gets by with very little sleep, his cell phone is never still, and the music from his headphones is his most constant  companion. But when his life suddenly spins out of control, Finn takes off and leaves everything behind. His journey leads him from Düsseldorf to Palermo. There he finds himself persecuted by a mysterious shooter who’s after him with a vengeance. At the same time a whole new life is beginning for Finn. And a great love.. The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. For more information about Wenders retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, visit their...

Born in Rome on August 14, 1971 to southern Italian parents, Raoul Bova was naturally athletic, starting out with a love of sports. He encountered a freak accident when he was a child and almost drown while frolicking in the sea. That life-changing experience made him confront his fear of water and take up swimming. The sport ended up becoming a huge passion for him and at the age of sixteen, he earned a championship title for the S.S. Lazio team of Rome, one of the oldest and most renowned sport clubs in Europe. He went on to pursue a degree in Physical Education but that was cut short soon after he discovered a passion for acting. Although he never intended to give up sports as a hobby, he knew in his heart that acting was his true love and wanted to pursue it as a career. He enrolled in the drama school, Beatrice Bracco, and never looked back. Bova started working right away, with his first role as Giuliano Amitrano in Stefano Reali’s 1992 made-for-television movie, "Una ...