Italian Cinema Today

I've been seeing so many posters on social media promoting Giuseppe Bonito's new film Figli (Children), which will open in Italy on January 23. The film stars two of my personal favorites, Paola Cortellesi as Sara and Valerio Mastandrea as Nicola, a happily married couple with a 6-year-old girl daughter, Anna. The arrival of their second child, Pietro, upsets the balance of the whole family, giving rise to hilariously tragic situations. Extravagant grandparents, friends on the verge of nervous breakdowns, and unlikely babysitters will not help them. Between moments of happiness and situations of despair, Sara and Nicola do all they can to cope and stay together. The release of the film will undoubtedly be a bittersweet experience for the cast and crew because the writer, Mattia Torre, passed away after losing his battle with cancer in July of last year at the age of 47. In a director's note, Bonito stated that he feels Figli is a film by Torre because he didn't s...

She was born into a family of filmmakers, grew up in the paradise of the Mediterranean and could have been a movie star. Instead, she chose to make meaningful documentaries on social issues, human rights and the legacy of cinema. If that wasn’t enough, she started a film festival in that paradise to give voice to other filmmakers, journalists and activists who share her vision. Giovanna Taviani is the daughter of the legendary director, Vittorio Taviani and niece of Paolo Taviani, who are known as the filmmaking duo, the Taviani Brothers. Born in 1969, she had an early interest in literature and cinema, and today is considered a scholar of those subjects, having authored several essays. Among the topics of those essays were novelist Luigi Pirandello, the films of neorealism and the cinema of Luchino Visconti. When she was a teenager, she had a role in her father's 1984 film, Kaos but instead of pursuing acting as a career, opted for a life behind the camera as a director. ...