Italian Cinema Today

Photo Credit: Archivio Luce Cinecittà Luchino Visconti’s 1957 film, “White Nights” (“Le notti bianche”), offers a thoughtful and poignant exploration of themes such as loneliness, desire and emotional vulnerability. Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella of the same name, it transports the tale from 19th-century St. Petersburg to a dreamy mid-20th-century Italian setting. While Visconti remains largely faithful to Dostoevsky’s narrative, his characteristic style infuses the film with emotional depth, striking visuals, and a focus on class and societal constraints.   The story follows a young man named Matteo, played by Marcello Mastroianni, who lives a solitary life in a small Italian town. One evening, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Natalia, portrayed by Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell, who is also feeling isolated. Although she is initially reluctant, Natalia eventually confides in Matteo about her love for a man who has promised to return and marry her, but he ha...

The lightheartedness with which Walter Chiari graced the screen was a defining trait in his life. It led to dramatic professional successes as well as personal travails that seemed better suited for one of his movies. Born Walter Annicchiarico in Verona to Pugliese parents on March 8, 1924, Chiari spent his teenage years excelling in sports, earning championships in boxing, bocce and swimming. During the early 1940s, he worked as a radio technician and bank clerk. While at the bank, he became known for his imitations of Adolf Hitler, which ultimately got him fired. That proved to be a blessing in disguise, motivating him to give acting a try. He started out in theater while maintaining side jobs as a cartoonist and writer. At the start of World War II, Chiari enlisted in the Italian navy and contributed to the newspaper L’Orizzonte as a satirical cartoonist. In January 1944, he participated in an amateur stage competition in which he revived his imitation of Hitler. The performance was...

Alida Valli was born Alida Maria Laura Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg in Pola, Istria, on April 29, 1921. Christened a baroness, she became a movie star at 15. Valli made her screen debut as a lead in Mario Bonnard’s 1937 comedy “Il feroce Saladino.”  In an interview featured in Mimmo Verdesca's 2020 documentary, “Alida Valli: In Her Own Words,” she explained how her last name was changed to Valli. “The writer Amedeo Castellazzi and the director Mario Bonnard found it (Valli) in the phone book. Because Altenburger was a foreign name, it was a bit too long, and so Alida Altenburger didn’t sound right,” she explained. Valli entered the film industry during a period when Italy’s Fascist government was constructing Cinecittà while producing its own propaganda films. Known as Telefoni Bianchi (White Telephones), the films of this era imitated American comedies and featured upper-class families, opulent Art Deco sets, and the namesake telephones, which symbolized the well-to-do...

"Be like me. I don't love anybody anymore, and they call me Amore." An unforgettable line in  Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1961 "Accattone" came from a spirited, light-hearted prostitute portrayed by Adriana Asti.  Born in Milan in 1931, Asti began her acting career in theater before going on to work with many of the great maestros of Italian cinema, including Luchino Visconti, Bernardo Bertolucci and Federico Fellini , to name a few. She had small roles in huge, iconic films and made those characters memorable. In addition to her on-screen roles, she was also the voiceover of many of her contemporary counterparts like Claudia Cardinale , Lea Massari, and  Stefania Sandrelli . She is still very active in theater, television, and film. I am working on a feature article about Asti for the July issue of Fra Noi Magazine . As part of my research, I reached out to documentary filmmaker Rocco Talucci , who made a beautiful film about her life and career. "A.A. Prof...

Ten shorts by the Sicilian documentary filmmaker Vittorio De Seta are now  available on The Criterion Channel in recognition of 30 years since Martin Scorsese founded The Film Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving cinema.    "Salvatore Giuliano" In addition to the films by De Seta, The Criterion Channel is releasing a number of films during the year-long celebration that have been saved and restored thanks to this initiative. Among the Italian films in the first batch of releases are Luchino Visconti’s 1954 “Senso,” Francesco Rosi’s 1962 “Salvatore Giuliano” and 1972 “The Mattei Affair” and Sergio Leone’s 1968 “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Also included is Sicilian-born American director Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night.” The 10 shorts by Vittorio De Seta are:  The Age of Swordfish (1954) Islands of Fire (1954) Solfatara (1954)  Easter in Sicily (1954) Sea Countrymen (1954) Golden Parable (1954) Fishing Boats (1958) Orgosolo’s Shepherds ...

If you plan on being in New York for the next edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, which will be held this year May 31 – June 6, you may want to book the hotel for an extra week. Beginning June 8, the Film Society of Lincoln Center along with Istituto Luce Cinecittà will present a complete retrospective of Luchino Visconti’s feature films, including many restorations. Stay tuned for the complete lineup of films in both series! Open Roads: New Italian Cinema May 31 – June 6 Open Roads: New Italian Cinema is the only screening series to offer North American audiences a diverse and extensive lineup of contemporary Italian films. Co-presented by FSLC and Istituto Luce Cinecittà, this year’s 18th edition again strikes a balance between emerging talents and esteemed veterans, commercial and independent fare, outrageous comedies, gripping dramas, and captivating documentaries, with in-person appearances by many of the filmmakers. Visconti June 8-21 Italian n...

Update May 9, 2016 It's just been announced that Claudia Cardinale will present her latest film, "All Roads Lead to Rome" in Niagara Falls, Canada on June 18, 2016 at the Niagara Integrated Film Festival   connecting with Canada's annual Italian Contemporary Italian Film Festival . In these times of reality television, internet streaming and 15 minutes of fame, there are few legends living among us. Actress Claudia Cardinale is one of those few. A truly unique and special person, Cardinale was born in Tunisia in 1938 to Sicilian parents. Her maternal grandparents were originally from the Sicilian island of Trapani, but settled in La Goulette, Tunisia, where there was a large Italian community. Her early life seems something of a fairytale but success brought its share of problems. As a young girl, Cardinale attended elementary school in the ancient city of Carthage. Her first cinematic experience came when she participated in the making of a short film with he...