Italian Cinema Today

Marco Pontecorvo’s “Fatima” opened today in theaters across the US. Based on the true story of the 1917 Marian apparitions reported by three children at the Cova da Iria, in Fátima, Portugal, Pontecorvo’s film offers an adaption for new audiences with modern technology. “The cinemascope format can give back to the audience a much stronger emotion and can make people enjoy the stunning cinematography by Vincenzo Carpineta, as it was intended,” says Pontecorvo.   The director got involved with the project after producers saw his 2009 feature film,  "Pa-ra-da," that addresses the homeless children issue in post-Ceausescu Romania. The producers were impressed by his direction of the children and suggested he direct “Fatima.” He felt the story was perhaps too religious but had some very appealing narrative angles. “I proposed to them to veer the narrative towards a film that instead of being dogmatic, could have been opened and put the focus on the relevance of this story for the ...