Italian Cinema Today

Actor Pierfrancesco Favino is no stranger to American audiences. In addition to the Italian blockbusters that have made it to our shores, including Gabriele Muccino’s  The Last Kiss , Roberto Ando’s  The Confessions , and Ferzan Ozpetek’s  Saturn in Opposition , he’s had significant parts in numerous American productions. Among them are Ron Howard’s  Angels and Demons , Spike Lee’s  Miracle at St. Anna  and a stint as Christopher Columbus in  Night at the Museum . He even gave us a  tour of Rome via his Vespa   for CBS This Morning during the papal conclave of 2013. In every character that he becomes, Favino brings his signature humility and grace making his characters vulnerable yet strong in their convictions and above all, unforgettable. His latest film made its American premiere at the 57thNew York Film Festival in October and is Italy’s entry for the Academy Awards. Directed by Marco Bellocchio  Il Traditore  (The Traitor...

With Italy’s entry for the Oscars being Marco Bellocchio’s story of a Sicilian mafia informant, I thought I’d do a few posts about the genre of mafia films.  Have you ever thought about what started the craze for mafia-themed movies in America? That was one of the questions I explored in my 2018 documentary, Return to Lucania .. When I sat down with actor/director Pif on two occasions, he told me so much about the differences in how the Sicilian mafia (Cosa Nostra) is portrayed in American films versus how it was in real life.  Chatting with Pif at Lincoln Center's annual film series, Open Roads: New Italian Cinema In this clip from my documentary, Pif talks about how so many mafiosi ended up in America. I was initially asking him about the organized crime group Black Hand, which had a pretty strong presence here in Rochester, New York from 1910-ish through the '50s. They were known to level houses with bombs if they didn’t get their “protection money” and in on...

Variety is reporting that  Mediaset  is moving into the international TV arena with a high-end series about  Tommaso Buscetta , the first high-ranking member of Cosa Nostra to break the Sicilian Mafia’s oath of silence. Working-titled “Don Masino” the eight-episode show is being shepherded by prominent producer  Pietro Valsecchi  through his  TaoDue film and TV shingle, which is fully owned by  Mediaset .  Valsecchi, who has long been churning out hits on his home turf, has been developing the Buscetta series for six years. He was beaten to the punch by director Marco Bellocchio’s feature film The Traitor , the Buscetta biopic that has been a box office draw in Italy after launching from Cannes and is Italy’s Oscar candidate this year.  “It confirms that Buscetta is a powerful character,” said Valsecchi, who adds that the series will be “completely different” because it will cover the “full narrative arc of his story in its many ...