Roma Film Festival Honors Composer Ennio Morricone

Update 29 February 2016
Since Ennio Morricone won the Oscar last night for Best Original Score, there's been a lot of talk about his past work. Here is a link on Amazon to check out some of his materpieces..

In addition to Morricone's Oscar nomination, Paolo Sorrentino's "Youth" is also on the ballot tonight for Best Original Song by David Lang.. "Simple Song #3"
Check it out here.

And Ennio Morricone takes home the Oscar.... Check out some of his work..
Ennio Morricone on Amazon

Update 10 January 2016
Ennio Morricone wins Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight".

The 20th edition of the Roma Film Festival will pay tribute to the prolific career of renowned composer Ennio Morricone.

Born in Rome in 1928, Morricone has written the music for hundreds of films and television shows. His most recognizable titles include "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", "Once Upon a Time in the West", "The Exorcist II", the comedy trilogy "La Cage aux Folles", "The Mission", "Once Upon a Time in America", "The Untouchables", "Bugsy", "Cinema Paradiso", "Hamlet" and most recently, Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight".

Morricone began his career in music rearranging previously composed work for RCA. His career took off when he began composing the music for films in the 1960's and then well into the 70's. It was during those years that he collaborated with directors like Sergio Leone, Duccio Tessari, Sergio Sollima and Sergio Corbucci on the epic Spaghetti Westerns. (Read Quentin Tarantin's list of his favorite Spaghetti Westerns) During those busy years, he also collaborated with several other Italian directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Dario Argento, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Elio Petri. After the 70's, Morricone reached beyond the borders of Italy for Hollywood and began composing for some of the biggest names in the film industry such as Brian De Palma, Barry Levinson, Mike Nichols and Oliver Stone. My favorite Morricone film composition is his 1988 collaboration with Giuseppe Tornatore on "Cinema Paradiso". The melody is unique and beautiful beyond words and still gives me the chills. I'll never forget the ending scene when Toto takes the film reel made by his childhood mentor back to Rome and watches those beautiful clips. It remains my favorite scene in the history of cinema.

Adriano Pintaldi and Ennio Morricone

My compliments to Adriano Pintaldi and everyone at Cineteca Nazionale and the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia for choosing such a worthy filmmaker to honor. I only wish that I was in Rome to attend this festival.

The Roma Film Festival will take place from 15-20 December at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia film school across from the Cinecittà Studios on Via Tuscolana. Admission is free of charge. If you are taking the Metro, take the A line in the direction of Anagnina and exit at Cinecittà.

Program

15 December
5:00pm - "I Basilischi" by Lina Wertmüller (1963)

7:00pm - "Per un pugno di dollari" by Sergio Leone (1964)

9:00pm - "La battaglia di Algeri" by Gillo Pontecorvo (1966)

16 December

5:00pm - "Diabolik" by Mario Bava (1968)

7:00pm - Q&A with Ennio Morricone moderated by Adriano Pintaldi with his documentary "Il fascino discreto di un genio" on the life and distinguished career of the maestro to follow

9:00pm - "L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo" by Dario Argento (1970)

17 December

4:30pm - "Sacco e Vanzetti by Giuliano Montaldo (1971)
6:45pm - "La Luna" by Bernardo Bertolucci (1979)

9:15pm - "Un sacco bello" by Carlo Verdone (1980)

18 December

5:00pm - "C'era una volta in America" by Sergio Leone (1984)

9:00pm - "Mission" by Roland Joffe (1986)

19 December

5:00pm - "The Untouchables" by Brian De Palma (1987)

7:00pm - "Legami!" by Pedro Almodovar (1990)

9:00pm - "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso" by Giuseppe Tornatore (1988)

20 December

5:00pm - "Dimenticare Palermo" by Francesco Rosi (1990)

7:00pm - "Wolf" by Mike Nichols (1994)

9:15pm - "Sostiene Pereira" by Roberto Faenza (1995)

Comments

7 Days - 7 Women: Interview with Actress Sabrina Impacciatore

Photo by Rossella Vetrano On Day 6 of our series, 7 Days - 7 Women, in which we are profiling seven strong, talented women working as filmmakers, writers or visual artists, we talk with actress Sabrina Impacciatore about the diversity of her roles. Whether she's playing a devoted mother trying to protect her child, Jesus Christ's "Veronica" in Mel Gibson's controversial film, "Passion of the Christ" or a young woman coming of age, Impacciatore escapes into the life and mind of each character she takes on, sometimes so deeply that she believes she is actually them. It's a fine line between reality and fiction, but she treads it carefully and anyone watching her performance benefits from her emotional connection to the character that she becomes. I spoke with Impacciatore at the 2010 Open Roads: New Italian Film series in New York City. We talked about her lifelong dream of becoming an actress. She also gave me some insight into the diff...

Golden Age Masterpiece: Luchino Visconti’s 1957 “White Nights”

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 Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

Director Gianni Di Gregorio explores relationships in later life with 'Never Too Late for Love'

In “Astolfo” (“Never Too Late for Love”), director Gianni Di Gregorio delivers a coming-of-age film for the golden years of life about a retired professor who leaves Rome to return to a tiny mountain village in Abruzzo. The film opens with the title character, played by Di Gregorio, walking through the streets of his Roman neighborhood, groceries in hand, only to find his landlord waiting for him when he arrives home. She is there to announce that he will have to vacate his humble residence to make way for her daughter, who is getting married soon. After some contemplation, he calls his ex-wife to ask her about an old family castle he split with her in their divorce. When she confirms that a portion of the castle is his for the taking, he gleefully returns to his spacious new home only to discover it has been occupied by a squatter, who turns out to be an acquaintance from his childhood who is also down on his luck. Without hesitation, Astolfo adopts the man as his roommate. ...

Review: “Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others” by Claudio Poli

A compelling 2018 documentary by Claudio Poli aims to shed light on a chapter of Nazi history that is still relevant today. “Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others” is the story of how the Führer didn’t just take countless human lives but also robbed a whole culture of its artistic heritage. Narrated by actor Toni Servillo, “Hitler Versus Picasso and the Others” takes viewers on an incredible journey in search of masterpieces stolen during World War II. The stories of individual works are told by people who witnessed the looting, much of which took place during raids on homes and galleries belonging to Jewish collectors. The documentary reveals that 600,000 works of art were stolen from private owners, museums, churches and galleries. The confiscated artwork was either kept by the Nazi elite, warehoused, sold or destroyed in bonfires. Few benefited more from this large-scale heist than Hildebrand Gurlitt, Hitler’s so-called art dealer, who kept many of the most priceless treasures ...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog