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Showing posts from February, 2018

Filmmakers Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo Create Buzz in Berlin

One of the most talked about films at the 68 th Berlin International Film Festival is Damiano and Fabio D'Innocenzo’s La terra dell’abbastanza (Boys Cry). According the Berlinale, the story centers on best friends, Mirko and Manolo who live in the suburbs of Rome with their single parents. Surrounded by poverty, the boys spend their days at high school and their nights delivering pizzas. One night, disaster strikes when a man steps in front of their car near the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The boys flee the scene. Manolo’s father learns that the police believe the dead man to have been involved in a feud between two rival mafia groups. It transpires that the Mafiosi, several of whom went to school with Manolo’s father, had already singled out the deceased as a marked man. On account of this Manolo is given an introduction to the mob. He receives his first assignment – as a test. Mirko insists on accompanying him. Before long, Mirko in particular finds himself sucked into a

The Poetry of Il Postino - Then and Now

Movies are personal, intimate expressions of those who make them and those who identify with them. When you are really moved by a film, you will always remember that time in your life associated with it. Michael Radford’s Il Postino arrived in America during the summer of 1995. I had been living in New York City, Brooklyn to be exact, sharing a studio apartment with a bunch of actors I met on a short film. Chasing a dream to be a screenwriter, I held a day job in public relations for a museum and took film jobs on the side. One of them was a “Parking PA” on Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite . The shift was 6pm – 6am. It was the entry level position of entry level positions. Hearing and feeling the West Coast calling my name, I went back to my hometown in Upstate New York for the summer before heading to San Francisco with a one way bus ticket. That’s when Michael Radford’s film came to town. I just remember sitting there after the credits rolled, in tears with that ending kno

Martin Scorsese explores his Sicilian origins in his 1974 documentary- Italianamerican

With all the sad news in America this week, I want to focus on the power of family in this Sunday's edition of our series Cinema & Cibo . A cinematic treasure from 1974 captures the strength and courage of our grandparents and great-grandparents who came to this country with dreams of providing a better life for future generations.  Martin Scorsese’s documentary Italianamerican  features a candid interview with the director’s parents about their Sicilian origins, growing up in New York City's Little Italy and his mother’s Sunday sauce. Sitting around the kitchen table, Scorsese talks with his parents about about their struggles growing up and everything they did to get by financially while staying true to their cultural traditions.  After you watch it, check out Jim Jarmusch's question to Scorsese about the making of the film.. and find out why he related to Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront and East of Eden . Jarmusch asks about a shot in Scorsese's

Berlinale 2018: A Conversation with Filmmaker Gregorio Franchetti

Last week, we revisited a film in the Culinary Cinema section of the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival. Today, we talk with a young director whose short film also centers around food, but will be featured in the  Generation Kplus section  of this year's festival. Devoted to children and young people, the Generation section of the festival began in 1978. Divided into two competitions: Generation Kplus and G eneration 14plus,  the section offers a global perspective through the eyes of young people.  This year, the Generation program will spotlight filmmakers who "create their own realities and bring the contradictions inherent in the fragile reality of the adult world to light." One Italian film will be featured in this year's program.  Gregorio Franchetti's  Cena d'aragost e (Lobster Dinner) is a story of how friendship is influenced by economic and social borders. When a 12-year-old boy takes lobster from his home to the single working class