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Showing posts from January, 2019

Sundance Film Features Italian Stars

Italian actors Antonio Catania and Kasia Smutniak take to the big screen at the Sundance Film Festival this week in Jacek Borcuch’s Dolce Fine Giornata . The film follows Maria Linde, a free-spirited, Jewish Polish Nobel Prize winner, who lives in Tuscany surrounded by warmth and chaos in her family’s villa. A loving mother and grandmother, she also fosters a secret flirtation with the much younger Egyptian man who runs a nearby seaside inn. After a terrorist attack in Rome, Maria refuses to succumb to the hysterical fear and anti-immigrant sentiment that quickly emerge, deciding in her acceptance speech of a local honor to boldly decry Europe’s eroding democracy—but she is unprepared for the public and personal havoc her comments wreak. Jacek Borcuch returns to the Sundance Film Festival’s world dramatic competition for the third time (after 2010’s All That I Love and 2013’s Lasting) with a visually sumptuous film. It thoughtfully considers the role of art, politics, an

Milan-born Journalist Tommaso Cartia Making his Mark on New York City

Today's social media platforms bring us into contact with so many interesting people. Some compel you to want to know more about them beyond the photos and interesting content they post. For me, one of those people is Tommaso Cartia. We have been connected on social media for a while and what has struck me, beyond his interesting posts, is his support for others. Although he is always working and posting his own intriguing projects, he always takes the time to acknowledge others and their projects, showing a genuine interest in their work. In this day and age of self-promotion and selfies, this is a unique and endearing quality.  So I contacted him because I wanted to learn more about his projects so that I could share them with you. What I found is a conscientious,  prolific journalist and author. He got his start in New York City working for the magazine and website, i-Italy about all things Italy in New York. That experience served as a strong foundation upon which he has

Basilicata in the Spotlight at the 2019 Los Angeles Italia - Film Fashion and Art Fest

Actresses Marianna and Angela Fontana will be presenting their new films at next month's Los Angeles Italia - Film Fashion and Art Fest .  "Capri-Revolution" by Mario Martone and "Lucania" by Gigi Roccati will make their North American premieres. Roccati will be presenting his work as part of a homage to Basilicata's city of Matera, the 2019 European Capital of Culture. There will also be a special tribute to Francis Ford Coppola, whose family originates from that region, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.