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Showing posts from May, 2020

Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro on 'Apocalypse Now'

HBO has just added Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 "Apocalypse Now" to its online streaming platform. I saw a 4K restoration of the film in 2017 at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York where cinematographer Vittorio Storaro was being honored and actually presented the film. In this clip, he recounts when co-producer Fred Roos first approached him with Coppola’s offer. At first, Storaro didn’t think that he was the right person for the project, but after some research into the director's vision for the film, he realized that it would be the opportunity of a lifetime.  Watch a clip from his presentation.. “He sent Fred Roos – he’s a co-producer – to Rome in 1975 to ask me to be part of the incredible journey of “Apocalypse Now.” I was surprised about that proposal. In fact, I said to Fred Roos, ‘Why me? What do I have to do with a war movie between America and Vietnam? I feel uneasy. I feel it’s not my place. In Italy, I usually do movies with Bertolucci an

Director Mo Scarpelli Talks About the Making of Her New Documentary

As so many film festivals are turning to online streaming platforms these days, the films in their lineups are accessible worldwide. Such is the case with Mo Scarpelli’s new documentary, “El Father Plays Himself,” which premiered online last month at Visions de Réel. The next opportunity to see this fascinating film will be via the Krakow Film Festival’s virtual cinema platform on June 2. “El Father Plays Himself” is a film about the making of a film. Scarpelli followed Venezuelan director Jorge Thielen Armand through the country's Amazon jungle to document the shooting of his latest film, “La Fortaleza.” Inspired by Armand’s eccentric father, Jorge Roque Thielen, the young filmmaker cast him in the lead role. Scarpelli chronicles the tumultuous film set and emotional journey of getting the film shot, which proved to be no small feat. This deeply intimate portrait of the relationship between a father and son is an emotional rollercoaster recalling the past while bringing

Chiara Mastroianni on Her Latest Role and Her Father's Films

Actress Chiara Mastroianni talked about her character in Cristophe Honoré’s “On a Magical Night” during a live Q&A hosted by Florence Almozini, Film at Lincoln Center’s Senior Programmer. The film is currently available to stream via  Film at Lincoln Center's Virtual Cinema . In the clip below, I asked a question about Mastroianni's character, Maria, and the qualities of her personality that she wanted to bring out. Another viewer asked which of her father's film are among her favorites. Of course, having a dad like Marcello Mastroianni , the choices are endless. "On a Magical Night" was originally in the lineup of the annual series, Rendezvous with French Cinema, and both filmmakers were scheduled to attend before the Coronavirus pandemic shut everything down. Hopefully, Film at Lincoln Center will do something similar with Open Roads: New Italian Cinema next month. We’ll keep you posted. Click here to watch the full Q&A.  “On a Magical N

Archival Videos Reflect Italy's Tumultuous Past

Cesare Zavattini on the set of Vittorio De Sica's "L'oro di Napoli" The Audiovisual Archive Foundation of the Workers' and Democratic Movement (AAMOD) was established in the late 1970s. Filmmaker Cesare Zavattini oversaw operations during its first 20 years with the main goal of researching, collecting and storing historical audiovisual documents such as cinema, newsreels and multimedia. Much of the content includes documentaries and video essays covering numerous topics such as social movements, catastrophic events, post-war conditions and culture. In 1983, the archive was declared a place of “considerable historical interest” by the superintendent of the region of Lazio. Over the last decade, many clips have been uploaded to YouTube. Although most of the clips are in Italian without English subtitles, the site is worth looking through if only to see actual video of life in Italy over the last century captured by photojournalists documenting history. Go to