Italian Cinema Today

Photo by Domenico Notarangelo I recently found a rare interview with Pier Paolo Pasolini  on location in Basilicata while he was shooting “Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo” (The Gospel According to St. Matthew). The interview was posted by Rai Teche. The journalist also interviews Alfonso Gatto, a poet who was cast as St. Andrew.  Pasolini shot in Basilicata (Barile and Matera) because of the structures and landscapes that he says reminded him of Bethlehem and Jerusalem and because of the simplicity of the people. He mentions here that the Albanian presence, which probably accounts for the closeups and casting of locals, was a factor in choosing the location of Barile. He also explains that he made the film simply because St. Matthew’s writings moved him. He left the text unchanged, deciding not to add his own interpretation or spin.  What a gift this journalist gave us. I just took a few soundbites and added subtitles to them. Click here to watch my subtitled, edited version. Click her

Alida Valli was born Alida Maria Laura Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg in Pola, Istria, on April 29, 1921. Christened a baroness, she became a movie star at the age of 15. Valli made her screen debut as a lead in Mario Bonnard’s 1937 comedy “Il feroce Saladino.”  In an interview featured in Mimmo Verdesca's 2020 documentary, “Alida Valli: In Her Own Words,” she explained how her last name was changed to Valli. “The writer Amedeo Castellazzi and the director Mario Bonnard found it (Valli) in the phone book. Because Altenburger was a foreign name, it was a bit too long, and so Alida Altenburger didn’t sound right,” she explained. Valli entered the film industry during a period in which Italy’s Fascist government was working on the construction of Cinecittà while producing its own propaganda films. Known as Telefoni Bianchi (White Telephones), the films of this era imitated American comedies and featured upper-class families, opulent art deco sets and the namesake telephones,