Italian Cinema Today

Journalist-turned-filmmaker Fabrizio Corallo was hand chosen by the family of Vittorio Gassman to make his latest documentary Sono Gassman! Vittorio King of Comedy. The film, which   Corallo just presented at Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, is a followup to his acclaimed documentary on one of Gassman's frequent collaborators, Dino Risi. The pair made 15 films together. With Fabrizio Corallo at the MAXXI Museo, Rome I spoke with Corallo while he was in New York. He talked so enthusiastically about both of his works, explaining that he was a journalist in Rome long before he became a filmmaker. So, he had personal knowledge and insight into the psyche of each of these giants of Italian cinema. When speaking about Gassman, I could hear the pride in his voice when he talked about the family's desire to have him direct the documentary. He didn't hesitate to take on the project. All he had to do was look inside himself for the essence of the film. "I was lucky to ...

On this #FlashbackFriday, I'm taking a look back at one of my favorite films in this year's edition of the Festa del Cinema di Roma- Fabrizio Corallo's documentary,  Dino Risi Forever. With director Fabrizio Corallo To mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the master of Italian-style comedy, the festival paid tribute to Risi by premiering  Corallo's beautiful film, which featured intimate interviews showing the director's sense of humor and insight, which inadvertently made him an icon. In the telling interview, Risi spoke of his memories working with the likes of Sophia Loren, Ettore Scola and Dino De Laurentiis. He spoke of his passion for writing screenplays, "Writing was something that I really enjoyed." And Scola spoke of his collaboration with Risi. "I started working with  Dino and I did about ten films with him in all." Risi also spoke in depth about his friendship and collaboration with Vittorio Gassman. The two w...