Italian Cinema Today

He was nearly 50 years old when he made his feature film debut. Some thirty years later, he is one of Italy’s most beloved character actors.   Renato Carpentieri was born in 1943 in Savignano Irpino, a village in Campania. He originally set out to pursue a career in architecture but became passionate about culture and theater. During the mid-1960s and ‘70s, he helped to promote cultural events in Naples and co-founded a stage company there called Teatro dei Mutamenti where he participated as a director, playwright and actor. In 1980, he began to transition from theater to screen with two television mini-series. A decade later, he made his feature film debut in Gianni Amelio’s “Porte aperte” (Open Doors).    In 1993, upon winning a Nastro d'Argento for best supporting actor for his performance in Gabriele Salvatores' "Puerto Escondido," he took on the role of Gerardo in Nanni Moretti’s cult classic “Caro Diario” (Dear Diary). The role proved to be his breakout film,...

The films of this year’s edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema, the annual film series hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, reflect a country in crisis. Italians are facing unprecedented economic challenges right now with the loss of jobs and a political infrastructure lacking the stability needed to get the country back on track. Each director featured in the Open Roads festival communicates that crisis in a uniquely different way; some with comedy, some with anger and resentment, and others with humble characters who will do just about anything to put food on the table. This brings me to veteran director, Gianni Amelio, and what a class act. I had the pleasure of talking with Amelio while he was in New York promoting two films included in this year’s edition of Open Roads- a documentary titled, "Happy to be Different," which explores gay life in Italy after the fall of fascism through the early '80s and "L’intrepido," the story of ...

Antonio Albanese and Gianni Amelio, Photo by Claudio Iannone For the first time ever, the Italian films screened at the Venice International Film Festival will be featured in a film series in Beirut, Lebanon. The film event “Venezia Cinema a Beirut,”organized by the Biennale di Venezia with the Italian Institute of Culture in Lebanon, will run from February 20 through February 25, 2014. According to Labiennale.org, four Italian films from the Official Selection of the 70th Venice Film Festival will be presented at the Metropolis Empire Sofil – Acharafieh in Beirut. The event will open with "L’intrepido" by Gianni Amelio . The following day, audiences will be treated to Emma Dante 's "Via Castellana Bandiera" with the star Elena Cotta, winner of the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, on hand for a discussion. Monday's screening on February 24th will feature "La prima neve" by Andrea Segre, and the closing film will be the Golden Lion winner, ...

A scene from "L'amore Imperfetto" (2002) Born in Palermo in 1964, Enrico Lo Verso knew as a child that he'd one day pursue acting. Determined to make his dream come true, he headed to Rome when he was a teenager and attended the iconic film school, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.  In 1989, he made his feature film debut in Anselmo Sebastiani's, " Ragazzi nervosi ."  For the next several years, he went back and forth working in both television and cinema. His breakthrough project came in 1994 with a role in  Gianni Amelio 's  internationally acclaimed, " L'America."  Lo Verso starred alongside veteran actor, Michele Placido .  "L'America" is a richly symbolic film set against the backdrop of poverty stricken Albania after the fall of its communist government. Lo Verso plays the part of Gianni, an Italian swindler, who along with his partner, tries to set up a manufacturing plant to make easy money off unscr...