On the occasion of Carlo Di Palma's upcoming retrospective hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, I am republishing an article I wrote for Fra Noi Magazine in 2007. The interview is with Jon Fortunato, a former colleague from my video editing days at CBS News in New York. He worked as an assistant director and the two of us would talk for hours on end about his early days in the film industry. He had some great stories about filmmakers like Di Palma, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Roberto De Niro that I wanted to share with our readers. We still keep in touch, so he gave me a few updates to add to our interview. Cinematographer Carlo Di Palma Jon Fortunato grew up in Bensonhurst, an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn. His grandmother was one of 13 children. He was always surrounded by "family, pastries and cannoli." Most of his family members lived within in a five block radius and he saw them often. Fortunato always loved cine...
100+ YEARS OF THE GREAT ITALIAN MOVIEMAKERS