Italian Cinema Today

Ten shorts by the Sicilian documentary filmmaker Vittorio De Seta are now  available on The Criterion Channel in recognition of 30 years since Martin Scorsese founded The Film Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving cinema.    "Salvatore Giuliano" In addition to the films by De Seta, The Criterion Channel is releasing a number of films during the year-long celebration that have been saved and restored thanks to this initiative. Among the Italian films in the first batch of releases are Luchino Visconti’s 1954 “Senso,” Francesco Rosi’s 1962 “Salvatore Giuliano” and 1972 “The Mattei Affair” and Sergio Leone’s 1968 “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Also included is Sicilian-born American director Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night.” The 10 shorts by Vittorio De Seta are:  The Age of Swordfish (1954) Islands of Fire (1954) Solfatara (1954)  Easter in Sicily (1954) Sea Countrymen (1954) Golden Parable (1954) Fishing Boats (1958) Orgosolo’s Shepherds ...

Canada’s annual Contemporary Italian Film Festival recently showed a riveting film that has earned success in Italy and abroad.  Inspired by true events, Salvo Cuccia’s   Lo Scambio  takes place in Palermo during the mid-90s when violent organized crime was at its peak. The film centers on a husband and wife in their mid-40s. He is a police commissioner consumed by his work and she longs for a child, becoming obsessed with the story of a boy who was kidnapped by the mafia in retaliation for his father becoming an informant.  Cuccia presents the story of the commissioner’s work and the never-ending, lonely days of his wife in parallel sequences of delusion and stark reality. Cuccia said of this surreal style,  “I wanted to make a movie about a crime that really happened, but that was more than just the account of a news report of the time. I was interested in exploring the nature of the characters and the situations in order to bring out a drama that stoo...

The Bella Basilicata Film Festival will take place 24 October through 2 November in its quaint namesake town, Bella. Located in the provence of Potenza, the town will host some of the most talked about films made by Lucani in the past year. The festival's mission is "to provide quality and excellence in all cinematographic expressions in independent cinema, in gender production, the work of established authors, in that emerging filmmakers, in research and experimentation." Among the films in the lineup featured here on Italian Cinema Today are.. The Prince of Venusa by Silvio Giordano La Slitta by Emanuela Ponzano Lo Scambio by Salvo Cuccia La ricerca della forma. Il genio. by Vania Cauzillo For more information, visit the festival online at  http://www.bellabasilicatafilmfestival.com .

Interviewing Salvo Cuccia in Rochester, New York 2014 Born in Palermo in 1960, Sicilian director, Salvo Cuccia has emerged as a documentary filmmaker who tells the stories of unique individuals making their mark on the world. Vincenzo Tusa, Vittorio De Seta and Frank Zappa are three men from different walks of life. They each have two things in common.. a passion for their cause and Salvo Cuccia who told their story. Cuccia’s films are visually stunning, honest portraits, which present fascinating stories of people driven by their unbreakable passion. They offer introspections of people and their relationships to the environment and culture. The films, so articulately shot with subjects wildly passionate in their beliefs, transport the viewer directly to the location in which they were made. The music, mostly produced by local musicians intensifies the experience. Among these documentaries is Oltre Selinunte , the story of Vincenzo Tusa, a leader in preserving...

Salvo Cuccia' s acclaimed documentary, “Summer 82 when Zappa came to Sicily" premiered at the 70th edition of the Venice Film Festival. It is a remarkable story which recounts a Frank Zappa concert that was scheduled in Palermo during the tumultuous summer of 1982, but had to be cancelled due to unrest in the city. Some 30 years later, the director, with ticket in hand, revisits that night, accompanied by the late singer's wife, children and granddaughter as he takes them through the land of their origins and introduces them to relatives they never knew. The Zappa family goes on to receive honorary citizenship of Partinico, Sicily. Click here to stream on YouTube.