Italian Cinema Today

Vittorio De Sica’s 1970 drama “Sunflower” (“I girasoli”) is an emotionally charged and ultimately heartbreaking meditation on the lasting effects of war. Co-written by Tonino Guerra and De Sica’s decades-long collaborator, Cesare Zavattini , the film tells a profoundly human tale that grapples with love, loss and difficult choices. Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni star as Giovanna and Antonio, a young Italian couple who marry quickly during World War II in the hopes of delaying Antonio’s deployment. After only a few weeks together, Antonio is sent to the Russian front anyway. When he does not return after the war, Giovanna refuses to accept his presumed death. Her determination to uncover the truth leads her from Italy to the Soviet Union, where she traces his footsteps and discovers that her gut feeling was right. De Sica shows that war’s impact extends far beyond the battlefield. Antonio’s absence is a pain that never goes away, and Giovanna cannot make peace with it. Her des...

Sophia Loren and Omar Sharif give extraordinary performances during the prime of their careers in Francesco Rosi’s “C’era una volta” (“More than a Miracle”). A delightful, whimsical film that transports you to another time, this enchanting 1967 period piece tells the tale of Rodrigo (Sharif), a Spanish prince initially opposed to marriage, and Isabella (Loren), the beautiful, defiant peasant girl who wins his heart. The film opens with Rodrigo attempting to tame a wild horse as his mother chides him for not taming a wife instead. When she relays orders from the king of Spain for him to marry, he mounts his unruly steed and gallops away, proudly displaying his independent spirit. Horse and supposed master run free through the countryside for a stretch, but the equally rebellious animal throws Rodrigo and abandons in a field, leaving him to fend for himself.  While searching for help, he finds himself in a remote monastery where he meets a flying monk (Yes, the monk actually flies.)...

Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà is presenting an exceptional retrospective of Sophia Loren’s work, June 7 - 13. “Sophia Loren: La Signora di Napoli” will showcase 13 films celebrating her distinguished career.     “I am very happy to promote this retrospective journey to celebrate Sophia Loren at Film at Lincoln Center,” said Chiara Sbarigia, president of Cinecittà. “As we review the long gallery of unforgettable characters that she has portrayed, we give back to the audience a universal talent admired by diverse generations worldwide.”   The retrospective will showcase new restorations of films rarely seen on the big screen in the United States, including her early roles in films such as  "Poverty and Nobility"  and "The Sign of Venus," her stunning portrayal of a peasant opposite Omar Sharif in Francesco Rosi’s 1967 period drama,  “More than a Miracle,”  as well as her Oscar-winning performance in Vittorio De Sica’s 1961  "Two Women." ...

After nearly a decade away from the spotlight, Sophia Loren has returned to the screen in a film directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. Now available on Netflix, “La vita davanti a sé” (The Life Ahead) is based on French writer Romain Gary’s novel “The Life Before Us.” Ponti co-wrote the screenplay with veteran screenwriter Ugo Chiti, whose recent credits include Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman” and “Gomorrah.” Loren gives a heartfelt performance as Madame Rosa, a survivor of Auschwitz and former prostitute who cares for the children of her fellow sex workers.   The film opens with Madame Rosa shopping at an open-air market when a young boy runs up from behind her and steals her purse. When a longtime friend, played by Renato Carpentieri , pleads with her to be a foster parent for the very same boy — a Senegalese orphan named Momo — she at first refuses but then reconsiders because she desperately needs the stipend being offered for his care.   Momo and Madame Rosa clash at first, but he...

He may not be a household name, but he was a major force behind the rise of the neorealism movement and Italy’s Golden Age of Cinema. Screenwriter Cesare Zavattini was born in the region of Emilia-Romagna in 1902, earning a law degree before turning his attention to writing. In 1930, he moved to Milan to work at the Rizzoli publishing company. Five years later, he met Vittorio De Sica . They would go on to make 20 films together, including the neorealist classics “Sciuscià” (Shoeshine) (1946), “Ladri di biciclette” (The Bicycle Thief) (1948), “Miracolo a Milano” (Miracle in Milan) (1951) and “Umberto D.” (1952).    Zavattini worked on more than 80 films with many of the great directors of Italian cinema. Among them was Giuseppe De Santis, who collaborated with Zavattini in 1952 on “Roma 11:00.” A tragic story based on true events, the film follows several young women in post-WWII Rome as they answer a job listing for a typist. With 200 applicants waiting in line for an inter...

Curated for the Rome Film Festival, the photo exhibit, Luxardo e il cinema , consists of images of iconic protagonists during the infamous Golden Age of Italian cinema, including Alberto Sordi, Sophia Loren, Vittorio De Sica and Gina Lollobrigida. All the works, which will remain on display until December 1, belong to the 3M Foundation archive, a permanent cultural research and training institution and proprietor of a vast photographic archive of about 110,000 images. Through this exhibition, created in collaboration with Daniele Luxardo, nephew of the famous photographer, and curated by the photo critic Roberto Mutti, Fondazione 3M pays tribute to the great faces of Italian cinema. As a lover of cinema, Elio Luxardo had learned on the set to use lights in an innovative way to enhance faces. In his shots, the photographer manages to bring out the characteristics of each of his subjects, emphasizing the irony of one look and the seductive strength of another. Watch a clip from my ...

On this first "Female Filmmaker Friday" in November,  I’d like to pay tribute to two iconic women filmmakers who shared a tender moment this week at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles. Sophia Loren payed tribute to director Lina Wertmüller in recognition of the long overdue honorary Oscar that she received this week. I subtitled the beginning when Sophia talks directly to Lina. I find the exchange so sweet and sincere as Lina is truly moved by the words of her longtime collaborator and friend. It’s such a relatable moment between these two great women, one 85 years of age and the other 91. How many old friends do we care deeply about but just don’t get the opportunity to see? It’s a beautiful moment and gave me the chills the first time I saw it.  Watch Lina's acceptance speech... The film that Sophia is referring to is called Blood Feud . It’s a suspense film that stars Loren along with Marcello Mastroianni and Giancarlo Giannini. It was made in ...

Recording Artist Rosmy performs at the 2017 edition The 2018 edition of Basilicata's Le Giornate del Cinema Lucana, a film festival highlighting locally produced cinema, is taking shape as the organizers have already announced a few special guests including Paolo Genovese, Rocco Papaleo, John Landis and Sophia Loren.  The festival will be held in Maratea July 24 - 29. Stay tuned for more announcements..

Update: On December 9, 2021, Lina Wertmüller passed away at the age of 93. Whether you’re referring to her name, her look or her style of filmmaking, Lina Wertmüller stands out in a crowd. Born in Rome in 1926 to a family of Swiss aristocrats, Wertmüller was a rebel at heart. She ignored her father’s pleas to study law and instead enrolled in film school. That choice would eventually land her at the Academy Awards as the first woman director nominated for an Oscar.   After graduating from school, Wertmüller played a variety of roles in the movie business. From acting to writing plays to directing, she worked with a number of influential artists during those years including Federico Fellini, Marcello Mastroianni and her future muse, Giancarlo Giannini. In 1962, she landed a career-changing job as an assistant director on Fellini’s 8½ and the following year, made her directorial debut with The Lizards (I basilischi). The film was shot along the border of the southern Italian r...

Silvana Mangano is one of Italy's most memorable leading ladies. She was born in Rome on April 21, 1930 and grew up amid conditions of poverty during World War II.   She persevered through those tough times training as a dancer.   Then in 1946, she won the Miss Rome beauty pageant, a victory that gave her the push she needed to discover her destiny. Just three years later, she landed a role in one of the most influential films of Italian cinema, Riso Amaro (Bitter Rice) by  Giuseppe De Santis. The film was one of the first of the Neorealism film movement and received an Academy Award nomination in 1950.   Produced by Mangano's husband, the prolific filmmaker, Dino De Laurentiis,   Riso Amaro is a multi-layered story, which called on Mangano's talent and sex appeal to pull off the part of a peasant girl who could manipulate just about anyone with her beauty. The story follows three main characters through the rice-planting season in northern Italy...

Born in Rome on August 14, 1971 to southern Italian parents, Raoul Bova was naturally athletic, starting out with a love of sports. He encountered a freak accident when he was a child and almost drown while frolicking in the sea. That life-changing experience made him confront his fear of water and take up swimming. The sport ended up becoming a huge passion for him and at the age of sixteen, he earned a championship title for the S.S. Lazio team of Rome, one of the oldest and most renowned sport clubs in Europe. He went on to pursue a degree in Physical Education but that was cut short soon after he discovered a passion for acting. Although he never intended to give up sports as a hobby, he knew in his heart that acting was his true love and wanted to pursue it as a career. He enrolled in the drama school, Beatrice Bracco, and never looked back. Bova started working right away, with his first role as Giuliano Amitrano in Stefano Reali’s 1992 made-for-television movie, "Una ...

A legendary actor who influenced cinema across the globe, Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni was born in 1924 in Fontana Liri, a mountainous area  of Lazio, about an hour from Rome.  Mastroianni spent his childhood near the Eternal City experimenting with acting in stage roles at his local church. During his teenage years, he took odd jobs in Rome, including bit parts in movies. Then during World War II, he was forced by German soldiers to work at a labor camp in northern Italy. He escaped, taking refuge in Venice until 1945. During the post-war period when war-torn Italy was recovering from the devastation it had just endured, Mastroianni returned to Rome and landed a job as a clerk with a British film company. During off-hours, he would get together with local actors to hone his craft. Then in 1947, he landed his first significant acting role in Riccardo Freda’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel, “Les Miserables.” Watch this video that I recently shot on the Isola Liri,...