The first iteration of the Cannes Film Festival, planned for 1939, was scuppered when Germany invaded Poland to trigger the start of World War II. But when the festival finally got off the ground in 1946, Indian cinema came out swinging. Mounted shortly after the conclusion of the war, the first “real” Cannes Film Festival featured competition entries from Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend), Roberto Rossellini (Open City), and David Lean (Brief Encounter). In the spirit of post-war peace and reconciliation, the competition jury, headed by French historian Georges Huisman, handed the top prize — then the Grand Prix — to films from 11 of the 18 countries represented that year.
This included India, with Chetan Anand’s social-realist drama Neecha Nagar, and, for a decade at least, the country was a regular fixture in Competition. After Anand came V. Shantaram with Amar Bhoopali (1952), then Raj Kapoor with Awaara (1953), and Bimal Roy with Do Bigha Zamin...
This included India, with Chetan Anand’s social-realist drama Neecha Nagar, and, for a decade at least, the country was a regular fixture in Competition. After Anand came V. Shantaram with Amar Bhoopali (1952), then Raj Kapoor with Awaara (1953), and Bimal Roy with Do Bigha Zamin...
- 5/18/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Josh Krasinski’s If leads the charge at the UK and Ireland box office in 650 cinemas for Paramount.
The family film about imaginary friends is Krasinski’s widest opening as a director following A Quiet Place Part II which arrived in 563 cinemas in 2021.
If includes an ensemble cast of A-listers, both on-screen and on voice duties, including Ryan Reynolds, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fiona Shaw, Steve Carrell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper and Emily Blunt. Cailey Fleming leads the cast as a girl who, having recently experienced a traumatic loss, begins seeing everyone’s imaginary friends.
Krasinski previously wrote and directed A Quiet Place...
The family film about imaginary friends is Krasinski’s widest opening as a director following A Quiet Place Part II which arrived in 563 cinemas in 2021.
If includes an ensemble cast of A-listers, both on-screen and on voice duties, including Ryan Reynolds, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fiona Shaw, Steve Carrell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper and Emily Blunt. Cailey Fleming leads the cast as a girl who, having recently experienced a traumatic loss, begins seeing everyone’s imaginary friends.
Krasinski previously wrote and directed A Quiet Place...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 neorealist drama is unsparing in its depiction of the heavy price of both resistance and collaboration with the Nazi occupation
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini.
Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism,...
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini.
Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism,...
- 5/15/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Disney’s “Kingdom of The Planet of the Apes” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.8 million ($4.7 million), according to numbers from Comscore.
Universal’s “The Fall Guy” dropped down to second place with £948,970 and now has a running total of £6.7 million. In third place, in its third weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Challengers” collected £333,281 for a total of £4.7 million.
In fourth position, in its fifth weekend, Studiocanal’s “Back to Black” earned £211,408 for a total of £11.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Sony’s “Tarot,” which read the cards to the tune of £140,983 in its second weekend and now has a total of £923,013.
The only other debut in the Top 10 was Trafalgar Releasing’s opera recording “Madama Butterfly,” which bowed in ninth place with £96,727.
The mid-week releases coming up include Trafalgar’s “Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event,” where episodes of the animated 1984 series will be screened alongside original voice-over talent,...
Universal’s “The Fall Guy” dropped down to second place with £948,970 and now has a running total of £6.7 million. In third place, in its third weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Challengers” collected £333,281 for a total of £4.7 million.
In fourth position, in its fifth weekend, Studiocanal’s “Back to Black” earned £211,408 for a total of £11.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Sony’s “Tarot,” which read the cards to the tune of £140,983 in its second weekend and now has a total of £923,013.
The only other debut in the Top 10 was Trafalgar Releasing’s opera recording “Madama Butterfly,” which bowed in ninth place with £96,727.
The mid-week releases coming up include Trafalgar’s “Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event,” where episodes of the animated 1984 series will be screened alongside original voice-over talent,...
- 5/14/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The term “gaslighting” has come to describe someone who uses manipulation and lies to gain psychological control; the terminology has gained popularity over the past few years, but its origin dates back nearly 100 years to a British play by Patrick Hamilton, “Gas Light.” In 1940, a British film adaptation was released, and four years after that, MGM produced a version that resulted in the first Oscar victory for a three-time winner, the film debut of a screen legend and a memorable storyline that remains part of our culture eight decades later. On May 4, 1944, “Gaslight” had its premiere, and it remains as haunting and thrilling as ever. Read on for more about the “Gaslight” 80th anniversary.
In “Gaslight,” which is set in 1875, Ingrid Bergman portrays Paula Alquist Anton, an orphan who had been raised by her aunt, a famous and wealthy opera singer, who had been brutally murdered years before by an unknown intruder.
In “Gaslight,” which is set in 1875, Ingrid Bergman portrays Paula Alquist Anton, an orphan who had been raised by her aunt, a famous and wealthy opera singer, who had been brutally murdered years before by an unknown intruder.
- 5/4/2024
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or winner The Class Photo: UniFrance The French director Laurent Cantet who struck gold at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 with the Palme d’Or winner, The Class, has died at the age of 63.
Laurent Cantet Photo: Veeren Ramsamy for UniFrance The film was based on the novel Entre les murs which was a semi-autobiographical account of the author François Bégaudeau's own experiences in the school system in Paris - and featured him in the lead role of the teacher confronting “problem children.”
Beside the Palme d’Or the film also was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.
Cantet was a filmmaker who showed a lively interest in social issues and themes, often used non professional actors and took a naturalistic approach to his subjects. His kindred spirits would be Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers as well as the traditions of Roberto Rossellini and Robert Bresson.
Laurent Cantet Photo: Veeren Ramsamy for UniFrance The film was based on the novel Entre les murs which was a semi-autobiographical account of the author François Bégaudeau's own experiences in the school system in Paris - and featured him in the lead role of the teacher confronting “problem children.”
Beside the Palme d’Or the film also was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.
Cantet was a filmmaker who showed a lively interest in social issues and themes, often used non professional actors and took a naturalistic approach to his subjects. His kindred spirits would be Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers as well as the traditions of Roberto Rossellini and Robert Bresson.
- 4/25/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Isabella Rossellini inLa Chimera(Neon), on the red carpet (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images), inBlue Velvet(De Laurentis Entertainment Group/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis)Graphic: Jimmy Hasse
Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what...
Welcome to Random Roles, wherein we talk to actors about the characters who defined their careers. The catch: They don’t know beforehand what...
- 4/8/2024
- by Brent Simon
- avclub.com
In ancient times, the Etruscan civilization built elaborate underground tombs not to please human eyes but those of the spirit world. A similar spirit of feeling unbound from the pressures of the present-day animates Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, a 1980s-set adventure following a roving group of tomb raiders who attempt to excavate and pillage these secret sanctuaries. The director has always depicted time as layered rather than strictly linear. The present exists not ahead the past but on top of it, and the moments she depicts will one day be history for another era. This vision lends the sensation that she, like the ancient culture she depicts, is communicating with something beyond our perception.
Rohrwacher finds a perfect partner in her search for the sublime with Josh O’Connor. The English actor provides a human incarnation of the director’s restless attempt to collapse the contradictions of time.
Rohrwacher finds a perfect partner in her search for the sublime with Josh O’Connor. The English actor provides a human incarnation of the director’s restless attempt to collapse the contradictions of time.
- 3/28/2024
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
In Roger Ebert’s one-star review of David Lynch‘s “Blue Velvet” in 1986, the film critic had strong words for the director he never softened through the rest of his career, even as Ebert came to appreciate some of Lynch’s later films. Ebert wrote that Isabella Rossellini “is asked to do things in this film that require real nerve… She is degraded, slapped around, humiliated and undressed in front of the camera. And when you ask an actress to endure those experiences, you should keep your side of the bargain by putting her in an important film.”
But Rossellini, who at the time of the controversial landmark’s release was in a relationship with director Lynch, today doesn’t necessarily agree with Ebert’s takedown of the movie. The daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini had by then gathered some modeling and film credits, but “Blue Velvet” proved to be her big breakout.
But Rossellini, who at the time of the controversial landmark’s release was in a relationship with director Lynch, today doesn’t necessarily agree with Ebert’s takedown of the movie. The daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini had by then gathered some modeling and film credits, but “Blue Velvet” proved to be her big breakout.
- 3/27/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Italian director Paolo Taviani, who with his late brother Vittorio formed the revered filmmaking duo that in 1977 won the Cannes Palme d’Or for “Padre Padrone,” has died at 92.
Taviani died on Thursday in a Rome clinic after suffering from a short illness, according to Italian media reports. “Paolo Taviani, a great maestro of Italian cinema, leaves us,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Taviani brothers “directed unforgettable, profound, committed films that entered into the collective imagination and the history of cinema,” Gualtieri added.
Vittorio was the youngest of the Taviani Brothers, who emerged in the 1970s as the prolific pair whose works blended neo-realism with more modern storytelling in works such as “Padre Padrone” (1977), “The Night of the Shooting Stars” (1982) and Luigi Pirandello adaptation “Kaos” (1984).
Born in the Tuscan town of San Miniato, Vittorio and Paolo Taviani soon moved to nearby Pisa where...
Taviani died on Thursday in a Rome clinic after suffering from a short illness, according to Italian media reports. “Paolo Taviani, a great maestro of Italian cinema, leaves us,” Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Taviani brothers “directed unforgettable, profound, committed films that entered into the collective imagination and the history of cinema,” Gualtieri added.
Vittorio was the youngest of the Taviani Brothers, who emerged in the 1970s as the prolific pair whose works blended neo-realism with more modern storytelling in works such as “Padre Padrone” (1977), “The Night of the Shooting Stars” (1982) and Luigi Pirandello adaptation “Kaos” (1984).
Born in the Tuscan town of San Miniato, Vittorio and Paolo Taviani soon moved to nearby Pisa where...
- 3/1/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
One may resist celebrity culture, but most people have at least a few actors from pop culture history that mean something to them, whether they're from the silver screen or the flickering box.
Actors know how to spark our emotions and suspend our disbelief. They embody our favorite stories and the visions of our favorite filmmakers. The stars of film and television have the privilege of immortalizing themselves in certain times and places. But it is not just themselves that they immortalize. In their best projects, they capture many complexities of emotion and culture that are relevant to millions. Steve McQueen and his Mustang in "Bullet," Warren Beatty and his freewheeling libido in "Shampoo," Anthony Hopkins and his empathetic presidential turn in "Nixon" -- for better or worse, actors color our memories of the past in both trivial and important ways.
It can be wistful, therefore, when an old favorite passes,...
Actors know how to spark our emotions and suspend our disbelief. They embody our favorite stories and the visions of our favorite filmmakers. The stars of film and television have the privilege of immortalizing themselves in certain times and places. But it is not just themselves that they immortalize. In their best projects, they capture many complexities of emotion and culture that are relevant to millions. Steve McQueen and his Mustang in "Bullet," Warren Beatty and his freewheeling libido in "Shampoo," Anthony Hopkins and his empathetic presidential turn in "Nixon" -- for better or worse, actors color our memories of the past in both trivial and important ways.
It can be wistful, therefore, when an old favorite passes,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Jack Hawkins
- Slash Film
Coproduction Office has acquired international rights to the catalogue of acclaimed post-War East German filmmaker Konrad Wolf. The Paris and Berlin-based company is working with Defa Foundation and Defa Distribution, part of a German government-run group of film studios founded in the late 1940s to restore Wolf’s 14 features to commemorate the centenary of his birth in 2025.
Wolf’s anti-fascist film Sterne (Stars) won him a Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1959 and his 1964 feature Divided Heaven captured the complexities of life in divided Germany. His 1971 drama Goya Of The Hard Way to Enlightenment,was a biopic of the Spanish painter.
Wolf’s anti-fascist film Sterne (Stars) won him a Special Jury Prize at Cannes in 1959 and his 1964 feature Divided Heaven captured the complexities of life in divided Germany. His 1971 drama Goya Of The Hard Way to Enlightenment,was a biopic of the Spanish painter.
- 2/9/2024
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSEvil Does Not Exist.We are saddened to learn that Issue 97 will be Cinema Scope’s last in its current form. To “do something valuable in this field,” editor and publisher Mark Peranson writes, “one needs creative freedom.” This is exactly what, for twenty-five years and just under 100 issues, Cinema Scope was able to provide, offering a space that allowed, per Peranson, “a certain kind of filmmaker’s work to be treated with the intellect and respect they deserve.” The print issue is on its way to subscribers now, and its entire contents—including interviews with Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Rodrigo Moreno, and Alex Ross Perry—can also be read online.Sandra Milo has died at the age of 90. She starred in Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1963) and Juliet of the Spirits...
- 1/31/2024
- MUBI
Italian actress Sandra Milo, who was best known for her supporting roles in Federico Fellini’s Oscar winner 8 ½ and Golden Globe winner Juliet of the Spirits, has died at the age of 90.
Born in Tunisia to Italian parents in 1933, Milo grew up in Tuscany.
She got her first big screen break in 1955 opposite Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s comedy The Bachelor.
Milo’s career quickly took off with roles in Roberto Rossellini’s General Della Rovere, Pietrangeli’s Hungry for Love, Edouard Molinaro’s Witness in the City and Claude Sautet’s The Big Risk over the course of the late 1950s.
It briefly hit the buffers in 1961 when her performance in Rosselini’s Stendhal adaptation Vanina Vanni was brutally panned by critics at the Venice Film Festival, but Milo returned to the set and went on to rack up more than 80 credits across her 70-year career.
Internationally, Milo...
Born in Tunisia to Italian parents in 1933, Milo grew up in Tuscany.
She got her first big screen break in 1955 opposite Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s comedy The Bachelor.
Milo’s career quickly took off with roles in Roberto Rossellini’s General Della Rovere, Pietrangeli’s Hungry for Love, Edouard Molinaro’s Witness in the City and Claude Sautet’s The Big Risk over the course of the late 1950s.
It briefly hit the buffers in 1961 when her performance in Rosselini’s Stendhal adaptation Vanina Vanni was brutally panned by critics at the Venice Film Festival, but Milo returned to the set and went on to rack up more than 80 credits across her 70-year career.
Internationally, Milo...
- 1/29/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Veteran Italian actress Sandra Milo, best known for her roles in Federico Fellini‘s 8½ and Juliet of the Spirits, has died. She was 90. According to Variety, Milo’s passing was confirmed on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzura, and son Ciro, who revealed she died in her sleep on Monday (January 29) morning at her home in Rome. Born Salvatrice Elena Greco on March 11, 1933, in Tunis, French Tunisia, Milo made her on-screen film debut in 1955’s The Bachelor. From there, she landed her first major role in Roberto Rossellini‘s 1959 drama film General Della Rovere; she also starred in Rossellini’s 1961 drama Vanina Vanini. Milo briefly retired from acting after her first marriage but was convinced to return by Fellini to star opposite Marcello Mastroianni in his 1963 avant-garde classic 8½, which is available to stream on Prime Video and Apple TV. She also starred in Fellini’s 1965 comedy-drama Juliet of the Spirits.
- 1/29/2024
- TV Insider
Italian actor Sandra Milo, known for memorable roles in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and “Juliet of the Spirits” as well as her work with Roberto Rossellini, died on Monday at her Rome home. She was 90.
News of Milo’s death was announced on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzurra, and son Ciro, who said Milo died in her sleep on Monday morning.
Italian deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni mourned the passing of Milo as the loss of a “protagonist of Italian cinema … a great, talented artist with an overwhelming charisma” and “the muse of great directors such as Federico Fellini who won the hearts of millions of Italians.”
Milo, whose work spanned several genres, made her big screen debut in 1955 alongside popular comic actor Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s “Lo Scapolo” (“The Bachelor”). Other comedies followed such as “Totò in the Moon” (“Totò Nella Luna”), one of...
News of Milo’s death was announced on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzurra, and son Ciro, who said Milo died in her sleep on Monday morning.
Italian deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni mourned the passing of Milo as the loss of a “protagonist of Italian cinema … a great, talented artist with an overwhelming charisma” and “the muse of great directors such as Federico Fellini who won the hearts of millions of Italians.”
Milo, whose work spanned several genres, made her big screen debut in 1955 alongside popular comic actor Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s “Lo Scapolo” (“The Bachelor”). Other comedies followed such as “Totò in the Moon” (“Totò Nella Luna”), one of...
- 1/29/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Sting, Isabella Rossellini, and U.S. director Roger Ross Williams came out to support the recent New York launch of Matteo Garrone’s Venice prizewinning immigration epic “Io Capitano” at the Museum of Modern Art.
The movie – which is Italy’s now shortlisted Oscar candidate for best international feature film – narrates the Homeric journey of two two Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe in pursuit of a better life. It realistically depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.
Variety critic Guy Lodge in his review called “Io Capitano” the director’s “most robust, purely satisfying filmmaking since Garrone’s international breakthrough with ‘Gomorrah’ 15 years ago.” The drama, which at Venice won best director and best emerging actor for its co-star Seydou Sarr is Italy’s strongest Oscar contender in recent memory.
The movie – which is Italy’s now shortlisted Oscar candidate for best international feature film – narrates the Homeric journey of two two Senegalese teenagers, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe in pursuit of a better life. It realistically depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.
Variety critic Guy Lodge in his review called “Io Capitano” the director’s “most robust, purely satisfying filmmaking since Garrone’s international breakthrough with ‘Gomorrah’ 15 years ago.” The drama, which at Venice won best director and best emerging actor for its co-star Seydou Sarr is Italy’s strongest Oscar contender in recent memory.
- 1/8/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Roberto Benigni, whose film “Life Is Beautiful” won three Oscars in 1999, has come out of the woodwork to support Matteo Garrone’s Golden Globe-nominated “Io Capitano,” which is Italy’s current Oscar candidate for best international feature film.
The revered yet reclusive Italian actor/director, whose most recent big screen role is playing Geppetto in Matteo Garrone’s hit 2019 live-action adaptation of “Pinocchio,” is clearly a big fan of “Io Capitano” (the title translates to “Me Captain”). The movie narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe.
Garrone’s immigration drama realistically depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea. Variety critic Guy Lodge in his review called “Io Capitano” the director’s “most robust, purely satisfying filmmaking since Garrone’s international breakthrough with ‘Gomorrah’ 15 years ago.
The revered yet reclusive Italian actor/director, whose most recent big screen role is playing Geppetto in Matteo Garrone’s hit 2019 live-action adaptation of “Pinocchio,” is clearly a big fan of “Io Capitano” (the title translates to “Me Captain”). The movie narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe.
Garrone’s immigration drama realistically depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea. Variety critic Guy Lodge in his review called “Io Capitano” the director’s “most robust, purely satisfying filmmaking since Garrone’s international breakthrough with ‘Gomorrah’ 15 years ago.
- 12/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Dariush Mehrjui, the pioneering Iranian director behind films such as “The Cow” and “The Pear Tree,” has reportedly been murdered at the age of 83. The news was broken by Iranian state media outlet Irna, which indicated that Mehrjui and his wife Vahideh Mohammadifar were discovered at their home with neck wounds indicating that they had been stabbed to death.
Born in Iran in 1939, Mehrjui rose to prominence in the 1960s as a leading contributor to the Iranian New Wave filmmaking movement. His 1969 film “The Cow,” which depicts an Iranian man’s alienation from society when the pregnant cow that serves as his sole possession is killed, became an international sensation after screening at the Venice International Film Festival. He remained a beloved presence on the international festival circuit throughout his life, earning acclaim for films such as 1998’s “The Pear Tree” and 2002’s “To Stay Alive.” His naturalistic films offered nuanced depictions of human discontent,...
Born in Iran in 1939, Mehrjui rose to prominence in the 1960s as a leading contributor to the Iranian New Wave filmmaking movement. His 1969 film “The Cow,” which depicts an Iranian man’s alienation from society when the pregnant cow that serves as his sole possession is killed, became an international sensation after screening at the Venice International Film Festival. He remained a beloved presence on the international festival circuit throughout his life, earning acclaim for films such as 1998’s “The Pear Tree” and 2002’s “To Stay Alive.” His naturalistic films offered nuanced depictions of human discontent,...
- 10/15/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera opens on Arthur (Josh O’Connor) on a train, returning from places unknown, as it winds its way through the Italian country, the sun-dappled cinematography inducing a sleepy or meditative state. This idyllic tone makes an immediate, ironic contrast with our protagonist, a British man whose disheveled appearance and miserly attitude constitute a black hole in the center of the film’s bright frames.
Like David Thewlis’s lanky emotional vampire in Naked, Arthur radiates a “don’t talk to me” vibe that initially fails to put off the friendly rural Italians in his midst. They attempt to make conversation with Arthur, who says so little that you’d scarcely know that he speaks fluent Italian, until scaring them off after he belligerently accosts an overly ingratiating peddler. Even when he arrives at his destination and is met by locals who know him and consider him a friend,...
Like David Thewlis’s lanky emotional vampire in Naked, Arthur radiates a “don’t talk to me” vibe that initially fails to put off the friendly rural Italians in his midst. They attempt to make conversation with Arthur, who says so little that you’d scarcely know that he speaks fluent Italian, until scaring them off after he belligerently accosts an overly ingratiating peddler. Even when he arrives at his destination and is met by locals who know him and consider him a friend,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
Tarak Ben Ammar has big plans for Italy. The Franco-Tunisian film and TV mogul is already a major player in the Italian industry thanks to Eagle Pictures, the production and distribution group he acquired in 2007 that is now Italy’s largest independent distributor due to exclusive distribution deals with Paramount and Sony Pictures for the territory. Ben Ammar joined Tom Cruise on the Rome red carpet for the June 19 world premiere of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and later introduced Cruise to new Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. “The meeting [between Cruise and Meloni] was very interesting. The prime minister knows a lot about cinema,” says Ben Ammar about the far-right leader.
Alongside Eagle’s distribution deals, the company has also partnered with Sony to co-produce six films together, including The Equalizer 3, the latest in Antoine Fuqua’s action franchise starring Denzel Washington that was shot entirely in Italy.
Alongside Eagle’s distribution deals, the company has also partnered with Sony to co-produce six films together, including The Equalizer 3, the latest in Antoine Fuqua’s action franchise starring Denzel Washington that was shot entirely in Italy.
- 8/3/2023
- by Pino Gagliardi
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A low-key, poetic exploration of life’s ironies, Monica Sorelle’s feature debut Mountains frames the disappearance of Miami’s Little Haiti with a warm, compassionate gaze recalling the masters of social realism––akin to Roberto Rossellini with the touch of Ousmane Sembène’s lighter films. With a title drawn from a Haitian proverb “behind mountains there are mountains,” the film retains a light touch, somewhat more sad than mad as Little Haiti disappears in the city’s building boom. A modest dream home is unobtainable once the real estate vultures circle the neighborhood and Xavier Sr. (Atibon Nazaire), a demolition worker, plays a role in changing his neighborhood permanently, making way for young Whole Foods-shopping professionals to displace families and small businesses.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
Xavier Sr. lives in a small bungalow with crossing guard / homemaker wife Esperance (Sheila Anoizer) and their floundering 20-something son Junior (Chris Renois), an aspiring stand-up comedian.
- 6/12/2023
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Italian producer, director, and film and TV industry pioneer Renzo Rossellini is being honored with the Locarno Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award.
The Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema will pay tribute to the consummate filmmaker and renaissance man – who as a producer shepherded works by master directors such as Federico Fellini, Lina Wertmüller, Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola – with a screening of Fellini’s 1980 work “City of Women” on its 8,000 seat open-air Piazza Grande venue on Aug. 10, followed by an onstage conversation the next day.
Rossellini who also worked as assistant director for his father Roberto and, among others, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol – and is a director in his own right – “Has never ceased his quest to pass on his knowledge of the cinema, teaching generations of students and cineastes with passion and commitment,” the fest said in a statement.
“Film is a tool for learning...
The Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema will pay tribute to the consummate filmmaker and renaissance man – who as a producer shepherded works by master directors such as Federico Fellini, Lina Wertmüller, Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola – with a screening of Fellini’s 1980 work “City of Women” on its 8,000 seat open-air Piazza Grande venue on Aug. 10, followed by an onstage conversation the next day.
Rossellini who also worked as assistant director for his father Roberto and, among others, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol – and is a director in his own right – “Has never ceased his quest to pass on his knowledge of the cinema, teaching generations of students and cineastes with passion and commitment,” the fest said in a statement.
“Film is a tool for learning...
- 6/1/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Sandra Hüller enters Justine Triet’s Sybil midway, as the hilariously frazzled director of a European co-production who keeps barking in English while trying to keep the set moving. Hüller’s appearance is unexpected in several ways: a film about a therapist-client relationship suddenly shifts focus to The Shoot From Hell, and while the expected reference point for a European movie shot on an island would be Contempt, Triet instead pays homage to Roberto Rossellini’s Stromboli. Nor is this the film’s final narrative slight-of-hand, as Sibyl‘s final act is a drama about alcoholism—throughout, the thematic emphases are always slightly off from where you’d […]
The post Cannes 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, Fallen Leaves first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Cannes 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, Fallen Leaves first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/26/2023
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Sandra Hüller enters Justine Triet’s Sybil midway, as the hilariously frazzled director of a European co-production who keeps barking in English while trying to keep the set moving. Hüller’s appearance is unexpected in several ways: a film about a therapist-client relationship suddenly shifts focus to The Shoot From Hell, and while the expected reference point for a European movie shot on an island would be Contempt, Triet instead pays homage to Roberto Rossellini’s Stromboli. Nor is this the film’s final narrative slight-of-hand, as Sibyl‘s final act is a drama about alcoholism—throughout, the thematic emphases are always slightly off from where you’d […]
The post Cannes 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, Fallen Leaves first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Cannes 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, Fallen Leaves first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/26/2023
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Nanni Moretti always dresses impeccably — whether tuxed-up for the Cannes red carpet for his eight competition appearances since 1978 (his ninth, for A Brighter Tomorrow, will come May 24) or walking the Croisette in the casual chic (cashmere sweaters and chinos with open-collar shirts in dark gray or plum) that appears to come naturally to Italian men of Moretti’s generation. But the mantle of elder statesman of Italian cinema seems to hang on the 69-year-old director more like an ill-fitting suit.
It’s hard to deny Moretti’s position as a successor to the great neorealists — Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini — and the generation of New Wave heroes of the 1960s like Michelangelo Antonioni, Bernardo Bertolucci and Lina Wertmüller who reclaimed and restored Italian cinema after the ravages of fascism. His list of awards and acclaims alone — the Palme d’Or for The Son’s Room in 2001, Cannes best director in 1994 for Dear Diary,...
It’s hard to deny Moretti’s position as a successor to the great neorealists — Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini — and the generation of New Wave heroes of the 1960s like Michelangelo Antonioni, Bernardo Bertolucci and Lina Wertmüller who reclaimed and restored Italian cinema after the ravages of fascism. His list of awards and acclaims alone — the Palme d’Or for The Son’s Room in 2001, Cannes best director in 1994 for Dear Diary,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Scott Roxborough and Concita De Gregorio
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) is here for legal counsel. But her questions for Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott) are getting inappropriate, and fast. She wants to know about the frequency of his masturbation, how much he drinks, if he’s capable of taking on the herculean task of running his father’s massive hotel monopoly. And Hal is getting annoyed. After all, this isn’t the script that he had written for Rebecca to perform.
Rebecca isn’t a lawyer, nor an actress. Not really. She’s a hired dominatrix in a no-contact sexual relationship with Hal, who really is set to step in as CEO of his recently passed father’s company, and who really does write extensive scripts to support his unusual sexual proclivities.
Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary is a two-hander that sees a power play through the prism of performance, class, and sexual dynamics. As Hal prepares to be...
Rebecca isn’t a lawyer, nor an actress. Not really. She’s a hired dominatrix in a no-contact sexual relationship with Hal, who really is set to step in as CEO of his recently passed father’s company, and who really does write extensive scripts to support his unusual sexual proclivities.
Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary is a two-hander that sees a power play through the prism of performance, class, and sexual dynamics. As Hal prepares to be...
- 5/13/2023
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
Gabriele Mainetti on the streets of Rome with Anne-Katrin Titze: “In Once Upon A Time In America you don’t even have the American Dream like Scarface does.”
In the second instalment with Gabriele Mainetti we touch upon Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Brian De Palma’s Scarface, Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In America, John Ford and John Wayne, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City, Michael Haneke’s comment on Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Tod Browning, and the painful process of accepting yourself in Freaks Out, co-written with Nicola Guaglianone.
Gabriele Mainetti on Franz (Franz Rogowski): “Franz says no and Matilda can’t say no and says yes with all the pain.”
There’s Franz, the German pianist blessed with 12 fingers and the ability to see the future. He wants the “freaks” on his side. But what exactly is his side?...
In the second instalment with Gabriele Mainetti we touch upon Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Brian De Palma’s Scarface, Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In America, John Ford and John Wayne, Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City, Michael Haneke’s comment on Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Tod Browning, and the painful process of accepting yourself in Freaks Out, co-written with Nicola Guaglianone.
Gabriele Mainetti on Franz (Franz Rogowski): “Franz says no and Matilda can’t say no and says yes with all the pain.”
There’s Franz, the German pianist blessed with 12 fingers and the ability to see the future. He wants the “freaks” on his side. But what exactly is his side?...
- 4/15/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
One thing most cinephiles can agree on is that Tilda Swinton is a mystifying gift to the film industry. In addition to delivering consistently excellent performances in almost every movie and cast she joins, the Oscar-winning actress has long been a champion of the sort of unique films that without her involvement might otherwise never get made.
From her repeat collaborations with auteurs like Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-ho to her risky roles in experimental projects like “The Souvenir” series, Swinton is an extremely familiar face for fans of arthouse cinema. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton”: a crowd-pleasing George Clooney legal thriller from 2007. And yes, she scared the hell out of millennials as the White Witch in Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Hell, she’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it’s Swinton’s...
From her repeat collaborations with auteurs like Wes Anderson and Bong Joon-ho to her risky roles in experimental projects like “The Souvenir” series, Swinton is an extremely familiar face for fans of arthouse cinema. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton”: a crowd-pleasing George Clooney legal thriller from 2007. And yes, she scared the hell out of millennials as the White Witch in Disney’s “The Chronicles of Narnia.” Hell, she’s in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But it’s Swinton’s...
- 3/21/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
While we’ve known the results of Jeanne Dielman Tops Sight and Sound‘s 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time List”>Sight & Sound’s once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll for a few months now, the recent release of the individual ballots has given data-crunching cinephiles a new opportunity to dive deeper. We have Letterboxd lists detailing all 4,400+ films that received at least one vote and another expanding the directors poll, spreadsheets calculating every entry, and now a list ranking how many votes individual directors received for their films.
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
- 3/5/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Two titles from leading lights of the New Catalan Cinema, Elena Trapé’s “The Enchanted,” starring Goya winning actress Laila Costa, and Lucia Alemany’s “Co-Husbands,” with “House of Flowers’” Paco León, figure as Market Premiers at the Málaga Film Festivals Spanning Screenings Content, a massive 195 Spanish title spread continuing Spain’s muscular outreach to overseas buyers and markets.
84 features will screen in Málaga, as well as 10 works in progress and 81 library titles. Part of Mafiz, the industry area of the Málaga Film Festival, the Spanish Screenings Content unspool March 13-16 in the Andalusian coastal city.
The Market Premieres also feature “The Good Manners,” by the Barcelona-based Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz. Key sections – such as Perspectives and Spanish Screamings – largely pick up on titles introduced at Ventana Sur. The Spanish CoProForum features four projects selected in October 2022 for a Málaga Festival development program.
First details of productions at the...
84 features will screen in Málaga, as well as 10 works in progress and 81 library titles. Part of Mafiz, the industry area of the Málaga Film Festival, the Spanish Screenings Content unspool March 13-16 in the Andalusian coastal city.
The Market Premieres also feature “The Good Manners,” by the Barcelona-based Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz. Key sections – such as Perspectives and Spanish Screamings – largely pick up on titles introduced at Ventana Sur. The Spanish CoProForum features four projects selected in October 2022 for a Málaga Festival development program.
First details of productions at the...
- 3/2/2023
- by John Hopewell and Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Tom Luddy, the co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival and a longtime producer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, died on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 79.
His death comes on the verge of the festival’s 50th anniversary, as Telluride planned to salute the man responsible for establishing the Colorado gathering as a critical launchpad for international cinema. Luddy was shrewd cinephile with a daunting grasp of film history that informed his sharp opinions about the medium, much of which played a role in the unique nature of the Telluride community.
The festival drew crowds of major directors and industry insiders in tandem with amateur movie lovers attracted to the same welcoming environment he created for anyone who shared his passion for the movies. For many Telluride devotees, Luddy was its biggest draw — someone as emblematic of cinema’s global presence as the directors he championed.
As...
His death comes on the verge of the festival’s 50th anniversary, as Telluride planned to salute the man responsible for establishing the Colorado gathering as a critical launchpad for international cinema. Luddy was shrewd cinephile with a daunting grasp of film history that informed his sharp opinions about the medium, much of which played a role in the unique nature of the Telluride community.
The festival drew crowds of major directors and industry insiders in tandem with amateur movie lovers attracted to the same welcoming environment he created for anyone who shared his passion for the movies. For many Telluride devotees, Luddy was its biggest draw — someone as emblematic of cinema’s global presence as the directors he championed.
As...
- 2/14/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
As 2022 came to a close, we asked seven writers and filmmakers to reflect on Jean-Luc Godard's memory. Starting from a single aspect of his filmmaking—a particular film, image, sound cue, or affecting experience with his work—their responses evoke the breadth of his revolutionary legacy. We're thankful they found the words.The pieces below are written by Ephraim Asili, Richard Brody, A.S. Hamrah, Rachel Kushner, Miguel Marías, Andréa Picard, and Lucía Salas.In Memoriam JLGWhen I was in high school in the 1980s, I drove 50 miles with some friends to see Breathless at a student screening in a big auditorium at UConn. How did we know this screening was happening? How did we know how to get there? How did we even know anything was happening anywhere, ever? We saw listings in newspapers and paid attention to flyers. We had maps in our cars. But above all, it...
- 1/30/2023
- MUBI
By 1948, Howard Hawks had made just about every type of film over his then 22-year career when he decided to take on the most American of movie genres: the Western. Though he'd made plenty of films about rough and/or ruthless men, the closest he'd come to making a true oater was with 1934's "Barbary Coast," which plays like more of a period crime film set in mid-1850s San Francisco. "Red River," written by Borden Chase and Charles Schnee (based on Chase's serialized novel "The Chisholm Trail"), would be the real deal.
And it almost fell apart before Hawks shot a frame of film.
While the story about Tom Dunson, a determined rancher who turns into a horse-riding Captain Ahab during a harrowing cattle drive from Texas to Missouri, was crammed with action and intrigue, it proved tonally problematic for Hawks' star. Gary Cooper had made several films with...
And it almost fell apart before Hawks shot a frame of film.
While the story about Tom Dunson, a determined rancher who turns into a horse-riding Captain Ahab during a harrowing cattle drive from Texas to Missouri, was crammed with action and intrigue, it proved tonally problematic for Hawks' star. Gary Cooper had made several films with...
- 1/3/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
Ruggero Deodato, the Italian director behind the gruesome and controversial 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, died Thursday in Rome, the Il Messaggero newspaper reported. He was 83.
Made in the style of a documentary and shot in Colombia, Cannibal Holocaust starred Robert Kerman and employed purported “found footage” taken by a sadistic American film crew during an expedition into the Amazon jungle to locate indigenous tribes.
It depicted murder, mutilation, torture, gang rape and animal slaughter and was banned in several countries including Deodato’s own, with Italian authorities seizing his film and destroying prints shortly after it hit theaters.
Deodato was put on trial for murdering actors and faced 30 years in prison, but he produced the supposedly dead men in court, and the charges were dropped (the actors had signed contracts to disappear for a year). He was fined for obscenity, however.
Deodato said he...
Ruggero Deodato, the Italian director behind the gruesome and controversial 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, died Thursday in Rome, the Il Messaggero newspaper reported. He was 83.
Made in the style of a documentary and shot in Colombia, Cannibal Holocaust starred Robert Kerman and employed purported “found footage” taken by a sadistic American film crew during an expedition into the Amazon jungle to locate indigenous tribes.
It depicted murder, mutilation, torture, gang rape and animal slaughter and was banned in several countries including Deodato’s own, with Italian authorities seizing his film and destroying prints shortly after it hit theaters.
Deodato was put on trial for murdering actors and faced 30 years in prison, but he produced the supposedly dead men in court, and the charges were dropped (the actors had signed contracts to disappear for a year). He was fined for obscenity, however.
Deodato said he...
- 12/29/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Italian screenwriter and director Ruggero Deodato, whose lengthy career was most noted for the controversial horror film “Cannibal Holocaust,” died Thursday at age 83, according to multiple reports.
The 1980 film, a “found footage” pseudo-documentary pioneer, depicts an anthropologist from New York University played by Robert Kerman leading a team into the Amazon rainforest to find crew of documentary filmmakers that went missing. They discover their bodies, but are able to recover the crew’s film reels, which a US television station then wants to air, despite gory footage of real violence against animals, sexual assault and exploitation of the native Amazonian populations.
The graphic violence in the film raised objections, including an arrest of Deodato on a series of charges including murder after rumors said some of the deaths depicted in the film were real. Deodato later brought the actors to court to prove they were alive, and the charges were dropped.
The 1980 film, a “found footage” pseudo-documentary pioneer, depicts an anthropologist from New York University played by Robert Kerman leading a team into the Amazon rainforest to find crew of documentary filmmakers that went missing. They discover their bodies, but are able to recover the crew’s film reels, which a US television station then wants to air, despite gory footage of real violence against animals, sexual assault and exploitation of the native Amazonian populations.
The graphic violence in the film raised objections, including an arrest of Deodato on a series of charges including murder after rumors said some of the deaths depicted in the film were real. Deodato later brought the actors to court to prove they were alive, and the charges were dropped.
- 12/29/2022
- by Eileen AJ Connelly
- The Wrap
The film world has lost one of its most controversial figures, as it has been confirmed that Italian screenwriter, director, and actor Ruggero Deodato has passed away at the age of 83. Described by filmmaker Mick Garris as “a sweet man who made brutal cinema”, Deodato was best known for directing the 1980 film Cannibal Holocaust, which got him arrested because the authorities suspected he had really murdered members of his cast. They were all just fine, but Cannibal Holocaust has also sickened and disturbed many viewers with its depiction of multiple real animal killings. Deodato would later say he regretted including the deaths of those animals, saying it was “stupid” to put those moments in the movie.
Deodato was born on May 7, 1939, and got involved with filmmaking at the end of his teens because the area in Rome where he lived also happened to be the neighborhood where the major film studios were located.
Deodato was born on May 7, 1939, and got involved with filmmaking at the end of his teens because the area in Rome where he lived also happened to be the neighborhood where the major film studios were located.
- 12/29/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Ruggero Deodato, director of the shocking horror movie “Cannibal Holocaust,” which was so controversial it was banned in some countries, died Thursday, the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported. He was 83.
The 1980 film “Cannibal Holocaust” is considered one of the goriest movies of all time and cited as the first movie to use found footage. It was banned in several countries due to its graphic depictions of violence, sexual assault and animal cruelty, and it even resulted in Deodato being arrested on obscenity charges. He was accused of murdering several actors on camera to achieve the level of realistic brutality, but he was later cleared and the charges were dropped. He directed other films throughout his career, but “Cannibal Holocaust” was his most famous and reached cult-classic status in the horror community. It also granted him the nickname “Monsieur Cannibal” in France.
Born in Potenza, Italy, on May 7, 1929, Deodato studied under...
The 1980 film “Cannibal Holocaust” is considered one of the goriest movies of all time and cited as the first movie to use found footage. It was banned in several countries due to its graphic depictions of violence, sexual assault and animal cruelty, and it even resulted in Deodato being arrested on obscenity charges. He was accused of murdering several actors on camera to achieve the level of realistic brutality, but he was later cleared and the charges were dropped. He directed other films throughout his career, but “Cannibal Holocaust” was his most famous and reached cult-classic status in the horror community. It also granted him the nickname “Monsieur Cannibal” in France.
Born in Potenza, Italy, on May 7, 1929, Deodato studied under...
- 12/29/2022
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
What film or filmmaker had the greatest influence on you? At what age did you decide to pursue film and what advice would you give your 18-year old self?
These were some of the secrets revealed by six of today’s top international filmmakers when they joined Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022/2023 awards contenders: Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), Santiago Mitre, Stacy Perskie Kaniss (“Bardo”), Colm Bairéad (“The Quiet Girl”) and Toufik Ayadi & Christophe Barral (‘Saint Omer’). Watch our lively group discussion above and click on each name to view their solo chat.
See dozens of interviews with 2022/2023 awards contenders
“Apocalypse Now,” responds Berger when asked which film had a profound impact on his career. “I liked that it wasn’t a story. It’s a story, but it was more of a collage, I guess. It tried to capture more...
These were some of the secrets revealed by six of today’s top international filmmakers when they joined Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022/2023 awards contenders: Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”), Santiago Mitre, Stacy Perskie Kaniss (“Bardo”), Colm Bairéad (“The Quiet Girl”) and Toufik Ayadi & Christophe Barral (‘Saint Omer’). Watch our lively group discussion above and click on each name to view their solo chat.
See dozens of interviews with 2022/2023 awards contenders
“Apocalypse Now,” responds Berger when asked which film had a profound impact on his career. “I liked that it wasn’t a story. It’s a story, but it was more of a collage, I guess. It tried to capture more...
- 11/29/2022
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
The acclaimed director Dario Argento made a surprising acting debut at the age of 80 in Gaspar Noe's "Vortex." According to Argento himself, though, he wasn't acting at all. The filmmaker is best known for his cult classic horror, "Suspiria." He never expected to be on the other side of the camera, but Noe ultimately convinced Argento by giving him lots of creative control. Argento based so much of his own character on himself that he didn't feel like he was performing at all.
The first time Noe ever saw Argento in person, he was sure that the director would make a natural actor. "He's very charismatic. I knew he would be great in a movie since I saw him introducing his movie at the French Cinematheque for one hour," Noe recalled to The Upcoming. "He was supposed to introduce the movie for five minutes but he started talking and people were laughing and applauding.
The first time Noe ever saw Argento in person, he was sure that the director would make a natural actor. "He's very charismatic. I knew he would be great in a movie since I saw him introducing his movie at the French Cinematheque for one hour," Noe recalled to The Upcoming. "He was supposed to introduce the movie for five minutes but he started talking and people were laughing and applauding.
- 10/20/2022
- by Shae Sennett
- Slash Film
The historic Barberini Cinema in Rome reopens its doors to the public this Thursday for the first time in two-and-a-half years after an ambitious multi-million-euro refurbishment.
Situated in the former carriage house and stables of the 17th Century Barberini Palace, the theatre was built in 1930 by architect and construction firm owner Angelo Giuseppe Rossellini, the father of iconic neo-realist director Roberto Rossellini.
Local cinema folklore recounts that Rossellini Sr. gave his son free entry to the venue, cementing the Rome, Open City director’s love of the moving image from an early age.
Siblings Caterina, Francesca and Alessandro Saviotti, whose family has owned the cinema since the 1950s, have spearheaded the renovation of the six-theatre venue.
They have kitted it out with state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos and 4K Barco technology; distinct green, yellow and orange designer furnishings, a soon-to-be-opened bar and restaurant with a view of Piazza Barberini and Via Veneto,...
Situated in the former carriage house and stables of the 17th Century Barberini Palace, the theatre was built in 1930 by architect and construction firm owner Angelo Giuseppe Rossellini, the father of iconic neo-realist director Roberto Rossellini.
Local cinema folklore recounts that Rossellini Sr. gave his son free entry to the venue, cementing the Rome, Open City director’s love of the moving image from an early age.
Siblings Caterina, Francesca and Alessandro Saviotti, whose family has owned the cinema since the 1950s, have spearheaded the renovation of the six-theatre venue.
They have kitted it out with state-of-the-art Dolby Atmos and 4K Barco technology; distinct green, yellow and orange designer furnishings, a soon-to-be-opened bar and restaurant with a view of Piazza Barberini and Via Veneto,...
- 10/18/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Noah Baumbach’s White Noise kicked off the 60th New York Film Festival Friday night with a heartfelt paean by the writer/director to an event that he said shaped his love of movies and his career path.
The Netflix film, based on Don DeLillo’s post-modernist 1985 novel, that premiered in Venice in August (Deadline review), stars Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lars Eidinger. Cast, co-producer David Heyman, composer Danny Elfman and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy (behind the closing credits song set to an extravagant supermarket dance sequence) joined Baumbach onstage in a jam packed Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.
“I grew up in Brooklyn and my parents [and I] would drive into the city or take the subway to go into the festival. They were very into movies, and this festival was very much a part of my movie education growing up,” he said. In 1995, at NYFF’s 33rd edition,...
The Netflix film, based on Don DeLillo’s post-modernist 1985 novel, that premiered in Venice in August (Deadline review), stars Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lars Eidinger. Cast, co-producer David Heyman, composer Danny Elfman and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy (behind the closing credits song set to an extravagant supermarket dance sequence) joined Baumbach onstage in a jam packed Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.
“I grew up in Brooklyn and my parents [and I] would drive into the city or take the subway to go into the festival. They were very into movies, and this festival was very much a part of my movie education growing up,” he said. In 1995, at NYFF’s 33rd edition,...
- 10/1/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Italy’s theatrical box office is finally showing some encouraging signs after long lagging behind other European countries in terms of post-pandemic returns.
“Don’t Worry Darling,” segueing from its Venice launch, opened better in Italy than in France and Germany last weekend when the Harry Styles and Florence Pugh-starrer scored €965,000 from Italian screens in the frame ending September 25, landing in the number two spot.
The “Avatar” re-release weighed in at number one in Italian theaters with €1.65 million (1.61 million), a better opening than Germany.
The same frame saw three Italian films – all Venice launches – among the top ten. Most notable of these is Gianni Amelio’s “Lord of the Ants,” a biopic of Italian poet and playwright Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law. “Ants” has now scored a decent more than €1.4 million (1.36 million) since bowing on Sept. 8 and briefly reaching the numero uno slot.
“Don’t Worry Darling,” segueing from its Venice launch, opened better in Italy than in France and Germany last weekend when the Harry Styles and Florence Pugh-starrer scored €965,000 from Italian screens in the frame ending September 25, landing in the number two spot.
The “Avatar” re-release weighed in at number one in Italian theaters with €1.65 million (1.61 million), a better opening than Germany.
The same frame saw three Italian films – all Venice launches – among the top ten. Most notable of these is Gianni Amelio’s “Lord of the Ants,” a biopic of Italian poet and playwright Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law. “Ants” has now scored a decent more than €1.4 million (1.36 million) since bowing on Sept. 8 and briefly reaching the numero uno slot.
- 9/30/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
First things first: Yes, Luca Guadagnino still wants to make a sequel to “Call Me By Your Name” with Timothée Chalamet as the soul-searching Elio, but he wouldn’t put it in those terms. “A sequel is an American concept,” the filmmaker said during an interview at the Telluride Film Festival. “It’s more like the chronicles of Elio, the chronicles of this young boy becoming a man. It is something I want to do.”
For now, though, Guadagnino has already satiated his desire to collaborate with the actor who became a star as a result of that 2017 romance. With “Bones and All,” Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich have transformed Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 cannibal into a gothic plunge into the ’80s-era midwest. Equal parts “Badlands” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” the movie is a sensitive look at the kind of marginalized characters who populate all of Guadagnino’s films.
A scrawny Chalamet plays Lee,...
For now, though, Guadagnino has already satiated his desire to collaborate with the actor who became a star as a result of that 2017 romance. With “Bones and All,” Guadagnino and screenwriter David Kajganich have transformed Camille DeAngelis’ 2015 cannibal into a gothic plunge into the ’80s-era midwest. Equal parts “Badlands” and “Bonnie and Clyde,” the movie is a sensitive look at the kind of marginalized characters who populate all of Guadagnino’s films.
A scrawny Chalamet plays Lee,...
- 9/6/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
A round up of stories from Locarno Film Festival.
As the first week of the Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) comes to an end, here is the latest from the industry side of the event in Switzerland.
Six projects at Locarno Pitching Day
Feature films from Italy, Austria and Switzerland were among the projects pitched at the Ticino Film Commission’s Locarno Pitching Day held yesterday (August 8).
Staged in collaboration with Locarno Pro, the event was aimed at film industry professionals seeking co-production partners, distribution and financing for projects that are in development and could be further developed in the Swiss region.
As the first week of the Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) comes to an end, here is the latest from the industry side of the event in Switzerland.
Six projects at Locarno Pitching Day
Feature films from Italy, Austria and Switzerland were among the projects pitched at the Ticino Film Commission’s Locarno Pitching Day held yesterday (August 8).
Staged in collaboration with Locarno Pro, the event was aimed at film industry professionals seeking co-production partners, distribution and financing for projects that are in development and could be further developed in the Swiss region.
- 8/9/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
10 Swiss film festivals with international standing are joining forces on a symbolically significant screening series to be held in Locarno’s PalaCinema multipurpose venue which is also known as the Swiss lakeside town’s house of cinema.
The innovative initiative – which is being launched with a press conference on Saturday at the Locarno Film Festival – is the brainchild of Nadia Dresti, the Locarno fest’s grand dame, who recently joined the PalaCinema board.
The PalaCinema (pictured) houses the Locarno film festival offices, its film academy, the Cisa film school, the Ticino Film Commission, Swiss pubcaster Rsi, as well as several commercial cinemas and other screening venues.
“On the 75th anniversary of the Locarno festival we want to pay homage to all Swiss international film festivals, inviting their artistic directors to each talk about their vision for their respective festivals, and also to chose a film that represents this vision,” Dresti told Variety.
The innovative initiative – which is being launched with a press conference on Saturday at the Locarno Film Festival – is the brainchild of Nadia Dresti, the Locarno fest’s grand dame, who recently joined the PalaCinema board.
The PalaCinema (pictured) houses the Locarno film festival offices, its film academy, the Cisa film school, the Ticino Film Commission, Swiss pubcaster Rsi, as well as several commercial cinemas and other screening venues.
“On the 75th anniversary of the Locarno festival we want to pay homage to all Swiss international film festivals, inviting their artistic directors to each talk about their vision for their respective festivals, and also to chose a film that represents this vision,” Dresti told Variety.
- 8/6/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Director Guillermo del Toro showed up at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday to lead a wide-ranging conversation with directors including Paolo Sorrentino, Claude Lelouch, Costa-Gavras, Michel Hazanavicius and Gaspar Noe, and he sounded the alarm from his opening comments that the film business was dramatically changing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of streaming services over movie theaters.
“What we have right now is unsustainable,” del Toro said at the beginning of the “Filmmaking: What Now?” symposium, a two-day event to mark the 75th Cannes. “In so many ways, what we have belongs to an older structure. Whether we want it to or not, the future will show up.”
But, he added, the change in the movie business is only part of a wider change across society. “When we look at the entire structure of how we are as a race, a community, it is shifting,...
“What we have right now is unsustainable,” del Toro said at the beginning of the “Filmmaking: What Now?” symposium, a two-day event to mark the 75th Cannes. “In so many ways, what we have belongs to an older structure. Whether we want it to or not, the future will show up.”
But, he added, the change in the movie business is only part of a wider change across society. “When we look at the entire structure of how we are as a race, a community, it is shifting,...
- 5/24/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The character actor was part of the ensemble casts of Robert Altman’s films Short Cuts and The Player, and had a career in film and television that spanned five decades
The veteran character actor Fred Ward, best known for appearances in The Right Stuff, Tremors and Short Cuts, has died aged 79. A statement to the New York Post by Ward’s representative said that the actor died on 8 May. No cause of death was given, but the statement said it was Ward’s wish for donations to be made to the Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.
Born in San Diego, Ward joined the air force before deciding to become an actor. Having found it difficult to land roles, he worked as a lumberjack, sailor and boxer before restarting his acting career in Italy, where an early credit was in a 1974 Roberto Rossellini TV movie about Descartes. Returning to the US,...
The veteran character actor Fred Ward, best known for appearances in The Right Stuff, Tremors and Short Cuts, has died aged 79. A statement to the New York Post by Ward’s representative said that the actor died on 8 May. No cause of death was given, but the statement said it was Ward’s wish for donations to be made to the Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center.
Born in San Diego, Ward joined the air force before deciding to become an actor. Having found it difficult to land roles, he worked as a lumberjack, sailor and boxer before restarting his acting career in Italy, where an early credit was in a 1974 Roberto Rossellini TV movie about Descartes. Returning to the US,...
- 5/13/2022
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
The Hand Of God won four prizes including best film, best director and best supporting actress.
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God won four prizes at the 67th David di Donatello awards, including best film (the first Netflix title to do so), best director and best supporting actress for Teresa Saponangelo.
The Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama also shared the cinematography prize with Gabriele Mainetti’s Venice competition title Freaks Out, which won six awards in total, including prizes for the producers, production design, hairdressing, make-up and VFX.
The two films both had the highest number of nominations with 16.
The in-person...
Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God won four prizes at the 67th David di Donatello awards, including best film (the first Netflix title to do so), best director and best supporting actress for Teresa Saponangelo.
The Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama also shared the cinematography prize with Gabriele Mainetti’s Venice competition title Freaks Out, which won six awards in total, including prizes for the producers, production design, hairdressing, make-up and VFX.
The two films both had the highest number of nominations with 16.
The in-person...
- 5/4/2022
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated autobiographical drama “The Hand of God” took top honors at Italy’s 67th David di Donatello Awards, winning best picture, director, supporting actress and tying for the best cinematography statuette.
Sorrentino’s Naples-set film about the personal tragedy and other vicissitudes that drove him to become a top notch film director had been the frontrunner along with young helmer Gabriele Mainetti’s second feature, the elegant effects-laden historical fantasy “Freaks Out.”
“Freaks Out” won six prizes, including for its producer, Andrea Occhipinti, as well as cinematographer, set design, and effects.
The cinematography prize, which was a tie, was split between “Hand of God” Dp Daria D’Antonio, marking the first time this David goes to a woman, and Michele Attanasio for “Freaks Out.”
The Davids were held as a fully in-person ceremony at Rome’s Cinecittà studios just as the famed facilities undergo a radical renewal being...
Sorrentino’s Naples-set film about the personal tragedy and other vicissitudes that drove him to become a top notch film director had been the frontrunner along with young helmer Gabriele Mainetti’s second feature, the elegant effects-laden historical fantasy “Freaks Out.”
“Freaks Out” won six prizes, including for its producer, Andrea Occhipinti, as well as cinematographer, set design, and effects.
The cinematography prize, which was a tie, was split between “Hand of God” Dp Daria D’Antonio, marking the first time this David goes to a woman, and Michele Attanasio for “Freaks Out.”
The Davids were held as a fully in-person ceremony at Rome’s Cinecittà studios just as the famed facilities undergo a radical renewal being...
- 5/3/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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