News

Europe’s largest cosplay get together, Italy’s Lucca Comics and Games returns for its 58th edition over the Halloween weekend, with thousands of fans descending on the medival Tuscan town to celebrate all things geek. From TV shows launched by the top streamers to video, tabletop and role-playing games, comic books and horror movies, Lucca showcases the latest in fandom, paying homage to the pervasive power of pop culture at large.

And that is why “The Butterfly Effect” is the theme of this year’s edition, being held Oct. 30-Nov. 3.

Lucca Comic and Games has over almost 60 years accomplished a fantastic butterfly effect, artistic director Emanuele Vietina tells Variety. It’s become a type of event that’s being embraced by the world, from South Asia to all of Europe and North and South America, he points out. (See separate interview with Vietina). Significantly, this year’s poster is...

Anthony (Tony) Cianciotta, a Canadian film industry veteran of 50 years, has died. The well-regarded distribution and exhibition executive passed away peacefully on June 26. He was 85.

Cianciotta started his career in the film industry in 1965, in Toronto, as a key film buyer for the J. Arthur Rank Organization, which ultimately became Cineplex Odeon in 1980.

Following that, Cianciotta held a variety of prominent executive positions, including Vice President and General Manager at 20th Century Fox, Canada and Senior Vice President, Film at Cineplex Odeon, among others. He is perhaps most recognized for his tenure as Senior Vice President and General Manager of theatrical distribution at Alliance Releasing from 1992 to 1997.

Cianciotta is remembered for his ability to establish theatrical release strategies in Canada with great precision. From platforming groundbreaking films like Cinema Paradiso, Mediterraneo, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting, to working on blockbuster such as the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise,...

The Canadian industry is paying tribute to distribution veteran Tony Cianciotta, who died last month (June 26). He was 85.

Cianciotta began his career in 1965 in Toronto as a film buyer for J. Arthur Rank Organization, which became Cineplex Odeon in 1980.

He went on to work in senior executive roles such as vice president and general manager at 20th Century Fox, Canada, and senior vice president, film at Cineplex Odeon, among others, before becoming senior vice president and general manager at Alliance Releasing from 1992-97.

In this role he championed Cinema Paradiso, Mediterraneo, The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting and many others,...

The Cannes Film Festival has named the eight members of its main Competition jury who will join previously announced president Greta Gerwig in deciding the Palme d’Or and other key prizes at 77th edition running from May 14 to 25.

They are Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, U.S. actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director and screenwriter J.A. Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and French actor and producer Omar Sy.

The wife and long-time collaborator of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, screenwriter and photographer Ceylan co-wrote 2014 Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep and also took co-writing credits on Cannes selected films Three Monkeys (Best Director Prize 2008), Once upon a time in Anatolia (Grand Prix 2011), The Wild Pear Tree (2018) and About Dry Grasses (2023).

Ceylan also appeared as an actress and took art director credits on her husband’s early films...

Exclusive: Omar Benson Miller (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey) has been tapped for an undisclosed role in Ryan Coogler’s Warner Bros supernatural thriller, starring Michael B. Jordan.

Pic’s plot remains under wraps. As previously reported, Jack O’Connell, Delroy Lindo, Jayme Lawson, and Wunmi Mosaku will also star. Deadline was first to tell you about Warners’ acquisition of the project, following a heated bidding war.

Coogler is writing and will also produce alongside Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian. The film’s executive producers are two-time Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, Rebecca Cho, and Will Greenfield. Shooting begins this month, with the film to roll out in theaters on March 7, 2025.

Bringing Jordan and Coogler back together following their collaboration on the Creed and Black Panther franchises and the acclaimed Sundance drama Fruitvale Station, the film is the second from the collaborators that Warner Bros Film Group co-chairs and CEOs Mike De Luca...

Italy has submitted Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano as its candidate for Best International Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

The timely drama follows the hardships of two Senegalese teenagers as they try to make it to Europe via the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

The film world premiered to critical acclaim in Competition in Venice winning Best Director for Garrone, Best Young Star for co-star Seydou Sarr and Best Production Director for Claudia Cravotta.

The Deadline review out of Venice describes the film as “a blisteringly topical drama” that could be Garrone’s “best” film to date, in a filmography that also includes Gomorrah, Tale of Tales and Dogman.

The selection was made by a committee overseen by Italian cinema organisation Anica. Its members comprised Alessandro Araimo, Domizia De Rosa, Esmeralda Calabria, Daniela Ciancio, Francesca Lo Schiavo, Giorgio Moroder, Cristiana Paternò, Michele Placido, Paola Randi, Riccardo Tozzi and Gianpiero Tulelli.

Italy’s Indiana Production – which has just become part of pan-European studio Vuelta Group – is staying true to its roots with production kicking off this month on gender swap movie “Romeo is Juliet,” directed by quality comedy specialist Giovanni Veronesi, just as the company expands its horizons.

This latest title in Indiana’s slate stars A-lister Sergio Castellitto and Pilar Fogliati (“Romantiche”) who plays an actress named Vittoria who after being brutally rejected by a cynical stage director when she auditions to play Juliet in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” decides to reinvent herself as a man to audition for Romeo and gets the part. The film’s lead actors and director are pictured above.

“Romeo is Juliet” is being produced by Indiana, co-produced by Capri Entertainment, and will be distributed in Italian theatres by Vision Distribution. The movie will start production in September.

Founded in 2005, Indiana over the ensuing...

A highlight of the first weekend of the 80th Venice International Film Festival was seeing Giorgio Armani appear on the catwalk, visibly excited, moved, smiling and proudly satisfied with his work. He then advanced graceful and happy, in his impeccable blue tuxedo holding hands with the model Agnese Zogla.

The moment was experienced by the more than 500 guests at Armani’s One Night Only event, where the world of cinema flocked to pay homage to King Giorgio, with guests including Sophia Loren, who has always been his beloved friend, accompanied by her son Edoardo Ponti, actor Benicio Del Toro, actress Jessica Chastain, and directors Ang Lee, Gabriele Salvatores and Giuseppe Tornatore.

The standing ovation lasted several minutes from an audience composed of numerous couples from the Italian film star system: from Sergio Castellitto and Margaret Mazzantini and Pierfrancesco Favino and Anna Ferzetti to Raul Bova and Rocio Munoz Morales to Kasia Smutniak and Domenico Procacci.

Federico Fellini’s post-war immigration story “Napoli-New York,” which was penned for the big screen by the famed director but never produced, is set to become a graphic novel written by French comic book writer Jean-David Morvan.

Meanwhile, as previously announced, cameras are rolling in Naples on the movie version by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores.

Fellini co-wrote the tale with his frequent collaborator Tullio Pinelli, a writer on the Italian maestro’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2,” as well as other titles. Turin-based media company Arancia Studio has now attached the prolific Morvan – who has written more than 250 books that have sold millions of copies – for the graphic novel adaptation.

“Napoli-New York” revolves around two kids named Celestina and Carmine who, after Celestina’s house collapses in an air raid, manage to surreptitiously board a ship in the port of Naples, becoming clandestine passengers. The youngsters are on a mission to reach the U.

In Italy, Pierfrancesco Favino needs no introduction. At this year’s David di Donatello awards ceremony — Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars — a Favino film was nominated in every major category. A shortlist of the directors he’s worked with — Gabriele Salvatores, Giuseppe Tornatore, Marco Bellocchio, Gianni Amelio, Gabriele Muccino, Ferzan Ozpetek, Mario Martone — reads like a who’s who of Italian cinema.

Internationally, Favino has carved out a second career as a supporting player in Hollywood productions. In Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna, Ron Howard’s Rush and Angels and Demons, or Mark Forster’s World War Z. But his most recent U.S. visit — to this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York — was for an Italian film: Andrea Di Stefano’s Last Night of Amore, which screened in competition.

In the gritty police drama, Favino plays the titular Franco Amore, a good cop called...

Exclusive: Fresh off the series finale of CBS’ True Lies, Omar Miller has entered production in Italy on Naples to New York, an indie based on a story penned in the 1940s by a young Federico Fellini, who was not yet a filmmaker, and his longtime friend and collaborator Tullio Pinelli.

Set in 1949, this is a story of two children who set off on a journey across the ocean, as stowaways on a ship, looking for a family and opportunity in America. Along the way, they encounter characters both well-meaning and nefarious, who cement their faith in humanity. Miller plays George, an American cook on an international merchant ship who befriends our two young Italian stowaways. He’s a gentle giant with great comedic timing, and a strong sense of humanity.

Gabriele Salvatores is directing from his own script, with Paco Cinematografica, Isabella Cocuzza and Arturo Paglia serving as exec producers.

Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores (“Mediterraneo”) is back behind the camera on “Napoli – New York,” a period immigration drama based on a story written for the screen by Federico Fellini.

Fellini co-wrote the tale of two Neapolitan kids who embark on a ship to New York to escape Italy’s early postwar poverty with his frequent collaborator Tullio Pinelli, a writer on the Italian maestro’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2,” as well as other titles.

Italian A-lister Pierfrancesco Favino stars as the chief officer of the ship which the two kids, named Carmine and Celestina, manage to board surreptitiously in the port of Naples, becoming clandestine passengers. The youngsters are on a mission to reach the U.S. where they dream of living with Celestina’s sister, who emigrated to New York two years earlier. Newcomers Dea Lanzaro e Antonio Guerra play the kids. (See first-look image above of Favino with the kids and Salvatores.

Spolight on the new projects from Rai Com, Latido, TrustNordisk and more.

Italy

Comedians, the new film by Gabriele Salvatores, headlines Rai Com’s market slate. The completed film is based on the play of the same name by Trevor Griffiths and is produced by Indiana with Rai Cinema. It features a cast of aspiring comedians preparing for their big night.

Intramovies is kickstarting sales on the Dutch drama Love In A Bottle, produced by Levitate Film and directed by Paula van der Oest, whose credits include Zus & Zo. It is a lockdown love story that unfolds over FaceTime. The...

Italy’s 66th David di Donatello Awards are set to celebrate on May 11 a year of resilience for Cinema Italiano that also looks likely to germinate some creative renewal, just as Italian movie theaters start to reopen and production is booming.

Giorgio Diritti’s biopic “Hidden Away,” about crazed primitivist painter Antonio Ligabue, Gianni Amelio’s wistful “Hammamet,” which reconstructs the Tunisian self-exile of scandal-plagued Italian leader Bettino Craxi, and dark drama “Bad Tales” by the D’Innocenzo Brothers lead the crowded field for Italy’s equivalent of the Oscars, with no clear frontrunner.

Significantly, “Hidden Away,” which scooped 15 nominations, and “Bad Tales,” which scored 13, both star actor Elio Germano. And Germano also plays the lead in another standout title in the Davids race, Netflix Italian Original “The Incredible Story of Rose Island,” which landed 11 noms, including one for the pic’s producer, multihyphenate Matteo Rovere, whose Groenlandia Group is having a banner year.

The Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which runs March 18-21, is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood. Here are some of the event’s highlights:

‘The Life Ahead’ panel

“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.

‘It Was Spring Outside’

This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...

Italian actor Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) is set to star in “Il ritorno di Casanova,” a drama about what happens to a great lover when he gets older, to be directed by Oscar-winner Gabriele Salvatores (“Mediterraneo”).

Loosely based on Austrian author Arthur Schnitzler‘s novella “Casanova’s Homecoming,” in which the Venetian libertine is having trouble contending with the fact that he’s over 60, “Ritorno di Casanova,” which translates as “Casanova’s Return,” is co-written by Salvatores with “The Great Beauty” screenwriter Umberto Contarello and Sara Mosetti.

Taking his cue from Schnitzler’s use of parallel narratives — Schnitzler’s novella “Dream Story” was the basis for Stanley Kubrick’s non-linear “Eyes Wide Shut” — Salvatores is weaving his new take on the Casanova myth using that technique.

One story strand sees the ageing Casanova hosted by a friend in the Venetian countryside “where one of the guests is a proto-feminist named Marcolina,...

Ten years after the original film, YouTube has ordered a sequel to “Life in a Day,” reuniting executive producer Ridley Scott and director Kevin Macdonald for a new documentary that will stitch together hundreds of user-submitted videos from across the globe on a single date.

“Life in a Day 2020” is slated to premiere at next year’s Sundance Film Festival and on YouTube in 2021. The project marks one of the first titles to be confirmed for Sundance, which doesn’t normally reveal selections until early December.

The film will be compiled from video clips submitted by people on the same day — Saturday, July 25, 2020 — to tell the story of a single day on Earth, following the conceit of the original.

“Making the first ‘Life in a Day’ was one of the most joyful and eye-opening experiences of my life,” Macdonald said in a statement. “I am thrilled, 10 years later, that we...

Italian movies are taking a sharper turn towards genre storytelling, though classic auteur titles remain a strong component of the country’s cinematic output. Below is a compendium of standout cinema Italiano projects in various stages.

“Non Mi Uccidere” (“Don’t Kill Me”) Young director Andrea De Sica, who helmed the bulk of teen series “Baby” for Netflix, is set to shoot a horror film geared towards the same youth demographic as the show. It’s based on a bestselling Gothic novel about a 19-year-old named Mirta who, with her older lover, Robin, dies of a drug overdose. She then reanimates alone to find out that in order to continue living, and cherishing the memory of Robin’s love, she must eat living humans. Shooting is expected to start soon. Cast is being contractualized. Pic is the director’s sophomore feature after “Children of the Night,” a coming-of-age story set...

Oscar-winning Italian director Gabriele Salvatores (“Mediterraneo”) is making “Voyage in Italy” a doc using material from social media and other sources chronicling life in lockdown in the country that at present has suffered the most deaths due to coronavirus.

The veteran helmer, who in 2014 made user-generated doc “Italy in a Day” based on the Ridley Scott “Life in a Day” format, has teamed up with Milan-based Indiana Production and Rai Cinema on this collective project that intends to provide a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians are “living this dramatic adventure,” says Salvatores.

The director and producers are launching a call to all Italians to provide videos, which must be shot at home, telling the story of what they are going through. The call for materials for the collective “Voyage in Italy” doc is being combined with a fundraising campaign to raise money for Italy’s Civil Protection...

Indiana Production and Rai Cinema announce the collective doc Viaggio in Italia which looks to paint a film portrait of what we’re currently experiencing, incorporating many different voices. The documentary announced by Indiana Production and Rai Cinema will be intitled Viaggio in Italia, just like Roberto Rossellini’s 1954 film and Goethe’s world famous diary. It will explore the dramatic moment in history which the country and the wider world is currently experiencing and will be directed by Gabriele Salvatores. Back in 2014, the Oscar-winning director also shot the collective documentary Italy in a Day (likewise produced by Indiana), which was modelled upon Ridley Scott’s Life in a Day, seen to be the “first crowd-sourced movie” in history. Here too, in Viaggio in Italia, Salvatores asks everyone to use their mobiles so that they might act as his eyes, allowing him to travel through houses, different worlds, stories, emotions and images.

From 4-10 October, the Italian city will host the 24th edition of the event helmed by Gabriele Salvatores, with 7 titles screening in the International Feature Film Competition. New dates and a brand new setting are in the offing for the Milan Film Festival, which will be held from 4-10 October at The Space Cinema Odeon, with Gabriele Salvatores heading up artistic direction for the second year running, flanked by Alessandro Beretta. The twenty-fourth edition of the event will also be launching its new Industry section, which is scheduled to run from Saturday 5-Tuesday 8 October. The opening of this year’s Festival has been entrusted to the new stoner comedy by Harmony Korine, The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey, and two competitive sections are likewise in the line-up, namely the International Feature Film Competition, which comprises 7 first and second works set to be screened in Italian premieres, and the...

It’s a pretty safe bet that the Italian entries at Venice that will make the biggest splashes this year are both TV series premiering in the official selection: Paolo Sorrentino’s limited series “The New Pope” and Stefano Sollima’s cocaine-trafficking drama “ZeroZeroZero.”

While these are both shows by directors who also work in film, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has no qualms in pointing out that in the film sphere the domestic pickings were slim this year.

Venice selectors received 186 Italian films, which amounts to roughly 10% of the total submissions. “And more than half were unwatchable microbudget first works,” Barbera says. “You wonder: why produce this stuff?”

However, the TV series, both commissioned by Sky Italia and screening out of competition, are on a different level. “They were both a big gamble,” Barbera says. And they cost a lot, “but you really see the results.”

Barbera says everyone...

Martin EdenThe programme for the 2019 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Olivier Assayas, Robert Guédiguian, Pietro Marcello, and many more.COMPETITIONThe Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda): About a stormy reunion between a daughter and her actress mother, Catherine, against the backdrop of Catherine’s latest role in a sci-fi picture as a mother who never grows old.The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour)About Endlessness (Roy Andersson): The film contains a mix of scenes that takes place in the past and present and we meet several historical people, including Prince Ivan the Terrible and Adolf Hitler.Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas): The story of five Cuban political prisoners who had been imprisoned by the United States since the late 1990s on charges of espionage and murder.Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach): A stage director and his actor wife struggle through a gruelling, coast-to-coast...

The lineup has been unveiled for year’s edition of the Venice International Film Festival, taking place August 28 through September 7. Aside from films previously announced as coming to Tiff, some major new announcements include Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network, James Gray’s Ad Astra, Roy Andersson’s About Endlessness, Ciro Guerra’s Waiting for the Barbarians, David Michôd’s The King, Benedict Andrews’ Kristen Stewart-led biopic Seberg, and Roman Polanski’s J’accuse. Only two films by female directors made into the competition lineup: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate and Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth.

Check out the lineup below (hat tip to Mubi), which also includes other sections at the festival.

Competition

The Truth (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

The Perfect Candidate (Haifaa Al-Mansour)

About Endlessness (Roy Andersson)

Wasp Network (Olivier Assayas)

Marriage Story (Noah Baumbach)

Guest of Honour (Atom Egoyan)

Ad Astra (James Gray)

A Herdade (Tiago Guedes)

Gloria Mundi (Robert Guédiguian...

Update: Much of the Venice Film Festival’s 2019 competition field, which was announced this morning in Rome, lines up as expected with Warner Bros/DC origns story Joker; Fox/Disney’s Brad Pitt space drama Ad Astra; Steven Soderbergh’s starry Netflix dark comedy, The Laundromat; and Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story from Netflix making the cut to begin potential awards-season runs.

Kristen Stewart drama Seberg (formerly Against All Enemies) is also an official selection entry, though in something of a surprise is taking an out-of-competition slot. Other intriguing titles include Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate (she is one of just two female filmmakers in the competition); Olivier Assayas’ Wasp Network, a thriller with Penelope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez; and Pablo Larrain’s Ema.

Fest chief Alberto Barbera is already facing criticism from European Cinema groups over the inclusion of three Netflix titles. He’s also likely to stir...

Roman Polanski’s “J’Accuse,” Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” and Steven Soderbergh’s “The Laundromat” are among the films that will screen at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival, Venice organizers announced at a press conference in Rome on Thursday.

This will mark Polanski’s first appearance at a major festival since his May 2018 expulsion from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with the decision by the AMPAS Board of Governors referencing his 1978 guilty plea to a charge of statutory rape.

“J’Accuse,” which had been screening for buyers under the title “An Officer and a Spy,” is his dramatization of the Alfred Dreyfus scandal in 19th century France, and has been considered by some, sight unseen, as a comment of sorts on the #MeToo movement.

Also Read: Oscars Academy Defends Expulsion of Roman Polanski

Other films in the Venice Film Festival main competition include James Gray’s “Ad Astra,...

There are only two films by female directors in competition.

The line-up of the 76th Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7) has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

This year features some high-profile projects including Todd Phillips’ Joker and James Gray’s Ad Astra, a lack of female directors in competition once again, and the controversial selection of Roman Polanski’s latest film.

Australian title Babyteeth, from first-time director Shannon Murphy, and Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate are the two films in the 21-strong competition from female filmmakers. Last year festival chief Alberto Barbera was heavily...

The Venice Film Festival has announced the selections for its 76th edition, which is set to take place from August 29 to September 7. The announcement marks the week’s second major film festival lineup to confirm titles following the Toronto International Film Festival. With both official selections for Venice and Tiff now revealed, the upcoming 2019-20 awards season is quickly taking shape.

As previously announced, Venice 2019 will open with the world premiere of Hirokazu Kore-eda’s new film “The Truth.” The family drama stars Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke. “The Truth” is Kore-eda’s first directorial effort since winning the Palme d’Or in 2018 with “Shoplifters.” This year’s festival will close with “The Burnt Orange Heresy,” the latest feature from Giuseppe Capotondi. The movie stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, and Mick Jagger.

Venice has already announced that Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel will serve as the president of this year’s competition jury.

Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, who won the foreign-language film Oscar for “Mediterraneo” in 1991 and more recently helmed teen superhero franchise “The Invisible Boy” is in Berlin where sales company Rai Com is showing buyers footage of his upcoming road movie “Volare.” Pic stars Claudio Santamaria and Valeria Golino and is penned by Umberto Contarello (“The Great Beauty”).

Based on a widely translated bestseller by Italy’s Fulvio Ervas — which was inspired by a true story — “Volare” is about a boozing lounge singer (Santamaria) who accidentally intersects with his teen autistic son, whom he has never met before. He has an epiphany and decides to hit the road with him in an attempt to fight his son’s autism. They are chased by the boy’s mother (Golino) and her husband, played by Diego Abatantuono, who also starred in “Mediterraneo.”

Salvatores in Berlin spoke to Variety about making his return to the road movie genre.

Rai Com is kicking off sales in Berlin on Italian producer Ginevra Elkann’s directorial debut, “Magari” (If Only), which stars Brett Gelman (“Fleabag”), Alba Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”), Riccardo Scamarcio (“Loro”) and France’s Céline Sallette (“Les Revenants”).

The multi-language pic is currently shooting in the seaside town of Sabaudia, outside Rome.

Produced by Wildside and Rai Cinema, “Magari” is a sentimental comedy about three kids of divorced parents who, while living in Paris with their bourgeois Russian-Orthodox mother, are suddenly packed off and sent to stay with their unconventional and broke Italian father, Carlo.

Elkann wrote the screenplay with writer Chiara Barzini, author of English-language novel “Things That Happened Before the Earthquake.”

Elkann previously directed the short “Vado a Messa,” which screened at Venice. As a producer she’s shepherded several standout festival titles, including Noaz Deshe’s Swahili-language drama “White Shadow,” which won the 2013 Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future.

After Gabriele Salvatores’ Mediterraneo grabbed the best foreign language Oscar in 1992 in a surprise win, it’s the turn of another comedy about being stranded on an idyllic Mediterranean island to shoot for the stars. In over two leisurely hours, The Eighth Commissioner describes the travails of an up-and-coming politician who is being groomed to become deputy prime minister of his country. But an inconvenient sex and drugs scandal sends smoothie Sinisa Mesjak (Frano Maskovic) into professional exile on Croatia’s most remote island, where he has to adapt to the local way of life rather than the other way ...

After Gabriele Salvatores’ Mediterraneo grabbed the best foreign language Oscar in 1992 in a surprise win, it’s the turn of another comedy about being stranded on an idyllic Mediterranean island to shoot for the stars. In over two leisurely hours, The Eighth Commissioner describes the travails of an up-and-coming politician who is being groomed to become deputy prime minister of his country. But an inconvenient sex and drugs scandal sends smoothie Sinisa Mesjak (Frano Maskovic) into professional exile on Croatia’s most remote island, where he has to adapt to the local way of life rather than the other way ...

Rome’s Mia market for TV series, feature films and documentaries wrapped on a positive note Sunday after four days of intense dealmaking and presentations, which saw some 2,000 executives, including 400 buyers, sample a substantial offering of select new top notch mostly European product.

“We still don’t generate the big announcements like Mipcom,” said market director Lucia Milazzotto, but, she added “we are growing.” Milazzotto boasted that for its fourth edition the new concept Mia event, created to put Italy back on the markets map, attracted a big rise in U.S. attendees across all sectors, “which means more buyers, and more commissioning editors,” came lured by “the cream of the European crop.”

The American contingent at Mia comprised Anonymous Content chief Paul Green, Oscar-winning multi-hyphenate Bryan Fogel (“Icarus”), Sony Pictures Entertainment Senior VP Katrhyn Busby, “Narcos” show-runner Chris Brancato, and “Bridesmaids” and “Ghostbusters” director Paul Feig. Besides coming to do business,...

Four female Italian bandits known as “Le Drude” are the protagonists of “My Body Will Bury You” a Sicily-set revenge drama/Western set in 1860 that is among standout titles presented to prospective buyers and sales agents during the Rome Mia market’s What’s Next Italy showcase.

This second feature by Alessandro La Parola, whose bittersweet comedy debut “E se domani” won some prizes and critical accolades, is loosely based on the director’s research about the period when Garibaldi in his effort to unify Italy invaded Sicily, then a lawless territory where gangs of female rebels formed. Footage of the film (pictured) revealed a genre-bender that mixes period costumer, Western, and action tropes. The trigger-happy killer among the four fierce women — who have joined forces to avenge cruelties that they, and others, have been subjected to — is played by Sicilian actress Margareth Made who emerged in Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria.

Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores is set to shoot a road movie with the working title “Don’t Be Afraid If I Hug You,” which involves a father and his autistic son on the run. Pic stars Italian A-listers Claudio Santamaria (“They Call Me Jeeg”) and Valeria Golino.

Rai Com has boarded and will kick off world sales in Toronto. Salvatores’ new pic will start shooting this month.

Based on a widely translated bestseller by Italy’s Fulvio Ervas — which was inspired by a true story — “Don’t Be Afraid” is penned by Umberto Contarello (“The Great Beauty”). Santamaria will play a boozing lounge singer who accidentally intersects with his teen autistic son, whom he has never met before. He has an epiphany and decides to hit the road with him in an attempt to fight his son’s autism. They are chased by the boy’s mother (Golino) and her husband.

Rome — Leading Italian film company Rai Cinema is producing new works by revered Russian auteurs Alexander Sokurov and Andrei Konchalovsky, as well as a slew of new titles from prominent Italian helmers Gabriele Salvatores and Gianni Amelio and younger standouts Jonas Carpignano and Susanna Nicchiarelli.

The production and distribution arm of pubcaster Rai has teamed up with the Sokurov Foundation on an unconventional historical work featuring rare archive footage of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Churchill captured in non-official circumstances. These leaders will hold imaginary conversations during World War II that reveal their “human nature, their vision of the world” and their personal takes of wartime events, according to Rai Cinema promotional materials.

This latest work by the director who explored the corrupting effects of power in “Moloch” (1999), about Hitler, and “Taurus” (2000), about Lenin, and who more recently shot “Russian Ark” and “Francofonia,” is working-titled “La risata tra le lacrime” in Italian,...

Exclusive: Italian sales outfit picks up Ride, It’s The Law, and Two Irenes.

Rome-based sales company True Colours has added English-language extreme sports drama Ride, Italian box office hit It’s The Law and Generation Kplus title Two Irenes (As Duas Irenes) to its Efm slate.

Brazilian filmmaker Fabio Meira’s Two Irenes - about two girls with the same name and an unexpected connection – marks the first non-Italian production for Rome-based True Colours since it launched in 2015.

Ride is a horror thriller about extreme sports shot entirely on GoPro cameras by writing and directing duo Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro. It follows their military thriller Mine, starring Armie Hammer, which was picked up by Well Go USA Entertainment for North America.

The company has acquired sales on comedy duo Ficarra and Picone’s new hit It’s The Law (L’Ora Legale) about a village in Sicily that elects a straight-arrow professor as mayor. The film...

Here’s your daily dose of an indie film, web series, TV pilot, what-have-you in progress — at the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite.

In the meantime: Is this a project you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.

Paper

Logline: An intimate film about the impacts of cancer on a mother and her imaginative son.

Elevator Pitch:

Alessandro Farrattini’s short film about a tragic discovery is a terribly touching yet tongue-in-cheek tale of a mother and son’s separate but (hopefully) universal acceptances of a terribly stinky, terribly poopy, and terribly evil disease whose super villain name is, cancer.

Production Team:

Alessandro Farrattini: Director

Alessandro is an award-winning Director whose previous short “Corpse Remover” was 150% funded on Kickstarter. He also works as an Assistant Director and Videographer for companies such as The East London Music Group and Warner Bros....

2015 European Film Awards winners and nominations Best European Film A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. En Duva Satt På En Gren Och Funderade På Tillvaron. Sweden, France, Germany, Norway, 96 min. Written and directed by: Roy Andersson. Produced by: Pernilla Sandström. Mustang. France, Germany, Turkey, 100 min. Directed by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven. Written by: Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour. Produced by: Charles Gillibert. Rams. Hrútar. Iceland, Denmark, 93 min. Written and directed by: Grímur Hákonarson. Produced by: Grímar Jónsson. The Lobster. U.K., Ireland, Greece, France, Netherlands, 118 min. Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos. Written by: Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou. Produced by: Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Ceci Dempsey and Yorgos Lanthimos. Victoria. Germany, 138 min. Written and directed by: Sebastian Schipper. Produced by: Jan Dressler. * Youth. Youth – La Giovinezza. Italy, France, U.K., Switzerland, 118 min. Written and directed by: Paolo Sorrentino. Produced by: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima and Carlotta Calori. Best...

The 59Th BFI London Film Festival Announces Full 2015 Programme

You can peruse the programme at your leisure here.

The programme for the 59th BFI London Film Festival in partnership launched today, with Festival Director Clare Stewart presenting this year’s rich and diverse selection of films and events. BFI London Film Festival is Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s oldest film festivals. It introduces the finest new British and international films to an expanding London and UK-wide audience. The Festival provides an essential platform for films seeking global success; and promotes the careers of British and international filmmakers through its industry and awards programmes. With this year’s industry programme stronger than ever, offering international filmmakers and leaders a programme of insightful events covering every area of the film industry‎ Lff positions London as the world’s leading creative city.

The Festival will screen a...

When it comes to international film festivals, there are sprinters and there are distance runners. Spanning 25 days across May and June, Seattle International Film Festival is the Pheidippides of American fests. Unlike its splashier cousins, Sundance and SXSW, Siff doesn’t pander to big movie stars or flashy hipsters. Staying true to its Northwest sensibilities, Siff quietly grinds out one terrific program after another. The 41st edition boasts a whopping 193 feature films, 164 short films, and 70 documentaries, many of which are either World or North American premieres. It’s enough to make even the most ambitious cinephile curl up in a corner with his festival guide and cry. Here, then, is a brief preview of some hotly anticipated films, as well as some obscure titles that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Familiar Faces

Strategically positioned in the middle of the calendar year, Siff has the advantage of playing favorites. More specifically, they...

Exclusive: Talks underway for a new European Audience Prize.

The European Commission (EC) has dropped its Media Prize, presented during the Cannes Film Festival since 2012.

The Prize had been awarded by a jury of independent experts, the EC and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (Eacea) to the best project with box office potential from applications submitted for Media development support.

The prize has previously gone to Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, which played in Competition in Cannes a year later in 2013; Thomas Vinterberg for his project The Commune; and Bosnian director Danis Tanović for What Are You Looking At?.

But despite discontinuing the award, there are talks underway with the European Parliament and European Film Academy to replace the prize with a new audience award.

Speaking exclusively to Screen Daily, an EC official said: “The European Commission considers that a unique European film prize, able to build on a more active participation of the European...

Italy hopes to repeat last year’s win in the Best Foreign-Language Film category with Paolo Virzi’s family thriller.

Italy has submitted Paolo Virzi’s Human Capital for consideration in the Best Foreign-Language Film category of the Academy Awards.

Italy holds the record for the most foreign-language Oscars, with 14 wins including the statuette for Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty earlier this year.

Human Capital centres on two families, irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep on the night before Christmas Eve. The film was based on the Us novel by Stephen Amidon, relocating from Connecticut to Northern Italy.

It won seven trophies at the David di Donatello awards, beating The Great Beauty for best film, and six Nastri d’Argento Awards.

Human Capital has also proved a box office hit in Italy

Italy’s Oscar shortlist also include Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders, Francesco Munzi’s Black...

The Venice International Film Festival is in the process announcing the lineup for its 71st edition. Here's what we know so far:

Competition

The Cut (Fatih Akin)

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson)

99 Homes (Ramin Bahrani)

Tales (Rakhshan Bani E'temad)

La rancon de la gloire (Xavier Beauvois)

Hungry Hearts (Saverio Costanzo)

Le dernier coup de marteau (Alix Delaporte)

Pasolini (Abel Ferrara)

Manglehorn (David Gordon Green)

Birdman or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Three Hearts (Benoît Jacquot)

The Postman's White Nights (Andrei Konchalovsky)

Il Giovane Favoloso (Mario Martone)

Sivas (Kaan Mujdeci)

Anime Nere (Francesco Munzi)

Good Kill (Andrew Niccol)

Loin des hommes (David Oelhoffen)

The Look of Silence (Joshua Oppenheimer)

Nobi (Shinya Tsukamoto)

Red Amnesia (Wang Xiaoshuai)

Out Of Competition

Joe Date. Photo by Evan Dickson.

Words with Gods (Guillermo Arriaga, Emir Kusturica, Amos Gitai, Mira Nair, Warwick Thornton, Hector Babenco, Bahman Ghobadi,...

This morning in Rome, Biennale president Paolo Baratta and Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera unveiled the lineup for the 71st Venice Film Festival, which features some extraordinarily exciting titles and intriguingly under-the-radar picks.

Twenty films will be competing in the main competition, 19 of which are world premieres with one international premiere out of the lot. Out of all the titles at Venice this year, Birdman, which stars Michael Keaton and features a star-studded cast including Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts, is undoubtedly the title with the most chance of gaining Oscar attention this year after making the rounds on the festival circuit (it’s heading to the Toronto International Film Festival next).

Also anticipated are Manglehorn, a collaboration between Prince Avalanche helmer David Gordon Green and Al Pacino, and Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill, with Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, January Jones and Zoe Kravitz.

The 71st Venice Film Festival announced its lineup this morning, highlighted by films from American directors, including David Gordon Green, Barry Levinson, Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko, Andrew Niccol, and James Franco. As had been previously announced, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton and many others, will be the opening film when the festival begins on Aug. 27.

Click below for the entire list of 55 films playing in Venice.

Competition

The Cut, directed by Fatih Akin

Starring Tahar Rahim, Akin Gazi, Simon Abkarian, George Georgiou

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, directed by Roy Andersson

Starring Holger Andersson,...

This morning came the announcement of the 2014 Venice Film Festival lineup and we already knew Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Birdman would serve as the opening night film and for the most part a lot of the more recognizable entries are those we already discussed as part of the Toronto Film Festival lineup. This includes Ramin Bahrani's 99 Homes, David Gordon Green's Manglehorn starring Al Pacino, Abel Ferrera's Pasolini, Barry Levinson's The Humbling and Andrew Niccol's The Good Kill. There are, however, some titles worthy of note such as the latest film from The Act of Killing director Joshua Oppenheimer, The Lord of Silence, Fatih Akin's The Cut, She's Funny that Way from Peter Bogdanovich, Lisa Cholodenko's Olive Kitteredge and a new film from James Franco in The Sound and the Fury based on Faulkner's novel. Joe Dante shows up with a new horror-comedy in Burying the Ex,...

Whiles the likes of Terrence Malick, Todd Haynes, Alexander Sokurov, Giorgos Lanthimos and J.C. Chandor no where to be found in the fall fest season map (with concerns to Malick — Telluride and Tiff might still have those surprises up their sleeves) the 71st edition of the Venice Film Festival is still a lean and mean (American-French-Italian heavy) comp with the now “confirmed” presence of Fatih Akin (the cross continent The Cut - see pic above), Ramin Bahrani (Michael Shannon starrer 99 Homes), Abel Ferrara (a Thin Blue Line truth revealer Pasolini), David Gordon Green (Pacino comeback vehicle Manglehorn), Roy Andersson (the long awaited A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence) and Joshua Oppenheimer (public Indonesian isolation accompaniment film The Look Of Silence). The U.S. presence is equally as heavy in the Out of Comp section with the likes of Peter Bogdanovich, Joe Dante, Barry Levinson, Lisa Cholodenko and James Franco making a stop,...

David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Andrew Niccol’s Good Kill and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence among competition titles.Scroll down for full lists

The line-up for the 71st Venice Film Festival (Aug 27-Sept 6) has been revealed this morning by Biennale president Paolo Baratta and film festival director Alberto Barbera at Rome’s St. Regis Grand Hotel.

Early standouts include Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini, which centres on the final days of the Italian filmmaker and his death in 1975; David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, starring Al Pacino as a locksmith in a small town who never got over the love of his life; and The Look Of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s highly anticipated follow-up to his award-winning documentary, The Act of Killing.

As previously announced, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance, starring Michael Keaton, will open the festival on August 27 and is among the 20-strong competition titles, of which all...

Films by David Gordon Green, Andrew Niccol and Abel Ferrara will bring world premieres to the Lido di Venezia this year, as the Venice Film Festival has announced its selections for the 71st edition of the oldest such event in the world. Green's "Manglehorn" with Al Pacino, Niccol's "Good Kill" with Ethan Hawke and Ferrara's "Pasolini" with Willem Dafoe promise to bring a fair share of star power to the event, while actors such as Viggo Mortensen, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver feature in films sprinkled throughout the Competition. "The Act of Killing" director Joshua Oppenheimer will also continue his look at the Indonesian genocide with a new documentary, "The Look of Silence." Playing out of competition are films by Barry Levinson ("The Humbling," also starring Pacino), James Franco ("The Sound and the Fury") and Lisa Cholodenko ("Olive Kitteridge"), while Focus Features will bring the new Laika film, "The Boxtrolls,...