The great Martin Scorsese returned to the Eternal City, accompanied by the star of the moment, Lily Gladstone, as the guests of honor of a gala dinner at the Hotel Hassler by the Spanish steps Wednesday night. The event, honoring Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and hosted by co-chief of Leone Film Group, Raffaella Leone, daughter of great Italian film director Sergio Leone, and Paolo Del Brocco, head of Rai Cinema, the Italian distributor of Killers. Hot off the film’s 10 Oscar nominations, including a record-setting 10th best director nod for Scorsese and the historic best actress nod for Gladstone as the first Native American nominated in the category, the event was a must-attend for the Italian film scene.
The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...
The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...
- 2/1/2024
- by Manuela Santacatterina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Running Jan. 19-Feb. 19, this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival, an online showcase organized by France’s film-tv promotional body UniFrance, will mark its 14th edition with an accent on young talent, both in front of and behind the camera, and an emphasis on female empowerment.
With a mix of heritage docs like Agnès Varda’s “Jane B. for Agnès V.,” and a nine-film competition that spotlights auteurist animation like Alain Ughetto’s “No Dogs or Italians Allowed” alongside outré dramatic fare, the 11 features and 15 shorts that make up this year’s selection will be available on 80 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.
All films will be subtitled in 11 languages, including Arabic, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian, while the feature section will also be available for free in many Latin American, African and Middle Eastern territories.
“No...
With a mix of heritage docs like Agnès Varda’s “Jane B. for Agnès V.,” and a nine-film competition that spotlights auteurist animation like Alain Ughetto’s “No Dogs or Italians Allowed” alongside outré dramatic fare, the 11 features and 15 shorts that make up this year’s selection will be available on 80 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.
All films will be subtitled in 11 languages, including Arabic, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian, while the feature section will also be available for free in many Latin American, African and Middle Eastern territories.
“No...
- 1/9/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Whispers abound in the reality TV sphere, and if they’re to be believed, fans might be witnessing a legendary duo’s return to the screen. Goats of The Challenge, Chris “Ct” Tamburello and Johnny Bananas, are rumored to join forces again, setting the stage for an unforgettable partnership.
Both veterans, with a combined total of 12 Challenge wins, have long since captured audiences’ hearts with their competitive zeal and on-screen camaraderie.
Their potential collaboration in the upcoming season of The Traitor is enough to send ripples of excitement through the community of fans.
‘The Challenge’ legends Ct Tamburello and Johnny Bananas might be teaming up for another reality TV appearance
Viewers of The Challenge might be in for a treat with the potential reunion of some legendary contestants in an upcoming reality TV shoot.
Among the standout names that have the MTV audience buzzing are multiple winners: Ct and Johnny.
Both veterans, with a combined total of 12 Challenge wins, have long since captured audiences’ hearts with their competitive zeal and on-screen camaraderie.
Their potential collaboration in the upcoming season of The Traitor is enough to send ripples of excitement through the community of fans.
‘The Challenge’ legends Ct Tamburello and Johnny Bananas might be teaming up for another reality TV appearance
Viewers of The Challenge might be in for a treat with the potential reunion of some legendary contestants in an upcoming reality TV shoot.
Among the standout names that have the MTV audience buzzing are multiple winners: Ct and Johnny.
- 9/21/2023
- by Perry Carpenter
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Marco Bellocchio excels at grand gestures. The Italian title of the filmmaker’s latest, Kidnapped, appears on screen in large, blood-red letters, like the screaming headline of a tabloid news article. Yet it’s placed over a deceptively serene scene, circa the late-1850s, of servant woman Anna Morisi (Aurora Camatti) strolling into a store across the street from her Bologna-residing employers, the Jewish Mortara family. The clashing juxtaposition of words and images is apt, for none of the characters suspects that history is about to be made.
The Mortara case is one of the most egregious stains on the legacy of the Catholic Church. It captured the world’s attention at a particularly fraught moment, right as the Papal States (occupied Italian territories that had for centuries been under the direct rule of successive popes) were close to permanent dissolution, and global antisemitism was on a genocidal rise.
In...
The Mortara case is one of the most egregious stains on the legacy of the Catholic Church. It captured the world’s attention at a particularly fraught moment, right as the Papal States (occupied Italian territories that had for centuries been under the direct rule of successive popes) were close to permanent dissolution, and global antisemitism was on a genocidal rise.
In...
- 9/8/2023
- by Keith Uhlich
- Slant Magazine
The German co-produced science fiction TV series ‘The Swarm’ is adapted from Frank Schätzing’s same-named novel. The plot revolves around humankind’s struggle against an unfamiliar swarm of intelligence living in the depths of the sea. The series premiered on February 19, 2023.
Following is a list of other science fiction television series that you might be interested in if you are intrigued by the plot of ‘The Swarm’.
Also Read: Top 10 Television Series Like Still Up.
Top 10 Television Series Like The Swarm: Dark – Number of Seasons: 3 Vulture
Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar created the German sci-fi thriller TV series the plot of which follows four estranged families and their members navigating through a sinister time travel conspiracy spanning several generations.
Set in the fictional town of Winden, Germany, the series unravels the existential implications of time and how it affects life and human nature. The series ran from December 1, 2017, to June 27, 2020, on Netflix.
Following is a list of other science fiction television series that you might be interested in if you are intrigued by the plot of ‘The Swarm’.
Also Read: Top 10 Television Series Like Still Up.
Top 10 Television Series Like The Swarm: Dark – Number of Seasons: 3 Vulture
Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar created the German sci-fi thriller TV series the plot of which follows four estranged families and their members navigating through a sinister time travel conspiracy spanning several generations.
Set in the fictional town of Winden, Germany, the series unravels the existential implications of time and how it affects life and human nature. The series ran from December 1, 2017, to June 27, 2020, on Netflix.
- 9/7/2023
- by Suvechchha Saha
- https://dailyresearchplot.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/new-sam
Adagio, as many musicians know, means “slowly” in Italian. That seems to be one of the guiding principles in this epic slow-burn crime thriller from director Stefano Sollima, who’s known for helming the lauded TV series Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero, as well as taking on Hollywood jobs like the actioners Without Remorse and Sicario: Day of the Soldado.
He certainly has style to boot, and this very Heat-like story, which takes place in parts of Rome rarely seen in mainstream movies, is loaded with ambience, as well as brawny performances by a triumvirate of Italy’s best working actors: Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo and Valerio Mastandrea. What it lacks, however, is a gripping and original plot, as well as enough dazzling set pieces to make all the late exposition worthwhile.
Premiering in competition in Venice, Adagio will likely be a local hit, with Sollima delivering the kind of Michael Mann...
He certainly has style to boot, and this very Heat-like story, which takes place in parts of Rome rarely seen in mainstream movies, is loaded with ambience, as well as brawny performances by a triumvirate of Italy’s best working actors: Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo and Valerio Mastandrea. What it lacks, however, is a gripping and original plot, as well as enough dazzling set pieces to make all the late exposition worthwhile.
Premiering in competition in Venice, Adagio will likely be a local hit, with Sollima delivering the kind of Michael Mann...
- 9/2/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In Ava Glass's "The Traitor," when an MI6 agent who was investigating Russian oligarchs turns up dead under unusual circumstances, fellow British spy Emma Makepeace must go undercover on one of the Russians' million-dollar yachts to investigate the murder. But with the killer possibly close by, Emma's life is put in more and more danger as she gets closer to uncovering answers. Ava Glass weaves a thrilling race to the truth in "The Traitor" ($28), publishing on Sept. 19. Read an exclusive excerpt of the novel below.
Through the door of her cabin, Emma could hear the others talking and laughing.
A short time later, Conor called from the end of the hallway, "Hurry up, Sara! We're heading out."
Sara shouted back, "Coming. But I've lost my bloody phone."
Other voices joined in with sympathy and advice. But Sara said resignedly, "God knows where it is. It's my own fault – the place is a tip.
Through the door of her cabin, Emma could hear the others talking and laughing.
A short time later, Conor called from the end of the hallway, "Hurry up, Sara! We're heading out."
Sara shouted back, "Coming. But I've lost my bloody phone."
Other voices joined in with sympathy and advice. But Sara said resignedly, "God knows where it is. It's my own fault – the place is a tip.
- 8/23/2023
- by Ava Glass
- Popsugar.com
Rome-based sales agency True Colours has added Edoardo de Angelis’ “Comandante,” which opens the Venice Film Festival, to its slate. The film, which plays in the main competition section, stars Pierfrancesco Favino.
“Comandante” is based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.
One night, while navigating in the Atlantic, the Italian vessel sinks an armed Belgian merchant ship, and Todaro decides to take the 26 shipwrecked crew members on board his already crowded submarine, aiming for the nearest safe harbor to release them. It is an unexpected action in the context of war, but follows the law of the sea, and endangers his life as well as that of his men, since the submarine has to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces.
“Comandante” is based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.
One night, while navigating in the Atlantic, the Italian vessel sinks an armed Belgian merchant ship, and Todaro decides to take the 26 shipwrecked crew members on board his already crowded submarine, aiming for the nearest safe harbor to release them. It is an unexpected action in the context of war, but follows the law of the sea, and endangers his life as well as that of his men, since the submarine has to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces.
- 8/10/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story contained a sentence of criticism about Ava DuVernay from another website and was never intended for inclusion in this article. THR regrets the error.
Despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strike, the Venice Film Festival unveiled a star-studded and A-list heavy line-up on Tuesday of films that will premiere at the 2023 Biennale, including the movies competing for this year’s Golden Lion.
With the strike preventing top U.S. talent from doing promotional work, there were concerns this year’s Venice line-up could look substantially different than it would have just two weeks ago. But those fears did not pan out, with Venice festival director Alberto Barbera presenting a program that included some of the most hotly-anticipated features of the year, including new movies from Bradley Cooper, Sofia Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Michael Mann and Ava DuVernay.
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers,...
Despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strike, the Venice Film Festival unveiled a star-studded and A-list heavy line-up on Tuesday of films that will premiere at the 2023 Biennale, including the movies competing for this year’s Golden Lion.
With the strike preventing top U.S. talent from doing promotional work, there were concerns this year’s Venice line-up could look substantially different than it would have just two weeks ago. But those fears did not pan out, with Venice festival director Alberto Barbera presenting a program that included some of the most hotly-anticipated features of the year, including new movies from Bradley Cooper, Sofia Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Michael Mann and Ava DuVernay.
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers,...
- 7/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Francesca Archibugi on Paolo Virzì: “We actually were students together. We studied with Furio Scarpelli, who was a great screenwriter. I think we both loved him very much.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
As a screenwriter, Francesca Archibugi has worked with director/screenwriter Paolo Virzì on his films Magical Nights (Notti Magiche) and The Leisure Seeker (starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland) with Francesco Piccolo. Dry (Siccità) starring Monica Bellucci, Silvio Orlando, Valerio Mastandrea, Vinicio Marchioni, Claudia Pandolfi, Sara Serraiocco, and Tommaso Ragno is Archibugi’s third collaboration with Paolo Virzì, this time also with screenwriters Paolo Giordano and Francesco Piccolo.
Dry star Tommaso Ragno inside the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Piccolo is also the co-writer with Laura Paolucci on Archibugi’s The Hummingbird which was the opening night selection of Cinecittà and Film at Lincoln Center’s...
As a screenwriter, Francesca Archibugi has worked with director/screenwriter Paolo Virzì on his films Magical Nights (Notti Magiche) and The Leisure Seeker (starring Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland) with Francesco Piccolo. Dry (Siccità) starring Monica Bellucci, Silvio Orlando, Valerio Mastandrea, Vinicio Marchioni, Claudia Pandolfi, Sara Serraiocco, and Tommaso Ragno is Archibugi’s third collaboration with Paolo Virzì, this time also with screenwriters Paolo Giordano and Francesco Piccolo.
Dry star Tommaso Ragno inside the Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Piccolo is also the co-writer with Laura Paolucci on Archibugi’s The Hummingbird which was the opening night selection of Cinecittà and Film at Lincoln Center’s...
- 7/5/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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...
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...
- 7/2/2023
- by Pino Gagliardi
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Last Night Of Amore director Andrea Di Stefano on Pierfrancesco Favino: “I wrote it thinking of him. I had his face in my mind.”
The retirement party for police lieutenant Franco Amore (Pierfrancesco Favino of Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor and Francesca Archibugi’s The Hummingbird) is in full swing, only the one person celebrated is nowhere to be seen in Andrea Di Stefano’s thriller The Last Night Of Amore. He arrives late, in jogging pants, having been out running through the nightly streets of Milan. Almost immediately after his arrival, he is called in to work because his partner Dino (Francesco Di Leva of Mario Martone’s Nostalgia with Favino) has been shot. Nothing is what it seems, we soon are about to find out, when the film jumps ten days back in time.
Andrea Di Stefano with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I’m trying to put together...
The retirement party for police lieutenant Franco Amore (Pierfrancesco Favino of Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor and Francesca Archibugi’s The Hummingbird) is in full swing, only the one person celebrated is nowhere to be seen in Andrea Di Stefano’s thriller The Last Night Of Amore. He arrives late, in jogging pants, having been out running through the nightly streets of Milan. Almost immediately after his arrival, he is called in to work because his partner Dino (Francesco Di Leva of Mario Martone’s Nostalgia with Favino) has been shot. Nothing is what it seems, we soon are about to find out, when the film jumps ten days back in time.
Andrea Di Stefano with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I’m trying to put together...
- 6/24/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Italian actor-turned-director Andrea Di Stefano, whose sleek cop thriller “Last Night of Amore” just had its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, is in advanced stages of development on “Karski” a feature about Jan Karski, the World War II Polish resistance fighter who risked his life to blow the whistle on the Holocaust.
Di Stefano’s high-profile project, which is titled “Karski,” is being developed by New York City-based production company Phiphen Pictures, the indie founded by Molly Conners most recently behind Netflix’s “Like Father” and “It’s Bruno!,” the director said. Italy’s expanding Indiana Production, which shepherded “Amore,” is also on board.
Karski in 1942, defying great danger, twice infiltrated Warsaw’s Jewish Ghetto to witness its horrors and managed to give first-hand accounts of the Holocaust from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Allies, including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. But his alarm cries fell on deaf ears.
Di Stefano’s high-profile project, which is titled “Karski,” is being developed by New York City-based production company Phiphen Pictures, the indie founded by Molly Conners most recently behind Netflix’s “Like Father” and “It’s Bruno!,” the director said. Italy’s expanding Indiana Production, which shepherded “Amore,” is also on board.
Karski in 1942, defying great danger, twice infiltrated Warsaw’s Jewish Ghetto to witness its horrors and managed to give first-hand accounts of the Holocaust from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Allies, including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. But his alarm cries fell on deaf ears.
- 6/15/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer on Pierfrancesco Favino, star of Andrea Di Stefano’s The Last Night with Amore: “He’s an extraordinary actor.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Opening Night Gala selection of the 22nd edition of the Tribeca Film Festival is Nenad Cicin-Sain’s terrific documentary Kiss the Future, which includes on-camera interviews with U2 members Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton, plus Bill Clinton, Christiane Amanpour, Enes Zlatar (Sikter), Srdan Gino Jevdev (Kulture Shock), Vesna Andree Zaimović (journalist), and Senad Zaimović (editor-in-chief of the Rat Art).
Frédéric Boyer with Anne-Katrin Titze on Pier-Philippe Chevigny’s Richelieu: “This is about workers, the actors are extraordinary in the film.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer on the 2023 selections we discuss Robert De Niro’s A Bronx Tale (Closing Night Gala selection) Andrea Di Stefano’s (the priest in Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi...
The Opening Night Gala selection of the 22nd edition of the Tribeca Film Festival is Nenad Cicin-Sain’s terrific documentary Kiss the Future, which includes on-camera interviews with U2 members Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton, plus Bill Clinton, Christiane Amanpour, Enes Zlatar (Sikter), Srdan Gino Jevdev (Kulture Shock), Vesna Andree Zaimović (journalist), and Senad Zaimović (editor-in-chief of the Rat Art).
Frédéric Boyer with Anne-Katrin Titze on Pier-Philippe Chevigny’s Richelieu: “This is about workers, the actors are extraordinary in the film.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second instalment with Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer on the 2023 selections we discuss Robert De Niro’s A Bronx Tale (Closing Night Gala selection) Andrea Di Stefano’s (the priest in Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi...
- 5/28/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
If we don’t count the pandemic year, it will be four consecutive showings in Cannes for the maestro. The Traitor was in competition in 2019, docu item Il Traditore was a Cannes Premiere selection in 2021 and last year we got Esterno Notte – also a Cannes Premiere. This year Marco Bellocchio unveils classic moviemaking with Kidnapped (aka Rapito). This is the Italian filmmaker’s seventh trip (attempt) at the Palme d’Or after A Leap in the Dark (1980), Henry IV (1984), The Prince of Homburg (1997), The Nanny (1999), My Mother’s Smile (2002) and 2009’s Vincere.
The story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian.…...
The story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian.…...
- 5/25/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Italian indie producer Vivo Film has boarded André Ristum’s action drama “Tecnicamente Dolce” (“Technically Sweet”), based on a screenplay by Italian legend Michelangelo Antonioni, teaming with Gullane Filmes, Brazil’s biggest independent film production house.
The news comes as “Carnival Is Over,” the awaited thriller drama by “Narcos” director Fernando Coimbra, whose “A Wolf at the Door” was one of the standout Brazilian feature debuts of the last decade, has now entered post-production, shaping up as one of the big arthouse titles to hit festivals from Brazil next year.
Featuring Leandra Leal (“A Wolf at the Door”), Pêpê Rapazote (“Narcos”) and Irandhir Santos (“Tropa de Elite 2”), “Carnival” is a Brazilian-Portuguese co-production that teams Gullane with Fado Filmes, Videodrome, Globo Filmes and Telecine, in association with Tc Filmes. France’s Playtime has started to pre-sell the film.
“This movie is our main title for next year. This is the...
The news comes as “Carnival Is Over,” the awaited thriller drama by “Narcos” director Fernando Coimbra, whose “A Wolf at the Door” was one of the standout Brazilian feature debuts of the last decade, has now entered post-production, shaping up as one of the big arthouse titles to hit festivals from Brazil next year.
Featuring Leandra Leal (“A Wolf at the Door”), Pêpê Rapazote (“Narcos”) and Irandhir Santos (“Tropa de Elite 2”), “Carnival” is a Brazilian-Portuguese co-production that teams Gullane with Fado Filmes, Videodrome, Globo Filmes and Telecine, in association with Tc Filmes. France’s Playtime has started to pre-sell the film.
“This movie is our main title for next year. This is the...
- 5/24/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
‘Asteroid City’ scored 2.2 while ‘Kidnapped’ received 2.5.
Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ and Marco Bellocchio’s ‘Kidnapped’ land in the middle of Cannes 2023 jury grid, scoring 2.2 and 2.5 respectively.
Anderson’s third run for the Palme d’Or scored five three stars (good) and four two stars (average) while LA Times’ Justin Chang, Postif’s Michel Ciment and Time Magazine’s Stephanie Zacherek gave it one star (poor).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Featuring an A-list ensemble cast including Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Margot Robbie, Asteroid City is set in a 1950’s US desert town...
Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ and Marco Bellocchio’s ‘Kidnapped’ land in the middle of Cannes 2023 jury grid, scoring 2.2 and 2.5 respectively.
Anderson’s third run for the Palme d’Or scored five three stars (good) and four two stars (average) while LA Times’ Justin Chang, Postif’s Michel Ciment and Time Magazine’s Stephanie Zacherek gave it one star (poor).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Featuring an A-list ensemble cast including Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Margot Robbie, Asteroid City is set in a 1950’s US desert town...
- 5/24/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Cannes – Martin Scorsese isn’t the only 80-year-old filmmaker with a movie in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Marco Bellocchio, who was most recently at the festival in 2019 with “The Traitor,” returns at the spry young age of 83 with the ambitious tale of Edgardo Mortara, in “Kidnapped.” A movie that begins with a horrific act by the Catholic Church and then attempts to paint a portrait of one of the most infamous popes of relatively modern times, Pope Pius IX.
Continue reading ‘Kidnapped’ Review: Pope Pius Steals A Boy & The Movie [Cannes] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Kidnapped’ Review: Pope Pius Steals A Boy & The Movie [Cannes] at The Playlist.
- 5/24/2023
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
At 83 years-old, Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio has been on a hot streak these past years, with the success both at home and abroad of his 2019 Sicilian mafia epic, The Traitor, and his first ever TV miniseries, Exterior, Night, playing well around Europe.
His latest feature — the 31st in a prolific career that began at age 24 with his breakout drama, Fists in the Pocket — is probably not his greatest, but that’s not really a put-down in a filmography filled with memorable work, including other recent movies like Vincere and Good Morning, Night.
Kidnapped (Rapito), a period piece about a Jewish boy taken away from his family to live in the Vatican in 1858, may not be on par with those titles, but it’s still an engaging and somewhat fascinating film, telling a true story that probes historic Italian antisemitism and the follies of the Catholic church.
Filled with the director...
His latest feature — the 31st in a prolific career that began at age 24 with his breakout drama, Fists in the Pocket — is probably not his greatest, but that’s not really a put-down in a filmography filled with memorable work, including other recent movies like Vincere and Good Morning, Night.
Kidnapped (Rapito), a period piece about a Jewish boy taken away from his family to live in the Vatican in 1858, may not be on par with those titles, but it’s still an engaging and somewhat fascinating film, telling a true story that probes historic Italian antisemitism and the follies of the Catholic church.
Filled with the director...
- 5/23/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Revered Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio is returning to Cannes with “Kidnapped,” a drama that reconstructs the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a drama about Mortara for which he began scouting locations in Italy.
Last year, Bellocchio was in Cannes with another kidnapping drama, the limited TV series “Exterior Night,” about the abduction and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. The veteran auteur’s first foray in TV has had the rare distinction of playing well in Italian cinemas — in two installments — before airing on Rai and selling globally. Earlier this month it also scored a slew of statuettes, including best director, at Italy’s David Awards, the country’s top film prizes.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a drama about Mortara for which he began scouting locations in Italy.
Last year, Bellocchio was in Cannes with another kidnapping drama, the limited TV series “Exterior Night,” about the abduction and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists. The veteran auteur’s first foray in TV has had the rare distinction of playing well in Italian cinemas — in two installments — before airing on Rai and selling globally. Earlier this month it also scored a slew of statuettes, including best director, at Italy’s David Awards, the country’s top film prizes.
- 5/23/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Marco Bellocchio is always welcome in Cannes. The Italian maestro first landed a film in the Cannes FIlm Festival’s competition lineup back in 1980 with A Leap in the Dark and has been back regularly over the past two decades: in 1984 with Henry IV, 1987 for The Prince of Homburg, 1999 for The Nanny, 2002 for My Mother’s Smile, 2009 with Vincere, and 2019 with The Traitor. In 2021, the French festival gave him an honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement.
Bellocchio’s latest feature, marking his eighth time in the Cannes competition is Kidnapped. Set in 1858, the film traces the true story of Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy in Bologna who was secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, transforming his fate. Back then, papal law for territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct rule of the Pope required all baptized children, regardless of their religious heritage, to receive a Catholic education.
Bellocchio’s latest feature, marking his eighth time in the Cannes competition is Kidnapped. Set in 1858, the film traces the true story of Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy in Bologna who was secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, transforming his fate. Back then, papal law for territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct rule of the Pope required all baptized children, regardless of their religious heritage, to receive a Catholic education.
- 5/21/2023
- by Concita De Gregorio
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains and veteran Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night topped the 68th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening.
The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.
The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.
It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.
The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...
The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.
The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.
It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.
The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
“Cannes is going back to the future of cinema,” said Iris Knobloch, the new president of the Cannes Film Festival, unveiling the lineup for the 2023 event on Thursday. And looking at this year’s selection, it’s hard to argue with her.
The 76th Cannes International Film Festival looks like an all-killer, no-filler program, with some of the biggest names in international cinema, many of whom got their start on the Croisette, returning to that famed red carpet. The 2023 competition lineup includes new films from Wes Anderson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Nanni Moretti and Aki Kaurismäki. In addition, Cannes has packed its out-of-competition screenings with blockbusters, including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as a new documentary from Oscar winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave).
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, one of the director’s typically-quirky and star-studded affairs,...
The 76th Cannes International Film Festival looks like an all-killer, no-filler program, with some of the biggest names in international cinema, many of whom got their start on the Croisette, returning to that famed red carpet. The 2023 competition lineup includes new films from Wes Anderson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Nanni Moretti and Aki Kaurismäki. In addition, Cannes has packed its out-of-competition screenings with blockbusters, including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as a new documentary from Oscar winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave).
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, one of the director’s typically-quirky and star-studded affairs,...
- 4/13/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Yet, ‘Akbar Allahabadi’ does not enjoy the place he deserves in the pantheon of Urdu poets.
Called "Lisan-ul-Asr" (‘Voice of the Time’) in his heyday, he is not entirely unknown due to ghazals like "Duniya mein hoon, duniya ka talabgar nahi hoon…", as rendered by the immortal K.L. Saigal, and "Hangama kyun barpa, thodi si jo pi li hain..", performed by Ghulam Ali, with that line reflecting Descartes’ ‘cogito ergo sum’ ("… har saans ye kahti hai ham hai to Khuda bhi hai"), as well as many more couplets on a range of issues and themes.
Take "Falsafi ko bahs ke andar Khuda milta nahi/Dor ko suljha raha hai aur sira milta nahi", or the rather sarcastic "Chorh ‘literature’ ko apni, ‘history’ ko bhool ja/Sheikh-o-masjid se ta’alluq tark kar ‘school’ ja/Char din ki zindagi hai koft se kya fayda/Kha ‘double-roti’, ‘clerki’ kar, khushi se phul ja...
Called "Lisan-ul-Asr" (‘Voice of the Time’) in his heyday, he is not entirely unknown due to ghazals like "Duniya mein hoon, duniya ka talabgar nahi hoon…", as rendered by the immortal K.L. Saigal, and "Hangama kyun barpa, thodi si jo pi li hain..", performed by Ghulam Ali, with that line reflecting Descartes’ ‘cogito ergo sum’ ("… har saans ye kahti hai ham hai to Khuda bhi hai"), as well as many more couplets on a range of issues and themes.
Take "Falsafi ko bahs ke andar Khuda milta nahi/Dor ko suljha raha hai aur sira milta nahi", or the rather sarcastic "Chorh ‘literature’ ko apni, ‘history’ ko bhool ja/Sheikh-o-masjid se ta’alluq tark kar ‘school’ ja/Char din ki zindagi hai koft se kya fayda/Kha ‘double-roti’, ‘clerki’ kar, khushi se phul ja...
- 4/1/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
In light of the Vanderpump Rules cheating scandal, new rumors that Kyle Cooke from Summer House cheated on wife Amanda Batula surfaced on the gossip site DeuxMoi, putting the couple on the defense.
In typical cryptic form, the gossip submission subject line was “The Traitor.” Cooke recently starred in Peacock’s series The Traitors. “As we all witness the fallout from the mess that is Scandoval, a Bravo couple on the opposite coast will soon find themselves in a very similar mess. He will be exposed for another ‘mistake.’ Will she be able to forgive and forget this one?”
Amanda from ‘Summer House’ thought the DeuxMoi rumor about Kyle was ‘convenient’
Batula was a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and Cooke was in the audience. Host Andy Cohen said that a viewer tweeted, “What’s your response to the DeuxMoi blind item that Kyle cheated again last summer?...
In typical cryptic form, the gossip submission subject line was “The Traitor.” Cooke recently starred in Peacock’s series The Traitors. “As we all witness the fallout from the mess that is Scandoval, a Bravo couple on the opposite coast will soon find themselves in a very similar mess. He will be exposed for another ‘mistake.’ Will she be able to forgive and forget this one?”
Amanda from ‘Summer House’ thought the DeuxMoi rumor about Kyle was ‘convenient’
Batula was a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen and Cooke was in the audience. Host Andy Cohen said that a viewer tweeted, “What’s your response to the DeuxMoi blind item that Kyle cheated again last summer?...
- 3/14/2023
- by Gina Ragusa
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Hatcha! Whoopee! “Schmigadoon!” returns for Season 2 on April 7, 2023 with a darker tone. Unlike Season 1, which was inspired by golden age musicals of the 1940s and 50s, Season 2 of the Apple TV+ comedy transports the characters to “Schmicago.” The show will still be the humorous love letter to Broadway that fans adore, but this time it will be inspired by tuners from the 60s and 70s. “Schmigadoon!” picked up a few Emmy nominations, and even a win, when it was set in a colorful campy town. Will “Schmigadoon!” perform even better at the Emmys this year thanks to a lauded ensemble that pays homage to the likes of Oscar champs “Cabaret” and “Chicago”?
Season 1 of “Schmigadoon!” earned four total Emmy nominations. These bids include Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour), Music Composition, and a Choreography nomination for Christopher Gattelli. The show won a fourth bid: Outstanding Music and Lyrics for...
Season 1 of “Schmigadoon!” earned four total Emmy nominations. These bids include Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour), Music Composition, and a Choreography nomination for Christopher Gattelli. The show won a fourth bid: Outstanding Music and Lyrics for...
- 3/8/2023
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
Piovani composed the Oscar-winning soundtrack to Roberto Benigni’s ’Life Is Beautiful’.
Italian composer Nicola Piovani will receive a lifetime achievement at the 2023 World Soundtrack Awards, held at Film Fest Ghent on October 21.
Piovani is best known for composing the score to Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful for which he won the Oscar in 1999.
The composer began his career in 1971 with Silvano Agosti’s N.P. Il Segreto and has gone on to compose the music to more than 200 films and series.
He worked with Federico Fellini on a number of his films including Ginger & Fred (1986), Intervista (1987) and...
Italian composer Nicola Piovani will receive a lifetime achievement at the 2023 World Soundtrack Awards, held at Film Fest Ghent on October 21.
Piovani is best known for composing the score to Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful for which he won the Oscar in 1999.
The composer began his career in 1971 with Silvano Agosti’s N.P. Il Segreto and has gone on to compose the music to more than 200 films and series.
He worked with Federico Fellini on a number of his films including Ginger & Fred (1986), Intervista (1987) and...
- 3/1/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Italian actor-turned-director Andrea Di Stefano, whose gritty police drama “The Last Night of Amore” is launching from the Berlin Film Festival’s Berlinale Special Gala section, reps an Italian anomaly.
“Amore,” which refers to a police lieutenant named Franco Amore, oddly marks Di Stefano debut directing an Italian-language film after helming well-received U.S. indie thrillers “Escobar: Paradise Lost,” with Benicio del Toro, and “The Informer.”
Sumptuosly shot in 35mm film and set in present-day Milan, “Last Night of Amore” harks back to Italian genre films of the 70s and 80s but has a fresh contemporary feel. The plot sees the good lieutenant, played by Italian A-lister Pierfrancesco Favino being called on the night before retirement to investigate a crime scene where his best friend and long-time partner Dino has been killed during a diamond heist. Complications ensue, things get very frantic, and we learn how his love for his wife Viviana,...
“Amore,” which refers to a police lieutenant named Franco Amore, oddly marks Di Stefano debut directing an Italian-language film after helming well-received U.S. indie thrillers “Escobar: Paradise Lost,” with Benicio del Toro, and “The Informer.”
Sumptuosly shot in 35mm film and set in present-day Milan, “Last Night of Amore” harks back to Italian genre films of the 70s and 80s but has a fresh contemporary feel. The plot sees the good lieutenant, played by Italian A-lister Pierfrancesco Favino being called on the night before retirement to investigate a crime scene where his best friend and long-time partner Dino has been killed during a diamond heist. Complications ensue, things get very frantic, and we learn how his love for his wife Viviana,...
- 2/24/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
New Disney+ original series “The Good Mothers,” which provides a fresh female take on the Calabrian mob, marks a case of truly organic collaboration between the U.K. and Italy to ensure that a great story didn’t risk losing an iota of authenticity.
The show, which is competing in the “Berlinale Series” section, depicts the Calabrian mob through the prism of three daring women inside the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime clan who collaborated with a female prosecutor and withstood the consequences of their attempt to escape its iron grip. It is produced produced by Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Harriet Spencer for London’s House Productions, which originated the project, and by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Rome’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, which helped to firmly root the story in its Calabrian context.
“Good Mothers” is based on a book by U.K.-based journalist Alex Perry and...
The show, which is competing in the “Berlinale Series” section, depicts the Calabrian mob through the prism of three daring women inside the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime clan who collaborated with a female prosecutor and withstood the consequences of their attempt to escape its iron grip. It is produced produced by Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross and Harriet Spencer for London’s House Productions, which originated the project, and by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Gangarossa for Rome’s Wildside, a Fremantle company, which helped to firmly root the story in its Calabrian context.
“Good Mothers” is based on a book by U.K.-based journalist Alex Perry and...
- 2/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Harvey Weinstein drama “She Said,” the Emmett Till biopic “Till” and new documentaries from Martin Scorsese and James Ivory have been added to the New York Film Festival lineup as world premieres.
The films will all premiere in the Spotlight section of the festival, and they’re headlined by Maria Schrader’s “She Said” starring Carrie Mulligan and Zoe Kazan about the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. There’s also Chinonye Chukwu’s civil-rights era drama “Till” about the lynching of Emmett Till.
Also world premiering are “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” a new documentary film from film critic Elvis Mitchell that looks at the Black revolution of 1970s cinema, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s “A Cooler Climate” about Ivory’s trip to Afghanistan in 1960, and “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” from Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi about singer-songwriter David Johansen of the New York Dolls.
The films will all premiere in the Spotlight section of the festival, and they’re headlined by Maria Schrader’s “She Said” starring Carrie Mulligan and Zoe Kazan about the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. There’s also Chinonye Chukwu’s civil-rights era drama “Till” about the lynching of Emmett Till.
Also world premiering are “Is That Black Enough for You?!?,” a new documentary film from film critic Elvis Mitchell that looks at the Black revolution of 1970s cinema, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s “A Cooler Climate” about Ivory’s trip to Afghanistan in 1960, and “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” from Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi about singer-songwriter David Johansen of the New York Dolls.
- 8/16/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
The New York Film Festival on Tuesday revealed its Spotlight section lineup, which includes the world premiere of She Said, Universal’s drama based on the work of New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey who investigated and wrote the bombshell 2017 Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse story.
Maria Schrader directed the pic starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan that features a cast including Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle. Adapted from the reporters’ book by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film hits theaters November 18.
Other Spotlight world premieres set for NYFF, which runs September 30-October 16, includes Till, Chinonye Chukwu’s story of Mamie Till-Mobley, the Chicago woman whose son, Emmett, was lynched while visiting cousins in Mississippi in 1955. Also, a pair of documentaries: A Cooler Climate, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s film that uncovers boxes of film Ivory shot during a trip to Afghanistan in 1960; and Personality Crisis: One Night Only,...
Maria Schrader directed the pic starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan that features a cast including Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle. Adapted from the reporters’ book by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film hits theaters November 18.
Other Spotlight world premieres set for NYFF, which runs September 30-October 16, includes Till, Chinonye Chukwu’s story of Mamie Till-Mobley, the Chicago woman whose son, Emmett, was lynched while visiting cousins in Mississippi in 1955. Also, a pair of documentaries: A Cooler Climate, James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s film that uncovers boxes of film Ivory shot during a trip to Afghanistan in 1960; and Personality Crisis: One Night Only,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Following their stellar Main Slate lineup, the 60th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Spotlight section, featuring a number of notable world premieres. Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s David Johansen documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only will debut at the festival, along with Maria Schrader’s She Said, Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, Elvis Mitchell’s Is That Black Enough for You?!?, and James Ivory and Giles Gardner’s A Cooler Climate.
Also in the lineup is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Sarah Polley’s Woman Talking, a special 50th anniversary presentation of Solaris with a new live score, a new documentary on the late Robert Downey, Sr. by Chris Smith and new series from Lars von Trier and Marco Bellocchio.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres,...
Also in the lineup is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, Sarah Polley’s Woman Talking, a special 50th anniversary presentation of Solaris with a new live score, a new documentary on the late Robert Downey, Sr. by Chris Smith and new series from Lars von Trier and Marco Bellocchio.
“Ranging from illuminating portraits and affecting personal stories to uncomfortable histories that ignite change, the third edition of our NYFF Spotlight section is a curated mix of world premieres,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Prolific Italian film and stage director Mario Martone, who is a Venice aficionado, is back in competition in Cannes 27 years after his Elena Ferrante adaptation “L’amore molesto” (“Troubling Love”) launched in competition from the Croisette in 1995. And there is a close connection between these two films that delve deep into the entrails of Martone’s native Naples.
In his well-received “Nostalgia”, praised by Variety as Martone’s “most rewarding film in years,” ace actor Pierfrancesco Favino plays the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he is caught up in memories of a distant life spent in his hometown, as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him.
Martone spoke to Variety about why he adapted Neapolitan author Ermanno Rea’s novel by the same title and the elements that make it “more universal than a mere Neapolitan tale.
In his well-received “Nostalgia”, praised by Variety as Martone’s “most rewarding film in years,” ace actor Pierfrancesco Favino plays the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he is caught up in memories of a distant life spent in his hometown, as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him.
Martone spoke to Variety about why he adapted Neapolitan author Ermanno Rea’s novel by the same title and the elements that make it “more universal than a mere Neapolitan tale.
- 5/25/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Tom Hollander (“The Night Manager”) has been cast in an adaptation of Erri De Luca’s novel “Me, You” alongside Alessandro Gassmann (“Transporter 2”) and Daisy Jacob (“Vanity Fair”).
The film, set to be directed Bille August (“Pelle the Conqueror”), is set to go into production this Fall on the island of Ischia, near Naples in Italy.
“Me, You” is set in the 1950s, in post-war Italy, where 16-year-old London native Marco is on holiday with his father Edward (Hollander). He soon finds himself accompanying fisherman Nicola (Gassman) on his sojourns into the bay of Naples. For Marco, who has been condemned to a Scottish boarding school, the tranquil waters and Nicola’s war stories provide a blessed distraction from his usual life, especially when he meets the 20-year-old Caia (Jacob) and immediately falls for her. When Marco finds out she narrowly escaped a concentration camp after her father threw her out of a train,...
The film, set to be directed Bille August (“Pelle the Conqueror”), is set to go into production this Fall on the island of Ischia, near Naples in Italy.
“Me, You” is set in the 1950s, in post-war Italy, where 16-year-old London native Marco is on holiday with his father Edward (Hollander). He soon finds himself accompanying fisherman Nicola (Gassman) on his sojourns into the bay of Naples. For Marco, who has been condemned to a Scottish boarding school, the tranquil waters and Nicola’s war stories provide a blessed distraction from his usual life, especially when he meets the 20-year-old Caia (Jacob) and immediately falls for her. When Marco finds out she narrowly escaped a concentration camp after her father threw her out of a train,...
- 5/24/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Italian actor-turned-director Andrea Di Stefano, who helmed well-received U.S. indie thrillers “Escobar: Paradise Lost,” with Benicio del Toro, and “The Informer,” is set to make “L’Ultima Notte di Amore,” his Italian-language debut.
Universal Pictures Intl., Focus Features, and Italy’s Vision Distribution have worldwide distribution rights on the pic, which toplines Pierfrancesco Favino (Cannes competition title “Nostalgia” from Mario Martone).
The film’s title, which translates as “The Last Night of Love,” is a play on words. Amore actually refers to a police lieutenant named Franco Amore. On the night before his retirement the lieutenant is called to investigate a crime scene where his best friend and long-time partner Dino has been killed during a diamond heist. We soon find out that Amore was involved in the diamond heist and learn how the love of his wife Viviana will help him survive this fatal night.
The film’s screenplay is by Di Stefano.
Universal Pictures Intl., Focus Features, and Italy’s Vision Distribution have worldwide distribution rights on the pic, which toplines Pierfrancesco Favino (Cannes competition title “Nostalgia” from Mario Martone).
The film’s title, which translates as “The Last Night of Love,” is a play on words. Amore actually refers to a police lieutenant named Franco Amore. On the night before his retirement the lieutenant is called to investigate a crime scene where his best friend and long-time partner Dino has been killed during a diamond heist. We soon find out that Amore was involved in the diamond heist and learn how the love of his wife Viviana will help him survive this fatal night.
The film’s screenplay is by Di Stefano.
- 5/22/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Most films ask nothing of you. You simply press play and watch the story unfold, gleaning context as the filmmaker colors in their narrative. But the occasional movie demands prerequisites to appreciate. Think: Dušan Makavejev’s Man Is Not a Bird, or last year’s competition title Petrov’s Flu, Kirill Serebrennikov’s mind-numbing swan dive into the socio-political climate of post-Soviet Russia whose commentary nearly requires a Ph.D. to unpack. Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night hovers somewhere in-between.
It would help if the historical thriller came with the equivalent of a summer reading list, but there’s enough explanation to clue you in if you’re not brushed up on your 1970s Italian politics. Perhaps more important that the story is easy to get wrapped up in, a six-episode miniseries that feels like a brisk five-and-a-half hours. No doubt it will be richer the more you know, but Bellocchio––with co-writers Stefano Bises,...
It would help if the historical thriller came with the equivalent of a summer reading list, but there’s enough explanation to clue you in if you’re not brushed up on your 1970s Italian politics. Perhaps more important that the story is easy to get wrapped up in, a six-episode miniseries that feels like a brisk five-and-a-half hours. No doubt it will be richer the more you know, but Bellocchio––with co-writers Stefano Bises,...
- 5/19/2022
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
Dead in Red: Bellocchio Returns to Infamous Kidnapping for Television Debut
In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco Bellocchio returns to territory he’s covered before in Esterno Notte, the auteur’s first stint in television as a five-hour plus six episode event dealing with several main players in the wake of the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. It’s no surprise to find Bellocchio in top form dealing with material he’s keenly fascinated by, this time taking significant liberties with this semi-fictionalized account.
Co-written by noted television scribes Stefano Bises (The New Pope) and Davide Serino (who penned the series 1992 and 1993 inspired by Italy’s political turmoil in the early part of that decade) plus Ludovica Rampoldi (co-writer on Bellocchio’s phenomenal The Traitor – (read review), it’s a meaty dive into the underbelly of governmental discord during the Years of Lead.
In his continuation in recuperating fantastical elements of Italian political and criminal history, Marco Bellocchio returns to territory he’s covered before in Esterno Notte, the auteur’s first stint in television as a five-hour plus six episode event dealing with several main players in the wake of the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Prime Minister Aldo Moro. It’s no surprise to find Bellocchio in top form dealing with material he’s keenly fascinated by, this time taking significant liberties with this semi-fictionalized account.
Co-written by noted television scribes Stefano Bises (The New Pope) and Davide Serino (who penned the series 1992 and 1993 inspired by Italy’s political turmoil in the early part of that decade) plus Ludovica Rampoldi (co-writer on Bellocchio’s phenomenal The Traitor – (read review), it’s a meaty dive into the underbelly of governmental discord during the Years of Lead.
- 5/18/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Marco Bellocchio, who is in Cannes with TV series “Esterno Notte” about the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists, is set to return behind camera in late June.
The veteran Italian auteur and Cannes aficionado will reconstruct the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.
Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a...
The veteran Italian auteur and Cannes aficionado will reconstruct the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.
Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.
It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a...
- 5/18/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
“Island City,” the latest film from “Lower City” director Sérgio Machado, has been acquired for international sales by Edward Noeltner’s Beverly Hills-based Cinema Management Group. Given a current absence of Brazilian movies selected for the Cannes Festival, the acquisition gives Cmg one of the most awaited of titles coming out of Brazil this year.
It also marks latest title from Brazilian production powerhouse Gullane, whose credits include Cannes Competition players – Hector Babenco’s “Carandiru,” Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor” – as well as Sundance winners, such as Anna Muylaert’s “The Second Mother,” and Berlin Panorama laureates, such as Luis Bolognesi’s “The Last Forest.”
Exploring the foibles and failure of manhood, also the focus of “Lower City,” “Inner City” tells what Cmg describes as the “captivating” tale of three brothers who end up living under the same roof as middle brother Dalberto’s sensual new wife, Anaira (Sophie Charlotte...
It also marks latest title from Brazilian production powerhouse Gullane, whose credits include Cannes Competition players – Hector Babenco’s “Carandiru,” Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor” – as well as Sundance winners, such as Anna Muylaert’s “The Second Mother,” and Berlin Panorama laureates, such as Luis Bolognesi’s “The Last Forest.”
Exploring the foibles and failure of manhood, also the focus of “Lower City,” “Inner City” tells what Cmg describes as the “captivating” tale of three brothers who end up living under the same roof as middle brother Dalberto’s sensual new wife, Anaira (Sophie Charlotte...
- 4/27/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Italy’s True Colours has taken world sales on Italian director Mario Martone’s Cannes competition entry “Nostalgia,” starring Pierfrancesco Favino, who is known to Cannes audiences as the protagonist of Marco Bellocchio’s 2019 drama “The Traitor.”
Set in Martone’s native Naples, “Nostalgia” sees Favino play the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he drowns into the memories of a distant life he spent in his hometown.
Martone will be returning to a Cannes competition berth with “Nostalgia” 27 years after his Elena Ferrante adaptation “L’amore molesto” (“Troubling Love”) launched in competition from the Croisette in 1995. His “The Scent of Blood” was in Directors’ Fortnight in 2004.
But the Neapolitan film and stage director has mostly been a Venice aficionado, most recently with “The Mayor of Rione Sanità” in 2019 and “The King of Laughter” in 2021, both sold by True Colours.
Set in Martone’s native Naples, “Nostalgia” sees Favino play the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he drowns into the memories of a distant life he spent in his hometown.
Martone will be returning to a Cannes competition berth with “Nostalgia” 27 years after his Elena Ferrante adaptation “L’amore molesto” (“Troubling Love”) launched in competition from the Croisette in 1995. His “The Scent of Blood” was in Directors’ Fortnight in 2004.
But the Neapolitan film and stage director has mostly been a Venice aficionado, most recently with “The Mayor of Rione Sanità” in 2019 and “The King of Laughter” in 2021, both sold by True Colours.
- 4/22/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Awards
TripleC, a gateway organization that helps deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse people access the arts and media, will receive a BAFTA TV Craft Special Award during the British Academy Television Craft Awards. Actor Cherylee Houston (“Coronation Street”) founded TripleC and with a group of friends including Melissa Johns (“Grantchester”), they have built a platform for making the creative screen industry more inclusive.
Johns and Houston said: “When we set up this organization five years ago, we were just a group of disabled and non-disabled creatives coming together to see if we could make a change. I don’t think we ever knew the size of impact that that seed of an organization would have on the lives of so many deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent creatives. The recognition from BAFTA will support our drive for change and help ensure accessibility and inclusivity is high up on every agenda.”
Sara Putt,...
TripleC, a gateway organization that helps deaf, disabled, and neurodiverse people access the arts and media, will receive a BAFTA TV Craft Special Award during the British Academy Television Craft Awards. Actor Cherylee Houston (“Coronation Street”) founded TripleC and with a group of friends including Melissa Johns (“Grantchester”), they have built a platform for making the creative screen industry more inclusive.
Johns and Houston said: “When we set up this organization five years ago, we were just a group of disabled and non-disabled creatives coming together to see if we could make a change. I don’t think we ever knew the size of impact that that seed of an organization would have on the lives of so many deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent creatives. The recognition from BAFTA will support our drive for change and help ensure accessibility and inclusivity is high up on every agenda.”
Sara Putt,...
- 4/20/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Italian director, screenwriter and producer Marco Bellocchio has opened up about his career and upcoming projects during a masterclass at the 53rd edition of Visions du Réel, where he received an honorary award.
The 82-year-old master is guest of honor at the documentary film festival, which includes a retrospective of a dozen of his works and a screening of his latest film, “Marx Can Wait,” a documentary about his twin brother Camilo’s suicide in December 1968.
Featuring footage filmed during a family get-together, personal archive material and clips from his films, it is an intimate and poignant documentary that explores how his brother’s death deeply influenced Bellocchio’s work over the decades.
At the time, Bellocchio explained, “the revolution of ’68 was underway, there were protests and riots, and I said to myself ‘I have to do something.’ So in September, together with friends who had founded the Maoist movement,...
The 82-year-old master is guest of honor at the documentary film festival, which includes a retrospective of a dozen of his works and a screening of his latest film, “Marx Can Wait,” a documentary about his twin brother Camilo’s suicide in December 1968.
Featuring footage filmed during a family get-together, personal archive material and clips from his films, it is an intimate and poignant documentary that explores how his brother’s death deeply influenced Bellocchio’s work over the decades.
At the time, Bellocchio explained, “the revolution of ’68 was underway, there were protests and riots, and I said to myself ‘I have to do something.’ So in September, together with friends who had founded the Maoist movement,...
- 4/13/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
In spite of a disastrous box office situation, the Italian film industry is staying buoyant thanks to increased exports, a friendly rapport with streaming giants and support from the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi that is pumping money into a revamp of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios.
“Production never stopped and ailing movie theaters have been able to get subsidies,” says Francesco Rutelli, the former Rome mayor who heads Italy’s motion picture association, Anica. The org recently broadened its member base to include executives from Amazon Prime Video, Disney and ViacomCBS, after Netflix had joined.
This move — which is unique in Europe — indicates the level of friendly dialogue between film producers and streaming platforms in Italy, best encapsulated by Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” Italy’s international Oscar nominee. Sorrentino’s Netflix original film was released theatrically in November across the country before dropping on the platform...
“Production never stopped and ailing movie theaters have been able to get subsidies,” says Francesco Rutelli, the former Rome mayor who heads Italy’s motion picture association, Anica. The org recently broadened its member base to include executives from Amazon Prime Video, Disney and ViacomCBS, after Netflix had joined.
This move — which is unique in Europe — indicates the level of friendly dialogue between film producers and streaming platforms in Italy, best encapsulated by Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” Italy’s international Oscar nominee. Sorrentino’s Netflix original film was released theatrically in November across the country before dropping on the platform...
- 2/13/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italy’s robust 2022 Berlinale representation of a half-dozen titles runs the gamut from the latest works by venerable veterans Paolo Taviani and Dario Argento to pics by fresh new Cinema Italiano voices including Chiara Bellosi, whose first film, “Ordinary Justice,” launched from Berlin in 2020.
Taviani, who is 91, is returning to Berlin but alone this time — his filmmaker brother, Vittorio, with whom he won a Golden Bear in 2012 for “Caesar Must Die,” passed away in 2018 — in competition with surreal drama “Leonora Addio,” inspired by a short story by Italian playwright and author Luigi Pirandello.
Argento, who set his 1977 chiller “Suspiria” in Germany, will be at the Berlinale for the first time as a director with Rome-set suspenser “Dark Glasses,” though he was on the fest’s main jury panel in 2001. Film unspools as a Berlinale Special Gala.
Bellosi is back with Panaorama selection “Swing Ride” (“Calcinculo”), about a 15-year-old named...
Taviani, who is 91, is returning to Berlin but alone this time — his filmmaker brother, Vittorio, with whom he won a Golden Bear in 2012 for “Caesar Must Die,” passed away in 2018 — in competition with surreal drama “Leonora Addio,” inspired by a short story by Italian playwright and author Luigi Pirandello.
Argento, who set his 1977 chiller “Suspiria” in Germany, will be at the Berlinale for the first time as a director with Rome-set suspenser “Dark Glasses,” though he was on the fest’s main jury panel in 2001. Film unspools as a Berlinale Special Gala.
Bellosi is back with Panaorama selection “Swing Ride” (“Calcinculo”), about a 15-year-old named...
- 2/13/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Marco Bellocchio Honorary Prize
The 2022 edition of the Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, will present its Honorary Award to Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio. The Fists In My Pocket and The Traitor director will attend the festival to pick up his prize. He will host a masterclass during the event, while a retrospective of his films will be screened, as well as his new documentary. “Marco Bellocchio exercises impressive liberty and modernity to combine registers of images and genres, moving between fiction and documentary, between the intimate and the collective. We are extremely happy and delighted to pay tribute to an indisputable master of contemporary filmmaking, as well as to a body of work which, from the very first films, has demonstrated dazzling modernity, and is brooding, subversive and audacious, formidably eclectic,” said Emilie Bujès, Artistic Director of Visions du Réel.
The prize will be awarded during the 53rd edition of the fest,...
The 2022 edition of the Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon, Switzerland, will present its Honorary Award to Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio. The Fists In My Pocket and The Traitor director will attend the festival to pick up his prize. He will host a masterclass during the event, while a retrospective of his films will be screened, as well as his new documentary. “Marco Bellocchio exercises impressive liberty and modernity to combine registers of images and genres, moving between fiction and documentary, between the intimate and the collective. We are extremely happy and delighted to pay tribute to an indisputable master of contemporary filmmaking, as well as to a body of work which, from the very first films, has demonstrated dazzling modernity, and is brooding, subversive and audacious, formidably eclectic,” said Emilie Bujès, Artistic Director of Visions du Réel.
The prize will be awarded during the 53rd edition of the fest,...
- 1/17/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Distributor, streamer and production company Mubi has acquired sales and production companies The Match Factory and Match Factory Productions.
The Match Factory’s management team will stay in place to lead operations and focus on its slate as well as deals and projects already in development and keep its offices in Berlin and Cologne. It will also expand its presence through Mubi’s London headquarters and New York and Los Angeles offices.
The Match Factory, which counts “Waltz With Bashir” and “Drive My Car” among its films, was founded in 2006 while Match Factory Productions followed in 2013 to produce arthouse films such as “Evolution” and “The Traitor.”
Mubi recently acquired two titles potential best international feature Oscar contenders from The Match Factory: “Great Freedom” (pictured) and Tatiana Huezo’s “Prayers for the Stolen.”
“As long time partners of The Match Factory we have gained tremendous admiration and respect for Michael and his team,...
The Match Factory’s management team will stay in place to lead operations and focus on its slate as well as deals and projects already in development and keep its offices in Berlin and Cologne. It will also expand its presence through Mubi’s London headquarters and New York and Los Angeles offices.
The Match Factory, which counts “Waltz With Bashir” and “Drive My Car” among its films, was founded in 2006 while Match Factory Productions followed in 2013 to produce arthouse films such as “Evolution” and “The Traitor.”
Mubi recently acquired two titles potential best international feature Oscar contenders from The Match Factory: “Great Freedom” (pictured) and Tatiana Huezo’s “Prayers for the Stolen.”
“As long time partners of The Match Factory we have gained tremendous admiration and respect for Michael and his team,...
- 1/14/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Disney Plus has announced its first Italian original doc series, titled “Ndrangheta, World Wide Mafia,” that will aim to provide an in-depth look at the Calabrian mob.
The four-part piece will look at the “Ndrangheta” through the prism of the war being waged by an Italian prosecutor against this lesser-known organized crime syndicate, which has become a global drug trafficker and money launderer.
The investigative series is being produced by Disney with Italy’s Ibc Movie, the shingle that produced veteran auteur Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor,” about Cosa Nostra’s first high-ranking turncoat, Tommaso Buscetta. Bellocchio’s high-profile drama competed in Cannes.
Disney’s “Ndrangheta” doc series, to be directed by France’s Jacques Charmelot and François Chayé, will chronicle the work of Italian public prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who is based in the southern city of Catanzaro.
It will follow the lead-up to and ongoing proceedings of a watershed...
The four-part piece will look at the “Ndrangheta” through the prism of the war being waged by an Italian prosecutor against this lesser-known organized crime syndicate, which has become a global drug trafficker and money launderer.
The investigative series is being produced by Disney with Italy’s Ibc Movie, the shingle that produced veteran auteur Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor,” about Cosa Nostra’s first high-ranking turncoat, Tommaso Buscetta. Bellocchio’s high-profile drama competed in Cannes.
Disney’s “Ndrangheta” doc series, to be directed by France’s Jacques Charmelot and François Chayé, will chronicle the work of Italian public prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, who is based in the southern city of Catanzaro.
It will follow the lead-up to and ongoing proceedings of a watershed...
- 10/1/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Despite Italy having been among countries hardest hit by the pandemic, film production almost never stopped. So there is a backlog of new titles ready to hit global festivals and markets starting from Cannes, as well as newer projects.
Below is a compendium of hot Cinema Italiano titles in various stages of production.
“Bones and All”
Luca Guadagnino started shooting this U.S.-set film in May, marking his first collaboration with Timothée Chalamet since “Call Me by Your Name.” Pic is adapted from the eponymous novel by Camille DeAngelis and tells the story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, a disenfranchised drifter, as they meet and join forces for a road trip through Ronald Reagan’s America.
“La Chimera”
Alice Rohrwacher will soon shoot her fourth feature revolving around the black market of stolen archaeological artifacts.
Below is a compendium of hot Cinema Italiano titles in various stages of production.
“Bones and All”
Luca Guadagnino started shooting this U.S.-set film in May, marking his first collaboration with Timothée Chalamet since “Call Me by Your Name.” Pic is adapted from the eponymous novel by Camille DeAngelis and tells the story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, a disenfranchised drifter, as they meet and join forces for a road trip through Ronald Reagan’s America.
“La Chimera”
Alice Rohrwacher will soon shoot her fourth feature revolving around the black market of stolen archaeological artifacts.
- 7/9/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
More than half of invitees hail from 49 countries outside the US.
The UK’s Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell and One Night In Miami star Kingsley Ben-Adir and Bulgarian Borat 2 breakout Maria Bakalova are among a new class of 395 talent and executives invited to join the Academy.
The new intake announced on Thursday (July 1) comprises 46% women, 39% from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and more than half (53%) of invitees hailing from 49 countries outside the US.
Besides Promising Young Woman writer-director Fennell and Ben-Adir, UK talent includes the upcoming star of The Batman, Robert Pattinson, as well as Borat 2...
The UK’s Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell and One Night In Miami star Kingsley Ben-Adir and Bulgarian Borat 2 breakout Maria Bakalova are among a new class of 395 talent and executives invited to join the Academy.
The new intake announced on Thursday (July 1) comprises 46% women, 39% from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and more than half (53%) of invitees hailing from 49 countries outside the US.
Besides Promising Young Woman writer-director Fennell and Ben-Adir, UK talent includes the upcoming star of The Batman, Robert Pattinson, as well as Borat 2...
- 7/1/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Italian director set to receive an honorary Palme d’Or at this year’s festival.
The Match Factory has secured international rights to documentary Marx Can Wait by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, who will receive an honorary Palme d’Or after presenting the feature at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival (July 6-17).
The documentary was added to festival’s Official Selection this week, in the new Cannes Premiere strand, and the veteran director will receive his honorary award at the closing ceremony of the 74th edition.
The film will be released in Italy by 01 Distribuzione during Cannes and follows the 81-year-old...
The Match Factory has secured international rights to documentary Marx Can Wait by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, who will receive an honorary Palme d’Or after presenting the feature at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival (July 6-17).
The documentary was added to festival’s Official Selection this week, in the new Cannes Premiere strand, and the veteran director will receive his honorary award at the closing ceremony of the 74th edition.
The film will be released in Italy by 01 Distribuzione during Cannes and follows the 81-year-old...
- 6/23/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
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