Director Francesca Archibugi, whose feminist fascist-era saga “La Storia” was Italy’s biggest TV event of 2023, is set to return behind camera on World War II drama “The Italian Chapel” set in Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
Inspired by a true story, “Italian Chapel” is centered on a clash between the local Orkney community and prisoners of war who are confined there. Against this backdrop, a secret romance springs up between an Italian prisoner and a Scottish islander.
The film, which was originally developed by Working Title Films and the British Film Institute (BFI), is being co-produced by Andrew Bendel’s U.K. production company Blue Horizon Productions (“Metroland”) in tandem with Marco Belardi’s Rome-based Greenboo Production. Greenboo is the Banijay-owned company behind hits such as “Perfect Stangers,” Gabriele Muccino’s “There Is No Place Like Home,” and Paolo Virzì’s “Like Crazy,” starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, which launched from Director’s Fortnight in 2016.
Archibugi,...
Inspired by a true story, “Italian Chapel” is centered on a clash between the local Orkney community and prisoners of war who are confined there. Against this backdrop, a secret romance springs up between an Italian prisoner and a Scottish islander.
The film, which was originally developed by Working Title Films and the British Film Institute (BFI), is being co-produced by Andrew Bendel’s U.K. production company Blue Horizon Productions (“Metroland”) in tandem with Marco Belardi’s Rome-based Greenboo Production. Greenboo is the Banijay-owned company behind hits such as “Perfect Stangers,” Gabriele Muccino’s “There Is No Place Like Home,” and Paolo Virzì’s “Like Crazy,” starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, which launched from Director’s Fortnight in 2016.
Archibugi,...
- 5/24/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Beta Film has announced a half-dozen sales to European public broadcasters on high-end period drama “La Storia,” which is Italian pubcaster Rai’s biggest event show of the year and is world premiering at the Rome Film Fest.
The sweeping eight-episode saga, set in Italy during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath, is based on a globally bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante, whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference.
Set mostly in Rome between 1940 and 1948, “La Storia” looks at fascism and Italy’s early postwar period through a female prism. Ida, a half Jewish widow with a teenage son named Nino, is raped by a drunken German soldier and gets pregnant with Useppe. The tale is centered on how she survives her predicament.
Ahead of the Rome Film Fest premiere of its first two episodes on Friday,...
The sweeping eight-episode saga, set in Italy during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath, is based on a globally bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante, whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference.
Set mostly in Rome between 1940 and 1948, “La Storia” looks at fascism and Italy’s early postwar period through a female prism. Ida, a half Jewish widow with a teenage son named Nino, is raped by a drunken German soldier and gets pregnant with Useppe. The tale is centered on how she survives her predicament.
Ahead of the Rome Film Fest premiere of its first two episodes on Friday,...
- 10/20/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Investment in original content production continues to grow in Italy where resources across all genres reached a total of €1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) thanks to increased investments from U.S. streamers. But linear TV remains the Italian industry’s main driver.
That’s the main takeaway from the annual report on local production presented on Friday by Italy’s TV producers’ association APA at Rome’s Mia market
The $1.9 billion pot of cash poured into Italian productions of all types in 2022 represented only a small increase over 2021, which is when local originals were boosted by a 55% post-pandemic growth spurt, according to figures from the APA report.
Film and TV product currently account for 55% of these investments with an increase in resources now going into documentaries and animation product mostly destined for streaming play.
“The constantly growing investment from streamers is currently worth almost a third of the total TV market,” said APA chief Chiara Sbarigia.
That’s the main takeaway from the annual report on local production presented on Friday by Italy’s TV producers’ association APA at Rome’s Mia market
The $1.9 billion pot of cash poured into Italian productions of all types in 2022 represented only a small increase over 2021, which is when local originals were boosted by a 55% post-pandemic growth spurt, according to figures from the APA report.
Film and TV product currently account for 55% of these investments with an increase in resources now going into documentaries and animation product mostly destined for streaming play.
“The constantly growing investment from streamers is currently worth almost a third of the total TV market,” said APA chief Chiara Sbarigia.
- 10/13/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Beta at MipTV has unveiled a visually dazzling first trailer for period drama “La Storia” that will be Italian pubcaster Rai’s biggest event show this year.
The sweeping eight-episode saga is based on a globally bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy.
Dierected by Francesca Archibugi (“The Hummingbird”), the high-end show stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who last year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution. The cast also comprises Asia Argento (“xXx – Triple X”), Elio Germano (“Leopardi”) and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”).
Set mostly in Rome between 1940 and 1948 “La Storia” looks at fascism, World War II and Italy...
The sweeping eight-episode saga is based on a globally bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy.
Dierected by Francesca Archibugi (“The Hummingbird”), the high-end show stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who last year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution. The cast also comprises Asia Argento (“xXx – Triple X”), Elio Germano (“Leopardi”) and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”).
Set mostly in Rome between 1940 and 1948 “La Storia” looks at fascism, World War II and Italy...
- 4/18/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Frank Doelger’s The Swarm has sold to the UK and Spain, while a U.S. partner is in the final stages of talks.
As Mip TV kicks off, the German eco-thriller, which already has around a dozen partners, has sold to Sky in the UK and Movistar Plus+ in Spain.
Distributors Beta Film and Zdf Studios are shopping in Cannes and the show played out of competition at the Berlinale Series Market, where its modern themes and bevvy of buyers dominated conversation.
Having scored “phenomenal ratings,” according to Beta, for Germany’s Zdf and Austria’s Orf, the show from Game of Thrones EP Doelger chronicles the struggle of humankind against an unknown enemy that lives in the depths of the sea. When the reckless treatment of the oceans threatens the natural habitat of this mysterious collective, it strikes back.
The Swarm, which is being referred to as one...
As Mip TV kicks off, the German eco-thriller, which already has around a dozen partners, has sold to Sky in the UK and Movistar Plus+ in Spain.
Distributors Beta Film and Zdf Studios are shopping in Cannes and the show played out of competition at the Berlinale Series Market, where its modern themes and bevvy of buyers dominated conversation.
Having scored “phenomenal ratings,” according to Beta, for Germany’s Zdf and Austria’s Orf, the show from Game of Thrones EP Doelger chronicles the struggle of humankind against an unknown enemy that lives in the depths of the sea. When the reckless treatment of the oceans threatens the natural habitat of this mysterious collective, it strikes back.
The Swarm, which is being referred to as one...
- 4/17/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Season 6 of Canadian cop show “Hudson & Rex,” one of the world’s most successful television brands, has been given the greenlight. The new season has been added to the sales slate of Beta Film at next week’s MipTV television conference and market in Cannes.
The canine star of the police procedural, German Shepherd Diesel, who plays Rex, will walk the pink carpet on Sunday at TV series festival Canneseries, which runs in parallel with MipTV. He will be joined by John Reardon, who plays detective Charlie Hudson. The crime fighting duo are presenting the French premiere of the first episode of Season 4, followed by a Q&a with the talent.
“Hudson & Rex,” which is produced by Shaftesbury and Pope Productions for Citytv, was first unleashed in Austria in the 1990s under the title “Rex, the Cop’s Best Friend.” It is one of Beta’s most successful series,...
The canine star of the police procedural, German Shepherd Diesel, who plays Rex, will walk the pink carpet on Sunday at TV series festival Canneseries, which runs in parallel with MipTV. He will be joined by John Reardon, who plays detective Charlie Hudson. The crime fighting duo are presenting the French premiere of the first episode of Season 4, followed by a Q&a with the talent.
“Hudson & Rex,” which is produced by Shaftesbury and Pope Productions for Citytv, was first unleashed in Austria in the 1990s under the title “Rex, the Cop’s Best Friend.” It is one of Beta’s most successful series,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
In the delightfully mischievous short film Le Pupille, which earned Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher her first Oscar nomination, a rebellion is brewing within the confines of a Catholic girls’ school in Italy on a chilly Christmas Eve in the midst of World War II.
Young Serafina (Melissa Falasconi) attracts the ire of Sister Fioralba (Alba Rohrwacher, the director’s sister), the stern mother superior who rules her boarding school with an iron fist and steely gaze. As the schoolgirls prepare for the evening’s festivities — stoically re-creating the Nativity — they listen to a radio report that offers somber news from the battlefield. But when Serafina accidentally changes the station, inadvertently filling the hall with the sounds of a love song with a lyric like “kiss me on my little mouth,” the girls erupt into song and dance and, as punishment for their jubilant misbehavior, are rewarded with mouthfuls of soap...
Young Serafina (Melissa Falasconi) attracts the ire of Sister Fioralba (Alba Rohrwacher, the director’s sister), the stern mother superior who rules her boarding school with an iron fist and steely gaze. As the schoolgirls prepare for the evening’s festivities — stoically re-creating the Nativity — they listen to a radio report that offers somber news from the battlefield. But when Serafina accidentally changes the station, inadvertently filling the hall with the sounds of a love song with a lyric like “kiss me on my little mouth,” the girls erupt into song and dance and, as punishment for their jubilant misbehavior, are rewarded with mouthfuls of soap...
- 2/25/2023
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“I wanted to create a film that was out of time,” Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher says about her Oscar-nominated live action short, Disney+ Original Films’ Le Pupille. “That was classic, but also hand-made.”
Rohrwacher and the film’s producer, Oscar winner Alfonso Curarón, joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event to discuss their 37-minute film.
Related Story Oscars 2023: Streamers Beat A Retreat, Netting Half Of Last Year’s Nomination Tally Related Story 'Women Talking's Sarah Polley On The Importance Of Casting In Her Movie: "We Couldn't Make Any Moves Until We Made All The Moves" – Contenders Film: The Nominees Related Story Contenders Film: The Nominees Underway With 12 Films Vying For Oscar Prize
Indeed, there’s a touching throwback quality to the short, which is set at an all-girls Catholic orphanage during wartime 1940s. The nuns led by Madre Superiora Fiorabla (played by the director’s sister and longtime...
Rohrwacher and the film’s producer, Oscar winner Alfonso Curarón, joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees event to discuss their 37-minute film.
Related Story Oscars 2023: Streamers Beat A Retreat, Netting Half Of Last Year’s Nomination Tally Related Story 'Women Talking's Sarah Polley On The Importance Of Casting In Her Movie: "We Couldn't Make Any Moves Until We Made All The Moves" – Contenders Film: The Nominees Related Story Contenders Film: The Nominees Underway With 12 Films Vying For Oscar Prize
Indeed, there’s a touching throwback quality to the short, which is set at an all-girls Catholic orphanage during wartime 1940s. The nuns led by Madre Superiora Fiorabla (played by the director’s sister and longtime...
- 2/18/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Le Pupille’: Why Music Was Important for the Story of Italian Orphan Girls in Oscar-Nominated Short
Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron wanted to explore making a series of short films honoring the different cultural traditions at the end of the year, from Christmas to Hanukkah to pagan traditions. His concept was to find a director suited to telling the story, depending on the culture. When it came to Christmas, Cuaron says, “That time of year is meaningful in most cultures. It’s the end of the darkest nights and the beginning of a new cycle. I immediately thought of Alice Rohrwacher. I’m a huge fan and have been ever since I saw ‘The Wonders’ and her short films.”
Written and directed by Rohrwacher, “Le Pupille,” (The Pupils) the 37-minute short now streaming on Disney+, was produced by Cuaron in tandem with her regular producer Carlo Cresto-Dina.
Set in a Catholic orphanage during WWII, the Oscar-nominated live-action short follows Serafina (Melissa Falasconi), one of the young girls taught about heaven,...
Written and directed by Rohrwacher, “Le Pupille,” (The Pupils) the 37-minute short now streaming on Disney+, was produced by Cuaron in tandem with her regular producer Carlo Cresto-Dina.
Set in a Catholic orphanage during WWII, the Oscar-nominated live-action short follows Serafina (Melissa Falasconi), one of the young girls taught about heaven,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
On a cobblestone-paved square in the ancient town of Tivoli, north-east of Rome, in late September, a large crew is prepping to shoot a key scene in Italian period drama “La Storia,” which will be pubcaster Rai’s biggest event show next year.
Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy.
The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s Mia content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.
The Tivoli square, where costumed extras are taking their positions, is a...
Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy.
The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s Mia content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.
The Tivoli square, where costumed extras are taking their positions, is a...
- 10/14/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Gianni Amelio’s chronicle of the persecution of Aldo Braibanti, Lord of the Ants (Il Signore delle Formiche), doesn’t avoid the propensity of many Italian period dramas for dense verbosity, with characters spouting great gobs of manicured prose. That’s perhaps especially the case since the protagonist was a poet, playwright and philosopher. But Amelio’s classical approach, and the dignified refusal of martyrdom in Luigi Lo Cascio’s lead performance, make this account of Braibanti’s controversial imprisonment for homosexuality in 1968 after a four-year trial a quietly stirring portrait of institutional intolerance.
The Braibanti case drew international attention in the wake of his conviction due to the number of influential public figures who spoke out against the travesty of justice — Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alberto Moravia, Elsa Morante, Marco Bellocchio and Umberto Eco among them.
What’s striking now about the courtroom...
Gianni Amelio’s chronicle of the persecution of Aldo Braibanti, Lord of the Ants (Il Signore delle Formiche), doesn’t avoid the propensity of many Italian period dramas for dense verbosity, with characters spouting great gobs of manicured prose. That’s perhaps especially the case since the protagonist was a poet, playwright and philosopher. But Amelio’s classical approach, and the dignified refusal of martyrdom in Luigi Lo Cascio’s lead performance, make this account of Braibanti’s controversial imprisonment for homosexuality in 1968 after a four-year trial a quietly stirring portrait of institutional intolerance.
The Braibanti case drew international attention in the wake of his conviction due to the number of influential public figures who spoke out against the travesty of justice — Pier Paolo Pasolini, Alberto Moravia, Elsa Morante, Marco Bellocchio and Umberto Eco among them.
What’s striking now about the courtroom...
- 9/6/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Beta Film has come on board to co-produce eight-part Italian period drama series “La Storia,” based on Elsa Morante’s bestselling novel, continuing its successful partnership with Picomedia. Shooting for the production has started in Rome under the helm of director Francesca Archibugi (“Romanzo famigliare”), before moving to Naples and Lazio later in the year. Beta handles world sales.
The cast is led by Jasmine Trinca (“The Gunman”), starring as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution during the end of World War II and post-war Rome. Also starring are Asia Argento (“xXx – Triple X”), Elio Germano (“Leopardi”) and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”).
The series adapts one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the 20th century, published in two dozen languages. Morante is a landmark figure of feminist literature and the literary role model of Italian star author Elena Ferrante,...
The cast is led by Jasmine Trinca (“The Gunman”), starring as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution during the end of World War II and post-war Rome. Also starring are Asia Argento (“xXx – Triple X”), Elio Germano (“Leopardi”) and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”).
The series adapts one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the 20th century, published in two dozen languages. Morante is a landmark figure of feminist literature and the literary role model of Italian star author Elena Ferrante,...
- 6/30/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Tuscany's best-loved film star Laura Morante draws on Freud, romcom and the Peanuts cartoon in her movie debut as a director and writer
Amid the seedy showbiz excesses of the Silvio Berlusconi era in Italy over the past two decades, Laura Morante was often seen as a symbol of another, more dignified version of Italian culture.
One of the country's most famous actresses, Morante, who could be described as a kind of Italian Catherine Deneuve, is as well known for her intense roles, and the calibre of films she has starred in, as for her remarkable beauty.
Now she is hoping to exploit the changing times in her country by playing her own part in promoting a different, more powerful role for women in cinema.
For the first time, the actress is stepping into the director's role for a film in which she also stars and takes a co-writing credit.
Amid the seedy showbiz excesses of the Silvio Berlusconi era in Italy over the past two decades, Laura Morante was often seen as a symbol of another, more dignified version of Italian culture.
One of the country's most famous actresses, Morante, who could be described as a kind of Italian Catherine Deneuve, is as well known for her intense roles, and the calibre of films she has starred in, as for her remarkable beauty.
Now she is hoping to exploit the changing times in her country by playing her own part in promoting a different, more powerful role for women in cinema.
For the first time, the actress is stepping into the director's role for a film in which she also stars and takes a co-writing credit.
- 4/14/2012
- by Tom Kington
- The Guardian - Film News
Italian screenwriter who worked with directors such as Visconti and Zeffirelli
The Italian screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico, who has died aged 96, collaborated on the scripts of more than 100 films, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), Mario Monicelli's I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She also worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on Le Amiche (The Girlfriends, 1955) and Franco Zeffirelli on Jesus of Nazareth (1977), but she was best known for her creative contribution to the films of Luchino Visconti, including Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963).
She was born Giovanna Cecchi in Rome to a Tuscan painter, Leonetta Pieraccini, and the literary critic Emilio Cecchi, a major figure in 20th-century Italian letters. For a few years in the early 1930s, before the Cinecittà studios were built in Rome, her father had been entrusted by Mussolini's government with...
The Italian screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico, who has died aged 96, collaborated on the scripts of more than 100 films, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), Mario Monicelli's I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She also worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on Le Amiche (The Girlfriends, 1955) and Franco Zeffirelli on Jesus of Nazareth (1977), but she was best known for her creative contribution to the films of Luchino Visconti, including Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963).
She was born Giovanna Cecchi in Rome to a Tuscan painter, Leonetta Pieraccini, and the literary critic Emilio Cecchi, a major figure in 20th-century Italian letters. For a few years in the early 1930s, before the Cinecittà studios were built in Rome, her father had been entrusted by Mussolini's government with...
- 8/1/2010
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
Roberto Bolle, performing at London’s Royal Opera House in 2008. Just as Vf Daily’s heartthrob smackdown started heating up, a new candidate entered the race: Roberto Bolle, the 34-year-old Italian ballet sensation, who is the subject of Vanity Fair contributing photographer Bruce Weber’s new book, Roberto Bolle: An Athlete in Tights (teNeues), out this week. Born in Casale Monferrato, Bolle began training in 1994 at Milan's Theatre La Scala Ballet School, where he was chosen by Rudolf Nureyev to dance the part of Tadzio in Death in Venice. Since 2007, Bolle has danced with American Ballet Theatre, where his repertoire includes Albrecht in Giselle, Des Grieux in Manon, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, and Aminta in Sylvia. Roberto Bolle: An Athlete in Tights is the result of a three-year collaboration between the dancer and Weber, who also photographed Robert Pattinson for this month’s V.
- 11/9/2009
- Vanity Fair
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