Prominent Italian producer Aurelio De Laurentiis has teamed up with the National Italian American Foundation (Niaf) to establish a film production grant program supporting aspiring filmmakers with compelling stories to tell about Italian and Italian American experiences.
De Laurentiis, who is the nephew of the late great movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis and a mogul in his own right — his Filmauro banner has released more than 400 movies — has long been supporting young filmmakers by financing the Venice Film Festival’s $100,000 “Luigi De Laurentiis” award for best first work.
The nascent Niaf/De Laurentiis Film Prizes will award a $10,000 grant this year to five selected applicants toward producing a short film project in any genre, including documentaries. The best project will be awarded an additional $10,000, plus a mentorship directly with De Laurentiis and his Filmauro team.
The five award-winning films will premiere at the Niaf 50th anniversary gala in Washington, D.
De Laurentiis, who is the nephew of the late great movie mogul Dino De Laurentiis and a mogul in his own right — his Filmauro banner has released more than 400 movies — has long been supporting young filmmakers by financing the Venice Film Festival’s $100,000 “Luigi De Laurentiis” award for best first work.
The nascent Niaf/De Laurentiis Film Prizes will award a $10,000 grant this year to five selected applicants toward producing a short film project in any genre, including documentaries. The best project will be awarded an additional $10,000, plus a mentorship directly with De Laurentiis and his Filmauro team.
The five award-winning films will premiere at the Niaf 50th anniversary gala in Washington, D.
- 1/16/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian production designer Tonino Zera, whose credits include Roman Polanski’s upcoming drama The Palace, will be feted with the Campari Passion Award at the 80th edition of Venice Film Festival, running from August 30 to September 9.
The prize, which was launched at the 75th Venice Film Festival, pays tribute to cinema crafts professionals who have made a “remarkable contribution” to the films on which they have worked.
Previous recipients span U.S. film editor Bob Murawski, Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, U.S. jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, UK production designer Marcus Rowland, and U.S. artist and costume designer Arianne Phillips.
Zera will be presented with the award on September 2 ahead of the Out of Competition world premiere of The Palace in the Sala Grande.
“To receive the prestigious Campari Passion for Film Award during the Venice Film Festival is not only a personal honor, it is also a...
The prize, which was launched at the 75th Venice Film Festival, pays tribute to cinema crafts professionals who have made a “remarkable contribution” to the films on which they have worked.
Previous recipients span U.S. film editor Bob Murawski, Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, U.S. jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, UK production designer Marcus Rowland, and U.S. artist and costume designer Arianne Phillips.
Zera will be presented with the award on September 2 ahead of the Out of Competition world premiere of The Palace in the Sala Grande.
“To receive the prestigious Campari Passion for Film Award during the Venice Film Festival is not only a personal honor, it is also a...
- 8/10/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Adriana Chiesa, the pioneering Italian sales agent who has been a fixture at Cannes for 40 years, has sold her film library to Italy’s Minerva Pictures.
The 85-title Acek library comprises a broad mix of prominent works by revered directors such as Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” (pictured) and “Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and a Scent of Basil” and cult movies including Lamberto Bava’s gonzo horror “Macabro,” revenge Western “Garringo” by Rafael Romero Merchant, and Asia Argento’s directorial debut, “Scarlet Diva,” on which Chiesa and Minerva chief Gianluca Curti jointly served as executive producers.
“I am particularly happy because I know that Gianluca appreciates the value of my library and will carry on its legacy with all the love and respect that it deserves,” Chiesa told Variety. She added that she will now continue her production activity, making documentaries such as “Water and Sugar: Carlo...
The 85-title Acek library comprises a broad mix of prominent works by revered directors such as Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” (pictured) and “Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and a Scent of Basil” and cult movies including Lamberto Bava’s gonzo horror “Macabro,” revenge Western “Garringo” by Rafael Romero Merchant, and Asia Argento’s directorial debut, “Scarlet Diva,” on which Chiesa and Minerva chief Gianluca Curti jointly served as executive producers.
“I am particularly happy because I know that Gianluca appreciates the value of my library and will carry on its legacy with all the love and respect that it deserves,” Chiesa told Variety. She added that she will now continue her production activity, making documentaries such as “Water and Sugar: Carlo...
- 5/16/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Updated: Cecchi Gori, the movie company that once dominated Italy’s film industry and collapsed in the mid 1990s, is being revived by a group of Italian investors that are backing a partial relaunch of the storied brand behind Oscar winners “Life is Beautiful,” “Mediterraneo” and “Il Postino.”
Cecchi Gori Group was officially ruled bankrupt in 2006 by a Rome court after being awash in red ink for a decade after its owner, movie mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori, branched out from film into television and acquired the A.C. Fiorentina soccer club in a bold expansion attempt that put him in competition with Silvio Berlusconi and went horribly wrong.
But even after the company’s various Italian sides went bust, its U.S. branches – Cecchi Gori U.S.A. and Cecchi Gori Pictures – continued to operate, headed by producer Niels Juul. Operating out of Los Angeles, Juul has been instrumental to...
Cecchi Gori Group was officially ruled bankrupt in 2006 by a Rome court after being awash in red ink for a decade after its owner, movie mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori, branched out from film into television and acquired the A.C. Fiorentina soccer club in a bold expansion attempt that put him in competition with Silvio Berlusconi and went horribly wrong.
But even after the company’s various Italian sides went bust, its U.S. branches – Cecchi Gori U.S.A. and Cecchi Gori Pictures – continued to operate, headed by producer Niels Juul. Operating out of Los Angeles, Juul has been instrumental to...
- 12/23/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar winner Roberto Benigni is attached to Paramount+ original Francesco Il Cantico, as the global streamer prepares to launch in Italy tomorrow with more than 8,000 hours of content.
Benigni will front the show, which is billed as “an immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.” Its announcement came at a star-studded blue carpet event at the iconic Cinecittà Studios in Rome this evening, with Paramount+ still gathering pace following launches in countries such as the UK and South Korea.
Further production details of Francesco Il Cantico are understood to be following at a later date.
Also unveiled on the evening was a new season of comedy Vita Da Carlo, in which comedian and actor Carlo Verdone plays himself, revealing his difficult relationship with Italy’s capital Rome. Verdone also directs the show, which bills its plot as “showing the frugal private life of a man...
Benigni will front the show, which is billed as “an immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.” Its announcement came at a star-studded blue carpet event at the iconic Cinecittà Studios in Rome this evening, with Paramount+ still gathering pace following launches in countries such as the UK and South Korea.
Further production details of Francesco Il Cantico are understood to be following at a later date.
Also unveiled on the evening was a new season of comedy Vita Da Carlo, in which comedian and actor Carlo Verdone plays himself, revealing his difficult relationship with Italy’s capital Rome. Verdone also directs the show, which bills its plot as “showing the frugal private life of a man...
- 9/14/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Paramount+, the streaming service from Paramount Global, launches in Italy on Thursday with more than 8,000 hours of entertainment and a slate of local originals shining a spotlight on women’s voices and stories.
Among them are the previously unveiled original series Miss Fallaci, set to premiere in 2023, which will detail “the true story of one of the most controversial Italian and international journalism icons ever,” Oriana Fallaci, as well as the previously announced Corpo Libero, a teen drama-thriller series set in the world of gymnastics that is based on a novel by Ilaria Bernardini.
Meanwhile, the series Circeo recounts the events surrounding an infamous court case in 1975 that changed Italian society: two teenage girls were found in the trunk of a car in Rome, naked, wrapped in blankets and drenched in blood; one was dead, the other one alive.
The streaming service is...
Paramount+, the streaming service from Paramount Global, launches in Italy on Thursday with more than 8,000 hours of entertainment and a slate of local originals shining a spotlight on women’s voices and stories.
Among them are the previously unveiled original series Miss Fallaci, set to premiere in 2023, which will detail “the true story of one of the most controversial Italian and international journalism icons ever,” Oriana Fallaci, as well as the previously announced Corpo Libero, a teen drama-thriller series set in the world of gymnastics that is based on a novel by Ilaria Bernardini.
Meanwhile, the series Circeo recounts the events surrounding an infamous court case in 1975 that changed Italian society: two teenage girls were found in the trunk of a car in Rome, naked, wrapped in blankets and drenched in blood; one was dead, the other one alive.
The streaming service is...
- 9/14/2022
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Festival
The 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept. 1-11) will include an out of competition screening of “Ennio” by Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the Oscar winning “Cinema Paradiso.” “Ennio” is a comprehensive portrait of two time Oscar winning composer Ennio Morricone, among the most influential and prolific musicians of the twentieth century, who has scored over 500 movie soundtracks.
The documentary tells the Maestro’s story in a long interview of him with Tornatore, and with comments by artists and directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento, the Taviani brothers, Carlo Verdone, Barry Levinson, Roland Joffé, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Bruce Springsteen, Nicola Piovani, Hans Zimmer and Pat Metheny, and through music and archive footage.
The film also seeks to reveal Morricone’s lesser-known aspects, such as his passion for chess, and the origin of some of his musical intuitions, like the howl of a coyote that...
The 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept. 1-11) will include an out of competition screening of “Ennio” by Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the Oscar winning “Cinema Paradiso.” “Ennio” is a comprehensive portrait of two time Oscar winning composer Ennio Morricone, among the most influential and prolific musicians of the twentieth century, who has scored over 500 movie soundtracks.
The documentary tells the Maestro’s story in a long interview of him with Tornatore, and with comments by artists and directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento, the Taviani brothers, Carlo Verdone, Barry Levinson, Roland Joffé, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Bruce Springsteen, Nicola Piovani, Hans Zimmer and Pat Metheny, and through music and archive footage.
The film also seeks to reveal Morricone’s lesser-known aspects, such as his passion for chess, and the origin of some of his musical intuitions, like the howl of a coyote that...
- 8/10/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Venice Adds Ennio Morricone Film By Giuseppe Tornatore
The Venice Film Festival is adding an Out of Competition screening of Ennio Morricone documentary Ennio by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso). The film is described as a comprehensive portrait of the late great composer, who was the winner of two Oscars and responsible for more than 500 movie soundtracks, many of them classics. The story is told via a long interview between the two Italians but also with comments by artists and directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento, the Taviani brothers, Carlo Verdone, Barry Levinson, Roland Joffé, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Bruce Springsteen, Nicola Piovani, Hans Zimmer and Pat Metheny. The film reveals lesser known aspects of the composer such as his passion for chess and the origin of some of his musical intuitions, like the howl of a coyote that inspired the theme of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
The Venice Film Festival is adding an Out of Competition screening of Ennio Morricone documentary Ennio by Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso). The film is described as a comprehensive portrait of the late great composer, who was the winner of two Oscars and responsible for more than 500 movie soundtracks, many of them classics. The story is told via a long interview between the two Italians but also with comments by artists and directors such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuliano Montaldo, Marco Bellocchio, Dario Argento, the Taviani brothers, Carlo Verdone, Barry Levinson, Roland Joffé, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, Bruce Springsteen, Nicola Piovani, Hans Zimmer and Pat Metheny. The film reveals lesser known aspects of the composer such as his passion for chess and the origin of some of his musical intuitions, like the howl of a coyote that inspired the theme of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
- 8/10/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which runs March 18-21, is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood. Here are some of the event’s highlights:
‘The Life Ahead’ panel
“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.
‘It Was Spring Outside’
This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...
‘The Life Ahead’ panel
“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.
‘It Was Spring Outside’
This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...
- 3/15/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Theatres to be shuttered until November 24.
Cinemas in Italy have been shuttered for a second time in a bid to curb a second spike in coronavirus cases and avoid a full lockdown.
Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Sunday that cinemas, theatres, discos and gaming halls must close their doors from today (October 26), following a new daily record of 19,644 coronavirus infections in the country.
Conte stopped short of imposing a nationwide lockdown but stated that bars and restaurants will have to stop service from 6pm.
Cinemas will remain closed until November 24 – although an extension is expected – as the government...
Cinemas in Italy have been shuttered for a second time in a bid to curb a second spike in coronavirus cases and avoid a full lockdown.
Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Sunday that cinemas, theatres, discos and gaming halls must close their doors from today (October 26), following a new daily record of 19,644 coronavirus infections in the country.
Conte stopped short of imposing a nationwide lockdown but stated that bars and restaurants will have to stop service from 6pm.
Cinemas will remain closed until November 24 – although an extension is expected – as the government...
- 10/26/2020
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Several high-profile releases have been postponed.
The spread of coronavirus in northern Italy is beginning to take its toll on the country’s cinema chains.
Italian box office takings this weekend were down 44% compared to the previous week and down 30% compared to the same period in 2019.
Several releases due out next weekend have also been postponed; Si vive una volta sola from comedy star Carlo Verdone (Vision Distribution); Berlinale competition title Hidden Away by Giorgio Diritti (01 Distribution); Bart Freundlich’s After The Wedding (Lucky Red); Cambio tutto (Medusa) and Lupin III (Anime Factory). None of the distributors have set new...
The spread of coronavirus in northern Italy is beginning to take its toll on the country’s cinema chains.
Italian box office takings this weekend were down 44% compared to the previous week and down 30% compared to the same period in 2019.
Several releases due out next weekend have also been postponed; Si vive una volta sola from comedy star Carlo Verdone (Vision Distribution); Berlinale competition title Hidden Away by Giorgio Diritti (01 Distribution); Bart Freundlich’s After The Wedding (Lucky Red); Cambio tutto (Medusa) and Lupin III (Anime Factory). None of the distributors have set new...
- 2/24/2020
- by 1100976¦Gabriele Niola¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Amazon Studios’ official move into Italy last week with a robust slate of both scripted and unscripted shows is shaking up the local industry and may give the country a welcome boost in terms of raising its profile on the global production map, where Italian TV output for global viewing lags behind nearby territories.
The streamer, being an arm of a global retailing powerhouse, is pushing into Europe at its own pace and with a more multi-genre approach than its competitors, in particular compared with Netflix, a standalone service. During a Jan. 23 presentation in Rome, Amazon announced four new Italian originals, comprising “Bang Bang Baby,” a high-concept Milan-set mob dramedy with a mostly female cast, “Vita da Carlo,” a comedy series centered around popular local star Carlo Verdone, and an unscripted food travelogue titled “Dinner Club.”
Previously Amazon had announced other Italian projects, most notably the Italian component of global thriller multi-series “Citadel,...
The streamer, being an arm of a global retailing powerhouse, is pushing into Europe at its own pace and with a more multi-genre approach than its competitors, in particular compared with Netflix, a standalone service. During a Jan. 23 presentation in Rome, Amazon announced four new Italian originals, comprising “Bang Bang Baby,” a high-concept Milan-set mob dramedy with a mostly female cast, “Vita da Carlo,” a comedy series centered around popular local star Carlo Verdone, and an unscripted food travelogue titled “Dinner Club.”
Previously Amazon had announced other Italian projects, most notably the Italian component of global thriller multi-series “Citadel,...
- 1/29/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The popular Italian actor-director will play himself in ten episodes that revolve around tics, neuroses and entertaining anecdotes from everyday life; Filmauro is producing for Amazon Studios. “Every single day, I’m put through the mill, with fans turning up at my door, people bumping into me on the street and friends asking me for medical advice. I’ve got a jotter full of notes; I feel like I have a lot of freedom. It’ll be fun. It’ll be a kind of self-analysis.” Carlo Verdone is preparing his debut TV outing, Vita da Carlo, a ten-episode comedy series that will bring together tics, neuroses and entertaining anecdotes from everyday life. The much-loved actor-director will be playing himself, but there will also be a few cameos by some of Italy’s most famous stars. Devised by Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti (They Call Me Jeeg), who are writing it together with Verdone and his long-time.
Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke was in Rome to unveil the company’s inaugural slate of Italian original productions.
FremantleMedia’s Bang Bang Baby, a coming-of-age crime drama set in the 1980s, will headline Amazon Studios’ inaugural slate of Italian original productions unveiled today in Rome by Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios.
Bang Bang Baby has been created by Andrea Di Stefano and will start shooting in 2020. It is being produced by FremantleMedia’s new Italian production arm The Apartment, headed by CEO Lorenzo Mieli, who also heads Fremantle Italy and is founder of Fremantle-owned Wildside.
FremantleMedia’s Bang Bang Baby, a coming-of-age crime drama set in the 1980s, will headline Amazon Studios’ inaugural slate of Italian original productions unveiled today in Rome by Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios.
Bang Bang Baby has been created by Andrea Di Stefano and will start shooting in 2020. It is being produced by FremantleMedia’s new Italian production arm The Apartment, headed by CEO Lorenzo Mieli, who also heads Fremantle Italy and is founder of Fremantle-owned Wildside.
- 1/23/2020
- by 1101325¦Gabriele Niola¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Amazon Prime has greenlit three new Italian original series, further boosting its investment in the territory.
Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke, head of international originals James Farrell, director of European Amazon Originals Georgia Brown and Nicole Morganti, head of unscripted original series in Italy, unveiled the Italian slate at the Hotel de la Ville in Rome on Thursday.
The new shows include the comedy series Vita da Carlo, featuring actor and director Carlo Verdone, who will star as a fictionalized version of himself. The series, billed as a sendup of Rome's film and celebrity scene, will feature cameos from some ...
Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke, head of international originals James Farrell, director of European Amazon Originals Georgia Brown and Nicole Morganti, head of unscripted original series in Italy, unveiled the Italian slate at the Hotel de la Ville in Rome on Thursday.
The new shows include the comedy series Vita da Carlo, featuring actor and director Carlo Verdone, who will star as a fictionalized version of himself. The series, billed as a sendup of Rome's film and celebrity scene, will feature cameos from some ...
- 1/23/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Over the top, excessive, too much reliance on anonymous sexy young women for thrills…definitely an inferior work! Let’s hope it is not a trend.
I have been one of Sorrentino’s greatest fans. As I wrote in the review of A Great Beauty “I could watch this film over and over again and still be inspired by the beauty of Rome and the depth of its flaneur, the hero of this film, journalist Jep Gambardella as played by the incomparable Toni Servillo.”
Well Toni Servillo is still incomparable. His face is a smiley face mask which can momentarily change into the face of a tired old man. But he is a cardboard figure as he plays Berlusconi in his last days before his current resurrection as a member of EU Parliament. His wife Veronica Lario, played by Elena Sofia Ricci was the only real character with any depth.
I have been one of Sorrentino’s greatest fans. As I wrote in the review of A Great Beauty “I could watch this film over and over again and still be inspired by the beauty of Rome and the depth of its flaneur, the hero of this film, journalist Jep Gambardella as played by the incomparable Toni Servillo.”
Well Toni Servillo is still incomparable. His face is a smiley face mask which can momentarily change into the face of a tired old man. But he is a cardboard figure as he plays Berlusconi in his last days before his current resurrection as a member of EU Parliament. His wife Veronica Lario, played by Elena Sofia Ricci was the only real character with any depth.
- 8/21/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 842 new members in their annual effort to bring in new blood to the organization that hands out the Oscars. This is down from the 928 members invited last year, but 50% of this year’s number are women, inching closer to the goal of creating an even playing field between female and male members. It marks an 7% increase in female members from 2015 to an overall 32% of the entire organization.
A total of 29% of the new class revealed Monday are people of color, marking an 8% increase in that statistic since 2015. Among the new invitees, 21 are already Oscar winners and 82 are past Oscar nominees.
New members among the acting branch include recent Best Song winner Lady Gaga, who is also being invited to the music branch; Sterling K. Brown; Claire Foy; and actors ranging in age from 23-year-old Spider-Man Tom Holland to the (shamefully) never-nominated legendary French star,...
A total of 29% of the new class revealed Monday are people of color, marking an 8% increase in that statistic since 2015. Among the new invitees, 21 are already Oscar winners and 82 are past Oscar nominees.
New members among the acting branch include recent Best Song winner Lady Gaga, who is also being invited to the music branch; Sterling K. Brown; Claire Foy; and actors ranging in age from 23-year-old Spider-Man Tom Holland to the (shamefully) never-nominated legendary French star,...
- 7/1/2019
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Box office returns in Italy dropped about 5% to €555 million ($631 million) in 2018, posting their worst result in a decade as Hollywood blockbusters drew in fewer Italian moviegoers than usual.
On the bright side, Italian films gained traction last year, scoring a 22% market share, up from 16% in 2017, marking the second-best showing in the past four years, according to box office analyst Robert Bernocchi. He said that this surpassed the results for homegrown pics in Spain and Germany, which clocked in at about 17% and 18%, respectively.
U.S. films in 2018 nabbed a total of €330 million ($375 million), accounting for 60% of Italy’s market share. That’s a solid result, but roughly six percentage points lower than in 2017, fueling the country’s overall box office drop. The year’s top grosser was Fox’s international hit “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which has pulled in more than €21 million ($23 million), and counting.
Italian ticket sales in 2018 were just shy of 86 million,...
On the bright side, Italian films gained traction last year, scoring a 22% market share, up from 16% in 2017, marking the second-best showing in the past four years, according to box office analyst Robert Bernocchi. He said that this surpassed the results for homegrown pics in Spain and Germany, which clocked in at about 17% and 18%, respectively.
U.S. films in 2018 nabbed a total of €330 million ($375 million), accounting for 60% of Italy’s market share. That’s a solid result, but roughly six percentage points lower than in 2017, fueling the country’s overall box office drop. The year’s top grosser was Fox’s international hit “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which has pulled in more than €21 million ($23 million), and counting.
Italian ticket sales in 2018 were just shy of 86 million,...
- 1/3/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Takings still on the slide despite a decent effort from local fare.
After a sharp decline at the Italian box office from 2016 to 2017, the trend continued in 2018. For the first 11 months of the year, total box office was down 6.3% on the same period in 2017 and down 18.7% on 2016.
New films from big Italian auteurs such as Paolo Sorrentino’s Them (Loro) and Matteo Garrone’s Dogman did not help much, even though the box-office share of national product rose to 22% from 2017’s 16% — at the expense of the Us quota, which fell from 66% to 59%.
While comic book blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War tops...
After a sharp decline at the Italian box office from 2016 to 2017, the trend continued in 2018. For the first 11 months of the year, total box office was down 6.3% on the same period in 2017 and down 18.7% on 2016.
New films from big Italian auteurs such as Paolo Sorrentino’s Them (Loro) and Matteo Garrone’s Dogman did not help much, even though the box-office share of national product rose to 22% from 2017’s 16% — at the expense of the Us quota, which fell from 66% to 59%.
While comic book blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War tops...
- 12/21/2018
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Film stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea.
Euforia, Valeria Golino’s second film and return to Un Certain Regard, has stirred up interest here for True Colours who have closed deals with Paname for French-speaking territories, Strada for Greece, Stars Media for former Yugoslavia, and Bravos Pictures for China.
Talks are ongoing on the Ht Films and Indigo Film drama for the Us, UK, Australia, Japan, Spain and Taiwan. 01 Distribution has planned an autumn release for the story starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as estranged brothers forced to cohabit for a few months in Rome.
After a solid $3.8m (€3.2m) Italian box office run,...
Euforia, Valeria Golino’s second film and return to Un Certain Regard, has stirred up interest here for True Colours who have closed deals with Paname for French-speaking territories, Strada for Greece, Stars Media for former Yugoslavia, and Bravos Pictures for China.
Talks are ongoing on the Ht Films and Indigo Film drama for the Us, UK, Australia, Japan, Spain and Taiwan. 01 Distribution has planned an autumn release for the story starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as estranged brothers forced to cohabit for a few months in Rome.
After a solid $3.8m (€3.2m) Italian box office run,...
- 5/15/2018
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Film stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea.
Euphoria (Euforia), Valeria Golino’s second film and return to Un Certain Regard, has stirred up interest here for True Colors who have closed deals with Paname for French-speaking territories, Strada for Greece, Stars Media for former Yugoslavia, and Bravos Pictures for China.
Talks are ongoing on the Indigo Film and Ht Films drama for the Us, UK, Australia, Japan, Spain and Taiwan. 01 Distribution has planned an autumn release for the story starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as estranged brothers forced to cohabit for a few months in Rome.
After a solid...
Euphoria (Euforia), Valeria Golino’s second film and return to Un Certain Regard, has stirred up interest here for True Colors who have closed deals with Paname for French-speaking territories, Strada for Greece, Stars Media for former Yugoslavia, and Bravos Pictures for China.
Talks are ongoing on the Indigo Film and Ht Films drama for the Us, UK, Australia, Japan, Spain and Taiwan. 01 Distribution has planned an autumn release for the story starring Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as estranged brothers forced to cohabit for a few months in Rome.
After a solid...
- 5/15/2018
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
New roll of comedies includes Valerio Attansio’s directorial debut ‘The Handyman’.
A little over two years after launching, True Colours has grown into one of the most important Italian sales companies.
This year, the company headed by former Rai Com exec Catia Rossi brings a strong line-up to the Cannes market, headlined by Valeria Golino’s second directorial outing Euforia, which is playing in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as two brothers at odds who are forced to live together in Rome for a few months.
True Colours is also kickstarting sales on a pair of new comedies.
A little over two years after launching, True Colours has grown into one of the most important Italian sales companies.
This year, the company headed by former Rai Com exec Catia Rossi brings a strong line-up to the Cannes market, headlined by Valeria Golino’s second directorial outing Euforia, which is playing in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as two brothers at odds who are forced to live together in Rome for a few months.
True Colours is also kickstarting sales on a pair of new comedies.
- 5/9/2018
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
New roll of comedies includes Valerio Attansio’s directorial debut ‘The Handyman’.
A little over two years after launching, True Colours has grown into one of the most important Italian sales companies.
This year, the company headed by former Rai Com exec Catia Rossi brings a strong line-up to the Cannes market, headlined by Valeria Golino’s second directorial outing Euphoria, which is playing in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as two brothers at odds who are forced to live together in Rome for a few months.
True Colours is also kickstarting sales on a pair of new comedies.
A little over two years after launching, True Colours has grown into one of the most important Italian sales companies.
This year, the company headed by former Rai Com exec Catia Rossi brings a strong line-up to the Cannes market, headlined by Valeria Golino’s second directorial outing Euphoria, which is playing in Un Certain Regard. The film stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Valerio Mastandrea as two brothers at odds who are forced to live together in Rome for a few months.
True Colours is also kickstarting sales on a pair of new comedies.
- 5/9/2018
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
Italy hopes to repeat last year’s win in the Best Foreign-Language Film category with Paolo Virzi’s family thriller.
Italy has submitted Paolo Virzi’s Human Capital for consideration in the Best Foreign-Language Film category of the Academy Awards.
Italy holds the record for the most foreign-language Oscars, with 14 wins including the statuette for Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty earlier this year.
Human Capital centres on two families, irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep on the night before Christmas Eve. The film was based on the Us novel by Stephen Amidon, relocating from Connecticut to Northern Italy.
It won seven trophies at the David di Donatello awards, beating The Great Beauty for best film, and six Nastri d’Argento Awards.
Human Capital has also proved a box office hit in Italy
Italy’s Oscar shortlist also include Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders, Francesco Munzi’s Black...
Italy has submitted Paolo Virzi’s Human Capital for consideration in the Best Foreign-Language Film category of the Academy Awards.
Italy holds the record for the most foreign-language Oscars, with 14 wins including the statuette for Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty earlier this year.
Human Capital centres on two families, irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep on the night before Christmas Eve. The film was based on the Us novel by Stephen Amidon, relocating from Connecticut to Northern Italy.
It won seven trophies at the David di Donatello awards, beating The Great Beauty for best film, and six Nastri d’Argento Awards.
Human Capital has also proved a box office hit in Italy
Italy’s Oscar shortlist also include Alice Rohrwacher’s The Wonders, Francesco Munzi’s Black...
- 9/24/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Venice awards go to Roy Andersson dark comedy, Andrei Konchalovsky drama, Hungry Hearts.Scroll down for full list of winners
Roy Andersson’s lauded absurdist comedy A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence has scooped the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.
Silver Lion for Best Director went to Andrei Konchalovsky for The Postman’s White Nights while Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence took home the Grand Jury Prize.
Coppa Volpi for Best Actor went to Adam Driver for Hungry Hearts, while Best Actress went to Alba Rohrwacher for the same film.
Romain Paul took the Best Young Actor Award for Le Dernier Coup De Marteau while Best Screenplay went to Rakhshan Banietemad and Farid Mostafavi for Tales (Ghesseha).
The Special Jury Prize went to Sivas by Kaan Mujdeci and the Lion of the Future Award for Debut Film went to Court by Chaitanya Tamhane (India) along with a...
Roy Andersson’s lauded absurdist comedy A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence has scooped the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival.
Silver Lion for Best Director went to Andrei Konchalovsky for The Postman’s White Nights while Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence took home the Grand Jury Prize.
Coppa Volpi for Best Actor went to Adam Driver for Hungry Hearts, while Best Actress went to Alba Rohrwacher for the same film.
Romain Paul took the Best Young Actor Award for Le Dernier Coup De Marteau while Best Screenplay went to Rakhshan Banietemad and Farid Mostafavi for Tales (Ghesseha).
The Special Jury Prize went to Sivas by Kaan Mujdeci and the Lion of the Future Award for Debut Film went to Court by Chaitanya Tamhane (India) along with a...
- 9/6/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Well, that’s basically a wrap on the Venice Film Festival and the Venezia 71 jury—chaired by Alexandre Desplat and comprised of Joan Chen, Philip Gröning, Jessica Hausner, Jhumpa Lahiri, Sandy Powell, Tim Roth, Elia Suleiman and Carlo Verdone—has decided the awards. The big winner? Roy Andersson’s metaphysical, long-awaited “A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence” won the Golden Lion Best Film prize (our review). Adam Driver won best actor for “Hungry Hearts” and the Grand Jury Prize went to Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary “The Look Of Silence” (our review). Full winners with applicable links below. Golden Lion for Best Film to: En Duva Satt PÅ En Gren Och Funderade PÅ Tillvaron A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence by Roy Andersson (Sweden, Germany, Norway, France) Silver Lion for Best Director to: Andrej Končalovskij for the film Belye Nochi Pochtalona Alekseya Tryapitsyna (The Postman...
- 9/6/2014
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
Before the Fest Starts — Academy Award-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat (pictured) has the enviable or un-enviable task of heading the In Competition jury for Venice. He will either butt heads or lock arms with various members of his eclectic jury including highly-skilled filmmaking artisans such as:
Israeli director Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) Actress Joan Chen (Lust, Caution) Actor Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) Costume Designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare In Love) Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Writer/director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes) Writer/director Carlo Verdone (Me, Them, And Lara) Writer/director Philip Groning (Into Great Silence) ...
Israeli director Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) Actress Joan Chen (Lust, Caution) Actor Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) Costume Designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare In Love) Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Writer/director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes) Writer/director Carlo Verdone (Me, Them, And Lara) Writer/director Philip Groning (Into Great Silence) ...
- 8/23/2014
- by keithsim
- IMDb Blog - All the Latest
Before the Fest Starts — Academy Award-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat(pictured) has the enviable or un-enviable task of heading the In Competition jury for Venice. He will either butt heads or lock arms with various members of his eclectic jury including highly-skilled filmmaking artisans such as:
Israeli director Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) Actress Joan Chen (Lust, Caution) Actor Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) Costume Designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare In Love) Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Writer/director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes) Writer/director Carlo Verdone< (Me, Them, And Lara) Writer/director Philip Groning (Into Great Silence) ...
Israeli director Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) Actress Joan Chen (Lust, Caution) Actor Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) Costume Designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare In Love) Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Writer/director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes) Writer/director Carlo Verdone< (Me, Them, And Lara) Writer/director Philip Groning (Into Great Silence) ...
- 8/21/2014
- by keithsim
- IMDb Blog - All the Latest
Before the Fest Starts — Academy Award-nominated composer Alexandre Desplat(pictured) has the enviable or un-enviable task of heading the In Competition jury for Venice. He will either butt heads or lock arms with various members of his eclectic jury including highly-skilled filmmaking artisans such as:
Israeli director Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) Actress Joan Chen (Lust, Caution) Actor Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) Costume Designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare In Love) Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Writer/director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes) Writer/director Carlo Verdone< (Me, Them, And Lara) Writer/director Philip Groning (Into Great Silence) ...
Israeli director Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) Actress Joan Chen (Lust, Caution) Actor Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction) Costume Designer Sandy Powell (Shakespeare In Love) Novelist Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) Writer/director Jessica Hausner (Lourdes) Writer/director Carlo Verdone< (Me, Them, And Lara) Writer/director Philip Groning (Into Great Silence) ...
- 8/18/2014
- by keithsim
- IMDb Blog - All the Latest
Carlo Verdone’s Under A Lucky Star (Sotto Una Buona Stella) picked up the top prize at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival, where Ambi Pictures’ 2047 – Sights Of Death scored a hat trick.
Verdone’s film, about a successful businessman living in luxury with his young girlfriend, won the People’s Choice Award. On winning the award, Verdone said the reception the film has received around the world thus far has been overwhelming.
“This proves that Under A Lucky Star is an international film that can be understood by audiences of every kind,” he said.
Also at the festival in Toronto, sci-fi action film 2047 – Sights Of Death, distributed by Ambi, received three awards after having its world premiere at the festival.
Lady Monika Bacardi picked up the Best Produer Award, and actors Stepehn Baldwin and Danny Glover earned the Best Actor Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, respectively. The film is set to premiere in Italy on June...
Verdone’s film, about a successful businessman living in luxury with his young girlfriend, won the People’s Choice Award. On winning the award, Verdone said the reception the film has received around the world thus far has been overwhelming.
“This proves that Under A Lucky Star is an international film that can be understood by audiences of every kind,” he said.
Also at the festival in Toronto, sci-fi action film 2047 – Sights Of Death, distributed by Ambi, received three awards after having its world premiere at the festival.
Lady Monika Bacardi picked up the Best Produer Award, and actors Stepehn Baldwin and Danny Glover earned the Best Actor Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award, respectively. The film is set to premiere in Italy on June...
- 6/24/2014
- ScreenDaily
The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), Italy’s Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Inspirational and awe-inspiring are the words that come to mind first when I think about the great movie just out of Italy, The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) from acclaimed director Paolo Sorrentino ( Il Divo, The Consequences of Love, This Must be the Place) with a screenplay by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello.
I could watch this film over and over again and still be inspired by the beauty of Rome and the depth of its flaneur, the hero of this film, journalist Jep Gambardella as played by the incomparable Toni Servillo (Gomorrah, Il Divo). In fact, after interviewing Paolo Sorrentino recently at the Chateau Marmont, I feel compelled to watch it again in order to understand the ending’s reference to what might have been the subject of the original and only book Jeb ever wrote which was perhaps (according to Paolo) “about the love he had for the girl -- and you can see that at the end of the movie”.
During my interview, I tried not to discuss how the film carries echoes of the classic works of Federico Fellini as Sorrentino had already gone on record stating that, “Roma and La Dolce Vita are works that you cannot pretend to ignore when you take on a film like the one I wanted to make. They are two masterpieces and the golden rule is that masterpieces should be watched but not imitated. I tried to stick to that. But it’s also true that masterpieces transform the way we feel and perceive things.”
A dazzling tour through modern day Rome through the eyes of Jep Gambardella gives us feelings for grandeur whose beauty can lead to death, to dangerous adventures leading nowhere and to a certain level of sadness. When his 65th birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
The stripper daughter of his old friend and nightclub owner represents a simpler normality as does his housekeeper. Both are touchstones to a reality he has abandoned since becoming a permanent fixture in Rome’s literary and social circles after the legendary success of his one and only novel. Armed with a roguish charm, he has seduced his way through the city's lavish night life for decades.
As an interviewer for popular press, his curiosity about everything is satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time. He finds his yearning for simplicity is sparked when he rather cynically interviews a saintly nun and more importantly, he finds the seed for his next book in the simple, normal lives of ordinary people and in the fragility of those snobbish, superficial, gossiping “friends” with whom he has spent too much time weaving a uselessly complicated life of nothingness, living in a world which makes no sense.
There are many literary references in the film – Flaubert who wanted to write a book about nothing, Proust whose masterpiece “capitalizes on his own biography”, Celine whose opening line to his novel Journey to the End of the Night is also the film’s opening line.
This quote from Celine is a declaration of intent that I followed in turn in the film. It comes down to saying: there’s reality, but everything is invented too. Invention is necessary in cinema, just to attain the truth.
What is it about the Flaubert references?
Flaubert said he wanted to write a book about nothing. This gave him the right to write about the frivolous, gossip, nothing and it acquired a literary standing. Nothingness becomes life. It takes on a life of its own and life’s nothingness is its beauty.
Jeb is living it among awkward, weak people, even hateful people. This is life and all of it belongs to The Great Beauty. The immediacy of the beauty of Rome is obvious, but the subterranean part – like these horrible people around him, you realize they are are also so vulnerable and fragile and that gives them and him the redeeming grace of beauty. The communist writer is emblematic.
Are you an intellectual?
I don’t like to think that I am. I do read a lot. I read more than I watch movies.
What do you do in your free time?
I hibernate. I hibernate until the next project takes shape in my mind. I watch a lot of football. And I tend to my family. I have two children aged 10 and 16 who keep me very busy.
Do you find that the Italian character is theatrical?
In my hometown (Naples), the people are extraordinarily theatrical. Orson Welles himself, on seeing Neapolitan actor Eduardo de Felipo said that he was the greatest actor in the world.
Whatever you say about it, Italy has an extraordinary pool of actors of every sort. They are all very different, from many different backgrounds, but all with often under-exploited potential, all just waiting to find good characters.
Tony Servillo is also from Naples, like I am. He is an actor I can ask anything of, because he is capable of doing absolutely everything. I can now move forward with him with my eyes closed, not only as far as work goes, but also in terms of our friendship, a friendship which over time becomes more joyful, lighter yet deeper at the same time.
Tony Servillo is quoted as saying about Sorrentino:
We have something in common which we both cultivate, and that’s a taste for mystery. That has something to do with esteem, with a sense of irony and self-mockery, with certain similar sources of melancholy, and certain subjects or themes of reflection. These affinities are renewed each time we meet, as if it were the first time, without there being any need for a closer relationship between one film and the next. We meet and it’s as if we’ve never been apart. And that means there’s a deep friendship between us, and that’s what so great.
Thank you Paolo for this interview. I wish you all the luck in winning not only the Nomination but also the prize of the Academy Award.
I also want to draw the reader’s attention to the fabulous photography of cinematographer Luca Bigazzi and the music of Lele Marchitel, who juxtaposes original music with repertory music of sacred and profane, pop music reflecting the city itself and to the extraordinary pool of actors, Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi and Galatea Ranzi, Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka and Isabella Ferrari.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times called this visually spectacular film “an outlandishly entertaining hallucination”, and according to Variety’s Jay Weissberg it’s an “astonishing cinematic feast”.
This rapturous highlight of this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it played in Competition was acquired for U.S. by Janus Films who will release it theatrically in N.Y. on November 15, L.A. on November 22, expanding to other cities on November 29, with a home video release from the Criterion Collection.
“We were swept away by this gorgeous, moving film at Cannes”, said Peter Becker, president of the Criterion Collection and a partner in Janus Films. “Sorrentino is one of the most exciting directors working today, and Toni Servillo gives another majestic, multilayered performance.”
The deal to distribute Sorrentino’s film in the U.S. was struck with international distributor Pathé. “Janus has over the years become a valued partner in the promotion of Pathé’s heritage in the U.S. through its releases of our library titles, and we are, of course, thrilled to once again partner up with this company for the release of this film which represents the finest of Italian cinema today and at the same time pays a respectful homage to its nation’s cinematic past”, said Muriel Sauzay, Evp, International Sales.
For more information on the film visit Here
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) also screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was recently award the European Film Academy award for its editing by Cristiano Travaglioli. Since its Cannes debut, it has sold to Australia - Palace Films , Austria - Filmladen , Benelux - Abc - Cinemien , Brazil - Mares Filmes Ltda. , Canada - Mongrel Media, Métropole Films Distribution , Czech Republic - Film Europe, Denmark - Camera Film A/S , Estonia -Must Käsi, France - Canal + , Germany - Dcm , Greece - Feelgood Entertainment, Hong Kong (China) - Edko Films Ltd , Israel - United King Films, Italy - Medusa Distribuzione, Norway - As Fidalgo Film Distribution , Portugal - Lusomundo, Russia - A-One Films , Slovak Republic - Film Europe (Sk) , Switzerland - Pathe Films Ag , United Kingdom - Curzon Film World...
Inspirational and awe-inspiring are the words that come to mind first when I think about the great movie just out of Italy, The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) from acclaimed director Paolo Sorrentino ( Il Divo, The Consequences of Love, This Must be the Place) with a screenplay by Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello.
I could watch this film over and over again and still be inspired by the beauty of Rome and the depth of its flaneur, the hero of this film, journalist Jep Gambardella as played by the incomparable Toni Servillo (Gomorrah, Il Divo). In fact, after interviewing Paolo Sorrentino recently at the Chateau Marmont, I feel compelled to watch it again in order to understand the ending’s reference to what might have been the subject of the original and only book Jeb ever wrote which was perhaps (according to Paolo) “about the love he had for the girl -- and you can see that at the end of the movie”.
During my interview, I tried not to discuss how the film carries echoes of the classic works of Federico Fellini as Sorrentino had already gone on record stating that, “Roma and La Dolce Vita are works that you cannot pretend to ignore when you take on a film like the one I wanted to make. They are two masterpieces and the golden rule is that masterpieces should be watched but not imitated. I tried to stick to that. But it’s also true that masterpieces transform the way we feel and perceive things.”
A dazzling tour through modern day Rome through the eyes of Jep Gambardella gives us feelings for grandeur whose beauty can lead to death, to dangerous adventures leading nowhere and to a certain level of sadness. When his 65th birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
The stripper daughter of his old friend and nightclub owner represents a simpler normality as does his housekeeper. Both are touchstones to a reality he has abandoned since becoming a permanent fixture in Rome’s literary and social circles after the legendary success of his one and only novel. Armed with a roguish charm, he has seduced his way through the city's lavish night life for decades.
As an interviewer for popular press, his curiosity about everything is satisfied and dissatisfied at the same time. He finds his yearning for simplicity is sparked when he rather cynically interviews a saintly nun and more importantly, he finds the seed for his next book in the simple, normal lives of ordinary people and in the fragility of those snobbish, superficial, gossiping “friends” with whom he has spent too much time weaving a uselessly complicated life of nothingness, living in a world which makes no sense.
There are many literary references in the film – Flaubert who wanted to write a book about nothing, Proust whose masterpiece “capitalizes on his own biography”, Celine whose opening line to his novel Journey to the End of the Night is also the film’s opening line.
This quote from Celine is a declaration of intent that I followed in turn in the film. It comes down to saying: there’s reality, but everything is invented too. Invention is necessary in cinema, just to attain the truth.
What is it about the Flaubert references?
Flaubert said he wanted to write a book about nothing. This gave him the right to write about the frivolous, gossip, nothing and it acquired a literary standing. Nothingness becomes life. It takes on a life of its own and life’s nothingness is its beauty.
Jeb is living it among awkward, weak people, even hateful people. This is life and all of it belongs to The Great Beauty. The immediacy of the beauty of Rome is obvious, but the subterranean part – like these horrible people around him, you realize they are are also so vulnerable and fragile and that gives them and him the redeeming grace of beauty. The communist writer is emblematic.
Are you an intellectual?
I don’t like to think that I am. I do read a lot. I read more than I watch movies.
What do you do in your free time?
I hibernate. I hibernate until the next project takes shape in my mind. I watch a lot of football. And I tend to my family. I have two children aged 10 and 16 who keep me very busy.
Do you find that the Italian character is theatrical?
In my hometown (Naples), the people are extraordinarily theatrical. Orson Welles himself, on seeing Neapolitan actor Eduardo de Felipo said that he was the greatest actor in the world.
Whatever you say about it, Italy has an extraordinary pool of actors of every sort. They are all very different, from many different backgrounds, but all with often under-exploited potential, all just waiting to find good characters.
Tony Servillo is also from Naples, like I am. He is an actor I can ask anything of, because he is capable of doing absolutely everything. I can now move forward with him with my eyes closed, not only as far as work goes, but also in terms of our friendship, a friendship which over time becomes more joyful, lighter yet deeper at the same time.
Tony Servillo is quoted as saying about Sorrentino:
We have something in common which we both cultivate, and that’s a taste for mystery. That has something to do with esteem, with a sense of irony and self-mockery, with certain similar sources of melancholy, and certain subjects or themes of reflection. These affinities are renewed each time we meet, as if it were the first time, without there being any need for a closer relationship between one film and the next. We meet and it’s as if we’ve never been apart. And that means there’s a deep friendship between us, and that’s what so great.
Thank you Paolo for this interview. I wish you all the luck in winning not only the Nomination but also the prize of the Academy Award.
I also want to draw the reader’s attention to the fabulous photography of cinematographer Luca Bigazzi and the music of Lele Marchitel, who juxtaposes original music with repertory music of sacred and profane, pop music reflecting the city itself and to the extraordinary pool of actors, Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi and Galatea Ranzi, Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka and Isabella Ferrari.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times called this visually spectacular film “an outlandishly entertaining hallucination”, and according to Variety’s Jay Weissberg it’s an “astonishing cinematic feast”.
This rapturous highlight of this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it played in Competition was acquired for U.S. by Janus Films who will release it theatrically in N.Y. on November 15, L.A. on November 22, expanding to other cities on November 29, with a home video release from the Criterion Collection.
“We were swept away by this gorgeous, moving film at Cannes”, said Peter Becker, president of the Criterion Collection and a partner in Janus Films. “Sorrentino is one of the most exciting directors working today, and Toni Servillo gives another majestic, multilayered performance.”
The deal to distribute Sorrentino’s film in the U.S. was struck with international distributor Pathé. “Janus has over the years become a valued partner in the promotion of Pathé’s heritage in the U.S. through its releases of our library titles, and we are, of course, thrilled to once again partner up with this company for the release of this film which represents the finest of Italian cinema today and at the same time pays a respectful homage to its nation’s cinematic past”, said Muriel Sauzay, Evp, International Sales.
For more information on the film visit Here
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) also screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and was recently award the European Film Academy award for its editing by Cristiano Travaglioli. Since its Cannes debut, it has sold to Australia - Palace Films , Austria - Filmladen , Benelux - Abc - Cinemien , Brazil - Mares Filmes Ltda. , Canada - Mongrel Media, Métropole Films Distribution , Czech Republic - Film Europe, Denmark - Camera Film A/S , Estonia -Must Käsi, France - Canal + , Germany - Dcm , Greece - Feelgood Entertainment, Hong Kong (China) - Edko Films Ltd , Israel - United King Films, Italy - Medusa Distribuzione, Norway - As Fidalgo Film Distribution , Portugal - Lusomundo, Russia - A-One Films , Slovak Republic - Film Europe (Sk) , Switzerland - Pathe Films Ag , United Kingdom - Curzon Film World...
- 3/3/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Emerging Pictures recently announced “Cinema Made In Italy,” a major new initiative between Istituto Luce- Cinecittà, the Italian Trade Commission and Emerging Pictures that will pro-vide distribution and marketing support to five major Italian films with the goal of broadening the audience for Italian cinema in the United States. Emerging will oversee the initiative and distribute Gianni Amelio’s L’Intrepido, Marco Bellocchio’s Dormant Beauty, Bernardo Bertolucci’s Me And You and Valeria Golino’s Honey in 2014.
These four recent Italian works will receive marketing and distribution support from a fund created by Istituto Luce- Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission. The first film in the series was Paolo Sorrentino’s masterful Academy Award nominated The Great Beauty. Since it was released by Janus Films with support from the Cinema Made In Italy program, it has become one of the most acclaimed foreign language films of the year. It also won the Golden Globe, European Film Award and is nominated for the BAFTA and Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.
All five films will receive a nationwide release. Theaters will be announced shortly. Each of the films will have a full marketing and publicity campaign overseen by Emerging Pictures and supported by Istituto Luce-Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission.
Ira Deutchman, Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures, said, “Italian cine- ma has always captured the imagination of American audiences since the hey-day of Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, De Sica and Rossellini. Our goal is to create a marketing and distribution initiative that will allow new Italian films to regularly enter the marketplace with a presence and to help create an ongoing new audience. We’re thrilled to be working with Istituto Luce-Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission to create this truly groundbreaking program.”
“Luce Cinecitta' is proud to test this new way to promote Italian cinema abroad,” said Istituto Luce-Cinecitta’ Chief Executive Officer Roberto Cicut- to. “Thanks to the funds provided by the Ministry of Economic Development and The Italian Trade Commission (Agenzia Ice) in addition to those provid- ed by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Emerging Pictures, we will be able to give the largest theatrical distribution to recent Italian titles direct- ed by very prestigious auteurs. Italian cinema is well known worldwide for its glorious past and for such great contemporary directors as Bertolucci, Bellocchio, Moretti, Sorrentino, Garrone, Amelio and others. This new platform will give our movies the chance to be seen in a wide array of theaters throughout the U.S., and not just in specialized art houses in a few big cities. The recent outstanding success of Sorrentino's ‘Great Beauty,’ a Janus release, with our support, shows there is great potential here for Italian cinema. We look for- ward to increasing the availability of Italian films to our American friends.”
Dr. Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Commission, said, "We have been working in the past two years with all the institutions mentioned by Roberto with two main goals: to get the Italian movie industry as the most important made-in-Italy tool for the commercial promotion of our country in the U.S., to try to reach the widest possible audience for viewing Italian movies. The support of different public institutions was central to building a project that was from the outset commercial: the movie industry is quintessentially important to promoting wine, food, fashion, design, technology, tourism and Italian style, together with the expression of our cultural values, trends and innovations. Italian cinema provides a single, comprehensive tool for achieving that meaningful goal. With ‘The Great Beauty,’ our first film, Cinema Made in Italy makes its debut in 25 cities, in more than 100 theaters in 15 states. This far-reaching exposure is exactly what we were searching for in our partnership with Emerging Pictures, and we are very happy that this first film in our Italian movie series is already appearing throughout the United States.”
About Emerging Pictures
Emerging Pictures, managed by Barry Rebo and Ira Deutchman, is the pre- mier all-digital Specialty Film and Alternative Content network of theaters in the United States. The company delivers independent films, cultural pro- grams and special events to a network of approximately 400 North American venues encompassing traditional art houses, museums and performing arts centers as well as commercial multiplexes including Allen Theatres, Angelika/ Reading Theatres, Big Cinemas, Bow Tie Cinemas, Marcus Theatres, Carmike Cinemas, Digiplex Destination Cinemas, Harkins Theatres, Laemmle Theaters, Muvico Theaters, Regency Theatres and others. The company also distributes live and captured live performances worldwide of the Bolshoi Ballet and some of the world’s foremost opera houses, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, under its Ballet in Cinema and Opera in Cinema brands.
About Istituto Luce-Cinecitta
Istituto Luce - Cinecittà (www.cinecittaluce.it) is the state-owned company whose main shareholder is the Italian Ministry for Culture. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà’s institutional work includes promoting Italian cinema both at home and abroad by means of projects dedicated to the great directors of the past and their classic films, as well contemporary ones. During the main In- ternational Film Festivals Istituto Luce - Cinecittà prepares multifunctional spaces that help to the promotion of our cinematography and it is the refer- ence place for all Italian and foreign operators Istituto Luce - Cinecittà holds one of the most important film and photographic archive both of its own pro- ductions, and private collections and acquisitions from a variety of sources. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà also distributes films made by Italian and European directors and guarantees they are given an adequate release on the national market. The team for the promotion of contemporary cinema continues to col- laborate with all of the major film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Shanghai, Tokyo, Locarno, New York , London, etc, by orga- nizing the national selections, the presence of Italian films and artists in the various festivals, and providing an expository and promotional space within all the major International film markets. We are also involved with the orga- nization of numerous events which take place in countries with strong com- mercial potential such as : The Italian cinema festival in Tokyo, Open Roads – New Italian cinema in New York, Cinema Italian Style in Los Angeles, The Festival of Italian cinema of Barcelona and The Mittelcinemafest. Istituto
Luce - Cinecittà also owns a film library, Cineteca, which contains around 3000 titles of the most significant Italian film productions, subtitled in foreign languages, which serve in promoting Italian culture at major national and in- ternational Institutes around the world. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà is also re- sponsible for editing a daily news magazine on-line: CinecittàNews (news.cinecitta.com) which delivers the latest breaking news on the principal activities involving Italian cinema as well as its developing legislative and in- stitutional aspects.
About The Italian Trade Commission The Ice-Italian Trade Promotion Agency is the government organization which promotes the internationalization of the Italian companies, in line with the strategies of the Ministry for Economic Development. Ice provides in- formation, support and advice to Italian and foreign companies. In addition to its Rome headquarters, Ice operates worldwide from a large network of Trade Promotion Offices linked to Italian embassies and consulates and work- ing closely with local authorities and businesses. Ice provides a wide range of services overseas helping Italian and foreign businesses to connect with each other
About The Films
Dormant Beauty (Bella Addormentata)
Release Date: Tbc Director: Marco Bellocchio Producer: Riccardo Tozzi, Fabio Conversi, Marco Chimenz, Giovanni Sta- bilini
Screenplay: Marco Bellocchio, Veronica Raimo, Stefano Rulli Cast: Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert, Alba Rohrwacher Festivals: Venice 2012, Toronto 2012
Three stories, taking place over the course of a few days, involving a con- science-stricken politician, an obsessive mother and two young protestors on different sides, are skillfully interwoven in this gripping, beautifully realized film. Set against the background of the emotional and controversial real-life 2008 euthanasia case of Eluana Englaro, Dormant Beauty is a subtle and complex depiction of recent Italian history.
The Great Beauty
(released by Janus Films) - In Release Director: Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo) Producer: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima Screenwriter: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferrili, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi with Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka, and with Isabella Ferrari Festivals: Cannes (Competition) 2013, Toronto 2013, AFI 2013, Italy’s Official Entry to the 2014 Academy Awards Awards: 4 European Film Award nominations (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and winner for Best Editing), Best Foreign Film nominee for British In- dependent Film Awards
Journalist Jep Gambardella (the dazzling Toni Servillo, Il Divo and Go- Morrah) has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city's literary and social circles, but when his sixty-fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
Honey (Miele)
Release Date: March 7, 2014 Director: Valeria Golino Producer: Viola Prestieri, Riccardo Scamarcio, Anne-Dominique Toussaint, Raphael Berdugo Screenplay: Valeria Golino, Valia Santella, Francesca Marciano, from the novel by Angela Del Fabbro with the same title Cast: Jasmine Trinca, Carlo Cecchi, Libero De Rienzo, Vinicio Marchioni, Iaia Forte, Roberto De Francesco, Barbara Ronchi, Claudio Guain, Teresa Acerbis, Valeria Bilello, Massimiliano Iacolucci Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2013, Toronto 2013 Prizes: Winner Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury, Cannes 2013 Nominated for European Discovery at the European Film Awards 2013
Actress Valeria Golino makes her directing debut with Honey. Irene lives alone on the coastline outside Rome. To her father and her married lover, she’s a student. In reality, she often travels to Mexico where she can legally buy a powerful barbiturate. Working under the name of Miele ("Honey"), her clandestine job is to help terminally-ill people to die with dignity by giving them the drug. One day she supplies a new “client” with a fatal dose, only to find out he’s perfectly healthy but tired of life. Irene is determined not to be responsible for his suicide. From this point on, Irene and Grimaldi are unwill- ingly locked in an intense and moving relationship which will change Irene’s life forever.
L’Intrepido
Release Date - To Be Confirmed Director: Gianni Amelio Producer: Carlo Degli Esposti Screenplay: Gianni Amelio, Davide Lantieri Cast: Antonio Albanese, Sandra Ceccarelli, Livia Rossi, Gabriele Rendina, Alfonso Santagata
Festivals: Venice 2013, Toronto 2013
Set in modern day Milan, this is a Chaplinesque odyssey through the world of work – every type of work, but primarily unskilled manual labor – seen through the eyes of a kind, middle-aged man who takes on every conceivable temporary job in order to be useful and have self respect. This really is a por- trait of the highs and lows of modern life. At its heart is a sympathetic man (Antonio Albanese) who, despite loneliness and personal family problems, es- pecially around his gifted but troubled musician son, remains defiantly opti- mistic even when terrible things happen to him and the people he meets.
Me And You (Io E Te)
Release Date: To Be Confirmed
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Screenplay: Bernardo Bertolucci, Niccolo Ammaniti, Umberto Contarello Producer: Mario Gianani Cast: Tea Falco, Jacopo Olmo Antinori Festivals: Cannes, Toronto
Lorenzo, a solitary 14-year-old with difficulties relating to his daily life and the world around him, chooses to spend a week hidden in the basement of his house. But Lorenzo’s fragile and rebellious stepsister, Olivia, appears at her brother’s place of refuge and disturbs the quiet.
These four recent Italian works will receive marketing and distribution support from a fund created by Istituto Luce- Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission. The first film in the series was Paolo Sorrentino’s masterful Academy Award nominated The Great Beauty. Since it was released by Janus Films with support from the Cinema Made In Italy program, it has become one of the most acclaimed foreign language films of the year. It also won the Golden Globe, European Film Award and is nominated for the BAFTA and Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film.
All five films will receive a nationwide release. Theaters will be announced shortly. Each of the films will have a full marketing and publicity campaign overseen by Emerging Pictures and supported by Istituto Luce-Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission.
Ira Deutchman, Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures, said, “Italian cine- ma has always captured the imagination of American audiences since the hey-day of Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti, De Sica and Rossellini. Our goal is to create a marketing and distribution initiative that will allow new Italian films to regularly enter the marketplace with a presence and to help create an ongoing new audience. We’re thrilled to be working with Istituto Luce-Cinecittà and the Italian Trade Commission to create this truly groundbreaking program.”
“Luce Cinecitta' is proud to test this new way to promote Italian cinema abroad,” said Istituto Luce-Cinecitta’ Chief Executive Officer Roberto Cicut- to. “Thanks to the funds provided by the Ministry of Economic Development and The Italian Trade Commission (Agenzia Ice) in addition to those provid- ed by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with Emerging Pictures, we will be able to give the largest theatrical distribution to recent Italian titles direct- ed by very prestigious auteurs. Italian cinema is well known worldwide for its glorious past and for such great contemporary directors as Bertolucci, Bellocchio, Moretti, Sorrentino, Garrone, Amelio and others. This new platform will give our movies the chance to be seen in a wide array of theaters throughout the U.S., and not just in specialized art houses in a few big cities. The recent outstanding success of Sorrentino's ‘Great Beauty,’ a Janus release, with our support, shows there is great potential here for Italian cinema. We look for- ward to increasing the availability of Italian films to our American friends.”
Dr. Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Trade Commissioner, Italian Trade Commission, said, "We have been working in the past two years with all the institutions mentioned by Roberto with two main goals: to get the Italian movie industry as the most important made-in-Italy tool for the commercial promotion of our country in the U.S., to try to reach the widest possible audience for viewing Italian movies. The support of different public institutions was central to building a project that was from the outset commercial: the movie industry is quintessentially important to promoting wine, food, fashion, design, technology, tourism and Italian style, together with the expression of our cultural values, trends and innovations. Italian cinema provides a single, comprehensive tool for achieving that meaningful goal. With ‘The Great Beauty,’ our first film, Cinema Made in Italy makes its debut in 25 cities, in more than 100 theaters in 15 states. This far-reaching exposure is exactly what we were searching for in our partnership with Emerging Pictures, and we are very happy that this first film in our Italian movie series is already appearing throughout the United States.”
About Emerging Pictures
Emerging Pictures, managed by Barry Rebo and Ira Deutchman, is the pre- mier all-digital Specialty Film and Alternative Content network of theaters in the United States. The company delivers independent films, cultural pro- grams and special events to a network of approximately 400 North American venues encompassing traditional art houses, museums and performing arts centers as well as commercial multiplexes including Allen Theatres, Angelika/ Reading Theatres, Big Cinemas, Bow Tie Cinemas, Marcus Theatres, Carmike Cinemas, Digiplex Destination Cinemas, Harkins Theatres, Laemmle Theaters, Muvico Theaters, Regency Theatres and others. The company also distributes live and captured live performances worldwide of the Bolshoi Ballet and some of the world’s foremost opera houses, including Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, under its Ballet in Cinema and Opera in Cinema brands.
About Istituto Luce-Cinecitta
Istituto Luce - Cinecittà (www.cinecittaluce.it) is the state-owned company whose main shareholder is the Italian Ministry for Culture. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà’s institutional work includes promoting Italian cinema both at home and abroad by means of projects dedicated to the great directors of the past and their classic films, as well contemporary ones. During the main In- ternational Film Festivals Istituto Luce - Cinecittà prepares multifunctional spaces that help to the promotion of our cinematography and it is the refer- ence place for all Italian and foreign operators Istituto Luce - Cinecittà holds one of the most important film and photographic archive both of its own pro- ductions, and private collections and acquisitions from a variety of sources. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà also distributes films made by Italian and European directors and guarantees they are given an adequate release on the national market. The team for the promotion of contemporary cinema continues to col- laborate with all of the major film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Shanghai, Tokyo, Locarno, New York , London, etc, by orga- nizing the national selections, the presence of Italian films and artists in the various festivals, and providing an expository and promotional space within all the major International film markets. We are also involved with the orga- nization of numerous events which take place in countries with strong com- mercial potential such as : The Italian cinema festival in Tokyo, Open Roads – New Italian cinema in New York, Cinema Italian Style in Los Angeles, The Festival of Italian cinema of Barcelona and The Mittelcinemafest. Istituto
Luce - Cinecittà also owns a film library, Cineteca, which contains around 3000 titles of the most significant Italian film productions, subtitled in foreign languages, which serve in promoting Italian culture at major national and in- ternational Institutes around the world. Istituto Luce - Cinecittà is also re- sponsible for editing a daily news magazine on-line: CinecittàNews (news.cinecitta.com) which delivers the latest breaking news on the principal activities involving Italian cinema as well as its developing legislative and in- stitutional aspects.
About The Italian Trade Commission The Ice-Italian Trade Promotion Agency is the government organization which promotes the internationalization of the Italian companies, in line with the strategies of the Ministry for Economic Development. Ice provides in- formation, support and advice to Italian and foreign companies. In addition to its Rome headquarters, Ice operates worldwide from a large network of Trade Promotion Offices linked to Italian embassies and consulates and work- ing closely with local authorities and businesses. Ice provides a wide range of services overseas helping Italian and foreign businesses to connect with each other
About The Films
Dormant Beauty (Bella Addormentata)
Release Date: Tbc Director: Marco Bellocchio Producer: Riccardo Tozzi, Fabio Conversi, Marco Chimenz, Giovanni Sta- bilini
Screenplay: Marco Bellocchio, Veronica Raimo, Stefano Rulli Cast: Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert, Alba Rohrwacher Festivals: Venice 2012, Toronto 2012
Three stories, taking place over the course of a few days, involving a con- science-stricken politician, an obsessive mother and two young protestors on different sides, are skillfully interwoven in this gripping, beautifully realized film. Set against the background of the emotional and controversial real-life 2008 euthanasia case of Eluana Englaro, Dormant Beauty is a subtle and complex depiction of recent Italian history.
The Great Beauty
(released by Janus Films) - In Release Director: Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo) Producer: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima Screenwriter: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferrili, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi with Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka, and with Isabella Ferrari Festivals: Cannes (Competition) 2013, Toronto 2013, AFI 2013, Italy’s Official Entry to the 2014 Academy Awards Awards: 4 European Film Award nominations (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and winner for Best Editing), Best Foreign Film nominee for British In- dependent Film Awards
Journalist Jep Gambardella (the dazzling Toni Servillo, Il Divo and Go- Morrah) has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city's literary and social circles, but when his sixty-fifth birthday coincides with a shock from the past, Jep finds himself unexpectedly taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries, and looking past the extravagant nightclubs, parties, and cafés to find Rome in all its glory: a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty.
Honey (Miele)
Release Date: March 7, 2014 Director: Valeria Golino Producer: Viola Prestieri, Riccardo Scamarcio, Anne-Dominique Toussaint, Raphael Berdugo Screenplay: Valeria Golino, Valia Santella, Francesca Marciano, from the novel by Angela Del Fabbro with the same title Cast: Jasmine Trinca, Carlo Cecchi, Libero De Rienzo, Vinicio Marchioni, Iaia Forte, Roberto De Francesco, Barbara Ronchi, Claudio Guain, Teresa Acerbis, Valeria Bilello, Massimiliano Iacolucci Festivals: Cannes (Un Certain Regard) 2013, Toronto 2013 Prizes: Winner Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury, Cannes 2013 Nominated for European Discovery at the European Film Awards 2013
Actress Valeria Golino makes her directing debut with Honey. Irene lives alone on the coastline outside Rome. To her father and her married lover, she’s a student. In reality, she often travels to Mexico where she can legally buy a powerful barbiturate. Working under the name of Miele ("Honey"), her clandestine job is to help terminally-ill people to die with dignity by giving them the drug. One day she supplies a new “client” with a fatal dose, only to find out he’s perfectly healthy but tired of life. Irene is determined not to be responsible for his suicide. From this point on, Irene and Grimaldi are unwill- ingly locked in an intense and moving relationship which will change Irene’s life forever.
L’Intrepido
Release Date - To Be Confirmed Director: Gianni Amelio Producer: Carlo Degli Esposti Screenplay: Gianni Amelio, Davide Lantieri Cast: Antonio Albanese, Sandra Ceccarelli, Livia Rossi, Gabriele Rendina, Alfonso Santagata
Festivals: Venice 2013, Toronto 2013
Set in modern day Milan, this is a Chaplinesque odyssey through the world of work – every type of work, but primarily unskilled manual labor – seen through the eyes of a kind, middle-aged man who takes on every conceivable temporary job in order to be useful and have self respect. This really is a por- trait of the highs and lows of modern life. At its heart is a sympathetic man (Antonio Albanese) who, despite loneliness and personal family problems, es- pecially around his gifted but troubled musician son, remains defiantly opti- mistic even when terrible things happen to him and the people he meets.
Me And You (Io E Te)
Release Date: To Be Confirmed
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Screenplay: Bernardo Bertolucci, Niccolo Ammaniti, Umberto Contarello Producer: Mario Gianani Cast: Tea Falco, Jacopo Olmo Antinori Festivals: Cannes, Toronto
Lorenzo, a solitary 14-year-old with difficulties relating to his daily life and the world around him, chooses to spend a week hidden in the basement of his house. But Lorenzo’s fragile and rebellious stepsister, Olivia, appears at her brother’s place of refuge and disturbs the quiet.
- 2/10/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Paolo Sorrentino to receive Starz Denver Film Festival 2013 honor Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino will receive the fifth Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award at the 2013 Starz Denver Film Festival. Sorrentino will be handed his award prior to the screening of The Great Beauty / La grande bellezza on November 16, 2013, at 1:00 p.m. at the Sie FilmCenter. Sponsored by the Anna & John J. Sie Foundation, the award, which "recognizes the best in contemporary Italian cinema," includes a $10,000 honorarium. Previous recipients of the Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award are Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Massimo Natale, Gianni Di Gregorio, and Federico Bondi. ‘The Great Beauty’ The Starz Denver Film Festival press release describes Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty — clearly influenced by Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita — as follows: Populated by the debauched, disenchanted or simply disinterested elite of Roman society, Sorrentino’s latter-day Babylon revolves around Jep Gambardella...
- 10/30/2013
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Rome – The Maxxi Museum of 21st Century Art in the Italian capital unveiled its Cinema at the Maxxi film initiative Thursday, including a season-opening round table encounter with comic actor and director Carlo Verdone that will focus on Pietro Germi’s 1961 classic Divorzio all'Italiana (Divorce, Italian Style). The series, which will get underway Saturday with the Verdone round table, will run through Nov. 6, just before the start of the nearby International Rome Film Festival, which runs Nov. 8-17. Both the Maxxi events and the film festival are run under the auspices of the Cinema for Rome
read more...
read more...
- 9/12/2013
- by Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Great Beauty | About Time | Riddick | Ain't Them Bodies Saints | Museum Hours | Pieta | The Stuart Hall Project | The Great Hip Hop Hoax | No One Lives | More Than Honey | Jadoo | Any Day Now
The Great Beauty (15)
(Paolo Sorrentino, 2013, Ita/Fra) Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, 141 mins
Sorrentino proves himself a worthy successor to Fellini here, tracking modern Roman decadence with staggering exuberance and an eye for the stylishly surreal. Filling the Marcello Mastroianni role is Servillo's world-weary writer and socialite, who stalks the city's elite demi-monde of hedonistic parties, pretentious art, cynical grotesques and faded glories – but finds reveries and regrets around every corner.
About Time (12A)
(Richard Curtis, 2013, UK) Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams. 123 mins
A sci-fi element reinvigorates Curtis's trademarked romcom formula, but there's still a feeling of deja vu to this middle-class love story, in which Gleeson uses his inherited time-travelling powers to woo McAdams – albeit at a cost.
The Great Beauty (15)
(Paolo Sorrentino, 2013, Ita/Fra) Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, 141 mins
Sorrentino proves himself a worthy successor to Fellini here, tracking modern Roman decadence with staggering exuberance and an eye for the stylishly surreal. Filling the Marcello Mastroianni role is Servillo's world-weary writer and socialite, who stalks the city's elite demi-monde of hedonistic parties, pretentious art, cynical grotesques and faded glories – but finds reveries and regrets around every corner.
About Time (12A)
(Richard Curtis, 2013, UK) Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams. 123 mins
A sci-fi element reinvigorates Curtis's trademarked romcom formula, but there's still a feeling of deja vu to this middle-class love story, in which Gleeson uses his inherited time-travelling powers to woo McAdams – albeit at a cost.
- 9/7/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Mario Sesti programmes retrospective and preview strand in new museum Maxxi.
The Rome Film Festival (Nov 8 -17) is renewing Cinema at Maxxi, the series of film events curated by Mario Sesti.
Before the festival, between September 14 – November 6, recently launched museum Maxxi (the National Museum of 21st Century Arts) will host retrospectives, meetings with actors and directors, lectures and previews of documentaries and features.
Series The Forgotten will offer a retrospective of classics spanning postwar Italian cinema to the end of the seventies, opening with Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style (Divorzio all’Italiana), followed by a conversation with Italian actor and director Carlo Verdone and curator Mario Sesti.
The strand will also include films by Mario Monicelli, Antonio Pietrangeli, Riccardo Freda, and Steno among others.
Doc series Meet Exceptional Men and Women launches with Girl Models, by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin. The festival’s preview series will include Alicia Scherson’s The Future with Rutger Hauer and Nicholas...
The Rome Film Festival (Nov 8 -17) is renewing Cinema at Maxxi, the series of film events curated by Mario Sesti.
Before the festival, between September 14 – November 6, recently launched museum Maxxi (the National Museum of 21st Century Arts) will host retrospectives, meetings with actors and directors, lectures and previews of documentaries and features.
Series The Forgotten will offer a retrospective of classics spanning postwar Italian cinema to the end of the seventies, opening with Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style (Divorzio all’Italiana), followed by a conversation with Italian actor and director Carlo Verdone and curator Mario Sesti.
The strand will also include films by Mario Monicelli, Antonio Pietrangeli, Riccardo Freda, and Steno among others.
Doc series Meet Exceptional Men and Women launches with Girl Models, by David Redmon and Ashley Sabin. The festival’s preview series will include Alicia Scherson’s The Future with Rutger Hauer and Nicholas...
- 8/6/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Title: The Great Beauty Director: Paolo Sorrentino Starring: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia Forte, Pamela Villoresi, Galatea Ranzi, Massimo de Francovich, Roberto Herlitzka, Isabella Ferrari, Franco Graziosi, Giorgio Pasotti, Massimo Popolizio, Sonia Gessner, Anna della Rosa, Luca Marinelli, Serena Grandi, Ivan Franek, Vernon Dobtcheff, Dario Cantarelli, Lillo Petrolo, Luciano Virgilio, Giusi Merli, Anita Kravos, Giulio Brogi, Fanny Ardant. From the 30s to the 60s Italian Cinema was known worldwide, acclaimed, praised and represented a model of beauty. Today very few Italian movie directors have managed to establish themselves beyond their mother country, genuinely moving audiences and critics. The Neapolitan Paolo Sorrentino in these past few years has [ Read More ]
The post The Great Beauty Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Great Beauty Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 5/22/2013
- by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
- ShockYa
La Grande Bellezza
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Writer(s): Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello
Producer(s): Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Toni Servillo, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Verdone, Isabella Ferrari and Giorgio Pasotti.
We give credit where credit is due – Paolo Sorrentino might have ceremoniously belly-flopped with his last feature, This Must Be the Place, but we’d be hard pressed to completely dismiss this revenge film oddity. On the flipside, his previous political epic Il divo is gold. La Grande Bellezza (English translation would be The Great Beauty) sees Sorrentino reteam with Toni Servillo in what is said to be Fellini-esque venture.
Gist: The story of an aging journalist Jap Gambardella (Toni Servillo) who bitterly recollects his passionate, lost youth. A portrait of today’s Rome.
Release Date: An April release date is set for Italy – so this logically will be included in the Cannes Main Competition.
Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Writer(s): Sorrentino and Umberto Contarello
Producer(s): Francesca Cima and Nicola Giuliano
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Toni Servillo, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Verdone, Isabella Ferrari and Giorgio Pasotti.
We give credit where credit is due – Paolo Sorrentino might have ceremoniously belly-flopped with his last feature, This Must Be the Place, but we’d be hard pressed to completely dismiss this revenge film oddity. On the flipside, his previous political epic Il divo is gold. La Grande Bellezza (English translation would be The Great Beauty) sees Sorrentino reteam with Toni Servillo in what is said to be Fellini-esque venture.
Gist: The story of an aging journalist Jap Gambardella (Toni Servillo) who bitterly recollects his passionate, lost youth. A portrait of today’s Rome.
Release Date: An April release date is set for Italy – so this logically will be included in the Cannes Main Competition.
- 1/12/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Cinema Italian Style's 2012 edition of its film festival will be held November 13-18 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, the Aero Theater in Santa Monica and the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles, Luce Cinecitta and the American Cinematheque announced Tuesday. The Taviani brothers' docu-drama "Caesar Must Die," which won the Golden Bear in Berlin this year and has been selected as the official Italian entry to the 85th Academy Awards, will open the fest. A comic double feature of Carlo Verdone's "A Flat for Three" and Roan Johnson's "The First on the List" will close. Read More: Berlin Review: Italian Prisoners Do Shakespeare in High-Concept Doc 'Caesar Must Die' Other highlights include a celebration of the late producer Carlo Ponti with a screening of "Two Women," for which Sophia Loren took home an Oscar for Best Actress half a century ago; and the U.S. premiere of Stefano Mordini's.
- 10/23/2012
- by Chris Pomorski
- Indiewire
Despite being acquired nearly a year ago, we haven’t heard a peep about what The Weinstein Company is doing with Paolo Sorrentino‘s This Must Be the Place, the Sean Penn drama we weren’t fans of at Cannes (review here). Thankfully that’s not holding up the next project from the Italian director. We reported on his latest feature, The Great Beauty, earlier this summer but now more casting is coming together.
THR lets us know that Angelina Jolie has come aboard the film in a reportedly small role. She’ll join his Il Divo star, Toni Servillo, as well as Sabrina Ferilli and Carlo Verdone. Servillo takes a role of La Dolce Vita-esque journalist in the Rome-set film. Not much more is known, only that his Place co-writer, Umberto Contarello, has returned to Beauty, which is reported to focus on both “the city of Rome and...
THR lets us know that Angelina Jolie has come aboard the film in a reportedly small role. She’ll join his Il Divo star, Toni Servillo, as well as Sabrina Ferilli and Carlo Verdone. Servillo takes a role of La Dolce Vita-esque journalist in the Rome-set film. Not much more is known, only that his Place co-writer, Umberto Contarello, has returned to Beauty, which is reported to focus on both “the city of Rome and...
- 7/30/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
It’s time for a round-up of a trio of international filmmakers and their upcoming projects. Exciting, no?
Acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami most recently grabbed our attention with his fascinating 2010 critical hit “Certified Copy,” and he’ll be hoping that his next project (after “Like Someone in Love,” which screened at Cannes earlier this week) will be met with a similar reception when it eventually makes its way to theaters. “Horizontal Process” will be shot in the Apulia region of Italy, about which Kiarostami told an audience at the Bari Film Festival earlier this year that he loves “the complex architecture of the various cities, which conveys the complexity of the people who live there.” There are no plot details available as of yet, and it sounds like this is inspired far more by the region than by any particular story or script. [Variety]
Next up is Paolo Sorrentino, the...
Acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami most recently grabbed our attention with his fascinating 2010 critical hit “Certified Copy,” and he’ll be hoping that his next project (after “Like Someone in Love,” which screened at Cannes earlier this week) will be met with a similar reception when it eventually makes its way to theaters. “Horizontal Process” will be shot in the Apulia region of Italy, about which Kiarostami told an audience at the Bari Film Festival earlier this year that he loves “the complex architecture of the various cities, which conveys the complexity of the people who live there.” There are no plot details available as of yet, and it sounds like this is inspired far more by the region than by any particular story or script. [Variety]
Next up is Paolo Sorrentino, the...
- 5/22/2012
- by Joe Cunningham
- The Playlist
Although us Americans have yet to see his reportedly bizarre Sean Penn-starrer This Must Be the Place — even a year later, no release from The Weinstein Company is in sight — Paolo Sorrentino earned a whole lot of weight with his acclaimed 2009 picture, Il Divo, which helped establish his name on the international scene. My (overly-simple) point being: even if the movie where Penn dresses up like Robert Smith and tries to find a Nazi turned out to be terrible, we’d still be giving the fellow our time.
I, therefore, think it’d be wise to pay attention to a story in Variety, in which we learn he’s breaking ground on Great Beauty, an Italian feature that will reunite him with his Il Divo star, Toni Servillo; Sabrina Ferilli and Carlo Verdone will co-star. Although the specifics are not of access to ourselves, his Place co-writer, Umberto Contarello,...
I, therefore, think it’d be wise to pay attention to a story in Variety, in which we learn he’s breaking ground on Great Beauty, an Italian feature that will reunite him with his Il Divo star, Toni Servillo; Sabrina Ferilli and Carlo Verdone will co-star. Although the specifics are not of access to ourselves, his Place co-writer, Umberto Contarello,...
- 5/22/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Hollywood Before the Code: Nasty-Ass Films for a Nasty-Ass World! runs from today through Thursday at the Roxie in San Francisco and Dennis Harvey has a fun preview in the Bay Guardian. A snippet: "March 4 offers a shocking double dose of pure white femininity finding themselves in, ahem, 'Yellow Peril' — miscegenation being something Hollywood could only begin to embrace a few decades later. Frank Capra's atypically erotic The Bitter Tea of General Yen, with Barbara Stanwyck alllllmost surrendering the white flag to a 'charismatic Chinese warlord' (Swede Nils Asther, eyes narrowed), has become a minor classic since flopping in 1933. No such luck for The Cheat (1931), a remake of Cecil B DeMille's 1915 shocker that was part of Paramount's brief, failed attempt to make stage sensation Tallulah Bankhead a movie star. Her gambling-addicted socialite gets branded (literally) in lieu of repayment not by the original's Far East businessman (dashing Sessue Hayakawa...
- 3/2/2012
- MUBI
Rome — Lucio Dalla, an Italian singer-songwriter who sold millions of records worldwide, died Thursday in Switzerland during a European concert tour, his management company said.
Dalla, 68, apparently died of a heart attack in a Montreux hotel after eating breakfast, according to Ph.D srl Music Management, which is based in his native city of Bologna, Italy.
Dallas, whose musical genres ranged from folk to jazz to classical, gave a concert Wednesday in the Swiss city known for its music and "was in fine form," said Pascal Pellegrino, the director of Montreux's "culture season." Pellegrino said the performance was warmly applauded and Dalla stayed on to chat with fans.
Dalla's haunting melody "Caruso" sold 9 million copies worldwide and was sung by the late opera great Luciano Pavarotti with Dalla at a 1992 concert in Modena.
Dalla toured abroad frequently, including in the United States, sometimes with another famed Italian folksong writer, Francesco De Gregori.
Dalla, 68, apparently died of a heart attack in a Montreux hotel after eating breakfast, according to Ph.D srl Music Management, which is based in his native city of Bologna, Italy.
Dallas, whose musical genres ranged from folk to jazz to classical, gave a concert Wednesday in the Swiss city known for its music and "was in fine form," said Pascal Pellegrino, the director of Montreux's "culture season." Pellegrino said the performance was warmly applauded and Dalla stayed on to chat with fans.
Dalla's haunting melody "Caruso" sold 9 million copies worldwide and was sung by the late opera great Luciano Pavarotti with Dalla at a 1992 concert in Modena.
Dalla toured abroad frequently, including in the United States, sometimes with another famed Italian folksong writer, Francesco De Gregori.
- 3/1/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Set photos from 30 Minutes or Less, Sean Penn in make-up for This Must Be The Place, Daniel Craig on the set of Cowboys vs. Aliens, Mads Mikkelsen in costume on The Three Musketeers, and Martin Scorsese himself and set decoration for "The Invention of Hugo Cabret".
First look photos from Arthur, Beginners, Black Swan, Bridesmaids, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Ceremony, The Conspirator, Daydream Nation, The Dilemma.
Further first look photos from Everything Must Go, Good Neighbours, Henry's Crime, Hereafter, The High Cost of Living, The King's Speech, Passion Play, True Grit, What's Wrong with Virginia, Yogi Bear.
Next, more stills from Devil, Due Date, Faster, Making Plans for Lena, Miral, Monsters, My Soul to Take, The Social Network, Somewhere, The Tempest, The Town.
Finally, several character one-sheets for Never Let Me Go and posters for Alpha and Omega, Buried, Fair Game, The Freebie, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Life as We Know It,...
First look photos from Arthur, Beginners, Black Swan, Bridesmaids, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Ceremony, The Conspirator, Daydream Nation, The Dilemma.
Further first look photos from Everything Must Go, Good Neighbours, Henry's Crime, Hereafter, The High Cost of Living, The King's Speech, Passion Play, True Grit, What's Wrong with Virginia, Yogi Bear.
Next, more stills from Devil, Due Date, Faster, Making Plans for Lena, Miral, Monsters, My Soul to Take, The Social Network, Somewhere, The Tempest, The Town.
Finally, several character one-sheets for Never Let Me Go and posters for Alpha and Omega, Buried, Fair Game, The Freebie, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Life as We Know It,...
- 8/30/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Variety just announced that Robert De Niro will star in the third installment in the wildly popular Italian romantic comedy Manual of Love series. While none of the entries in the series have been released in the Us, both were big hits in the domestic box office, featuring big local comedians like Carlo Verdone.
For those that don't have an interest in contemporary Italian cinema, it should be noted that the Italian film industry is notoriously insular. Meaning not only is it not surprising that most Americans are only hearing of this franchise now that Travis Bickle has joined the cast of the third entry, but also that neither Manuale D'Amore 3 nor its two predecessors will ever likely be released States-side.
This means that producers and studio executives consider these film's style of comedy to be too provincial, whatever that means, and hence just don't want to take a chance...
For those that don't have an interest in contemporary Italian cinema, it should be noted that the Italian film industry is notoriously insular. Meaning not only is it not surprising that most Americans are only hearing of this franchise now that Travis Bickle has joined the cast of the third entry, but also that neither Manuale D'Amore 3 nor its two predecessors will ever likely be released States-side.
This means that producers and studio executives consider these film's style of comedy to be too provincial, whatever that means, and hence just don't want to take a chance...
- 8/18/2010
- by Simon Abrams
- Cinematical
Showing modest boxoffice fatigue after more than two months dominating the foreign circuit, 20th Century Fox's "Avatar" landed in its 10th consecutive round the No. 1 film overseas, generating $48.5 million -- down 18% from the prior weekend -- from 7,247 screens in 71 markets.
Overseas gross total for director James Cameron's record-setting blockbuster was $1.780 billion with its worldwide tally weighing in at $2.468 billion. In addition to its worldwide record in current dollars, "Avatar" has now beaten 1997's "Titanic's" global boxoffice milestone on an inflation-adjusted basis as well.
Top market remains France where "Avatar" claimed $5.1 million on the weekend from 529 locations, raising its market cume to $164 million. It became on the weekend the biggest-grossing title ever to play Mexico, where the market cume stands at $42.5 million.
Director Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," which opened No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada, premiered in nine overseas markets via Paramount and other distributors for an opening boxoffice gross of $9.1 million.
Overseas gross total for director James Cameron's record-setting blockbuster was $1.780 billion with its worldwide tally weighing in at $2.468 billion. In addition to its worldwide record in current dollars, "Avatar" has now beaten 1997's "Titanic's" global boxoffice milestone on an inflation-adjusted basis as well.
Top market remains France where "Avatar" claimed $5.1 million on the weekend from 529 locations, raising its market cume to $164 million. It became on the weekend the biggest-grossing title ever to play Mexico, where the market cume stands at $42.5 million.
Director Martin Scorsese's "Shutter Island," which opened No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada, premiered in nine overseas markets via Paramount and other distributors for an opening boxoffice gross of $9.1 million.
- 2/21/2010
- by By Frank Segers
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Vying to overtake "Titanic" this week as the biggest-grossing title in motion picture history, "Avatar" earned another $166.3 million on the weekend, with foreign boxoffice accounting for $125 million of the total derived from 14,640 offshore screens in 112 markets.
Overseas cume for director James Cameron's mega-budget 3D adventure stands at $1.115 billion, just $127 million shy of the $1.242 billion record foreign gross set 13 years ago by Cameron's "Titanic."
Since "Avatar" is grossing an average of at least $20 million overseas daily, it should surpass "Titanic's" foreign record by the end of this week.
"Avatar's" gross worldwide is $1.607 billion, $236 million behind "Titanic's" global record of $1.843 billion.
In its fifth round overseas, "Avatar" remained dominant just about everywhere, dropping a relatively benign 17% from the prior weekend's foreign tally. A record Italy opening generated $14.5 million from 925 locations. China weighed in with an $18.9 million weekend from 2,509 screens for an industry record market cume of $76.6 million rolled up in just 13 days.
Overseas cume for director James Cameron's mega-budget 3D adventure stands at $1.115 billion, just $127 million shy of the $1.242 billion record foreign gross set 13 years ago by Cameron's "Titanic."
Since "Avatar" is grossing an average of at least $20 million overseas daily, it should surpass "Titanic's" foreign record by the end of this week.
"Avatar's" gross worldwide is $1.607 billion, $236 million behind "Titanic's" global record of $1.843 billion.
In its fifth round overseas, "Avatar" remained dominant just about everywhere, dropping a relatively benign 17% from the prior weekend's foreign tally. A record Italy opening generated $14.5 million from 925 locations. China weighed in with an $18.9 million weekend from 2,509 screens for an industry record market cume of $76.6 million rolled up in just 13 days.
- 1/17/2010
- by By Frank Segers
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Now the second-highest-grossing title ever worldwide, "Avatar" wound down a month of total foreign theatrical domination on the weekend with a boxoffice tally of $151 million – $8 million more than was reported Sunday and a 10% increase from the prior weekend -- from 15,301 screens in 111 markets.
"Avatar's" overseas cume of $915 million significantly outpaces comparable domestic action, more than double its $430.7 million domestic take in the U.S. and Canada.
In addition, director James Cameron's mega-budget, 3D epic is approaching the $1.242 billion overseas boxoffice record established by the director's 1997 smash "Titanic."
Distributor 20th Century Fox said that at "Avatar's" current torrid overseas boxoffice pace, the film will "cross the $1 billion (offshore) barrier by Thursday or Friday of this week, with 'Titanic's' 13-year record cume in its sights."
Worldwide, the boxoffice total for James Cameron's sci-fi epic is now $1.346 billion, $497 million behind the $1.843 billion all-time worldwide record set by "Titanic.
"Avatar's" overseas cume of $915 million significantly outpaces comparable domestic action, more than double its $430.7 million domestic take in the U.S. and Canada.
In addition, director James Cameron's mega-budget, 3D epic is approaching the $1.242 billion overseas boxoffice record established by the director's 1997 smash "Titanic."
Distributor 20th Century Fox said that at "Avatar's" current torrid overseas boxoffice pace, the film will "cross the $1 billion (offshore) barrier by Thursday or Friday of this week, with 'Titanic's' 13-year record cume in its sights."
Worldwide, the boxoffice total for James Cameron's sci-fi epic is now $1.346 billion, $497 million behind the $1.843 billion all-time worldwide record set by "Titanic.
- 1/10/2010
- by By Frank Segers
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rome -- Ticket sales for the third edition of the Rome International Film Festival opened this week with a boom, officials said Wednesday, indicating that the public has paid little interest to the political turmoil that temporarily cast the festival's future in doubt.
Sales opened Tuesday and, by the end of the day, about 10,000 tickets had been sold, 3,000 more than on the first day in 2007. That year saw a total of 110,000 tickets sold by the time the festival closed.
The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke's romantic thriller "Twilight" was in particular demand, the festival said, with tickets gone in a few hours, prompting organizers to add a screening of the film on the festival's last day.
Question-and-answer sessions with film figures including Michael Cimino, David Cronenberg and Al Pacino -- along with a dual encounter with local stars Toni Servillo and Carlo Verdone -- also attracted intense interest, the festival said.
Sales opened Tuesday and, by the end of the day, about 10,000 tickets had been sold, 3,000 more than on the first day in 2007. That year saw a total of 110,000 tickets sold by the time the festival closed.
The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke's romantic thriller "Twilight" was in particular demand, the festival said, with tickets gone in a few hours, prompting organizers to add a screening of the film on the festival's last day.
Question-and-answer sessions with film figures including Michael Cimino, David Cronenberg and Al Pacino -- along with a dual encounter with local stars Toni Servillo and Carlo Verdone -- also attracted intense interest, the festival said.
- 10/8/2008
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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