Martin Scorsese was at the Berlinale this week for the first time in a decade. His presence to collect an honorary Golden Bear was a reminder of the festival’s glories of yesteryear.
In decades past, Scorsese touched down in Berlin with major works such as Raging Bull (1981), Cape Fear (1992); Gangs of New York (2003 ), Shine a Light (2008) and Shutter Island (2010). It feels a long time since the event — traditionally one of the world’s great cinema showcases — has attracted such movies. In recent years the studio splashes have dried up.
So have memorable movies from A-list arthouse filmmakers. Scorsese this week sang the praises of the event for the encouragement it had given him as an emerging filmmaker. Citing Brian de Palma’s Silver Bear win for his second film Greetings in 1969, Scorsese said the prize had marked a turning point for unknown, independent American directors such as himself, de Palma,...
In decades past, Scorsese touched down in Berlin with major works such as Raging Bull (1981), Cape Fear (1992); Gangs of New York (2003 ), Shine a Light (2008) and Shutter Island (2010). It feels a long time since the event — traditionally one of the world’s great cinema showcases — has attracted such movies. In recent years the studio splashes have dried up.
So have memorable movies from A-list arthouse filmmakers. Scorsese this week sang the praises of the event for the encouragement it had given him as an emerging filmmaker. Citing Brian de Palma’s Silver Bear win for his second film Greetings in 1969, Scorsese said the prize had marked a turning point for unknown, independent American directors such as himself, de Palma,...
- 2/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Giuliano Montaldo, the admired Italian filmmaker who wrote and directed Sacco & Vanzetti, the John Cassavetes-starring Machine Gun McCain and every episode of the big-budget 1982 miniseries Marco Polo, has died. He was 93.
Montaldo died Wednesday at his home in Rome, his family announced.
His big-screen résumé also included The Reckless (1965), starring Renato Salvatori; Grand Slam (1967), starring Janet Leigh; Giordano Bruno (1973), starring Gian Maria Volonté and Charlotte Rampling; And Agnes Chose to Die (1976), starring Ingrid Thulin; and The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), starring Philippe Noiret, Rupert Everett, Stefania Sandrelli and Valeria Golino.
Of the 20 films Montaldo helmed, 16 were set to music by Ennio Morricone; no other director collaborated with the famed composer more.
Montaldo also served as president of Italy’s Rai Cinema from 1999-2004.
Montaldo’s gangster tale Machine Gun McCain (1969), which also starred Britt Ekland, Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, and Sacco & Vanzetti (1971), about the Massachusetts trial and 1927 execution of...
Montaldo died Wednesday at his home in Rome, his family announced.
His big-screen résumé also included The Reckless (1965), starring Renato Salvatori; Grand Slam (1967), starring Janet Leigh; Giordano Bruno (1973), starring Gian Maria Volonté and Charlotte Rampling; And Agnes Chose to Die (1976), starring Ingrid Thulin; and The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), starring Philippe Noiret, Rupert Everett, Stefania Sandrelli and Valeria Golino.
Of the 20 films Montaldo helmed, 16 were set to music by Ennio Morricone; no other director collaborated with the famed composer more.
Montaldo also served as president of Italy’s Rai Cinema from 1999-2004.
Montaldo’s gangster tale Machine Gun McCain (1969), which also starred Britt Ekland, Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk, and Sacco & Vanzetti (1971), about the Massachusetts trial and 1927 execution of...
- 9/6/2023
- by Alberto Crespi
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Giuliano Montaldo, the prolific Italian director, actor and film industry executive, whose works comprise powerful political drama “Sacco and Vanzetti” about the Massachusetts trial and execution in 1927 of accused Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, has died at his home in Rome. He was 93.
His death was announced Wednesday by his family and reported by multiple Italian media outlets. No cause of death was revealed.
Born in 1930 in Genoa, Montaldo was still a Turin university student when, in 1950, director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film “Achtung Banditi!.” Montaldo then moved to Rome in 1954, where he worked as a journalist for Italian newspaper Il Tempo and after a few years decided to pursue a filmmaking career.
Montaldo cut his teeth as a director working as an assistant to Lizzani and then to Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, and Francesco Rosi, learning the ropes from some of the masters of Italian cinema.
His death was announced Wednesday by his family and reported by multiple Italian media outlets. No cause of death was revealed.
Born in 1930 in Genoa, Montaldo was still a Turin university student when, in 1950, director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film “Achtung Banditi!.” Montaldo then moved to Rome in 1954, where he worked as a journalist for Italian newspaper Il Tempo and after a few years decided to pursue a filmmaking career.
Montaldo cut his teeth as a director working as an assistant to Lizzani and then to Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, and Francesco Rosi, learning the ropes from some of the masters of Italian cinema.
- 9/6/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Henry Silva, a character actor known for playing bad guys and gangsters in movies like “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Ocean’s 11,” has died.
Silva died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, his son Scott Silva confirmed to Variety. He was 95.
The stage and screen actor, whose career spanned 50 years and 140 TV and film credits, was also an honorary member of The Rat Pack. He starred alongside Frank Sinatra in both “Ocean’s 11” (1960) and “The Manchurian Candidate,” (1962) in which he played one of the 11 casino robbers in the classic caper film. Also in 1962, they both appeared in “Sergeants 3” and would go on to collaborate on the TV movie “Contract on Cherry Street” (1977) and “Cannonball Run II” (1984) with Dean Martin.
Also Read:
Henry Fuhrmann, Longtime LA Times Editor Who Championed Inclusive Writing in Journalism, Dies at 65
In the wake of the news,...
Silva died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, his son Scott Silva confirmed to Variety. He was 95.
The stage and screen actor, whose career spanned 50 years and 140 TV and film credits, was also an honorary member of The Rat Pack. He starred alongside Frank Sinatra in both “Ocean’s 11” (1960) and “The Manchurian Candidate,” (1962) in which he played one of the 11 casino robbers in the classic caper film. Also in 1962, they both appeared in “Sergeants 3” and would go on to collaborate on the TV movie “Contract on Cherry Street” (1977) and “Cannonball Run II” (1984) with Dean Martin.
Also Read:
Henry Fuhrmann, Longtime LA Times Editor Who Championed Inclusive Writing in Journalism, Dies at 65
In the wake of the news,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Brian Welk and Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
Henry Silva, an actor with a striking look who often played villains and had credits in hundreds of films including “Ocean’s Eleven” and “The Manchurian Candidate,” died of natural causes Wednesday at the Motion Picture Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif., his son Scott confirmed. He was 95.
One of Silva’s most memorable roles came in John Frankenheimer’s classic thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), in which he played Chunjin, the Korean houseboy for Laurence Harvey’s Raymond Shaw — and an agent for the Communists — who engages in a thrilling, well-choreographed martial arts battle with Frank Sinatra’s Major Bennett Marco in Shaw’s New York apartment.
Silva appeared in a number of other movies with Sinatra, including the original, Rat Pack-populated “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960) with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., where he was one of the 11 thieves, and 1962 Western “Sergeants 3.”
His death was...
One of Silva’s most memorable roles came in John Frankenheimer’s classic thriller “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), in which he played Chunjin, the Korean houseboy for Laurence Harvey’s Raymond Shaw — and an agent for the Communists — who engages in a thrilling, well-choreographed martial arts battle with Frank Sinatra’s Major Bennett Marco in Shaw’s New York apartment.
Silva appeared in a number of other movies with Sinatra, including the original, Rat Pack-populated “Ocean’s Eleven” (1960) with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., where he was one of the 11 thieves, and 1962 Western “Sergeants 3.”
His death was...
- 9/16/2022
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Italian singer, actress and TV personality Milva died on Saturday, at her home in Milan. The multitalented artist was 81.
Milva’s death was confirmed by Italy’s Culture Minister, Dario Franceschini, who called her “one of the strongest interpreters of Italian songs,” also noting that “her voice has aroused intense emotions for entire generations.” No cause of death was given.
Born Maria Ilva Biocalti in Goro, Italy on July 17, 1938, Milva enjoyed the height of her fame in Italy throughout the 1960s and ’70s, also cultivating a fan base around the world. Famously referred to as “La Rossa” (or “The Redhead”), given the color of her hair, she recorded 173 albums throughout her life, and ultimately sold some 80 million records, according to the the Lapresse news agency.
Milva appeared on stage, both in and outside of music, and all over the world. Between the 1960s and 1980s, she collaborated with such prominent...
Milva’s death was confirmed by Italy’s Culture Minister, Dario Franceschini, who called her “one of the strongest interpreters of Italian songs,” also noting that “her voice has aroused intense emotions for entire generations.” No cause of death was given.
Born Maria Ilva Biocalti in Goro, Italy on July 17, 1938, Milva enjoyed the height of her fame in Italy throughout the 1960s and ’70s, also cultivating a fan base around the world. Famously referred to as “La Rossa” (or “The Redhead”), given the color of her hair, she recorded 173 albums throughout her life, and ultimately sold some 80 million records, according to the the Lapresse news agency.
Milva appeared on stage, both in and outside of music, and all over the world. Between the 1960s and 1980s, she collaborated with such prominent...
- 4/24/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The first Esposizione d’Arte Cinematografica, later to be known as the Venice Intl. Film Festival, kicked off Aug. 6, 1932, with a screening of Rouben Mamoulian’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” on the terrace of the Lido’s Hotel Excelsior, followed by a grand ball.
The pic, produced by Paramount, went on to win an acting Oscar for Fredric March in an auspicious start, at least as an awards tastemaker, for the world’s oldest international film fest. It kicks off its 75th edition on Aug. 29.
Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night,” above, Edmund Goulding’s “Grand Hotel,” King Vidor’s “The Champ” and “A Nous la liberté” by René Clair are among other titles, now classics, that screened during that first edition. The fest was born from Italy’s desire to be seen as the center of art and culture in the wake of the disastrous World War I,...
The pic, produced by Paramount, went on to win an acting Oscar for Fredric March in an auspicious start, at least as an awards tastemaker, for the world’s oldest international film fest. It kicks off its 75th edition on Aug. 29.
Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night,” above, Edmund Goulding’s “Grand Hotel,” King Vidor’s “The Champ” and “A Nous la liberté” by René Clair are among other titles, now classics, that screened during that first edition. The fest was born from Italy’s desire to be seen as the center of art and culture in the wake of the disastrous World War I,...
- 8/28/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Guest Reviewer Lee Broughton is back, with another Italo Western double bill DVD review. Wild East’s ongoing Spaghetti Western Collection continues to grow and this double bill release is particularly welcome since it features two obscure and wholly idiosyncratic genre entries from 1969. Italian Western directors had found it relatively easy to appropriate key plot points and ideas from Sergio Leone’s Dollars films during the genre’s early years but when Leone’s sprawling, mega-budgeted, meta-Western Once Upon a Time in the West was released in 1968 it was clear that this was one genre entry that local filmmakers would not be able to easily emulate.
With scriptwriters and directors now essentially being forced to come up with their own ideas and generic trends, a new wave of Spaghetti Westerns were produced that effectively took the genre in a multitude of new directions. The two films featured here were part of that wave.
With scriptwriters and directors now essentially being forced to come up with their own ideas and generic trends, a new wave of Spaghetti Westerns were produced that effectively took the genre in a multitude of new directions. The two films featured here were part of that wave.
- 10/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero: Filmed mostly on the streets in newly-liberated territory, Roberto Rossellini’s gripping war-related shows are blessed with new restorations but still reflect their rough origins. The second picture, the greater masterpiece, looks as if it were improvised out of sheer artistic will.
Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)
1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.
Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Original Music: Renzo Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...
Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)
1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.
Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Original Music: Renzo Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...
- 6/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Criterion Collection will venture to the Zone this July, and much more, as they’ve announced their new titles for the month. Andrei Tarkovsky‘s long-rumored sci-fi masterpiece Stalker will arrive with a new 2K restoration. The release will also include a new interview with author Geoff Dyer and newly translated English subtitles. Also arriving in July is Albert Brooks‘ satirical comedy Lost in America, featuring a new conversation with the director and Robert Weide, as well as interviews with the cast and crew.
One of the most notable releases of the month is Robert Bresson‘s masterful final film L’argent, which tracks a counterfeit bill through Paris, and the people it touches. Lastly, Roberto Rossellini‘s powerful War Trilogy is getting a much-deserved Blu-ray upgrade with new versions of Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. Check out the high-resolution cover art below and full release details.
One of the most notable releases of the month is Robert Bresson‘s masterful final film L’argent, which tracks a counterfeit bill through Paris, and the people it touches. Lastly, Roberto Rossellini‘s powerful War Trilogy is getting a much-deserved Blu-ray upgrade with new versions of Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. Check out the high-resolution cover art below and full release details.
- 4/17/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Bitter Rice
Written by Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Gianni Puccini
Directed by Giuseppe De Santis
Italy, 1949
The opening credits of Bitter Rice parade an array of Italian film industry luminaries, figures who would help redefine the country’s national cinema, picking up where neorealism left off and setting the stage for the remarkable work that would emerge in the decades to come. Screenwriters Carlo Lizzani and Giuseppe De Santis (who also directed) were two of eight individuals contributing in one way or another to the script, though they were the two who would share an Academy Award nomination for its story. Cinematographer Otello Martelli had nearly 50 films under his belt by the time of Bitter Rice, but in the years that followed he would most memorably man the camera for Federico Fellini’s finest films. And producing the movie was the venerable Dino De Laurentiis, really just at the start of his legendary career.
Written by Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Gianni Puccini
Directed by Giuseppe De Santis
Italy, 1949
The opening credits of Bitter Rice parade an array of Italian film industry luminaries, figures who would help redefine the country’s national cinema, picking up where neorealism left off and setting the stage for the remarkable work that would emerge in the decades to come. Screenwriters Carlo Lizzani and Giuseppe De Santis (who also directed) were two of eight individuals contributing in one way or another to the script, though they were the two who would share an Academy Award nomination for its story. Cinematographer Otello Martelli had nearly 50 films under his belt by the time of Bitter Rice, but in the years that followed he would most memorably man the camera for Federico Fellini’s finest films. And producing the movie was the venerable Dino De Laurentiis, really just at the start of his legendary career.
- 1/19/2016
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
This week the Criterion Collection released Giuseppe De Santis’s 1949 film, Bitter Rice.
Both a socially conscious look at the hardships endured by underpaid field workers and a melodrama tinged with sex and violence, this early smash for producer extraordinaire Dino De Laurentiis and director Giuseppe De Santis is neorealism with a heaping dose of pulp.
Bitter Rice is currently available to stream on Hulu Plus. Order the Blu-ray from Amazon.
Throughout the year, Press Notes will collect various links to reviews of new Criterion Collection releases from around the web, published on the release date and updated as new reviews are posted.
Blu-ray.com
The new transfer is very good. I did some direct comparisons with the old R2 Italian DVD release and can confirm that the improvements in terms of detail, clarity, and especially depth are quite remarkable. Even in areas where it is obvious that time has...
Both a socially conscious look at the hardships endured by underpaid field workers and a melodrama tinged with sex and violence, this early smash for producer extraordinaire Dino De Laurentiis and director Giuseppe De Santis is neorealism with a heaping dose of pulp.
Bitter Rice is currently available to stream on Hulu Plus. Order the Blu-ray from Amazon.
Throughout the year, Press Notes will collect various links to reviews of new Criterion Collection releases from around the web, published on the release date and updated as new reviews are posted.
Blu-ray.com
The new transfer is very good. I did some direct comparisons with the old R2 Italian DVD release and can confirm that the improvements in terms of detail, clarity, and especially depth are quite remarkable. Even in areas where it is obvious that time has...
- 1/14/2016
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Forget the proletarian messages, this Italian Neorealist classic is really an exploitation film about ogling brazen, buxom babes in short-shorts, up to their knees in a rice paddy. Hollywood actress Doris Dowling is the nominal star but new discovery Silvana Mangano became the knockout dream of every Italian male suffering from postwar shortages (cough). Giuseppe De Santis delivered the perfect combo -- an art film that pulled in every lonely guy nella cittá. Bitter Rice Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 792 1949 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 109 min. / Riso amaro / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 12, 2016 / 29.95 Starring Vittorio Gassman, Doris Dowling, Silvana Mangano, Raf Vallone. Cinematography Otello Martelli Film Editor Gabriele Varriale Original Music Goffredo Petrassi Written by Corrado Alvaro, Giuseppe De Santis, Carlo Lizzani, Franco Monicelli, Carlo Musso, Ivo Perilli, Gianni Puccini Produced by Dino De Laurentiis Directed by Giuseppe De Santis
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Way back in...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Way back in...
- 1/12/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Criterion digs Bitter Rice out of obscurity this month, a pulpy mix of social drama and dime store pathos from director and screenwriter Giuseppe De Santis. Premiering at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, the title was also nominated for an Oscar in 1950 for Best Story. Lumped in with the neo-realism movement, it’s been a well-regarded minor title, but its problematic noir elements seem to have denied it prominent classification, at least compared to De Santis’ contemporary, Roberto Rossellini, whose Rome, Open City (1945) birthed the movement (and had just finished his notable war trilogy the year prior to release of this title). But De Santis creates something a bit stranger with this hybrid, a darker examination of sex and violence from the perspective of two central female characters. In its native language, the title is a pun since the Italian word for rice can also be substituted for the word laughter,...
- 1/12/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The robbery spree of ‘the machine gun soloist,’ as the real life smash-and-grab jewelry thief Luciano Lutring was dubbed by the exploitative inflammatory Italian press of the day, sprawled across Europe like a globetrotting Bonnie and Clyde, complete with wife, mistress, child, disguises and enough flippant flamboyancy to waste his stolen riches on whatever pleasure awaited around the corner. Just three months after Lutring’s final capture and subsequent 20 year prison sentence, director Carlo Lizzani went into production on a fly-by-night chronicle of Lutring’s criminal career. The result was Wake Up And Kill, a la nouvelle vague inspired, loose canon crime thriller that thrives on style, but lacks the connective tissues to keep the wily tale together.
With a cinematic background in documentary and neo-realist melodrama, having spent much of the ’50s directing non-fiction and co-wrote the Oscar nominated Giuseppe De Santis picture Bitter Rice, Lizzani was obscenely quick...
With a cinematic background in documentary and neo-realist melodrama, having spent much of the ’50s directing non-fiction and co-wrote the Oscar nominated Giuseppe De Santis picture Bitter Rice, Lizzani was obscenely quick...
- 12/22/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Gian Maria Volonté has a big part in this prime quality Italo crime thriller blessed with a great score by Ennio Morricone. But the movie belongs to Robert Hoffman as the real-life public enemy who earned the alias 'The Machine Gun Soloist.' Director Carlo Lizzani's realistic treatment glamorizes nothing and implicates the police in shady policies as well. Award-winning co-star Lisa Gastoni is the woman who loves Hoffman, and is tempted to betray him. Wake Up and Kill Blu-ray + DVD Arrow Video (UK) 1966 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 124 98 min / Svegliati e uccidi; Lutring; Wake Up and Die / Street Date November 24, 2015 / 29.95 Starring Robert Hoffmann, Lisa Gastoni, Gian Maria Volonté, Claudio Camaso, Renato Niccolai, Ottavio Fanfani, Pupo De Luca, Corrado Olmi. Cinematography Armando Nannuzzi Film Editing Franco Fraticelli Original Music Ennio Morricone Written by Ugo Pirro, Carlo Lizzani Produced by Jacques Bar, Joseph Fryd, Carlo Lizzani Directed by Carlo Lizzani
Reviewed by...
Reviewed by...
- 12/12/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
★★★★☆ Following hot on the heels of the Blu-ray release of Requiescant (1967) comes director Carlo Lizzani's Wake Up and Kill (1966), based on the true story of infamous jewel thief Luciano Lutring. Dripping in late-1960s Italian cool, Wake Up and Kill prefigures the grimy American crime cinema of the 1970s, feeling like a grubbier, less self-satisfied Á Bout de Soufflé (1960). With a flawed anti-hero aspiring to criminal infamy, Lizanni's film was surely an influence for a young Martin Scorsese.
- 12/7/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★★☆ The Spaghetti Western, as exemplified by The Good, The Bad, and Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in The West (1968), and Django (1966), is defined by its heightened visual style, its brutality, and its amorality. Carlo Lizzani's Requiescant (1967), nicely presented here in a vibrant and crisp Blu-ray transfer, has the first two in spades - playing out the Spaghetti Western formula like clockwork - yet retains a moral compass often lacking in its more famous brethren.
- 11/23/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Stars: Lou Castel, Mark Damon, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Barbara Frey, Rossana Martini, Mirella Maravidi, Franco Citti, Luisa Baratto, Ninetto Davoli, Nino Musco, Carlo Palmucci, Vittorio Duse | Written by Lucio Battistrada, Andrew Baxter | Directed by Carlo Lizzani
Lou Castel takes the lead role in Requiescant, a young man raised to be a pacifist by a travelling preacher who discovered him as a baby after a massacre of his family. Searching for his adopted sister he soon finders her in the employment of George Ferguson (Mark Damon) an evil landowner who manipulates the young man for his own amusement. When his history is heritage is discovered it is revealed Ferguson was the man who ordered the death of the man’s family all for the control over the land that belonged to them.
Requiescant may not be the strongest story for a Western and it does tend to fluff over a few...
Lou Castel takes the lead role in Requiescant, a young man raised to be a pacifist by a travelling preacher who discovered him as a baby after a massacre of his family. Searching for his adopted sister he soon finders her in the employment of George Ferguson (Mark Damon) an evil landowner who manipulates the young man for his own amusement. When his history is heritage is discovered it is revealed Ferguson was the man who ordered the death of the man’s family all for the control over the land that belonged to them.
Requiescant may not be the strongest story for a Western and it does tend to fluff over a few...
- 11/17/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
[Editor's Note: Be sure to join us on Facebook for news and contests and even more discussion of awesome movies, books and TV!]
Arrow Video Us's second Spaghetti Western release is Carlo Lizzani's Requiescant, a film I was previously unfamiliar with but was extremely impressed by (particularly after being disappointed by Cemetery Without Crosses). It's also a film that Alex Cox called the “one film to prove that the Italian Western was not solely Sergio Leone’s”.
What starts off as a simple quest by a young pacifist priest to find his runaway step sister, turns into [Continued ...]...
Arrow Video Us's second Spaghetti Western release is Carlo Lizzani's Requiescant, a film I was previously unfamiliar with but was extremely impressed by (particularly after being disappointed by Cemetery Without Crosses). It's also a film that Alex Cox called the “one film to prove that the Italian Western was not solely Sergio Leone’s”.
What starts off as a simple quest by a young pacifist priest to find his runaway step sister, turns into [Continued ...]...
- 11/10/2015
- QuietEarth.us
To all cinephiles! This one is for you!
What a surprise was in store for us when we went to see “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism” on its opening night of its qualifying run for Oscar submission in the documentary category.
The footage!
It took two and a half years to clear it all! The best scenes of Neorealistic cinema illustrate points on how Neorealism changed the lexicon and language of film in the same way that the Renaissance changed the visual language of art with linear perspective and its humanistic point of view.
The commentary!
Speaking about the influence of the Italian post-war Neorealism upon their filmmaking choices are Bertolucci, the Taviani Brothers, Scorsese, Olmi, Umberto Eco, Gabriel Garcia Marquez… the only reason Antonioni and Fellini did not speak was because they were no longer living when the movie was made. The interviews were not “talking heads”; they were conversations in which the great directors expressed their connections with Neorealism as they spoke to Carlo Lizzani.
Carlo Lizzani, the narrator and host of this documentary is an elegant 91 year old man who worked as scriptwriter, assistant director to every Neorealistic director and director in his own right. He starred in movies 1939-1954.
I loved him dancing in "Bitter Rice" (which he cowrote) with the women workers. That was the first Neorealistic movie I saw, dubbed on TV, when I was about eight. It was so puzzling to me, seeing this woman in a rice field with her skirt hiked up in a very provocative way, calling to someone with her words not matching her lips.
I really did not understand what sort of movie I was seeing… Similar to the first time I saw Chantal Akerman’s "Jane Dielman" which was rather Neorealistic too, though a product of the early ‘70s.
The production value!
The room, a fascinating “study” filled with objects of Neorealistic movies where the Lizzani seemed to belong was actually a room built from scratch by production designer Maurizio di Clemente within the walls of the oldest film school in Italy, Centro Sperimentale de Cine. When Lizzani opened windows, they looked out upon landscapes of these great Neorealistic movies. The technology of today was used in service of high art. Opening windows itself was a Neorealistic device.
The book!
You will want to read it all and show it off on your coffee table. Interviews, philosophic discussions, pictures and detailed listings of all the Neorealistic movies are splendidly displayed.
The education!
My view of cinema — both post war Italian cinema and today’s cinema shifted into an informed appreciation of how much Neorealism changed our vision of what a film could be.
Neorealism came to fruition with the rebirth of Italy after the war and lasted to 1954. Actually as Carlo Lizzani explains, it began in 1939 “with the first rumblings of an anti-fascist rebellion… as well as among many intellectuals and cineastes, increasingly unanimous in their refusal of so-called “White Telephone” cinema.”
“Before Neorealism, films were called ‘Bianchi Telefono’ after the white telephones that Hollywood movies showed in the so-called ‘White Telephone’ cinema for the way they featured Hollywood-style living rooms where that status symbol was invariably set center stage. It may have been a typical object in certain Hollywood mansions or Middle-European villa, but hardly in the average Italian home,” says Lizzani.
The interview!
Gianni Bozzacchi, the film’s director, writer and producer is a Renaissance man and his stories are funny, deeply moving and extremely interesting! This is someone you want to talk to for hours.
Watching this labor of love was an experience I will always treasure.
Rarely do we see a film about the art of film…Todd McCarthy’s "Visions of Light" comes to mind but others fade into PBS TV memories. This is a cinematic, highly technological and artistic feat. The Dp was Fabio Olmi the son of Ermanno Olmi.
After the screening, Bozzacchi stayed for a Q+A and the next day I continued to question him in the home of producer Jay Kanter where he was staying. After two and a half hours, I still wanted more. But the issue of condensing it all to a blog was weighing on me.
“Everything was planned and laid out in great detail, scripted and planned to the second so that filming 91 year old Lizanni for two hours a day took exactly 8 days to complete.”
Bozzacchi had previously made movies and in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He worked in Los Angeles with Greg Bautzer, who, for nearly 50 years, was one of the premier entertainment attorneys in Hollywood and with Kirk Kerkorian who needs no introduction. He wrote, directed and produced “I Love N.Y.” which was sold internationally by Walter Manley. It presold widely including to Australia where it played six weeks. But for the U.S. release, Manley edited it, and Bozzacchi moved away from it and took the DGA pseudonym, the credited name Alan Smithee.
Why did you leave filmmaking for so long?
I still remember that film, starring Christopher Plummer, Virna Lisi, Scott Baio, Jennifer O’Neill, but that was my last until “Neorealism”.
In 1986 I saw the industry was changing and I chose to step out in order to watch it as an outsider. What was ‘Show Business” was becoming a 'Business Show’. Marketing led to creating a show which led to creating a sales industry. “
“I decided to change direction and do only what I really wanted to do. I took ten years developing a big project ‘Oh Brave New World: The Renaissance’ for TV. It is now in pre-production. I thought of the Neorealism project and of The Enzo Ferrari story for which I now have a deal with Tribeca and Robert De Niro.
What did you do before you were a filmmaker?
I quit school at 13. From 1966 to 1974, at 20 I entered the jet set and became a photographer.
Elizabeth Taylor was shooting ‘The Comedians’ in Africa by Graham Greene. In Dahomy (today it’s Benin) they rebuilt part of Haiti. In the photo agency I worked no one wanted to go there, so I went. I knew Elizabeth Taylor’s face very well so I photographed her with light; no retouching was needed. After seeing a photo I took of her, Richard Burton said to me, ‘You want to join our family? Elizabeth needs you.’ I only spoke Roman, no English. I worked with her for 14 years and her two kids were my assistants. I also worked on 162 films as a special photographer, reading the scripts and shooting scenes for magazine layouts, working with “the making of the film” format.
It was when I stopped as a photographer in ‘75 that I began to think of producing films like the cult film “ China 9, Liberty 37” directed by Monte Hellman and starring Sam Peckinpah, Warren Oates and Fabio Testi and I wrote a book ExpoXed Memory about my life.
There is a relationship of all my projects to Neorealism, and of Neorealism to the Renaissance. All our projects are ready to go.
What are you doing in L.A.?
We have formed a new company with producer Jay Kanter and other partners who love film rather than the business of film. “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves: Neorealismo” is the first to come out of the gate.
“The Listener” is the next project I will direct. It is based on the semi-autobiographical book, Operation Appia Way, by the Italian politician Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti served as Prime Minister of Italy seven terms since the restoration of democracy in 1946.
Yes he was the subject of Paolo Sorrentino’s film “Il Divo”. The book is about phone tapping, abuse of power and violations of personal privacy as is so often employed in politic, spying, etc. Andreotti had studied to be a priest but became a politician and this is about the birth of wire tapping which took place in the Roman catacombs and tapped the phones of Pope Pius Xii in conversations with Churchill, Churchill and the King of Italy, Mussolini and Hitler, Roosevelt and the Pope. The scenarios alternate between New York and Rome today and flashbacks to past times.
The production coordinator of “Neorealismo”, Julia Eleanora Rei, also has a project on Eleanora Duse and Gabriel D’Annunzio. Known as ‘Duse’, this Italian actress is known for her words of wit and wisdom, ‘The weaker partner in a marriage is the one who loves the most’ and ‘When we grow old, there can only be one regret – not to have given enough of ourselves’. She is also known for her long romantic involvement with the poet and writer, the controversial Gabriele D’Annunzio. They are now targeting a star for the film, although, says Bozzacchi, ‘Today the script is the star’.
What films are most important to you?
Those shown in this documentary, especially "Open City" where the scene of shooting down Anna Magnani still makes me feel angry.
Every week the Neorealistic filmmakers met in a café or restaurant. They did not have lots of money, had only one camera and not much film. But they created a way to tell a story very realistically, hiding the camera and shooting the people as they are.
Cary Grant pleaded De Sica to star in ‘The Bicycle Thief’, but he would have disrupted the Neorealist aspect; he was too recognizable. In the scene where three men stop the thief , other citizens joined in thinking it was real. If they saw it was Cary Grant, the scene never could have happened. The little boy in the film, played by Enzo Staiola, was scared the mob would turn on him.”
It was surprising to see Enzo Staiola in conversation during the movie. He said that ‘De Sica invented this whole story about how he made me cry. When I looked at him in surprise, he said: ‘Don’t worry, it’s just cinema…you’ll understand later’.
They also changed the way to shoot in sequence, called ‘piano sequenza’. Before a film was done in steps, with a storyboard, with cuts, three camera povs. Actors and the camera depended on the director. Now the camera follows the actor as he or she moves. This went from Rossellini to Fellini who always used the system; but Fellini, who shows a new reborn Italy, did not want direct sound. Fellini directs saying, ‘pick up drink’ or ‘turn right’ or ‘look left’ and then afterward he would add the sound. He showed Italy out of war time in ‘La Dolce Vita’.
What happened after ‘Neorealism’?
Pontecorvo was born in the time of Neorealism and he brought it to Algiers (‘Battle of Algiers’). He was going to make a doc there but then decided on fiction. He wrote notes on his hand.
Who were the French, German and U.S. adherents to Neorealism?
Truffaut and Melville, Wim Wenders with ‘American Friend’ and ‘Paris, Texas’, Coppola with ‘Apocalypse Now’. Cassavetes was a producer of Neorealism; he took it to his era. Scorsese did with ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Mean Streets’.
What do we see about Neorealism today?
If you really love movies, with all of today’s technology, you must bring in realism. With the new technology there will be a new wave of new realism. New filmmakers are very straight. Honesty and realism on the screen will come out. We’re at the sea floor now, coming back. Tell me a story that I can feel and see emotion…that is the legacy of Neorealism.
The final scene was great ...
There was a great sense of collaboration on this film.
What made that so related to Neorealism?
Neorealism also had the full participation of everyone. Directors heard and listened to the community. Clint Eastwood does this too. He would be great directing the Ferrari movie…depending on the script of course.
I love you story about the dog being an actor who allowed for transitions and covered discontinuities in film.
What about catering Italian style?
Take a look at the film's trailer Here.
What a surprise was in store for us when we went to see “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves. Neorealism” on its opening night of its qualifying run for Oscar submission in the documentary category.
The footage!
It took two and a half years to clear it all! The best scenes of Neorealistic cinema illustrate points on how Neorealism changed the lexicon and language of film in the same way that the Renaissance changed the visual language of art with linear perspective and its humanistic point of view.
The commentary!
Speaking about the influence of the Italian post-war Neorealism upon their filmmaking choices are Bertolucci, the Taviani Brothers, Scorsese, Olmi, Umberto Eco, Gabriel Garcia Marquez… the only reason Antonioni and Fellini did not speak was because they were no longer living when the movie was made. The interviews were not “talking heads”; they were conversations in which the great directors expressed their connections with Neorealism as they spoke to Carlo Lizzani.
Carlo Lizzani, the narrator and host of this documentary is an elegant 91 year old man who worked as scriptwriter, assistant director to every Neorealistic director and director in his own right. He starred in movies 1939-1954.
I loved him dancing in "Bitter Rice" (which he cowrote) with the women workers. That was the first Neorealistic movie I saw, dubbed on TV, when I was about eight. It was so puzzling to me, seeing this woman in a rice field with her skirt hiked up in a very provocative way, calling to someone with her words not matching her lips.
I really did not understand what sort of movie I was seeing… Similar to the first time I saw Chantal Akerman’s "Jane Dielman" which was rather Neorealistic too, though a product of the early ‘70s.
The production value!
The room, a fascinating “study” filled with objects of Neorealistic movies where the Lizzani seemed to belong was actually a room built from scratch by production designer Maurizio di Clemente within the walls of the oldest film school in Italy, Centro Sperimentale de Cine. When Lizzani opened windows, they looked out upon landscapes of these great Neorealistic movies. The technology of today was used in service of high art. Opening windows itself was a Neorealistic device.
The book!
You will want to read it all and show it off on your coffee table. Interviews, philosophic discussions, pictures and detailed listings of all the Neorealistic movies are splendidly displayed.
The education!
My view of cinema — both post war Italian cinema and today’s cinema shifted into an informed appreciation of how much Neorealism changed our vision of what a film could be.
Neorealism came to fruition with the rebirth of Italy after the war and lasted to 1954. Actually as Carlo Lizzani explains, it began in 1939 “with the first rumblings of an anti-fascist rebellion… as well as among many intellectuals and cineastes, increasingly unanimous in their refusal of so-called “White Telephone” cinema.”
“Before Neorealism, films were called ‘Bianchi Telefono’ after the white telephones that Hollywood movies showed in the so-called ‘White Telephone’ cinema for the way they featured Hollywood-style living rooms where that status symbol was invariably set center stage. It may have been a typical object in certain Hollywood mansions or Middle-European villa, but hardly in the average Italian home,” says Lizzani.
The interview!
Gianni Bozzacchi, the film’s director, writer and producer is a Renaissance man and his stories are funny, deeply moving and extremely interesting! This is someone you want to talk to for hours.
Watching this labor of love was an experience I will always treasure.
Rarely do we see a film about the art of film…Todd McCarthy’s "Visions of Light" comes to mind but others fade into PBS TV memories. This is a cinematic, highly technological and artistic feat. The Dp was Fabio Olmi the son of Ermanno Olmi.
After the screening, Bozzacchi stayed for a Q+A and the next day I continued to question him in the home of producer Jay Kanter where he was staying. After two and a half hours, I still wanted more. But the issue of condensing it all to a blog was weighing on me.
“Everything was planned and laid out in great detail, scripted and planned to the second so that filming 91 year old Lizanni for two hours a day took exactly 8 days to complete.”
Bozzacchi had previously made movies and in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He worked in Los Angeles with Greg Bautzer, who, for nearly 50 years, was one of the premier entertainment attorneys in Hollywood and with Kirk Kerkorian who needs no introduction. He wrote, directed and produced “I Love N.Y.” which was sold internationally by Walter Manley. It presold widely including to Australia where it played six weeks. But for the U.S. release, Manley edited it, and Bozzacchi moved away from it and took the DGA pseudonym, the credited name Alan Smithee.
Why did you leave filmmaking for so long?
I still remember that film, starring Christopher Plummer, Virna Lisi, Scott Baio, Jennifer O’Neill, but that was my last until “Neorealism”.
In 1986 I saw the industry was changing and I chose to step out in order to watch it as an outsider. What was ‘Show Business” was becoming a 'Business Show’. Marketing led to creating a show which led to creating a sales industry. “
“I decided to change direction and do only what I really wanted to do. I took ten years developing a big project ‘Oh Brave New World: The Renaissance’ for TV. It is now in pre-production. I thought of the Neorealism project and of The Enzo Ferrari story for which I now have a deal with Tribeca and Robert De Niro.
What did you do before you were a filmmaker?
I quit school at 13. From 1966 to 1974, at 20 I entered the jet set and became a photographer.
Elizabeth Taylor was shooting ‘The Comedians’ in Africa by Graham Greene. In Dahomy (today it’s Benin) they rebuilt part of Haiti. In the photo agency I worked no one wanted to go there, so I went. I knew Elizabeth Taylor’s face very well so I photographed her with light; no retouching was needed. After seeing a photo I took of her, Richard Burton said to me, ‘You want to join our family? Elizabeth needs you.’ I only spoke Roman, no English. I worked with her for 14 years and her two kids were my assistants. I also worked on 162 films as a special photographer, reading the scripts and shooting scenes for magazine layouts, working with “the making of the film” format.
It was when I stopped as a photographer in ‘75 that I began to think of producing films like the cult film “ China 9, Liberty 37” directed by Monte Hellman and starring Sam Peckinpah, Warren Oates and Fabio Testi and I wrote a book ExpoXed Memory about my life.
There is a relationship of all my projects to Neorealism, and of Neorealism to the Renaissance. All our projects are ready to go.
What are you doing in L.A.?
We have formed a new company with producer Jay Kanter and other partners who love film rather than the business of film. “We Weren’t Just Bicycle Thieves: Neorealismo” is the first to come out of the gate.
“The Listener” is the next project I will direct. It is based on the semi-autobiographical book, Operation Appia Way, by the Italian politician Giulio Andreotti. Andreotti served as Prime Minister of Italy seven terms since the restoration of democracy in 1946.
Yes he was the subject of Paolo Sorrentino’s film “Il Divo”. The book is about phone tapping, abuse of power and violations of personal privacy as is so often employed in politic, spying, etc. Andreotti had studied to be a priest but became a politician and this is about the birth of wire tapping which took place in the Roman catacombs and tapped the phones of Pope Pius Xii in conversations with Churchill, Churchill and the King of Italy, Mussolini and Hitler, Roosevelt and the Pope. The scenarios alternate between New York and Rome today and flashbacks to past times.
The production coordinator of “Neorealismo”, Julia Eleanora Rei, also has a project on Eleanora Duse and Gabriel D’Annunzio. Known as ‘Duse’, this Italian actress is known for her words of wit and wisdom, ‘The weaker partner in a marriage is the one who loves the most’ and ‘When we grow old, there can only be one regret – not to have given enough of ourselves’. She is also known for her long romantic involvement with the poet and writer, the controversial Gabriele D’Annunzio. They are now targeting a star for the film, although, says Bozzacchi, ‘Today the script is the star’.
What films are most important to you?
Those shown in this documentary, especially "Open City" where the scene of shooting down Anna Magnani still makes me feel angry.
Every week the Neorealistic filmmakers met in a café or restaurant. They did not have lots of money, had only one camera and not much film. But they created a way to tell a story very realistically, hiding the camera and shooting the people as they are.
Cary Grant pleaded De Sica to star in ‘The Bicycle Thief’, but he would have disrupted the Neorealist aspect; he was too recognizable. In the scene where three men stop the thief , other citizens joined in thinking it was real. If they saw it was Cary Grant, the scene never could have happened. The little boy in the film, played by Enzo Staiola, was scared the mob would turn on him.”
It was surprising to see Enzo Staiola in conversation during the movie. He said that ‘De Sica invented this whole story about how he made me cry. When I looked at him in surprise, he said: ‘Don’t worry, it’s just cinema…you’ll understand later’.
They also changed the way to shoot in sequence, called ‘piano sequenza’. Before a film was done in steps, with a storyboard, with cuts, three camera povs. Actors and the camera depended on the director. Now the camera follows the actor as he or she moves. This went from Rossellini to Fellini who always used the system; but Fellini, who shows a new reborn Italy, did not want direct sound. Fellini directs saying, ‘pick up drink’ or ‘turn right’ or ‘look left’ and then afterward he would add the sound. He showed Italy out of war time in ‘La Dolce Vita’.
What happened after ‘Neorealism’?
Pontecorvo was born in the time of Neorealism and he brought it to Algiers (‘Battle of Algiers’). He was going to make a doc there but then decided on fiction. He wrote notes on his hand.
Who were the French, German and U.S. adherents to Neorealism?
Truffaut and Melville, Wim Wenders with ‘American Friend’ and ‘Paris, Texas’, Coppola with ‘Apocalypse Now’. Cassavetes was a producer of Neorealism; he took it to his era. Scorsese did with ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Mean Streets’.
What do we see about Neorealism today?
If you really love movies, with all of today’s technology, you must bring in realism. With the new technology there will be a new wave of new realism. New filmmakers are very straight. Honesty and realism on the screen will come out. We’re at the sea floor now, coming back. Tell me a story that I can feel and see emotion…that is the legacy of Neorealism.
The final scene was great ...
There was a great sense of collaboration on this film.
What made that so related to Neorealism?
Neorealism also had the full participation of everyone. Directors heard and listened to the community. Clint Eastwood does this too. He would be great directing the Ferrari movie…depending on the script of course.
I love you story about the dog being an actor who allowed for transitions and covered discontinuities in film.
What about catering Italian style?
Take a look at the film's trailer Here.
- 10/21/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Mutilator and Requiescant Bluray Titles Announced!
Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the Us with a strong schedule of new titles for September… Requiescant – Dual Format DVD & Blu-ray – Order Here Directed by Carlo Lizzani (Wake Up and Kill, The Hills Run Red) and with a superb soundtrack by Riz Ortolani (Day of Anger, Cannibal Holocaust), Requiescant – Latin for ...
Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the Us with a strong schedule of new titles for September… Requiescant – Dual Format DVD & Blu-ray – Order Here Directed by Carlo Lizzani (Wake Up and Kill, The Hills Run Red) and with a superb soundtrack by Riz Ortolani (Day of Anger, Cannibal Holocaust), Requiescant – Latin for ...
Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...
- 7/2/2015
- by Horrornews.net
- Horror News
German cult home video specialists Camera Obscura have created another can't-miss disc with their recent release of Carlo Lizzani's San Babila Ore 20: Un Delitto Inutile (San Babila 8 Pm). The film is wonderfully emblematic of a time in Italy when the youth culture was every bit as explosive as anywhere else in the world, and presents a gripping image of young adults ready to die for their beliefs, no matter now misguided.San Babila Ore 20 doesn't quite fit into the Eurocrime genre box the way a lot of other Camera Obscura films do. Its focus is turned away from the police and procedural politics and instead focuses on the criminals and their inward machinations. In this case however, the criminals aren't gangsters or gun...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/12/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Just when you thought you’d seen everything… here comes another 55 insane trailers to whip you into a frenzy in this collection of sick, depraved and hysterically brilliant movie previews from the golden age of Grindhouse cinema in Grindhouse Trailer Classics 4.
Following the successful and critically-acclaimed release of Grindhouse Trailer Classics 1, 2 & 3, Nucleus Films will once again take you on trip back to the “gory days” of cult and exploitation cinema with their latest unseen compilation of audacious theatrical trailers from the sleazy cinematic sub-genre known as “grindhouse”.
I’m a Huge fan of this series (check out this pic of my signed copies of the first 3 releases) so I’m super-excited to see what stupefyingly awesome trailers this collection has to offer. According to the press release, all of the trailers in this collection have been sourced from ultra-rare 35mm prints, many of which haven’t been seen since they...
Following the successful and critically-acclaimed release of Grindhouse Trailer Classics 1, 2 & 3, Nucleus Films will once again take you on trip back to the “gory days” of cult and exploitation cinema with their latest unseen compilation of audacious theatrical trailers from the sleazy cinematic sub-genre known as “grindhouse”.
I’m a Huge fan of this series (check out this pic of my signed copies of the first 3 releases) so I’m super-excited to see what stupefyingly awesome trailers this collection has to offer. According to the press release, all of the trailers in this collection have been sourced from ultra-rare 35mm prints, many of which haven’t been seen since they...
- 4/16/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Italian neorealist film director and screenwriter who made Last Days of Mussolini, starring Rod Steiger
Carlo Lizzani, who has died aged 91, after falling from a balcony at his home, was a screenwriter and director of Italian neorealist cinema who made more than 40 feature films, as well as documentaries and television series.
His first professional experiences in the film world were as an actor, playing cameos in two powerful neorealist films: Il Sole Sorge Ancora (The Sun Still Rises, 1946), directed by Aldo Vergano; and Caccia Tragica (Tragic Hunt, 1947), Giuseppe De Santis's first feature film.
In 1947 Roberto Rossellini summoned Lizzani to Berlin where he was preparing to shoot Germania Anno Zero (Germany Year Zero). Lizzani did research with East German locals which Rossellini would find useful when the film was being made without a definitive shooting script. Lizzani said later: "Rossellini filmed the story of the boy [Edmund] as if growing up...
Carlo Lizzani, who has died aged 91, after falling from a balcony at his home, was a screenwriter and director of Italian neorealist cinema who made more than 40 feature films, as well as documentaries and television series.
His first professional experiences in the film world were as an actor, playing cameos in two powerful neorealist films: Il Sole Sorge Ancora (The Sun Still Rises, 1946), directed by Aldo Vergano; and Caccia Tragica (Tragic Hunt, 1947), Giuseppe De Santis's first feature film.
In 1947 Roberto Rossellini summoned Lizzani to Berlin where he was preparing to shoot Germania Anno Zero (Germany Year Zero). Lizzani did research with East German locals which Rossellini would find useful when the film was being made without a definitive shooting script. Lizzani said later: "Rossellini filmed the story of the boy [Edmund] as if growing up...
- 10/15/2013
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
Italian writer-director Carlo Lizzani has died at the age of 91, after jumping to his death from the third-floor balcony of his apartment. Variety reports that Lizzani left behind a note indicating his death was a suicide. After an early career as a film critic, Lizzani entered the arena as co-writer and actor on Aldo Vergano’s 1946 film Outcry, an early example of postwar Italian neo-realism. Two years later, he worked on the script of the Germany Year Zero, the last in the “war trilogy” of one of the fathers of neo-realism, Roberto Rossellini. In 1950, he earned ...
- 10/7/2013
- avclub.com
All the goings-on in the film world on Monday 7 October
In the news today ...
- Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy has cost a most precious $560 million to date.
- Danny Boyle is planning a jewel heist movie based on the documentary Smash and Grab.
- Danny Dyer's film company went bust owing 50 monkies to the tax man.
- No ta: Woody Allen has refused to show Blue Jasmine in India because of the country's legal requirement to run health ads on smoking scenes.
- Oliver Stone has lead a protest against a Us military base in Korea.
- Italian director Carlo Lizzani has died after falling from a balcony. He was 91.
Elsewhere on the site
- Jeremy Kay will be reporting on the out of this world takings for Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity as he rounds up the week at the Us box office.
- What?! No Run for Your Wife?...
In the news today ...
- Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy has cost a most precious $560 million to date.
- Danny Boyle is planning a jewel heist movie based on the documentary Smash and Grab.
- Danny Dyer's film company went bust owing 50 monkies to the tax man.
- No ta: Woody Allen has refused to show Blue Jasmine in India because of the country's legal requirement to run health ads on smoking scenes.
- Oliver Stone has lead a protest against a Us military base in Korea.
- Italian director Carlo Lizzani has died after falling from a balcony. He was 91.
Elsewhere on the site
- Jeremy Kay will be reporting on the out of this world takings for Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity as he rounds up the week at the Us box office.
- What?! No Run for Your Wife?...
- 10/7/2013
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Rome (AP) — Filmmaker Carlo Lizzani, a much-lauded protagonist of Italian Neorealism, has died, Italian state news media reported Saturday. He was 91. There was an outpouring of condolences after his death was reported, including from President Giorgio Napolitano, who knew Lizzani for decades and honored him for his contributions to "cinema, to culture and to the democratic development of our country." The state Rai news agency and the Ansa news agency said Lizzani died after a fall from the third-floor balcony of his home in Rome and that authorities were investigating whether it was a suicide.
read more...
read more...
- 10/5/2013
- by The Associated Press
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Leading Italian actor, playwright and militant leftwing politician who was the wife and professional partner of Dario Fo
Franca Rame, who has died aged 84, was one of Italy's most admired stage performers and playwrights. A leftwing militant, she was elected to the Italian senate in 2006 but resigned within two years, saying the assembly was an icebox of feelings. But Rame was best known as the wife and professional partner of the actor-playwright Dario Fo. In spite of their ups and downs, which they themselves pilloried in a one-act play, Coppia Aperta (The Open Couple, 1982), she remained at his side on stage and off. When Fo received the Nobel prize for literature in 1997, he called Rame his muse and shared the medal with her.
Rame was born in Parabiago, Milan. Her mother, Emilia, was a teacher and a strict Catholic; her father, Domenico, was an actor and socialist militant. She grew...
Franca Rame, who has died aged 84, was one of Italy's most admired stage performers and playwrights. A leftwing militant, she was elected to the Italian senate in 2006 but resigned within two years, saying the assembly was an icebox of feelings. But Rame was best known as the wife and professional partner of the actor-playwright Dario Fo. In spite of their ups and downs, which they themselves pilloried in a one-act play, Coppia Aperta (The Open Couple, 1982), she remained at his side on stage and off. When Fo received the Nobel prize for literature in 1997, he called Rame his muse and shared the medal with her.
Rame was born in Parabiago, Milan. Her mother, Emilia, was a teacher and a strict Catholic; her father, Domenico, was an actor and socialist militant. She grew...
- 5/29/2013
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
The 17th Kolkata Film festival to be held from November 10-17, 2011 has announced its lineup. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, Alexander Sokurov’s Faust, Godard’s Film Socialism, Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse, among others will be presented at the International Cinema section of the festival.
Joram Lürsen’s The Magicians will be the opening film of the festival.
In a Special Tribute to Uttam Kumar—Nayak directed by Satyajit Ray and documentary Mahanayak—a Superstar’s Journey directed by Swapan Das will be screened.
A Retrospective of Japanese director Shohei Imamura will showcase films like Stolen Desire, Black Rain and Vengeance is Mine, among others.
Carlo Lizzani’s Luchino Visconti: Life as in a romance, Chidananda Dasgupta’s Amodini, Mani Kaul’s Uski Roti, Luchino Visconti’s The Innocent and The Leopard will be screened in the Homage section.
Ritwik Ghatak’s Komal Gandhar and...
Joram Lürsen’s The Magicians will be the opening film of the festival.
In a Special Tribute to Uttam Kumar—Nayak directed by Satyajit Ray and documentary Mahanayak—a Superstar’s Journey directed by Swapan Das will be screened.
A Retrospective of Japanese director Shohei Imamura will showcase films like Stolen Desire, Black Rain and Vengeance is Mine, among others.
Carlo Lizzani’s Luchino Visconti: Life as in a romance, Chidananda Dasgupta’s Amodini, Mani Kaul’s Uski Roti, Luchino Visconti’s The Innocent and The Leopard will be screened in the Homage section.
Ritwik Ghatak’s Komal Gandhar and...
- 11/7/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Roughly assembled; order within tiers based chronologically on viewing date.
01:
Cut (Amir Naderi, Japan), Anna (Alberto Grifi, Massimo Sarchielli, Italy), Faust (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia), Louyre - This Our Still Life (Andrew Kotting, UK), Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz, Philippines)
02:
Vieni, dolce morte (dell’ego) (Paolo Brunatto, Italy), A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada), Whores’ Glory (Michael Glawogger, Austria), A Simple Life (Ann Hui, Hk), Il potere (Augusto Tretti, Italy), Himizu (Sono Sion, Japan), Conference (Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria), 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA), Die Herde des Herrn (Romuald Karmakar, Germany), Life without Principles (Johnnie To, Hk), Late and Deep (Devin Horan, USA), Iz Tokio (Aleksej German Jr., Russia)
03:
Il canto d’amore di Alfred Prufrock (Nico D’Alessandria, Italy), Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Poland ), Black Mirror at the National Gallery (Mark Lewis, UK), Meteor (Chrisoph Giraret, Matthias Müller, Germany), Il villaggio di cartone (Ermanno Olmi,...
01:
Cut (Amir Naderi, Japan), Anna (Alberto Grifi, Massimo Sarchielli, Italy), Faust (Aleksandr Sokurov, Russia), Louyre - This Our Still Life (Andrew Kotting, UK), Century of Birthing (Lav Diaz, Philippines)
02:
Vieni, dolce morte (dell’ego) (Paolo Brunatto, Italy), A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada), Whores’ Glory (Michael Glawogger, Austria), A Simple Life (Ann Hui, Hk), Il potere (Augusto Tretti, Italy), Himizu (Sono Sion, Japan), Conference (Norbert Pfaffenbichler, Austria), 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA), Die Herde des Herrn (Romuald Karmakar, Germany), Life without Principles (Johnnie To, Hk), Late and Deep (Devin Horan, USA), Iz Tokio (Aleksej German Jr., Russia)
03:
Il canto d’amore di Alfred Prufrock (Nico D’Alessandria, Italy), Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Poland ), Black Mirror at the National Gallery (Mark Lewis, UK), Meteor (Chrisoph Giraret, Matthias Müller, Germany), Il villaggio di cartone (Ermanno Olmi,...
- 9/11/2011
- MUBI
Now that we've got an entry collecting trailers for the films competing at this year's Venice Film Festival, here's another gathering trailers for films screening in the other sections as well as in the two autonomous programs, Venice Days and International Critics' Week. What we've got here, obviously, is a pretty mixed bag, but here we go:
Out Of Competition
Rolando Colla's Giochi d'estate:
Ugo Gregoretti, Carlo Lizzani, Francesco Maselli and Nino Russo's Scossa:
Tomás Lunák's Alois Nebel:
Kike Maillo's Eva:
Takashi Shimizu's Tormented:
Tony Ching Siu-tung's The Sorcerer and the White Snake:
Steven Soderbergh's Contagion:
Orizzonti
Yves Caumon's L'Oiseau (The Bird):
Clarissa Campolina and Helvecio Marins Jr's Swirl:
Amiel Courtin-Wilson's Hail:
Jonathan Demme's I'm Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful:
And here are a couple more clips.
Michael Glawogger...
Out Of Competition
Rolando Colla's Giochi d'estate:
Ugo Gregoretti, Carlo Lizzani, Francesco Maselli and Nino Russo's Scossa:
Tomás Lunák's Alois Nebel:
Kike Maillo's Eva:
Takashi Shimizu's Tormented:
Tony Ching Siu-tung's The Sorcerer and the White Snake:
Steven Soderbergh's Contagion:
Orizzonti
Yves Caumon's L'Oiseau (The Bird):
Clarissa Campolina and Helvecio Marins Jr's Swirl:
Amiel Courtin-Wilson's Hail:
Jonathan Demme's I'm Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad and the Beautiful:
And here are a couple more clips.
Michael Glawogger...
- 8/23/2011
- MUBI
Dueling festival lineups! It seems that for every announcement for the Toronto International Film Festival lineup comes a competing (and often overlapping) one from Venice. Here we're collecting the finalized Venice lineups so far. (Above image: Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer.)
Competition
The Ides of March (George Clooney, USA) (opening night) 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA) Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece) A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel, France) Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Spain/Poland) Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France/Belgium/Germany) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada) Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA) The Exchange (Eran Kolirin, Israel/Germany) Faust (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) Himizu (Sion Sono, Japan) Killer Joe (William Friedkin, USA) Life without Principle (Johnnie To, Hk) Quando la notte (Cristina Comencini, Italy) Seediq Bale (Wei Desheng, Taiwan) Shame (Steve McQueen, UK) Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann,...
Competition
The Ides of March (George Clooney, USA) (opening night) 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA) Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece) A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel, France) Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Spain/Poland) Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France/Belgium/Germany) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada) Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA) The Exchange (Eran Kolirin, Israel/Germany) Faust (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) Himizu (Sion Sono, Japan) Killer Joe (William Friedkin, USA) Life without Principle (Johnnie To, Hk) Quando la notte (Cristina Comencini, Italy) Seediq Bale (Wei Desheng, Taiwan) Shame (Steve McQueen, UK) Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann,...
- 8/9/2011
- MUBI
Hot on the heels of the release of the first wave of films announced to screen at the Toronto Film Festival, comes the main lineup for the 68th Venice Film Festival, which runs from August 31 to September 10. There are a few highly anticipated films that appear here that are not yet scheduled for Tiff including the spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson. Also on the list is Roman Polanski‘s Carnage and the latest film from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose film Dogtooth made our best end year list both in 2009 and 2010. Personally my most anticipated film is A Dangerous Method by my favourite filmmaker David Cronenberg.
Check out the full list is after the break.
In Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) [Opening Night Film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany)
Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold (UK)
Texas Killing Fields,...
Check out the full list is after the break.
In Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) [Opening Night Film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany)
Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold (UK)
Texas Killing Fields,...
- 7/30/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
This year’s line-up for the 68th Venice Film Festival, taking place between 31st August and 10th September, has been announced by the festival’s official website, and as expected, it’s more than a little bit fantastic, with a brilliant line-up of films set to screen in Italy.
Heading the jury this year will be director Darren Aronofsky, the BBC reported back in April, who won the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, back in 2008 for The Wrestler.
The list, as you can imagine, is a bit of a long one, so I’ve highlighted some of the hottest tipped to look out for beneath. Playing in competition will be:
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold Texas Killing Fields, directed by Ami Canaan Mann The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney Quando La Notte, directed by Cristina Comencini Terraferma,...
Heading the jury this year will be director Darren Aronofsky, the BBC reported back in April, who won the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, back in 2008 for The Wrestler.
The list, as you can imagine, is a bit of a long one, so I’ve highlighted some of the hottest tipped to look out for beneath. Playing in competition will be:
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, directed by Tomas Alfredson Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold Texas Killing Fields, directed by Ami Canaan Mann The Ides of March, directed by George Clooney Quando La Notte, directed by Cristina Comencini Terraferma,...
- 7/29/2011
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Just a few days after Tiff had announced its first 50 films from this year’s festival slate, the Venice Film Festival has announced their own lineup, and I must say, it’s one hell of a collective.
Criterion Collection nuts will have a field day here, as various directors from the collection will be bringing their new films to Italy this year.
First up, in competition, David Cronenberg will be taking his new film, A Dangerous Method, to Venice this year, making it one of the bigger fall festival season players this year. Steve McQueen’s Shame will play this year, as will Andrea Arnold’s (Fish Tank) Wuthering Heights. Roman Polanski will debut his latest film, Carnage, at Venice this year, as will Todd Solondz, who brings Dark Horse this year.
Out of competition, Chantal Akerman and Whit Stillman will debut their next projects, La Folie Almayer and Damsels In Distress respectively.
Criterion Collection nuts will have a field day here, as various directors from the collection will be bringing their new films to Italy this year.
First up, in competition, David Cronenberg will be taking his new film, A Dangerous Method, to Venice this year, making it one of the bigger fall festival season players this year. Steve McQueen’s Shame will play this year, as will Andrea Arnold’s (Fish Tank) Wuthering Heights. Roman Polanski will debut his latest film, Carnage, at Venice this year, as will Todd Solondz, who brings Dark Horse this year.
Out of competition, Chantal Akerman and Whit Stillman will debut their next projects, La Folie Almayer and Damsels In Distress respectively.
- 7/29/2011
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Carnage, A Dangerous Method, and the remaining film lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival has been announced. The 68th Annual Venice Film Festival “is the oldest film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the “Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica”, the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the Lido, Venice, Italy. Screenings take place in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi. It is one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals and is part of the Venice Biennale, a major biennial exhibition and festival for contemporary art.”
The 2011 Venice Film Festival will take place from August 31, 2011 to September 10, 2011. The full listing of the film lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival is below.
Venice 2011 Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) [opening film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany)
Wuthering Heights,...
The 2011 Venice Film Festival will take place from August 31, 2011 to September 10, 2011. The full listing of the film lineup for the 2011 Venice Film Festival is below.
Venice 2011 Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) [opening film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany)
Wuthering Heights,...
- 7/28/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
The 68th Venice Film Festival has unveiled this years line-up of movies that will show during the festival which takes place from August 31st to September 10th. Judging by the line-up it looks like the 70s are back, with new films from directors that caused a huge splash during that decade, including David Cronenberg, William Friedkin and Abel Ferrara… The full line-up:
In Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany) Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold (UK) Texas Killing Fields, Ami Canaan Maan (Us) (second work) Quando La Notte, Cristina Comencini (Italy) Terraferma, Emanuele Crialese (Italy/France) A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg (Germany/Canada) 4:44 Last Day On Earth, Abel Ferrara (Us) Killer Joe, William Friedkin (Us) Un Ete Brulant, Philippe Garrel (France/Italy/Switzerland) A Simple Life (Taojie), Ann Hui (China/Hong Kong) The Exchange (Hahithalfut), Eran Kolirin (Israel) (second work) Alps (Alpeis),Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece) Shame,...
In Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK, Germany) Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold (UK) Texas Killing Fields, Ami Canaan Maan (Us) (second work) Quando La Notte, Cristina Comencini (Italy) Terraferma, Emanuele Crialese (Italy/France) A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg (Germany/Canada) 4:44 Last Day On Earth, Abel Ferrara (Us) Killer Joe, William Friedkin (Us) Un Ete Brulant, Philippe Garrel (France/Italy/Switzerland) A Simple Life (Taojie), Ann Hui (China/Hong Kong) The Exchange (Hahithalfut), Eran Kolirin (Israel) (second work) Alps (Alpeis),Yorgos Lanthimos (Greece) Shame,...
- 7/28/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Hot on the heels of the release of a massive batch of films [1] that will appear in the Toronto Film Festival, we've got the main lineup for the 68th Venice Film Festival, which runs from August 31 to September 10. We knew that George Clooney's The Ides of March would open the fest (the trailer premiered last night and you can see it here [2]) and this list confirms quite a few films that we imagined would be playing Venice. Our very much anticipated spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy from Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson is on the list, as is Roman Polanski's tense closed-room drama Carnage, starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz. And there is Alps, the second film from polarizing Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose film Dogtooth shocked, entertained and angered festival audiences in 2009. The full list is after the break.
- 7/28/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
The Venice Film Festival has just announced its official line-up, and it looks to be an embarrassment of cinematic riches. As noted by Variety, the festival’s competitive slate includes new films from David Cronenberg (the Freud-Jung thriller A Dangerous Method), Marjane Satrapi (Chicken with Plums), Abel Ferrara (4:44 Last Day on Earth), Roman Polanski (Carnage, adapted from the play God of Carnage), and George Clooney (The Ides of March), not to mention Alps, the new film from Yorgos Lanthimos, who made the creepily hilarious Dogtooth. Possibly even more fun are the films opening out of competition, including Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion,...
- 7/28/2011
- by Darren Franich
- EW - Inside Movies
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: The Venice Film Festival unveiled its full line up this morning, programming a number of big-ticket titles with serious awards dreams.
As expected, there is overlap between the 68th Venice Fest and the first wave of films announced for the Toronto International Film Festival, from Madonna’s King Edward VIII drama “W.E.” to David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method.” But Venice also boasts a few films that Tiff does not have on its schedule … yet. That would be Tomas Alfredson’s anticipated “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and Roman Polanski’s “Carnage.”
The fest will open on Aug. 31 with the world premiere of George Clooney’s political drama “The Ides of March.” We have a full roster of films in and out of competition for the Venice Film Festival below:
Venice 2011 Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) [opening film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK,...
Hollywoodnews.com: The Venice Film Festival unveiled its full line up this morning, programming a number of big-ticket titles with serious awards dreams.
As expected, there is overlap between the 68th Venice Fest and the first wave of films announced for the Toronto International Film Festival, from Madonna’s King Edward VIII drama “W.E.” to David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method.” But Venice also boasts a few films that Tiff does not have on its schedule … yet. That would be Tomas Alfredson’s anticipated “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and Roman Polanski’s “Carnage.”
The fest will open on Aug. 31 with the world premiere of George Clooney’s political drama “The Ides of March.” We have a full roster of films in and out of competition for the Venice Film Festival below:
Venice 2011 Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us) [opening film]
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Tomas Alfredson (UK,...
- 7/28/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
I always find it interesting to see what Toronto International Film Festival gets compared to Venice. There is certainly some crossover for the latter fest that begins a few days before Toronto, but Venice will usually get a handful of exclusive premieres. We already got Toronto’s initial line-up, and now Deadline reports on Venice.
At first glance, they are getting the big premiere of Tomas Alfredson‘s Let The Right One In follow-up, the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. They also get Andrea Arnold‘s Fish Tank follow-up Wuthering Heights, as well as Ami Canaan Maan‘s debut Texas Killing Fields. Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Dogtooth follow-up Alps will be premiered there as well, along with Roman Polanski‘s Carnage. Steven Soderbergh‘s Contagion and Madonna‘s W.E. will be showing out of competition. Check out the solid list below.
In Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us)
Tinker,...
At first glance, they are getting the big premiere of Tomas Alfredson‘s Let The Right One In follow-up, the spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. They also get Andrea Arnold‘s Fish Tank follow-up Wuthering Heights, as well as Ami Canaan Maan‘s debut Texas Killing Fields. Yorgos Lanthimos‘ Dogtooth follow-up Alps will be premiered there as well, along with Roman Polanski‘s Carnage. Steven Soderbergh‘s Contagion and Madonna‘s W.E. will be showing out of competition. Check out the solid list below.
In Competition
The Ides Of March, George Clooney (Us)
Tinker,...
- 7/28/2011
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The line-up for the 2011 Venice Film Festival was unveiled a little earlier today and this year’s edition looks particularly stacked on the English-language side of things with a large number of dramatic outputs from the U.K. and U.S.
Dozens and dozens of high-intrigue fare are set to be premiering over the two week event which kicks off proceedings on August 31st with the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March as an in-competition film. A trailer was released last night and you can see it Here.
The other big headliners include;
Working Title’s attempt to bring the classic John Le Carre novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the big screen for the first time (though there was an amazing 70′s t.v. series with Alec Guinness that this film will need to go to some quality to beat) has been on our radar every...
Dozens and dozens of high-intrigue fare are set to be premiering over the two week event which kicks off proceedings on August 31st with the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March as an in-competition film. A trailer was released last night and you can see it Here.
The other big headliners include;
Working Title’s attempt to bring the classic John Le Carre novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the big screen for the first time (though there was an amazing 70′s t.v. series with Alec Guinness that this film will need to go to some quality to beat) has been on our radar every...
- 7/28/2011
- by Matt Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
Well, just over a year after Avatar encouraged the Hollywood machine to overhype 3-D movies to the point where the fad is already fading fast, the hunt is on for the next great thing. Dimension Films thinks they have the solution, announcing that this summer’s fourth installment of the Spy Kids franchise will introduce the fourth dimension with Aromascope.
Of course, adding smells to movie (as opposed to movies that just smell) is nothing new, dating back to 1906 when canny filmmakers scented cotton wool and placed them in front of ventilators. Much as is happening now, after 3-D faded in the 1950s, people sought new gimmicks ot keep people away from the television and flocking to the theater. Italian director Carlo Lizzani called his process “AromaRama” and used it to screen Behind the Great Wall, a travelogue through China.
Hans Laube created Smell-o-Vision used in 1960’s Scent of Mystery.
Of course, adding smells to movie (as opposed to movies that just smell) is nothing new, dating back to 1906 when canny filmmakers scented cotton wool and placed them in front of ventilators. Much as is happening now, after 3-D faded in the 1950s, people sought new gimmicks ot keep people away from the television and flocking to the theater. Italian director Carlo Lizzani called his process “AromaRama” and used it to screen Behind the Great Wall, a travelogue through China.
Hans Laube created Smell-o-Vision used in 1960’s Scent of Mystery.
- 6/25/2011
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Leave it to writer/director Robert Rodriguez to cook up a new scheme for you to watch the fourth installment of his popular franchise, "Spy Kids."
Dimension Films has announced that "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World" is taking moviegoers to a whole new level in 4D with Aromascope!
Yes, not only will you be immersed visually, you will also get to smell the action!
Eewww?
This is not like the Smell-o-Vision created by Hans Laube for the 1960 film "Scent of Mystery" (scent coming from your theater seat) nor the AromaRama process invented by Charles Weiss for the China travelogue "Behind the Great Wall" for director Carlo Lizzani (scent coming out of your air-conditioned theater).
This Aromascope is similar to the John Waters scratch-and-sniff gimmick used in 1981 for "Polyester." For every ticket bought, you get an Aromascope card that will transport you to the wonderful world of "Spy Kids.
Dimension Films has announced that "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World" is taking moviegoers to a whole new level in 4D with Aromascope!
Yes, not only will you be immersed visually, you will also get to smell the action!
Eewww?
This is not like the Smell-o-Vision created by Hans Laube for the 1960 film "Scent of Mystery" (scent coming from your theater seat) nor the AromaRama process invented by Charles Weiss for the China travelogue "Behind the Great Wall" for director Carlo Lizzani (scent coming out of your air-conditioned theater).
This Aromascope is similar to the John Waters scratch-and-sniff gimmick used in 1981 for "Polyester." For every ticket bought, you get an Aromascope card that will transport you to the wonderful world of "Spy Kids.
- 6/24/2011
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
Chicago – It’s pretty hard for contemporary audiences to look at a title like “Machine Gun McCain,” and not immediately make a political joke out of it. The most obvious one would be, “What’s the sequel called, “‘Pistol-Packing Palin’?” Of course, this minor cult classic came out long before the 2008 election, and was playing in theaters at the same time John McCain was being held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.
The film stars legendary independent filmmaker John Cassavetes, five years after he memorably punched Ronald Reagan in “The Killers.” Cassavetes took acting roles primarily so he could fund his own projects, which were groundbreaking, audacious, uncompromising and fueled entirely by the passion and invention of their cast and crew. That same tireless passion is apparent in several of Cassavetes’s performances, even the ones he was supposedly phoning in. His work in “Machine Gun McCain” single-handedly...
The film stars legendary independent filmmaker John Cassavetes, five years after he memorably punched Ronald Reagan in “The Killers.” Cassavetes took acting roles primarily so he could fund his own projects, which were groundbreaking, audacious, uncompromising and fueled entirely by the passion and invention of their cast and crew. That same tireless passion is apparent in several of Cassavetes’s performances, even the ones he was supposedly phoning in. His work in “Machine Gun McCain” single-handedly...
- 8/31/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Above: Germany Year Zero. Courtesy of the Criterion Collection.
Many of the extras (interviews, visual essays) included in this Criterion DVD set are more or less standard, which is not to say unappreciated. Carlo Lizzani’s documentary on Rossellini’s career, to its credit, mentions such rarely discussed Rossellini titles as Giovanna d’arc al rogo (1954). It also speeds through the last 15 years of Rossellini’s career, conceiving of the historical telefilms as a bit of a homogeneous mass. This fate is both understandable and unfortunate; however, Lizzani’s doc typifies the “macro” bias that underscores so much Great Men commentary—which coincides a bit with DVD commentary. We understand the broad thematic outlines of Rossellini’s career, and of course for those first treading into these waters the material is useful. But for DVD extras to claim their own longevity, to be more than one-time, two-time digital curiosities, we...
Many of the extras (interviews, visual essays) included in this Criterion DVD set are more or less standard, which is not to say unappreciated. Carlo Lizzani’s documentary on Rossellini’s career, to its credit, mentions such rarely discussed Rossellini titles as Giovanna d’arc al rogo (1954). It also speeds through the last 15 years of Rossellini’s career, conceiving of the historical telefilms as a bit of a homogeneous mass. This fate is both understandable and unfortunate; however, Lizzani’s doc typifies the “macro” bias that underscores so much Great Men commentary—which coincides a bit with DVD commentary. We understand the broad thematic outlines of Rossellini’s career, and of course for those first treading into these waters the material is useful. But for DVD extras to claim their own longevity, to be more than one-time, two-time digital curiosities, we...
- 3/1/2010
- MUBI
The 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival lineup includes the main festival plus the sidebar which will be playing films like Yannick Dahan's gangster zombie flick The Horde.
In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.
Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.
Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.
Full list after the break.
66Th Annual Venice Film Festival Lineup
Competition
"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)
"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)
"Between Two Worlds,...
In competition we have the long awaited scifi awesomeness from Jaco Van Dormael, Mr. Nobody and Shinya Tsukamoto's trfiecta Tetsuo the Bulletman.
Out of competition has [Rec] 2 and the Midnight section has Nicolas Refn's long awaited Valhalla Rising which was actually made before Bronson.
Man I wish I could go! Anyone want to cover the fest for us? Use the contact link at the bottom of the page. We'd be happy to do cross-posted reviews.
Full list after the break.
66Th Annual Venice Film Festival Lineup
Competition
"36 vues du Pic Saint Loup," Jacques Rivette (France)
"Accident," Cheang Pou-Soi (China-Hong Kong)
"Baaria," Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy) – Opening Film
"Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," Werner Herzog (U.S.)
"Between Two Worlds,...
- 7/30/2009
- QuietEarth.us
Rome -- Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" will headline a 24-film competition lineup at September's Venice Film Festival, which is heavy on first and second films from up-and-coming directors.
The lineup includes five U.S. films, four each from Italy and France, four from Asia, two from the Middle East -- with all 23 films named Thursday as world premieres.
A 24th surprise competition pic to be announced during the fest would also be a world premiere, officials said. The fest will feature 71 world premieres.
"We are very pleased and very honored to announce this lineup," Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a briefing Thursday, where Fatih Akin's comedy "Soul Kitchen"; "Accident," a thriller from China's Cheang Pou; and "A Single Man," a drama from Tom Ford starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, were revealed as part of the lineup.
All told, the fest will feature 16 first works and nine second works.
The lineup includes five U.S. films, four each from Italy and France, four from Asia, two from the Middle East -- with all 23 films named Thursday as world premieres.
A 24th surprise competition pic to be announced during the fest would also be a world premiere, officials said. The fest will feature 71 world premieres.
"We are very pleased and very honored to announce this lineup," Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a briefing Thursday, where Fatih Akin's comedy "Soul Kitchen"; "Accident," a thriller from China's Cheang Pou; and "A Single Man," a drama from Tom Ford starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, were revealed as part of the lineup.
All told, the fest will feature 16 first works and nine second works.
- 7/30/2009
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rome -- The next edition of the Venice Film Festival will include a new sidebar dubbed Controcampo Italiano, which will focus on new trends in Italian cinema.
The section will feature up to seven fiction and non-fiction films, all of them world premieres. The films will screen in the Lido's top venues and the winner will receive €40,000 ($51,200) in film stock from Kodak.
The name is a link to Venice's past: It was previously used in the 1980s, under then-artistic director Carlo Lizzani.
The 66th edition of the Venice festival will take place Sept. 2-12.
The section will feature up to seven fiction and non-fiction films, all of them world premieres. The films will screen in the Lido's top venues and the winner will receive €40,000 ($51,200) in film stock from Kodak.
The name is a link to Venice's past: It was previously used in the 1980s, under then-artistic director Carlo Lizzani.
The 66th edition of the Venice festival will take place Sept. 2-12.
- 3/20/2009
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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