Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano, an Oscar nominee this year for Italy in the best international feature category, was the big winner of this year’s 2024 David Di Donatello Awards, Italy’s equivalent to the Oscars, winning best film and director for Garrone.
Io Capitano also picked up prizes for best cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.
Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a black-and-white feminist dramedy that became the top-grossing film in Italy last year, won Cortellesi the Donatello honors for best actress, directorial debut, and original script for the screenplay she co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda.
“I want to thank those who gave me the opportunity to write this role as I wanted it,” she said, accepting her actress honor.
Cortellesi’s film, a dramedy about an abused woman in post-wwii Rome that manages to combine serious social drama with situational comedy, sight gags and even a musical number,...
Io Capitano also picked up prizes for best cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.
Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a black-and-white feminist dramedy that became the top-grossing film in Italy last year, won Cortellesi the Donatello honors for best actress, directorial debut, and original script for the screenplay she co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda.
“I want to thank those who gave me the opportunity to write this role as I wanted it,” she said, accepting her actress honor.
Cortellesi’s film, a dramedy about an abused woman in post-wwii Rome that manages to combine serious social drama with situational comedy, sight gags and even a musical number,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
We’re just two weeks away from the 77th Cannes Film Festival, and this morning the august French institution revealed who will determine the winners of this year’s awards. A cross-section of international talent will join “Barbie” and “Lady Bird” director Greta Gerwig, who will lead the panel, in an effort to undoubtedly compare apples to oranges and try to make sense of a diverse slate of films from directors like David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Sean Baker, Ali Abbasi, and many others.
Lily Gladstone, who won several Best Actress awards last year (but not the Oscar!) for her revolutionary turn in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is the other American joining Gerwig. The actress, currently seen on FX/Hulu’s “Under the Bridge,” is returning to Cannes one year after Martin Scorsese and Apple Original Films brought “Flower Moon” to the French Riviera festival for its out-of-competition debut.
Lily Gladstone, who won several Best Actress awards last year (but not the Oscar!) for her revolutionary turn in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is the other American joining Gerwig. The actress, currently seen on FX/Hulu’s “Under the Bridge,” is returning to Cannes one year after Martin Scorsese and Apple Original Films brought “Flower Moon” to the French Riviera festival for its out-of-competition debut.
- 4/29/2024
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
From top left: Omar Sy; Lily Gladstone; Juan Antonia Bayona; Nadine Labaki; Greta Gerwig; Ebru Celan; Hirokazu Kore-ada; Eva Green; and Pierfrancesco Favino (Pablo Arroyo). Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival; Selly Sy, Lindsay Siu, Germán Romani, Jihad Hojelli, Ben Rayner, Nuri Bige Celan, Mikiya Takimoto, Xavier Torres-Bacchetta, Pablo Arroyo As pre-Cannes anticipation goes in to overdrive, the organisers have announced the full Competition jury under the already announced presidency of Greta Gerwig whose Barbie made her the first director in the history of cinema to top the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
Besides other prizes the jury’s most onerous task is to bestow the Palme d’Or which last year went to Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall.
Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone who was in Cannes last year for Killers Of The Flower Moon steps on to the jury roster alongside French actress Eva Green (from...
Besides other prizes the jury’s most onerous task is to bestow the Palme d’Or which last year went to Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall.
Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone who was in Cannes last year for Killers Of The Flower Moon steps on to the jury roster alongside French actress Eva Green (from...
- 4/29/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The full Cannes Film Festival competition jury has been revealed.
Joining president Greta Gerwig to award this year’s Palme d’Or will be “Killers of the Flower Moon” Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone; “The Three Musketeers” star Eva Green; “Lupin” lead Omar Sy; Ebru Ceylan, who co-wrote the 2014 Palme d’Or winner “Winter Sleep”; director Nadine Labaki, whose “Capernaum” won the Cannes jury prize in 2018; director Juan Antonio Bayona, whose latest film “Society of the Snow” was Oscar-nominated for best international feature; Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who will next appear in Pablo Larraìn’s “Maria” alongside Angelina Jolie; and director Kore-eda Hirokazu, director of the 2018 Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters.”
The competition lineup for the upcoming festival includes “All We Imagine as Light” by Payal Kapadia; Sean Baker’s “Anora”; Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” from Ali Abbasi; Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski; “Caught by the Tides...
Joining president Greta Gerwig to award this year’s Palme d’Or will be “Killers of the Flower Moon” Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone; “The Three Musketeers” star Eva Green; “Lupin” lead Omar Sy; Ebru Ceylan, who co-wrote the 2014 Palme d’Or winner “Winter Sleep”; director Nadine Labaki, whose “Capernaum” won the Cannes jury prize in 2018; director Juan Antonio Bayona, whose latest film “Society of the Snow” was Oscar-nominated for best international feature; Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who will next appear in Pablo Larraìn’s “Maria” alongside Angelina Jolie; and director Kore-eda Hirokazu, director of the 2018 Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters.”
The competition lineup for the upcoming festival includes “All We Imagine as Light” by Payal Kapadia; Sean Baker’s “Anora”; Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” from Ali Abbasi; Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski; “Caught by the Tides...
- 4/29/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival has picked its full jury.
Oscar-nominated The Killers of the Flower Moon lead Lily Gladstone, French stars Eva Green and Omar Sy, and Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino are among the A-listers who will join Barbie director Greta Gerwig, this year’s jury president for the 77th Cannes Film Festival, in selecting the winners, including the best film Palme d’Or, from the 2024 competition lineup.
A trio of international Oscar-nominated directors: Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki (Capernaum), Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona (Society of the Snow) and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), as well as Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, co-writer of 2014 Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep (with director husband Nuri Bilge Ceylan), complete the five-woman, four-man jury.
Among the films in the running for this year’s Palme d’Or are Francis Ford Coppola’s long-anticipated Megalopolis, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness,...
Oscar-nominated The Killers of the Flower Moon lead Lily Gladstone, French stars Eva Green and Omar Sy, and Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino are among the A-listers who will join Barbie director Greta Gerwig, this year’s jury president for the 77th Cannes Film Festival, in selecting the winners, including the best film Palme d’Or, from the 2024 competition lineup.
A trio of international Oscar-nominated directors: Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki (Capernaum), Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona (Society of the Snow) and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), as well as Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, co-writer of 2014 Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep (with director husband Nuri Bilge Ceylan), complete the five-woman, four-man jury.
Among the films in the running for this year’s Palme d’Or are Francis Ford Coppola’s long-anticipated Megalopolis, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness,...
- 4/29/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
French director Laurent Cantet, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2008 for The Class, has died at the age of 63.
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.
Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August
His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.
Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.
They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.
Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August
His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.
Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.
They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.
With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.
She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.
New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...
With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.
She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.
New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...
- 2/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The great Martin Scorsese returned to the Eternal City, accompanied by the star of the moment, Lily Gladstone, as the guests of honor of a gala dinner at the Hotel Hassler by the Spanish steps Wednesday night. The event, honoring Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and hosted by co-chief of Leone Film Group, Raffaella Leone, daughter of great Italian film director Sergio Leone, and Paolo Del Brocco, head of Rai Cinema, the Italian distributor of Killers. Hot off the film’s 10 Oscar nominations, including a record-setting 10th best director nod for Scorsese and the historic best actress nod for Gladstone as the first Native American nominated in the category, the event was a must-attend for the Italian film scene.
The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...
The Hollywood Reporter Roma was the only media outlet admitted to the event, and we were a fly on the wall for the parade of A-list industry guests, which...
- 2/1/2024
- by Manuela Santacatterina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Running Jan. 19-Feb. 19, this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival, an online showcase organized by France’s film-tv promotional body UniFrance, will mark its 14th edition with an accent on young talent, both in front of and behind the camera, and an emphasis on female empowerment.
With a mix of heritage docs like Agnès Varda’s “Jane B. for Agnès V.,” and a nine-film competition that spotlights auteurist animation like Alain Ughetto’s “No Dogs or Italians Allowed” alongside outré dramatic fare, the 11 features and 15 shorts that make up this year’s selection will be available on 80 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.
All films will be subtitled in 11 languages, including Arabic, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian, while the feature section will also be available for free in many Latin American, African and Middle Eastern territories.
“No...
With a mix of heritage docs like Agnès Varda’s “Jane B. for Agnès V.,” and a nine-film competition that spotlights auteurist animation like Alain Ughetto’s “No Dogs or Italians Allowed” alongside outré dramatic fare, the 11 features and 15 shorts that make up this year’s selection will be available on 80 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.
All films will be subtitled in 11 languages, including Arabic, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian, while the feature section will also be available for free in many Latin American, African and Middle Eastern territories.
“No...
- 1/9/2024
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Italian director Edoardo De Angelis’ anti-war epic “Comandante” – the opener of this year’s Venice Film Festival – has secured North American distribution via Uncork’d Entertainment, which will release the film theatrically in tandem with partner company Dark Star Pictures.
The movie stars Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino as Sicilian World War II naval captain Salvatore Todaro and depicts his act of wartime humanitarianism on Oct. 15, 1940. Todaro, as commander of the submarine Cappellini, sank a Belgian merchant ship called Kabalo that was carrying aircraft parts and operating under British rule. He then disobeyed orders from his own command to rescue the Kabalo’s 26 crew members, at great risk to his own life and the lives of his crew.
“We believe that the message of the movie is very powerful and contemporary,” said Uncork’d Entertinament’s president Keith Leopard in a statement, adding: “We are thrilled to launch it in North America...
The movie stars Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino as Sicilian World War II naval captain Salvatore Todaro and depicts his act of wartime humanitarianism on Oct. 15, 1940. Todaro, as commander of the submarine Cappellini, sank a Belgian merchant ship called Kabalo that was carrying aircraft parts and operating under British rule. He then disobeyed orders from his own command to rescue the Kabalo’s 26 crew members, at great risk to his own life and the lives of his crew.
“We believe that the message of the movie is very powerful and contemporary,” said Uncork’d Entertinament’s president Keith Leopard in a statement, adding: “We are thrilled to launch it in North America...
- 12/14/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon and Michael Mann’s Ferrari are facing allegations — surprising for two films focused on straight white male protagonists — of cultural appropriation.
French and Italian critics have taken offense at the directors’ decisions to cast American actors to play national icons — Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte, the general who became French emperor, and Adam Driver as visionary Italian carmaker Enzo Ferrari — and, adding insult to injury, having them speak in English.
“It’s original sin,” wrote a Ferrari reviewer for Italy’s Movieplayer magazine on the casting of Driver, alongside Spanish actor Penélope Cruz as Ferrari’s wife, Laura, and American Shailene Woodley as his mistress. “Not just to have them speak English, but with a dodgy Italian accent.”
“Deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny” was French GQ’s assessment of the very French characters of Napoleon and his lover Josephine (played by Brit Vanessa Kirby) speaking en anglais.
French and Italian critics have taken offense at the directors’ decisions to cast American actors to play national icons — Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte, the general who became French emperor, and Adam Driver as visionary Italian carmaker Enzo Ferrari — and, adding insult to injury, having them speak in English.
“It’s original sin,” wrote a Ferrari reviewer for Italy’s Movieplayer magazine on the casting of Driver, alongside Spanish actor Penélope Cruz as Ferrari’s wife, Laura, and American Shailene Woodley as his mistress. “Not just to have them speak English, but with a dodgy Italian accent.”
“Deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny” was French GQ’s assessment of the very French characters of Napoleon and his lover Josephine (played by Brit Vanessa Kirby) speaking en anglais.
- 12/12/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Io Capitano, Pinocchio, Tale Of Tales director Matteo Garrone with Anne-Katrin Titze: “I would say that fairy tales, as Italo Calvino used to say, fairy tales are true. It’s a different way to talk about the human condition.”
Italy’s Oscar submission and Venice Film Festival Unesco and Best Director Silver Lion winner Matteo Garrone’s suspenseful and fleet Io Capitano (Me Captain), co-written with Massimo Ceccherini (Garrone’s Pinocchio), Massimo Gaudioso, and Andrea Tagliaferri, shot by Paolo Carnera stars the naturalistic duo of Seydou Sarr (Marcello Mastroianni Award Best Young Actor) and Moustapha Fall with Ndeye Khady Sy, Oumar Diaw, Issaka Sawadogo.
Matteo Garrone on Io Capitano shot by Paolo Carnera: “Paolo put himself in the service of the story and he worked carefully on the light, but tried always to be natural, …”
Garrone’s Tale of Tales, based on Giambattista Basile’s early 17th century fairy tales,...
Italy’s Oscar submission and Venice Film Festival Unesco and Best Director Silver Lion winner Matteo Garrone’s suspenseful and fleet Io Capitano (Me Captain), co-written with Massimo Ceccherini (Garrone’s Pinocchio), Massimo Gaudioso, and Andrea Tagliaferri, shot by Paolo Carnera stars the naturalistic duo of Seydou Sarr (Marcello Mastroianni Award Best Young Actor) and Moustapha Fall with Ndeye Khady Sy, Oumar Diaw, Issaka Sawadogo.
Matteo Garrone on Io Capitano shot by Paolo Carnera: “Paolo put himself in the service of the story and he worked carefully on the light, but tried always to be natural, …”
Garrone’s Tale of Tales, based on Giambattista Basile’s early 17th century fairy tales,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Two-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ed Lachman looked shattered by the time he sat down with us for an interview here at EnergaCamerimage in Torun, Poland.
“I broke my hip, and it didn’t heal correctly. Now I’ve got an operation,” Lachman said of his physical state.
“But he called me again to do this film,” Lachman continued, referring to Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, whom he has briefly left on set in Budapest where they are shooting a Steven Knight-scripted Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie.
“I said yeah, sure, I’ll do it. And before that, I had lead poisoning, so it’ll just go on and on.”
He added: “It’s amazing what you can get by with if you try.”
Lachman’s injury occurred last year after he finished shooting Larraín’s black-and-white Augusto Pinochet satire El Conde, which he is promoting here at Camerimage. The inventive feature,...
“I broke my hip, and it didn’t heal correctly. Now I’ve got an operation,” Lachman said of his physical state.
“But he called me again to do this film,” Lachman continued, referring to Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, whom he has briefly left on set in Budapest where they are shooting a Steven Knight-scripted Maria Callas biopic starring Angelina Jolie.
“I said yeah, sure, I’ll do it. And before that, I had lead poisoning, so it’ll just go on and on.”
He added: “It’s amazing what you can get by with if you try.”
Lachman’s injury occurred last year after he finished shooting Larraín’s black-and-white Augusto Pinochet satire El Conde, which he is promoting here at Camerimage. The inventive feature,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Italian sales agent reports sales for summer festival slate.
Italy’s True Colours has unveiled sales on a string of its summer festival titles including Venice competition films Lubo and Comandante as well as Locarno world premiere The Beautiful Summer.
Edoardo de Angelis’s WWII drama Comandante, which opened Venice, has secured distribution in Japan with Aya Pro, in Spain with Alfa Pictures, in Portugal with Outsider Films, in former Yugoslavia with Stars Media, in Bulgaria with Beta Film and in Australia/New Zealand with Palace Films. Starring Pierfrancesco Favino, the co-production between Indigo Film, ‘O Groove and Trump Limited...
Italy’s True Colours has unveiled sales on a string of its summer festival titles including Venice competition films Lubo and Comandante as well as Locarno world premiere The Beautiful Summer.
Edoardo de Angelis’s WWII drama Comandante, which opened Venice, has secured distribution in Japan with Aya Pro, in Spain with Alfa Pictures, in Portugal with Outsider Films, in former Yugoslavia with Stars Media, in Bulgaria with Beta Film and in Australia/New Zealand with Palace Films. Starring Pierfrancesco Favino, the co-production between Indigo Film, ‘O Groove and Trump Limited...
- 10/24/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Following on from his :a[recent vampiric portrait of an aged Augusto Pinochet]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/el-conde/' }, director Pablo Larraín’s back on the biopic beat for his next film. And it promises to be another compelling portrait of someone who is famous but also mysterious in her personal life. In this case, it's legendary Opera singer Maria Callas, with Angelina Jolie taking the role for Maria. The first pictures of the actor in character have arrived as the shoot prepares to kick off.
"How can it shoot doing the strike?" we hear you asking. Easy to answer: the independent film has an interim agreement for SAG-AFTRA allowing production to gear up. Larraín will be shooting across over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.
Here's the official description of the film, which looks to "explore the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva.
"How can it shoot doing the strike?" we hear you asking. Easy to answer: the independent film has an interim agreement for SAG-AFTRA allowing production to gear up. Larraín will be shooting across over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.
Here's the official description of the film, which looks to "explore the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva.
- 10/9/2023
- by James White
- Empire - Movies
Angelina Jolie is taking on an operatic new role: playing Greek opera singer Maria Callas.
Jolie leads Pablo Larraín’s biopic “Maria,” set during the last days of the chanteuse’s life. She died in 1977.
“Maria” marks Larraín’s third biopic on the heels of “Jackie” and “Spencer,” which earned actress Kristen Stewart her first Oscar nomination.
Per the official synopsis, the film explores the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva. Based on true accounts, “Maria” tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.
“The Power of the Dog” star Kodi Smit-McPhee, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, and Valeria Golino co-star alongside Jolie. The film is an independent production with an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA; production starts this week, with locations ranging...
Jolie leads Pablo Larraín’s biopic “Maria,” set during the last days of the chanteuse’s life. She died in 1977.
“Maria” marks Larraín’s third biopic on the heels of “Jackie” and “Spencer,” which earned actress Kristen Stewart her first Oscar nomination.
Per the official synopsis, the film explores the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva. Based on true accounts, “Maria” tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.
“The Power of the Dog” star Kodi Smit-McPhee, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, and Valeria Golino co-star alongside Jolie. The film is an independent production with an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA; production starts this week, with locations ranging...
- 10/9/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Pablo Larraín (Jackie) has revealed two first photos of Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in his new film that will explore the life of the legendary singer, often described as the original diva.
Based on true accounts, Maria will tell the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest female opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris. Shoot is underway and taking place over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.
Also starring in the movie, which has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, will be Pierfrancesco Favino (The Hummingbird), Alba Rohrwacher (La Chimera), Haluk Bilginer (Winter Sleep), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) and Valeria Golino (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).
The script, which was completed prior to the WGA strike, comes from Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders). Producers are Juan de Dios Larraín for Fabula, Jonas Dornbach...
Based on true accounts, Maria will tell the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest female opera singer, relived and reimagined during her final days in 1970s Paris. Shoot is underway and taking place over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.
Also starring in the movie, which has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, will be Pierfrancesco Favino (The Hummingbird), Alba Rohrwacher (La Chimera), Haluk Bilginer (Winter Sleep), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog) and Valeria Golino (Portrait of a Lady on Fire).
The script, which was completed prior to the WGA strike, comes from Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders). Producers are Juan de Dios Larraín for Fabula, Jonas Dornbach...
- 10/9/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The first two images of Angelina Jolie as famed diva Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s upcoming biopic Maria have been revealed.
Based on true accounts, the film will tell the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singers, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris. With the independent production having signed to a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, the shoot is now set to start, and will take place over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.
Alongside Jolie, the cast also includes Pierfrancesco Favino (Adagio, The Hummingbird), Alba Rohrwacher (La Chimera, Hungry Hearts), Haluk Bilginer (Winter Sleep), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog, Elvis) and Valeria Golino (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Caos Calmo).
The script, which was completed prior to the WGA strike, is written by Steven Knight (Spencer, Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises). Producers...
Based on true accounts, the film will tell the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singers, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris. With the independent production having signed to a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, the shoot is now set to start, and will take place over eight weeks in Paris, Greece, Budapest and Milan.
Alongside Jolie, the cast also includes Pierfrancesco Favino (Adagio, The Hummingbird), Alba Rohrwacher (La Chimera, Hungry Hearts), Haluk Bilginer (Winter Sleep), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog, Elvis) and Valeria Golino (Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Caos Calmo).
The script, which was completed prior to the WGA strike, is written by Steven Knight (Spencer, Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises). Producers...
- 10/9/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Italian genre stylist Stefano Sollima returns to his homeland to complete his thematic “Roman Trilogy” that began with his debut Acab - All Cops Are Bastards ( 2012) and continued in Suburra (2015) with the muscular and kinetic crime drama Adagio. Heavyweights Pierfrancesco Favino (The Traitor) and Tony Servillo (The Great Beauty) lead a robust cast in a timeless tale of corrupt cops and honourable crooks, set against a backdrop of political upheaval and natural disaster. The action follows Manuel (Gianmarco Franchini), a young man who lives with his elderly father, Daytona (Servillo), who is steadily losing his grasp on reality. Manuel is being manipulated by a gang of shady cops to go undercover at a secret hedonistic nightclub and take compromising photographs of...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/8/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Cameras are set to roll in mid-October in Budapest on Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic “Maria” toplining Angelina Jolie in the title role with several new cast members now on board.
Italian star Valeria Golino, whose recent appearances include a lead in Netflix’s Elena Ferrante series “The Lying Life of Adults” and season 2 of Apple Original “The Morning Show,” is set to play the legendary opera singer’s older sister Yakinthi – known as Jackie – while revered Turkish screen and stage veteran Haluk Bilginer (“Winter Sleep”) has landed the role as Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
Fremantle, which is among companies producing “Maria,” also confirmed on Thursday that the film’s additional cast comprises Italian A-listers Alba Rohrwacher and Pierfrancesco Favino and Oscar-nominated Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”), all in unspecified roles.
“Maria” “tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer,...
Italian star Valeria Golino, whose recent appearances include a lead in Netflix’s Elena Ferrante series “The Lying Life of Adults” and season 2 of Apple Original “The Morning Show,” is set to play the legendary opera singer’s older sister Yakinthi – known as Jackie – while revered Turkish screen and stage veteran Haluk Bilginer (“Winter Sleep”) has landed the role as Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
Fremantle, which is among companies producing “Maria,” also confirmed on Thursday that the film’s additional cast comprises Italian A-listers Alba Rohrwacher and Pierfrancesco Favino and Oscar-nominated Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”), all in unspecified roles.
“Maria” “tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer,...
- 10/5/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian multi-hyphenate Ilaria Borrelli’s Arabic-language feminist drama “The Goat” – featuring Mira Sorvino and John Savage, alongside a stellar Egyptian cast – is set for back-to-back launches at Egypt’s upcoming El Gouna Film Festival, followed by the closing film slot at the Rome Film Festival.
A rare, if not unique, case of an Arab production directed by an Italian, “The Goat” stars young Egyptian TikTok star Jessica Hosam as an 11-year-old pregnant orphan named Hadya who after being forced into marriage becomes the target of a western corporation that seeks to control the only water source in her village. She escapes into the desert with her goat on a journey in search of her father. See trailer above
“She takes the road to freedom alone with her goat whose milk she will use to survive. Sometimes when she drinks the milk she feels her mum is talking to her,” according...
A rare, if not unique, case of an Arab production directed by an Italian, “The Goat” stars young Egyptian TikTok star Jessica Hosam as an 11-year-old pregnant orphan named Hadya who after being forced into marriage becomes the target of a western corporation that seeks to control the only water source in her village. She escapes into the desert with her goat on a journey in search of her father. See trailer above
“She takes the road to freedom alone with her goat whose milk she will use to survive. Sometimes when she drinks the milk she feels her mum is talking to her,” according...
- 9/22/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Updated with latest: The Venice Film Festival began August 30 with opening-night movie Comandante, an Italian World War II drama, kicking off a lineup for the venerable fest’s 80th edition that includes world premieres of Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, David Fincher’s The Killer, Ava DuVernay’s Origins, and new films from lightning-rod directors Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Luc Besson.
Deadline is on the ground to watch all the key films. Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year awarded Laura Poitras’ documentary All The Beauty and the Bloodshed its Golden Lion for best film.
Click on the film titles below to read the reviews in full, and keep checking back as we add more movies throughout the fest, which runs through September 9.
Adagio
Section: Competition
Director: Stefano Sollima
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino,...
Deadline is on the ground to watch all the key films. Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year awarded Laura Poitras’ documentary All The Beauty and the Bloodshed its Golden Lion for best film.
Click on the film titles below to read the reviews in full, and keep checking back as we add more movies throughout the fest, which runs through September 9.
Adagio
Section: Competition
Director: Stefano Sollima
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino,...
- 9/10/2023
- by Damon Wise, Pete Hammond, Stephanie Bunbury and Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Italian genre specialist Stefano Sollima – who is known in Hollywood for “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” “Without Remorse” and the TV series “Gomorrah” – is in the Venice competition for the first time with Rome-set crime drama “Adagio.”
This beautifully shot picture features an ensemble cast of Italian A-listers comprising Pierfrancesco Favino (“Nostalgia”), Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”), Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”) and Adriano Giannini (“The Ties”). It’s the tale of three old – and once mighty – mobsters searching for redemption in a cutthroat contemporary Rome that is literally burning. They find it in the form of a 16 year old named Manuel who is being blackmailed after venturing too deep in a rotting Roman underworld world that he doesn’t understand.
You often work from books such as “Gomorrah” but this is your original idea. How did it germinate?
“Adagio” – this is no secret – is a gift that I made to myself.
This beautifully shot picture features an ensemble cast of Italian A-listers comprising Pierfrancesco Favino (“Nostalgia”), Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”), Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”) and Adriano Giannini (“The Ties”). It’s the tale of three old – and once mighty – mobsters searching for redemption in a cutthroat contemporary Rome that is literally burning. They find it in the form of a 16 year old named Manuel who is being blackmailed after venturing too deep in a rotting Roman underworld world that he doesn’t understand.
You often work from books such as “Gomorrah” but this is your original idea. How did it germinate?
“Adagio” – this is no secret – is a gift that I made to myself.
- 9/7/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety 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
A highlight of the first weekend of the 80th Venice International Film Festival was seeing Giorgio Armani appear on the catwalk, visibly excited, moved, smiling and proudly satisfied with his work. He then advanced graceful and happy, in his impeccable blue tuxedo holding hands with the model Agnese Zogla.
The moment was experienced by the more than 500 guests at Armani’s One Night Only event, where the world of cinema flocked to pay homage to King Giorgio, with guests including Sophia Loren, who has always been his beloved friend, accompanied by her son Edoardo Ponti, actor Benicio Del Toro, actress Jessica Chastain, and directors Ang Lee, Gabriele Salvatores and Giuseppe Tornatore.
The standing ovation lasted several minutes from an audience composed of numerous couples from the Italian film star system: from Sergio Castellitto and Margaret Mazzantini and Pierfrancesco Favino and Anna Ferzetti to Raul Bova and Rocio Munoz Morales to Kasia Smutniak and Domenico Procacci.
The moment was experienced by the more than 500 guests at Armani’s One Night Only event, where the world of cinema flocked to pay homage to King Giorgio, with guests including Sophia Loren, who has always been his beloved friend, accompanied by her son Edoardo Ponti, actor Benicio Del Toro, actress Jessica Chastain, and directors Ang Lee, Gabriele Salvatores and Giuseppe Tornatore.
The standing ovation lasted several minutes from an audience composed of numerous couples from the Italian film star system: from Sergio Castellitto and Margaret Mazzantini and Pierfrancesco Favino and Anna Ferzetti to Raul Bova and Rocio Munoz Morales to Kasia Smutniak and Domenico Procacci.
- 9/5/2023
- by Pino Gagliardi
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Comandante.Beyond the Venice Film Festival's habitual paucity of female filmmakers, the most striking aspect of this year’s lineup was its astounding number of biopics. Granted, the genre has always been a staple of the fest, which under artistic director Alberto Barbera has effectively metastasized into a launchpad for Hollywood’s awards race. But the inclusion of so many in its eightieth edition was nonetheless remarkable. The official competition alone was home to six—among them big studio projects like Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Michael Mann’s Ferrari—to say nothing of all those slotted in the parallel sidebars, from Quentin Dupieux’s fittingly surrealist Daaaaaali! to Neo Sora’s Ryuichi Sakamoto—Opus. Beyond the industry’s flirtations with the genre for its bona fide commercial potential, what accounts for our ongoing fascination with biopics is perhaps their promises of identification and revelation: in charting the lives of extraordinary figures,...
- 9/5/2023
- MUBI
It might be too early to call it, but The Hollywood Reporter Roma may have given the best party of the 80th Venice Film Festival.
THR Roma, the first European edition of The Hollywood Reporter, threw a starry and glam but also surprisingly chill bash Sunday night at their festival villa, a stone’s throw from The Excelsior Hotel on the Lido. THR Roma had its official launch, in Rome, in April but the Venice bash marked its international coming out, and the group used the occasion to present its first stand-alone print edition (more on that later).
There were shades of Pablo Sorrentino’s famed party sequence in The Great Beauty as a who’s who of the Italian film and fashion industries — among them the cast of Venice festival opener Comandante, including Italian superstar Pierfrancesco Favino and director Edoardo De Angelis, Adagio filmmaker Stefano Sollima, and Valentino’s...
THR Roma, the first European edition of The Hollywood Reporter, threw a starry and glam but also surprisingly chill bash Sunday night at their festival villa, a stone’s throw from The Excelsior Hotel on the Lido. THR Roma had its official launch, in Rome, in April but the Venice bash marked its international coming out, and the group used the occasion to present its first stand-alone print edition (more on that later).
There were shades of Pablo Sorrentino’s famed party sequence in The Great Beauty as a who’s who of the Italian film and fashion industries — among them the cast of Venice festival opener Comandante, including Italian superstar Pierfrancesco Favino and director Edoardo De Angelis, Adagio filmmaker Stefano Sollima, and Valentino’s...
- 9/4/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera is adamant about his decision to place six Italian movies in this year’s 23-title festival lineup. “Nobody accused the French of chauvinism because they had seven French films in competition in Cannes this year,” Barbera quipped to a snarky Italian reporter when the Venice lineup was announced in July, though he did concede, “It’s true that in the past I have not done this.” Indeed, Barbera’s previous limit on Italian movies in competition for the Golden Lion was five titles last year, which some local critics considered a stretch.
More importantly, the Venice chief pointed out that he presently sees Cinema Italiano at a particularly favorable juncture largely thanks to the fact that Italians are making movies with bigger budgets, “which means greater quality and the ability to compete in international markets, and to travel beyond our borders,” he said.
More importantly, the Venice chief pointed out that he presently sees Cinema Italiano at a particularly favorable juncture largely thanks to the fact that Italians are making movies with bigger budgets, “which means greater quality and the ability to compete in international markets, and to travel beyond our borders,” he said.
- 9/4/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Despite its soft-sounding title, Stefano Sollima’s crime drama is a gripping call-back to the heyday of poliziotteschi movies, a peculiarly Italian genre that dealt with inter-gang wars in a country where the police were often more venal than the bad guys. Adagio, though, takes a unique tack, borrowing from Martin Scorsese’s fatalistic masterpiece The Irishman to portray to tell a story in which a trio of gangsters — one blind, one suffering early-onset dementia, and another with terminal cancer — are forced to reunite against a team of bent cops involved in an elaborate blackmail plan.
There are shades of Elio Petri’s classic Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, too, although it takes a while for this to become obvious. Indeed, for some 45 minutes, Sollima keeps us guessing as to which side the villains are actually on, starting with a long sequence in which a young man named Manuel...
There are shades of Elio Petri’s classic Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, too, although it takes a while for this to become obvious. Indeed, for some 45 minutes, Sollima keeps us guessing as to which side the villains are actually on, starting with a long sequence in which a young man named Manuel...
- 9/2/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Adagio, as many musicians know, means “slowly” in Italian. That seems to be one of the guiding principles in this epic slow-burn crime thriller from director Stefano Sollima, who’s known for helming the lauded TV series Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero, as well as taking on Hollywood jobs like the actioners Without Remorse and Sicario: Day of the Soldado.
He certainly has style to boot, and this very Heat-like story, which takes place in parts of Rome rarely seen in mainstream movies, is loaded with ambience, as well as brawny performances by a triumvirate of Italy’s best working actors: Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo and Valerio Mastandrea. What it lacks, however, is a gripping and original plot, as well as enough dazzling set pieces to make all the late exposition worthwhile.
Premiering in competition in Venice, Adagio will likely be a local hit, with Sollima delivering the kind of Michael Mann...
He certainly has style to boot, and this very Heat-like story, which takes place in parts of Rome rarely seen in mainstream movies, is loaded with ambience, as well as brawny performances by a triumvirate of Italy’s best working actors: Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo and Valerio Mastandrea. What it lacks, however, is a gripping and original plot, as well as enough dazzling set pieces to make all the late exposition worthwhile.
Premiering in competition in Venice, Adagio will likely be a local hit, with Sollima delivering the kind of Michael Mann...
- 9/2/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
by Elisa Giudici
Edoardo De Angelis & Pierfrancesco Favino on the set of "Comandante"
Opening the Venice Film Festival is a daunting enough challenge. Now imagine being called in as a last-minute replacement for Luca Guadagnino’s new film starring Zendaya. Yet, Edoardo De Angelis managed to uphold the honor of Italian cinema admirably. His new film Comandante stands as a notable piece of filmmaking, injecting an interesting angle into the war subgenre of submarine films. To put it in perspective, it holds its own against the likes of The Wolf's Call, a recent European film of similar ambition from 2019, which boated a budget twice the size of Comandante.
A budget of 14 million euros isn't trivial within the national cinematic landscape, where the majority of yearly productions hover around the 1 to 2 million euro mark. This significant financial backing primarily went into meticulously recreating the interior and exterior spaces of the Cappellini submarine.
Edoardo De Angelis & Pierfrancesco Favino on the set of "Comandante"
Opening the Venice Film Festival is a daunting enough challenge. Now imagine being called in as a last-minute replacement for Luca Guadagnino’s new film starring Zendaya. Yet, Edoardo De Angelis managed to uphold the honor of Italian cinema admirably. His new film Comandante stands as a notable piece of filmmaking, injecting an interesting angle into the war subgenre of submarine films. To put it in perspective, it holds its own against the likes of The Wolf's Call, a recent European film of similar ambition from 2019, which boated a budget twice the size of Comandante.
A budget of 14 million euros isn't trivial within the national cinematic landscape, where the majority of yearly productions hover around the 1 to 2 million euro mark. This significant financial backing primarily went into meticulously recreating the interior and exterior spaces of the Cappellini submarine.
- 8/31/2023
- by Elisa Giudici
- FilmExperience
Actress Zendaya has decided to skip Venice Film Festival due to the Hollywood strikes. The actress was initially slated to go to the film festival to promote Luca Guadagnino’s film ‘Challengers’, which was also the movie that was supposed to open the 80th annual Venice Film Festival.
Zendaya has been a supporter of the ongoing Hollywood strikes, and given her standing in Hollywood, it would have been nearly impossible for the ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ actress to make it.
So instead, Venice kicked off the festival with the Italian World War II drama film ‘Comandante’, directed by Italian director Edoardo De Angelis, reports Variety.
The movie is mostly set on a submarine, and ended up landing a brief 90-second standing ovation as actor Pierfrancesco Favino — who plays naval officer Salvatore Todaro — took a bow.
Indeed, due to the Hollywood strikes there was a severe lack of star power which...
Zendaya has been a supporter of the ongoing Hollywood strikes, and given her standing in Hollywood, it would have been nearly impossible for the ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ actress to make it.
So instead, Venice kicked off the festival with the Italian World War II drama film ‘Comandante’, directed by Italian director Edoardo De Angelis, reports Variety.
The movie is mostly set on a submarine, and ended up landing a brief 90-second standing ovation as actor Pierfrancesco Favino — who plays naval officer Salvatore Todaro — took a bow.
Indeed, due to the Hollywood strikes there was a severe lack of star power which...
- 8/31/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
The Venice Film Festival kicked off its 80th edition Wednesday night on a somewhat muted note, with the dual Hollywood strike casting a pall over the glitz and glamour that typically exemplify the world’s oldest cinema fest. Instead of Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya starrer Challengers — which was scheduled to open Venice pre-strike, getting pulled amid the walkout — Venice was forced to go with a more locally focused feature, Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama, Comandante.
Italian actress Caterina Murino hosted the festival’s grand opening ceremony with a retrospective spanning eight decades of Venice cinema, featuring clips highlighting past Golden Lion winners. The audience burst into applause at the sight of the late William Friedkin, whose last film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, will premiere on the Lido this year.
Comandante tells the true story of Salvatore Todaro, a submarine captain under Italy’s fascist government who...
Italian actress Caterina Murino hosted the festival’s grand opening ceremony with a retrospective spanning eight decades of Venice cinema, featuring clips highlighting past Golden Lion winners. The audience burst into applause at the sight of the late William Friedkin, whose last film, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, will premiere on the Lido this year.
Comandante tells the true story of Salvatore Todaro, a submarine captain under Italy’s fascist government who...
- 8/30/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In an alternate universe, Zendaya would be breaking the Internet with her red carpet fashion as she promoted Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” the movie that was supposed to open the 80th annual Venice Film Festival.
But the SAG-AFTRA strike made it impossible for the tennis movie, starring one of the world’s buzziest movie stars, to come to the Lido.
So instead, Venice kicked off with World War II drama “Comandante” by young Italian auteur Edoardo De Angelis. The movie, mostly set on a submarine, landed a brief 90-second standing ovation as actor Pierfrancesco Favino — who plays naval officer Salvatore Todaro — took a bow.
Indeed, the lack of star power was strongly felt at Venice opening night. The size of the crowds that lined up outside the Sala Grande Theatre was modest, and the biggest cheers went to Damien Chazelle, who is presiding over the Venice jury. Jane Campion,...
But the SAG-AFTRA strike made it impossible for the tennis movie, starring one of the world’s buzziest movie stars, to come to the Lido.
So instead, Venice kicked off with World War II drama “Comandante” by young Italian auteur Edoardo De Angelis. The movie, mostly set on a submarine, landed a brief 90-second standing ovation as actor Pierfrancesco Favino — who plays naval officer Salvatore Todaro — took a bow.
Indeed, the lack of star power was strongly felt at Venice opening night. The size of the crowds that lined up outside the Sala Grande Theatre was modest, and the biggest cheers went to Damien Chazelle, who is presiding over the Venice jury. Jane Campion,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Ramin Setoodeh and Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Even without major stars or Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” to buoy it, the opening night of the Venice Film Festival’s 80th edition was high on nostalgia for cinema’s past and excitement for the eight days of movies ahead.
A black-tie crowd gathered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on the Lido for the presentation of Edoardo De Angelis’ World War II Battle of the Atlantic epic “Comandante,” the opener that replaced Guadagnino’s “Challengers” after that film was moved by MGM/Amazon to April due to the strikes.
First, though, elegant minimalist and icon Charlotte Rampling presented the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of psychosexual Holocaust drama “The Night Porter,” starring Rampling and from 1974. (Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung Chiu-wai will also receive a Lifetime Achievement anointment later in the fest.) Rampling played a concentration camp survivor who finds her ex,...
A black-tie crowd gathered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on the Lido for the presentation of Edoardo De Angelis’ World War II Battle of the Atlantic epic “Comandante,” the opener that replaced Guadagnino’s “Challengers” after that film was moved by MGM/Amazon to April due to the strikes.
First, though, elegant minimalist and icon Charlotte Rampling presented the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to Liliana Cavani, the Italian director of psychosexual Holocaust drama “The Night Porter,” starring Rampling and from 1974. (Wong Kar Wai muse Tony Leung Chiu-wai will also receive a Lifetime Achievement anointment later in the fest.) Rampling played a concentration camp survivor who finds her ex,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Inaugurating this year’s Venice Film Festival, Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian war drama “Comandante” certainly makes for an improbable fall-season kickoff – filling a prime, opening-night slot often reserved for glitzy global titles on the U.S. awards hunt in lieu of sturdy local productions with limited crossover appeal. But then we do find ourselves at an equally improbable moment, as the ongoing strikes promise a fall corridor rife with uncertainty, lit by lower star-wattage and met with another round of on-the-fly problem solving from harried festival organizers.
Given this once-again shaky terrain — goodbye original opener “Challengers,” from Luca Guadagnino — the fact that Venice lost just one major title might be the most surprising outcome of all, although this opening spotlight’s harsher and more intense glare does “Comandante” few favors. Welding the star-power of the country’s leading man Pierfrancesco Favino (“The Traitor”) to the familiar comforts of real-life WW2 heroism,...
Given this once-again shaky terrain — goodbye original opener “Challengers,” from Luca Guadagnino — the fact that Venice lost just one major title might be the most surprising outcome of all, although this opening spotlight’s harsher and more intense glare does “Comandante” few favors. Welding the star-power of the country’s leading man Pierfrancesco Favino (“The Traitor”) to the familiar comforts of real-life WW2 heroism,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Updated with more details: The 80th Venice Film Festival officially kicked off Wednesday evening with the world premiere screening of Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama Comandante. Running in competition, the film took over the slot vacated by Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers, which backed out of the spot amid the actors strike.
Before the Pierfrancesco Favino-starring movie unspooled to a warm welcome and a brief post-credit standing ovation, Italian actress Caterina Murino launched the festival’s opening ceremony featuring a retrospective covering the 80 years of the event. That included glimpses of previous Golden Lion and awards winners, with the audience erupting when the late William Friedkin appeared in the montage.
Friedkin, who died August 7, has his final work, the Showtime film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, screening later this week out of competition.
Biennalle president Roberto Cicutto then came on the stage to introduce Charlotte Rampling,...
Before the Pierfrancesco Favino-starring movie unspooled to a warm welcome and a brief post-credit standing ovation, Italian actress Caterina Murino launched the festival’s opening ceremony featuring a retrospective covering the 80 years of the event. That included glimpses of previous Golden Lion and awards winners, with the audience erupting when the late William Friedkin appeared in the montage.
Friedkin, who died August 7, has his final work, the Showtime film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, screening later this week out of competition.
Biennalle president Roberto Cicutto then came on the stage to introduce Charlotte Rampling,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Venice film festival: Edoardo de Angelis’s war movie was made in collaboration with the Italian navy, which clarifies the pervasive sense that it’s attempting to launder Italy’s wartime reputation
Hollywood knows exactly how to play it when it comes to portraying a second world war German officer. Get an actor like Christoph Waltz, stick him in a Nazi uniform, and have him strangle a kitten for fun before the opening credits finish. But when it comes to Italian characters from the same period, you can sometimes sense some cultural confusion kicking in. Surely Italy is that nice place with the gnocchi and olive oil? Hard to imagine they were … fascists?
Comandante, the new film from Edoardo De Angelis, won’t do much to clarify that disconnect, even though it actually hails from Italy and might be expected to do a bit more soul-searching. Naval officer Salvatore Todaro...
Hollywood knows exactly how to play it when it comes to portraying a second world war German officer. Get an actor like Christoph Waltz, stick him in a Nazi uniform, and have him strangle a kitten for fun before the opening credits finish. But when it comes to Italian characters from the same period, you can sometimes sense some cultural confusion kicking in. Surely Italy is that nice place with the gnocchi and olive oil? Hard to imagine they were … fascists?
Comandante, the new film from Edoardo De Angelis, won’t do much to clarify that disconnect, even though it actually hails from Italy and might be expected to do a bit more soul-searching. Naval officer Salvatore Todaro...
- 8/30/2023
- by Catherine Bray
- The Guardian - Film News
The title character of “Comandante,” Salvatore Todaro (Pierfrancesco Favino), is a submarine commander in the Italian Royal Navy who has a different spirit from the military machos we tend to encounter in movies. He’s certainly tough enough — a bruiser with a dark edge. “Comandante” is set during the early days of World War II (September and October 1940), and as Salvatore leads the crew of the Cappellini, an iron hulk of an underwater vessel equipped with a dozen torpedoes and a pair of machine guns, he’s not shy about his dedication to blowing up his enemies.
But he’s also a saddened romantic warrior with the heart of a poet. As the men prepare to board the sub, Salvatore assembles them for a pep talk, and his look is striking: the double-breasted brown leather coat, the coiffed hair and thick goatee, the gleam of burning-eyed fatalism. Favino resembles a...
But he’s also a saddened romantic warrior with the heart of a poet. As the men prepare to board the sub, Salvatore assembles them for a pep talk, and his look is striking: the double-breasted brown leather coat, the coiffed hair and thick goatee, the gleam of burning-eyed fatalism. Favino resembles a...
- 8/30/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
A 73m x 7m submarine was always going to be a left-field substitute for A-lister Zendaya after Luca Guadagnino’s hotly anticipated tennis movie Challengers was pulled from the Venice Film Festival’s prestigious opening-night slot. And although the gargantuan Cappellini is a formidable presence in Edoardo De Angelis’s 1940-set war drama, Comandante seems woefully out of its depth as a curtain-raiser to a festival still reckoning with the effects of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Held together by a very strong performance by Pierfrancesco Favino as sub commander Salvatore Todaro, De Angelis’ film takes a long time to set sail, beginning with a strange prologue in which we see Todaro plunging into the sea. This is his first brush with death, and it leaves him severely disabled, being forced to wear a back brace and prescribed serious doses of morphine. “I like you disabled,” says his wife, Rina...
Held together by a very strong performance by Pierfrancesco Favino as sub commander Salvatore Todaro, De Angelis’ film takes a long time to set sail, beginning with a strange prologue in which we see Todaro plunging into the sea. This is his first brush with death, and it leaves him severely disabled, being forced to wear a back brace and prescribed serious doses of morphine. “I like you disabled,” says his wife, Rina...
- 8/30/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
“Women writers and directors are working as hard as men. It’s not right if we don’t give them chance to be seen.”
Legendary Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani called for greater recognition of female filmmakers at the opening ceremony for the 80th Venice Film Festival this evening (August 30).
Ninety-year-old Cavani received the honorary Golden Lion award recognising her career, which spans seven decades.
“I’m the first female person to receive this award,” said Cavani. “There are women writers and directors who are working as well as men. It’s not quite right if we don’t give them a chance to be seen.
Legendary Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani called for greater recognition of female filmmakers at the opening ceremony for the 80th Venice Film Festival this evening (August 30).
Ninety-year-old Cavani received the honorary Golden Lion award recognising her career, which spans seven decades.
“I’m the first female person to receive this award,” said Cavani. “There are women writers and directors who are working as well as men. It’s not quite right if we don’t give them a chance to be seen.
- 8/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Film Festival kicks off its 80th edition on Wednesday with Italian director Edoardo De Angelis’s World War Two Italian submarine drama Comandante.
The Golden Lion contender was propelled into the prestigious opening slot in July when Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was pulled, as it became clear that the film’s starry cast topped by Zendaya would not be able to attend due to the actors’ strike.
Italian and Belgian talent will be leading the red carpet instead at the opening gala.
Multi-award-winning Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino leads the cast as real-life, Italian World War Two Submarine commander Salvatore Todaro.
As commander of the then brand new Italian submarine Cappellini, he led missions in the Atlantic alongside German U-boats sinking merchant sea vessels carrying supplies for the Allies.
He earned himself a place in history, however, after he defied orders and rescued 26 Belgian merchant...
The Golden Lion contender was propelled into the prestigious opening slot in July when Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was pulled, as it became clear that the film’s starry cast topped by Zendaya would not be able to attend due to the actors’ strike.
Italian and Belgian talent will be leading the red carpet instead at the opening gala.
Multi-award-winning Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino leads the cast as real-life, Italian World War Two Submarine commander Salvatore Todaro.
As commander of the then brand new Italian submarine Cappellini, he led missions in the Atlantic alongside German U-boats sinking merchant sea vessels carrying supplies for the Allies.
He earned himself a place in history, however, after he defied orders and rescued 26 Belgian merchant...
- 8/30/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The 80th Venice Film Festival kicks off Wednesday with a robust roster of awards season hopefuls making their bows, such as Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and David Fincher’s “The Killer,” accompanied by a smattering of stars.
As previously reported by Variety, the festival has confirmed that Adam Driver will be in Venice to promote “Ferrari” while Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, who play Priscilla and Elvis Presley in “Priscilla,” as well as Priscilla Presley herself, are also expected to be on the Lido. Jessica Chastain is expected to jet in for Mexican auteur Michel Franco’s “Memory,” which is screening toward the end of the fest.
Although Cooper is not coming to Venice, his Netflix drama about Leonard Bernstein will be promoted by the maestro’s progeny, Jamie and Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein Simmons.
All told, there will be enough actors,...
As previously reported by Variety, the festival has confirmed that Adam Driver will be in Venice to promote “Ferrari” while Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, who play Priscilla and Elvis Presley in “Priscilla,” as well as Priscilla Presley herself, are also expected to be on the Lido. Jessica Chastain is expected to jet in for Mexican auteur Michel Franco’s “Memory,” which is screening toward the end of the fest.
Although Cooper is not coming to Venice, his Netflix drama about Leonard Bernstein will be promoted by the maestro’s progeny, Jamie and Alexander Bernstein and Nina Bernstein Simmons.
All told, there will be enough actors,...
- 8/29/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
"Comandante" is a new 'submarine' thriller, set during 'World War II', directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Johan Heldenbergh, Massimiliano Rossi, Johannes Wirix, Silvia D’Amico and Paolo Bonacelli, releasing in North America Spring 2024:
"...based on the real-life story of 'Salvatore Todaro', the naval officer and submariner who saved 26 Belgian merchant seamen during World War II, "Comandante', follows 'Salvatore Todaro', Captain of the 'Cappellini' who leads in his own way: the bow is reinforced with steel, in the off-chance an opportunity to ram a ship arises and his crew is armed with daggers, should an unlikely hand-to-hand battle occurs..."
Click the images to enlarge...
"...based on the real-life story of 'Salvatore Todaro', the naval officer and submariner who saved 26 Belgian merchant seamen during World War II, "Comandante', follows 'Salvatore Todaro', Captain of the 'Cappellini' who leads in his own way: the bow is reinforced with steel, in the off-chance an opportunity to ram a ship arises and his crew is armed with daggers, should an unlikely hand-to-hand battle occurs..."
Click the images to enlarge...
- 8/27/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Being an independent producer was never easy. But these days, it’s near impossible. Even before the dual writers and actors strikes, changes in the international film and TV market had made life tough for the indies. Old models of art house moviemaking have been ravaged by a combination of decline in the specialty box office, the collapse of ancillary revenue for home entertainment and TV licensing, and the more recent pullback by streaming companies, who have begun to back fewer, and more mainstream, movies.
But one indie production company has gone from making just a handful of movies a year to dozens, finding a way to turn the turbulent new reality into a business model for making cutting-edge art house cinema that, shockingly, can actually turn a profit. It’s the company behind five of the most hotly anticipated titles at the Venice Film Festival this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things,...
But one indie production company has gone from making just a handful of movies a year to dozens, finding a way to turn the turbulent new reality into a business model for making cutting-edge art house cinema that, shockingly, can actually turn a profit. It’s the company behind five of the most hotly anticipated titles at the Venice Film Festival this year: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Hollywood Reporter has picked Fremantle as the winner of the inaugural International Producer of the Year award.
The award will be presented annually to an independent producer from outside the U.S. that THR judges to be the most exciting and innovative company of the year.
THR will present the 2023 Producer of the Year award to Andrea Scrosati, Group COO and CEO of Continental Europe, and Christian Vesper, CEO of Global Drama, at a gala event at the Venice Film Festival on September 3.
With a global network of nearly 50 companies — ranging from German giant UFA (Deutschland ’83) and Italian TV group Lux Vide (Netflix’s Medici) to Israel’s Abot Hameiri (Shtisel) and Richard Brown’s Passenger (True Detective) — and revenues of more than $2.5 billion (€2.3 billion) last year, Fremantle is clearly one of the biggest international indies out there.
But what put it over the top as International Producer of...
The award will be presented annually to an independent producer from outside the U.S. that THR judges to be the most exciting and innovative company of the year.
THR will present the 2023 Producer of the Year award to Andrea Scrosati, Group COO and CEO of Continental Europe, and Christian Vesper, CEO of Global Drama, at a gala event at the Venice Film Festival on September 3.
With a global network of nearly 50 companies — ranging from German giant UFA (Deutschland ’83) and Italian TV group Lux Vide (Netflix’s Medici) to Israel’s Abot Hameiri (Shtisel) and Richard Brown’s Passenger (True Detective) — and revenues of more than $2.5 billion (€2.3 billion) last year, Fremantle is clearly one of the biggest international indies out there.
But what put it over the top as International Producer of...
- 8/23/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Comandante’ (The Commander) is a war drama film co-written and directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino. The film is set to open the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival on September 30th.
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
‘Comandante’ (The Commander) is a war drama film co-written and directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino. The film is set to open the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival on September 30th.
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Rome-based sales agency True Colours has added Edoardo de Angelis’ “Comandante,” which opens the Venice Film Festival, to its slate. The film, which plays in the main competition section, stars Pierfrancesco Favino.
“Comandante” is based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.
One night, while navigating in the Atlantic, the Italian vessel sinks an armed Belgian merchant ship, and Todaro decides to take the 26 shipwrecked crew members on board his already crowded submarine, aiming for the nearest safe harbor to release them. It is an unexpected action in the context of war, but follows the law of the sea, and endangers his life as well as that of his men, since the submarine has to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces.
“Comandante” is based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.
One night, while navigating in the Atlantic, the Italian vessel sinks an armed Belgian merchant ship, and Todaro decides to take the 26 shipwrecked crew members on board his already crowded submarine, aiming for the nearest safe harbor to release them. It is an unexpected action in the context of war, but follows the law of the sea, and endangers his life as well as that of his men, since the submarine has to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces.
- 8/10/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The Venice Film Festival on Tuesday released a star-studded and A-list heavy lineup of films that will debut at the 2023 Biennale, including the films vying for this year’s Golden Lion. This was done despite the ongoing SAG-AFTRA actors and WGA writers strike.
Read More: ‘Challengers,’ Starring Zendaya, Will Skip Venice Premiere Due To Actors Strike, Moves To 2024
This fall’s Venice International Film Festival will mark the world premieres of a number of films, including Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” David Fincher’s “The Killer” and Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein drama “Maestro.”
The ménage à trois tennis thriller “Challengers,” directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, was originally scheduled to open the 2023 Venice Film Festival in an out-of-competition position.
However, it was dropped last week when MGM stated it would delay the tennis drama’s release date to April 26, 2024.
The...
Read More: ‘Challengers,’ Starring Zendaya, Will Skip Venice Premiere Due To Actors Strike, Moves To 2024
This fall’s Venice International Film Festival will mark the world premieres of a number of films, including Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” David Fincher’s “The Killer” and Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein drama “Maestro.”
The ménage à trois tennis thriller “Challengers,” directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist, was originally scheduled to open the 2023 Venice Film Festival in an out-of-competition position.
However, it was dropped last week when MGM stated it would delay the tennis drama’s release date to April 26, 2024.
The...
- 7/25/2023
- by Aashna Shah
- ET Canada
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