Venice Critics’ Week has announced the line-up for its 38th edition, running August 30 to September 9 alongside the Venice Film Festival.
The seven competition titles include UK director Moin Hussain’s debut feature Sky Peals about a lonely man working the night shifts at a motorway service station with little human contact or connection. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, Adam finds himself piecing together a complicated image of a man that he never really knew and uncovers details of his life that he struggles to comprehend.
Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-Chi’s will also unveil his directorial debut Love Is A Gun about a petty criminal whose attempts to build a quiet life following his release from prison are upended by the reappearance of his former boss, his debt-ridden mother and an old friend.
The competition titles will compete for the €5,000 Grand Prize and the €3,000 Audience Award. The selection...
The seven competition titles include UK director Moin Hussain’s debut feature Sky Peals about a lonely man working the night shifts at a motorway service station with little human contact or connection. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, Adam finds himself piecing together a complicated image of a man that he never really knew and uncovers details of his life that he struggles to comprehend.
Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-Chi’s will also unveil his directorial debut Love Is A Gun about a petty criminal whose attempts to build a quiet life following his release from prison are upended by the reappearance of his former boss, his debt-ridden mother and an old friend.
The competition titles will compete for the €5,000 Grand Prize and the €3,000 Audience Award. The selection...
- 7/24/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on Italian-American actor-director John Turturro, who stars in Richard Price and Steve Zaillian’s widely hailed limited series “The Night Of” (HBO).
Bottom Line: For 37 years, versatile New York actor John Turturro has delivered memorable characters who can be incredibly smart (“Quiz Show”) or insanely stupid (bowler Jesus Quintano in “The Big Lebowski”), lovable (“Fading Gigolo”) or menacing (the pool hustler in Martin Scorsese’s “The Color Of Money”). He’s a go-to player for both the Coens and Spike Lee as well as a reliable character actor for Hollywood tentpoles such as “The Transformers.”
Career Peaks: After winning a scholarship to the Yale Drama School and performing Ibsen, Ionesco, and John Patrick Shanley off-Broadway, Turturro got stuck playing violent killers in films like “Five Corners...
Bottom Line: For 37 years, versatile New York actor John Turturro has delivered memorable characters who can be incredibly smart (“Quiz Show”) or insanely stupid (bowler Jesus Quintano in “The Big Lebowski”), lovable (“Fading Gigolo”) or menacing (the pool hustler in Martin Scorsese’s “The Color Of Money”). He’s a go-to player for both the Coens and Spike Lee as well as a reliable character actor for Hollywood tentpoles such as “The Transformers.”
Career Peaks: After winning a scholarship to the Yale Drama School and performing Ibsen, Ionesco, and John Patrick Shanley off-Broadway, Turturro got stuck playing violent killers in films like “Five Corners...
- 7/31/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Welcome to Career Watch, a vocational checkup of top actors and directors, and those who hope to get there. In this edition we take on Italian-American actor-director John Turturro, who stars in Richard Price and Steve Zaillian’s widely hailed limited series “The Night Of” (HBO).
Bottom Line: For 37 years, versatile New York actor John Turturro has delivered memorable characters who can be incredibly smart (“Quiz Show”) or insanely stupid (bowler Jesus Quintano in “The Big Lebowski”), lovable (“Fading Gigolo”) or menacing (the pool hustler in Martin Scorsese’s “The Color Of Money”). He’s a go-to player for both the Coens and Spike Lee as well as a reliable character actor for Hollywood tentpoles such as “The Transformers.”
Career Peaks: After winning a scholarship to the Yale Drama School and performing Ibsen, Ionesco, and John Patrick Shanley off-Broadway, Turturro got stuck playing violent killers in films like “Five Corners...
Bottom Line: For 37 years, versatile New York actor John Turturro has delivered memorable characters who can be incredibly smart (“Quiz Show”) or insanely stupid (bowler Jesus Quintano in “The Big Lebowski”), lovable (“Fading Gigolo”) or menacing (the pool hustler in Martin Scorsese’s “The Color Of Money”). He’s a go-to player for both the Coens and Spike Lee as well as a reliable character actor for Hollywood tentpoles such as “The Transformers.”
Career Peaks: After winning a scholarship to the Yale Drama School and performing Ibsen, Ionesco, and John Patrick Shanley off-Broadway, Turturro got stuck playing violent killers in films like “Five Corners...
- 7/31/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
No Italian-American actor loves returning to Italy to work in local films more than John Turturro. He played Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi in the late Francesco Rosi’s 1997 feature The Truce. Turturro frequently collaborates with director-cinematographer Marco Pontecorvo, who directed the actor in this year’s Tempo instabile con probabili schiarite and also shot the actor’s directorials Fading Gigolo and his Naples music doc Passione. Turturro holds dual citizenship in…...
- 5/19/2015
- Deadline
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman August 14th, 2014
Despite his appearance and the roles you’ve often seen him in before, it turns out that actor John Turturro is one sexy stud! In Fading Gigolo he’s nothing like the nervous genius he played in Quiz Show, or the angry hothead from Do The Right Thing, or that weasel Bernie Bernbaum he played in Miller’S Crossing. No, in Fading Gigolo, which Turturro wrote, directed, and starred in, he played Fioravante, an honest-to-goodness gigolo whose eagerly-paying clientele include Sofia Vergara and Sharon Stone! With Woody Allen as Murray, his unlikely pimp, Fading Gigolo sounds like the most oddball vanity project project to come down the pike in decades. But Fading Gigolo was a funny, gentle, and surprisingly sensitive comedy with a witty script, amusing characters and a jazzy sense of life in New York that felt like an old-fashioned Woody Allen movie,...
Despite his appearance and the roles you’ve often seen him in before, it turns out that actor John Turturro is one sexy stud! In Fading Gigolo he’s nothing like the nervous genius he played in Quiz Show, or the angry hothead from Do The Right Thing, or that weasel Bernie Bernbaum he played in Miller’S Crossing. No, in Fading Gigolo, which Turturro wrote, directed, and starred in, he played Fioravante, an honest-to-goodness gigolo whose eagerly-paying clientele include Sofia Vergara and Sharon Stone! With Woody Allen as Murray, his unlikely pimp, Fading Gigolo sounds like the most oddball vanity project project to come down the pike in decades. But Fading Gigolo was a funny, gentle, and surprisingly sensitive comedy with a witty script, amusing characters and a jazzy sense of life in New York that felt like an old-fashioned Woody Allen movie,...
- 8/21/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
John Turturro's career as a director has been picking up steam in the last few years with the likes of Romance And Cigarettes, Passione and, most recently, Fading Gigolo, in which he also co-starred with Woody Allen. Shoring up those gigs behind the camera have been higher-profile roles in things like the Transformers films, but he remains perhaps best known for his four collaborations with the Coen Brothers (Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?). It's one of those in particular that continues to fire his imagination, to the extent that he wants to make a spin-off. Turturro has serious plans to revisit The Big Lebowski's preening bowler Jesus Quintana for a project of his own.Quintana, you'll recall, was The Dude's arch nemesis at the alley. The creep could roll, man, but he was also a pervert. As described by John Goodman's less-than-tolerant Walter Sobchak,...
- 6/25/2014
- EmpireOnline
Actor John Turturro may be best known as one of the screen’s best character actors who has been a part of the repertory companies of both Spike Lee (Do The Right Thing, Jungle Fever) and the Coen brothers (Miller’S Crossing, The Big Lebowsky), but he’s begun to make a name for himself behind the camera as well. After directing the music based documentary Passione in 2010 he has now directed his fourth dramatic feature (Mac in 1992, Illuminata in 1998, and the musical Romance And Cigarettes in 2005). Well, this a more of a comedy. To be more precise it’s a New York City-based comedy, much in the same vein as Woody Allen’s 70′s and 80′s classics (for the last few years Woody’s been shooting his stories in Europe and with last year’s Blue Jasmine in ‘gasp’ California). And guess who Mr. Turturro is directing and sharing scenes with?...
- 5/8/2014
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
John Turturro Talks 'Fading Gigolo,' Women, Sex, Woody Allen and That Elephant in the Room (Trailer)
Director John Turturro arguably is the only filmmaker who’d ever think of casting actor John Turturro as an attentive escort who's handsomely paid for his sexual favors by exceptionally attractive -- and extremely grateful -- women. "Fading Gigolo" is the newest addition to his list of directorial credits, an inventory that also includes "Mac" (1992), his affectionate portrait of a workaholic building contractor not unlike Turturro's own dad, and "Passione," which was screened with Turturro in attendance at the 2010 Houston Cinema Arts Festival. Turturro called a few days ago to discuss his work on both sides of the camera for "Fading Gigolo." The 57-year-old multihyphenate sounded justly proud of the movie's early success during bookings in New York and Los Angeles -- and seemed optimistic that audiences elsewhere also would embrace the film, offbeat casting and all. Highlights from Joe Leydon's interview with Turturro for Culture Map below. Read...
- 5/5/2014
- by Joe Leydon
- Thompson on Hollywood
For all you Woody Allen haters out there, this might help bring him back into your good graces. Maybe.
It's been three years since John Turturro's last film ("Passione"), and you probably didn't see it. He's now back in the director's chair for "Fading Gigolo," which has a stellar cast -- the movie stars Turturro, Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Liev Schreiber, and Vanessa Paradis, among others.
The plot is just as it sounds: someone's becoming a gigolo. Main character Fioravante (Turturro) decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray (Allen). With Murray acting as his "manager," the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the complicated world where love intersects with money.
(Click image for full-sized poster, below.)
"Fading Gigolo" is slated for release in Canada on May 23, 2014. It has a tentative U.S. release date of...
It's been three years since John Turturro's last film ("Passione"), and you probably didn't see it. He's now back in the director's chair for "Fading Gigolo," which has a stellar cast -- the movie stars Turturro, Allen, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Liev Schreiber, and Vanessa Paradis, among others.
The plot is just as it sounds: someone's becoming a gigolo. Main character Fioravante (Turturro) decides to become a professional Don Juan as a way of making money to help his cash-strapped friend, Murray (Allen). With Murray acting as his "manager," the duo quickly finds themselves caught up in the complicated world where love intersects with money.
(Click image for full-sized poster, below.)
"Fading Gigolo" is slated for release in Canada on May 23, 2014. It has a tentative U.S. release date of...
- 3/7/2014
- by Chris Jancelewicz
- Moviefone
Late as usual. People are attending Mipcom in Cannes and in November Afm in Santa Monica, and I’m only now getting around to writing about my own private Toronto. I chose films I would not be able to see soon in a theater near me and I chose films because my schedule permitted me to see them. Occasionally I chose films my friends were going to and that happened when my time was not demanding other things be done.
I wish I could have seen 100 other films too but for some reason or another I could not fit them in.
I moderated a wonderful panel (and we did blog on that!) on international film financing with Sffs’ Ted Hope, UTA’s Rena Ronson, Revolution’s Andrew Eaton, and Hollywood-based Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver, and Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute, Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals.
I also spoke with Toronto Talent Lab filmmakers and then I filled my days with films – I did get an interview with Gloria’s director Sebastian Lelio and Berlin Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia and with Marcela Said, director of The Summer of Flying Fish but mostly I watched film after film after film – up to five a day, just like in the old days when I had to do it for my acquisitions jobs. This was pure pleasure. Friends would meet before the film, we would watch and disperse. And we would meet again at the cocktail hour or the dinner hour and then disperse again.
My partner Peter had lots of meetings with the Talent of Toronto from the Not Short on Shorts and the Talent Lab Mentoring Programs.
Parties like the Rotterdam-Screen International party gave us the chance to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we have not seen for the last two years. Ontario Media Development Corporation’s presenting the International Financing Forum luncheon gave us the chance to talk to lots of upcoming filmmakers and old friends again who were mentoring them. The panel Forty Years On: Women’s Film Festivals Today, moderated by Kay Armatage, former Tiff programmer, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto, and featuring Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, NYC, Melissa Silverstein, Do-Fojnder an dArtistic Director of the Athena Film Festival in NYC and blogger of Women in Hollywood, So-In Hong, Director of Programming of the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul had a rapport and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other. It felt like a party even though the subject was quite serious. The SXSW party was crowded as always, filled with everyone we could possibly know. It is always a great party we all want to attend.
One of the great dinners was that of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Dinner honoring Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave), Hill Harper (1982, CSI: NY), Sharon Leal (1982), Matt Letscher (Scandal, The Carrie Diaries), Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficient), Tommy Oliver (1982, Kinyarwanda – I am a great fan of Tommy’s!), Tom Ortenberg (CEO, Open Road Films which has a coventure with Regal Theaters and AMC Theaters recently acquired by the richest man in China), and David Arquette (The Scream series). Our hostess, Robin Bronk is so welcoming and so dedicated to furthering the cause of universal education as a human right, education in the arts as a must. I admire her presence and her good work.
Here is a list of the great (and not so great, but never bad) films I got to see. I also list those I continue to hear about even now. I do not list all the films which were picked up during the festival and later. For that, you can go to SydneysBuzz.com and buy the Fall Rights Roundup 2013 and see all films whose rights were acquired (and announced) and by whom with links to all companies and Cinando for further research. For buyers it will, by deduction, show what is still available for Afm and for programmers, it will show who is in charge of the film for specific territories. The second edition will be issued two weeks after Afm.
One of the first films I saw and still retaining its place as one of my favorites was the documentary Finding Vivian Maier which begins with the discovery of photographs by an unknown woman named Vivian Maier by filmmaker John Maloof. As the mystery of this woman is uncovered, the audience is treated to her stunning work and the story of who she was.
One of my favorite films was by one of my favorite directors, Lucas Moodyson. We Are The Best (Isa: Trust Nordisk) was a great surprise, the story of three teeny-bopper punk-influenced girls who loved getting into unusual situations. It was loving and fun, darling and funny. I would take my children to see it and would delight in seeing it again. It was the biggest surprise for me. I can see why Magnolia snapped it up for the U.S. I thank programmer Steve Gravenstock for giving me the ticket for this film which I would have missed otherwise.
I had missed Jodorowsky’s Dune in Cannes. I am a great fan of El Topo and was eager to see this film. I was surprised at the elegance and skill of Jodorowsky in explaining his vision. Afterward, Gary Springer, our favorite publicist, arranged a wonderful reception at a classic comic book store where we loaded up on some fascinating graphic novels and Gary showed us his depiction on an old issue of Mad Magazine discussing the making of Jaws which he was in. picture here.
A totally unique and unexpected film about the African Diaspora, Belle, written and directed by Amma Asante was not talked about much to my surprise, perhaps because Fox Searchlight acquired all rights worldwide from Bankside before the festival. It is a stunningly beautiful British period piece of the 18th century about a mixed race aristocratic beauty.
My favorite film, on a par with The Patience Stone last year was Bobo (Isa: Wide) by Ines Oliveira starring Paula Garcia Aissato Indjai, produced by my friend Fernando Vendrell who gave me a ticket when I could not get one myself. This story of a woman who does nothing except go to work is forced to accept a claning woman and her young sister from Guinea-Bissau. Together they face down their demons. I love the cross-cultural understanding which results in their shared situations. I recently saw Mother of George and found the same warm connection across great cultural divides, though this one was of generations.
I wish I could have seen Pays Barbare/ Barbaric Land, the Italian/ French doc in Wavelengths about Mussolini’s attempted subjugation of Ethiopia (the only country in Africa never colonized). It sounds like great political poetry.
1982 which had previously won the prize of the jury I served on for Us Works in Progress held in July at the Champs Elysees Film Festival in Paris. It was deeply moving and disturbing film which depicts the shattering and the healing of a family. It also helps feed the pipeline begun with Lee Daniels producing Monster’s Ball who went on to direct to such films as Precious and The Butler. If the African American experience can continue to be expressed so eloquently by such filmmakers as Tommy Oliver, Rashaad Ernesto Green (Sundance 2012’s Gun Hill Road), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), then a film literate audience will foster greater growth of even more talent in the coming generation. While I didn’t see All Is By My Side by U.K.’s John Ridley which is about Jimi Hendrix nor (yet!) the most highly acclaimed film of the festival, 12 Years a Slave by U.K.’s Steve McQueen, but I would include them in this discussion of the African American Experience.
On the subject of Africa, where last Sundance God Loves Uganda shocked and upset me, this year Mission Congo (Cinephil) revealed much of the same cultural divide only these two films show the negative impact of the Christian right upon already besieged Africans. What is done in the name of a righteous G-d is cause for dialogue and oversight.
Israel and the Middle East
No major turmoil or denunciations this year (Thank G-d, Allah, or whoever She may be). Katriel Schory, head of the Israeli Film Fund told me that if I could only see one film, then it should be Bethlehem which is the country’s submission for Academy Award Consideration for the Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was a sad and clear eyed microcosmic view of the issues of trust and betrayals played out among every level of the society. People compared it to Omar by Hany Abu-Assad,the filmmaker of a favorite of mine, Paradise Now, but I did not see Omar.
Rags and Tatters at first seemed like a documentary, and does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.
Latino
Of the Latino films two Chilean films, Gloria (Chile) and The Summer of Flying Fish (Review), were accompanied by interviews which you can read on my previous blogs here and here. El Mudo from Peru by the Vega brothers was in the odd vien of their previous film, October. Not sure at the end just what the film was saying…
Toronto Film Fest Programmer Diana Sanchez’s official count of Latino films in the festival is 16. Of these, 5 are by women; 30% is a strong number. Venezuela and Chile are strong with year with two films each. Two other films might have been chosen except they went to San Sebastian for their world premieres. Especially hot this year was Mexico. 4 films are here but she might have chosen 10 if she could have. Costa Rica is making a showing with All About the Feathers and Central America is making more movies. There is lots of industry buzz coming from the good pictures from Brazil like A Wolf at the Door from Sao Paolo production
She is not counting Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron as as Latino film but as a U.S. film.
And Our White Society
The Dinner (Isa: Media Luna) by Menno Meyjes ♀ (Isa: Media Luna), a Dutch film deals with the personal and political as two families disintegrate when the affluent sons kill a homeless woman. Deeply disturbing social issues on the other side of the spectrum from those of 1982 and yet very much the same. How a society can foster such dissonance in class structure today which results in the disintegration of family and even a nation’s political life is, as I said, deeply disturbing. Based on the N.Y. Times best selling book which sold over 650,000 in The Netherlands, and is published in 22 countries, it stars four of Holland’s most renowned actors, Jacob Derwig, Thekla Reuten, Daan Schuurmans, and Kim van Kooten. This is a story that could be remade in America and still maintain its strength. The writer-director Menno Meyjes wrote the Academy Award nominee The Color Purple and collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008 he directed Manolete with Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody.
The Last of Robin Hood was a romp which thrilled us because Peter Belsito, my own dear husband, had a moment on screen (as the director of Errol Flynn’s last film Cuban Rebel Girls). He got the part because he had had an equally small role in the original Cuban Rebel Girls when it filmed in Cuba in 1959, four months after the Revolution. He happened to be there on vacation with his family including his 18 year old sister and his crazy aunt because Puerto Rico was full that year and Cuba had plenty of room. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland invited him to play in their film. The film actually had more meaning than merely a romp as it revealed what lays below the June-September love affair between Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland, the nature of fame (“a religion in this godless country” to quote Flynn himself) and ambition. Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandan and Dakota Fanning were all great in the repertoire piece.
Can a Song Save Your Life? garnered great praise as the film that followed the simple pure Once. I found it a bit flat though it kept my interest enough that I was not contemplating leaving. But it lacked the simplicity of Once.
Fading Gigolo proves that a Woody Allen Film is a Genre. John Turturro makes a Woody Allen middle-aged man fantasy of a wished for love affair with a Hasidic woman. Turturro is always lovable on screen, but his directing has something inauthentic about it…the only authentic thing was the twice-stated thought that somewhere in his heritage he was really Jewish. When I saw his previous film Passione, about Italians and passion, the opening song, being one of the first Cuban songs I ever heard, turned me off because again, it was inauthentic. It was Cuban, not Italian. I think he is not comfortable in his Italian guise.
Other films at Tiff I have seen previously:
Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Isa: HanWay, U.S. Spc). If you can see it as a dream of night, then the vampires dreaminess might appeal to you. I personally was ready to fall into my own stupor after watching this 123 minute movie of Vampires who have seen it all. Zzzzzz.
Don Jon is sexy and sweet. Scarlett Johansson is a superb comedienne, equal to Claudette Colbert in this film about two totally media mesmerized young lovers. ___ and his father are also great straight men. I loved this film, so funny and sweet and all about sex. Loved it!
Borgman Darkest humor, or is it humor? Creepy and definitely engrossing. Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam at his best. This is the Netherlands' Official Academy Awards Submission.
What I hear was good:
Aside from the ones that got snapped up for lots of money and are covered in all the trades already, there are films which I keep hearing about even now and will see:
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
The Lunchbox (Isa: The Match Factory)
Prisoners (Isa: Summit/ Lionsgate, U.S.: Warner Bros)
Dallas Buyers Clubs (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Life of Crime (Isa: Hyde Park, U.S.: )
A Touch of Sin (Isa: MK2, U.S. Kino Lorber)
Gravity (Isa: Warner Bros. U.S. Warner Bros.)
Enough Said (Isa: Fox Searchlight, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Criterion) Italy’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Violette (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S.: ?)
Omar (Isa: The Match Factory, U.S.: ?)
Le Passe (The Past) (Isa: Memento, U.S. Spc) Iran’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
To the Wolf (Isa: Pascale Ramonda)
The Selfish Giant (Isa: Protagonist, U.S. IFC)
At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Zipporah)
The Unknown Known (Isa: Entertainment One, U.S. Radius-twc)
Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyager) by Marcel Ophuls (Isa: Wide House)
Faith Connections by Pan Nalin (Isa: Cite Films). This Indian French film, produced by Raphael Berduo among others is written about here.
Civil Rights (?)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
Belle (Isa: Bankside, all rights sold to Fox Searchlight)
Lgbt
Kill Your Darlings: The youthful finding of himself by Alan Ginsburg as he enters Colombia University and meets Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac and Alan Bourroughs revolves around a murder which actually happened. The period veracity and Daniel Radcliffe’s acting carry the film into a fascinating character study. (U.S. Spc)
Dallas Buyers Club (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Tom a la ferme / Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan Isa: MK2, U.S.:)
L’Armee du salut/ Salvation Army by Abdellah Taia (Isa: - U.S.:-)
Eastern Boys (Isa: Films Distribution)
Pelo Malo/ Bad Hair (FiGa Films)
The Dog (Producer Rep: Submarine)
Ignasi M. (Isa: Latido)
Gerontophilia (Isa: MK2, U.S. Producer Rep: Filmoption)...
I wish I could have seen 100 other films too but for some reason or another I could not fit them in.
I moderated a wonderful panel (and we did blog on that!) on international film financing with Sffs’ Ted Hope, UTA’s Rena Ronson, Revolution’s Andrew Eaton, and Hollywood-based Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver, and Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute, Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals.
I also spoke with Toronto Talent Lab filmmakers and then I filled my days with films – I did get an interview with Gloria’s director Sebastian Lelio and Berlin Best Actress winner Paulina Garcia and with Marcela Said, director of The Summer of Flying Fish but mostly I watched film after film after film – up to five a day, just like in the old days when I had to do it for my acquisitions jobs. This was pure pleasure. Friends would meet before the film, we would watch and disperse. And we would meet again at the cocktail hour or the dinner hour and then disperse again.
My partner Peter had lots of meetings with the Talent of Toronto from the Not Short on Shorts and the Talent Lab Mentoring Programs.
Parties like the Rotterdam-Screen International party gave us the chance to catch up with our Dutch friends whom we have not seen for the last two years. Ontario Media Development Corporation’s presenting the International Financing Forum luncheon gave us the chance to talk to lots of upcoming filmmakers and old friends again who were mentoring them. The panel Forty Years On: Women’s Film Festivals Today, moderated by Kay Armatage, former Tiff programmer, Professor Emeritus University of Toronto, and featuring Debra Zimmerman, Executive Director of Women Make Movies, NYC, Melissa Silverstein, Do-Fojnder an dArtistic Director of the Athena Film Festival in NYC and blogger of Women in Hollywood, So-In Hong, Director of Programming of the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul had a rapport and didn’t hesitate to challenge each other. It felt like a party even though the subject was quite serious. The SXSW party was crowded as always, filled with everyone we could possibly know. It is always a great party we all want to attend.
One of the great dinners was that of The Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards Dinner honoring Alfre Woodard (12 Years a Slave), Hill Harper (1982, CSI: NY), Sharon Leal (1982), Matt Letscher (Scandal, The Carrie Diaries), Brenton Thwaites (Oculus, Maleficient), Tommy Oliver (1982, Kinyarwanda – I am a great fan of Tommy’s!), Tom Ortenberg (CEO, Open Road Films which has a coventure with Regal Theaters and AMC Theaters recently acquired by the richest man in China), and David Arquette (The Scream series). Our hostess, Robin Bronk is so welcoming and so dedicated to furthering the cause of universal education as a human right, education in the arts as a must. I admire her presence and her good work.
Here is a list of the great (and not so great, but never bad) films I got to see. I also list those I continue to hear about even now. I do not list all the films which were picked up during the festival and later. For that, you can go to SydneysBuzz.com and buy the Fall Rights Roundup 2013 and see all films whose rights were acquired (and announced) and by whom with links to all companies and Cinando for further research. For buyers it will, by deduction, show what is still available for Afm and for programmers, it will show who is in charge of the film for specific territories. The second edition will be issued two weeks after Afm.
One of the first films I saw and still retaining its place as one of my favorites was the documentary Finding Vivian Maier which begins with the discovery of photographs by an unknown woman named Vivian Maier by filmmaker John Maloof. As the mystery of this woman is uncovered, the audience is treated to her stunning work and the story of who she was.
One of my favorite films was by one of my favorite directors, Lucas Moodyson. We Are The Best (Isa: Trust Nordisk) was a great surprise, the story of three teeny-bopper punk-influenced girls who loved getting into unusual situations. It was loving and fun, darling and funny. I would take my children to see it and would delight in seeing it again. It was the biggest surprise for me. I can see why Magnolia snapped it up for the U.S. I thank programmer Steve Gravenstock for giving me the ticket for this film which I would have missed otherwise.
I had missed Jodorowsky’s Dune in Cannes. I am a great fan of El Topo and was eager to see this film. I was surprised at the elegance and skill of Jodorowsky in explaining his vision. Afterward, Gary Springer, our favorite publicist, arranged a wonderful reception at a classic comic book store where we loaded up on some fascinating graphic novels and Gary showed us his depiction on an old issue of Mad Magazine discussing the making of Jaws which he was in. picture here.
A totally unique and unexpected film about the African Diaspora, Belle, written and directed by Amma Asante was not talked about much to my surprise, perhaps because Fox Searchlight acquired all rights worldwide from Bankside before the festival. It is a stunningly beautiful British period piece of the 18th century about a mixed race aristocratic beauty.
My favorite film, on a par with The Patience Stone last year was Bobo (Isa: Wide) by Ines Oliveira starring Paula Garcia Aissato Indjai, produced by my friend Fernando Vendrell who gave me a ticket when I could not get one myself. This story of a woman who does nothing except go to work is forced to accept a claning woman and her young sister from Guinea-Bissau. Together they face down their demons. I love the cross-cultural understanding which results in their shared situations. I recently saw Mother of George and found the same warm connection across great cultural divides, though this one was of generations.
I wish I could have seen Pays Barbare/ Barbaric Land, the Italian/ French doc in Wavelengths about Mussolini’s attempted subjugation of Ethiopia (the only country in Africa never colonized). It sounds like great political poetry.
1982 which had previously won the prize of the jury I served on for Us Works in Progress held in July at the Champs Elysees Film Festival in Paris. It was deeply moving and disturbing film which depicts the shattering and the healing of a family. It also helps feed the pipeline begun with Lee Daniels producing Monster’s Ball who went on to direct to such films as Precious and The Butler. If the African American experience can continue to be expressed so eloquently by such filmmakers as Tommy Oliver, Rashaad Ernesto Green (Sundance 2012’s Gun Hill Road), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), then a film literate audience will foster greater growth of even more talent in the coming generation. While I didn’t see All Is By My Side by U.K.’s John Ridley which is about Jimi Hendrix nor (yet!) the most highly acclaimed film of the festival, 12 Years a Slave by U.K.’s Steve McQueen, but I would include them in this discussion of the African American Experience.
On the subject of Africa, where last Sundance God Loves Uganda shocked and upset me, this year Mission Congo (Cinephil) revealed much of the same cultural divide only these two films show the negative impact of the Christian right upon already besieged Africans. What is done in the name of a righteous G-d is cause for dialogue and oversight.
Israel and the Middle East
No major turmoil or denunciations this year (Thank G-d, Allah, or whoever She may be). Katriel Schory, head of the Israeli Film Fund told me that if I could only see one film, then it should be Bethlehem which is the country’s submission for Academy Award Consideration for the Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It was a sad and clear eyed microcosmic view of the issues of trust and betrayals played out among every level of the society. People compared it to Omar by Hany Abu-Assad,the filmmaker of a favorite of mine, Paradise Now, but I did not see Omar.
Rags and Tatters at first seemed like a documentary, and does have doc footage, but it is a circular story that ends where it began but with much more understanding of the chaotic events in Cairo. Really worth watching.
Latino
Of the Latino films two Chilean films, Gloria (Chile) and The Summer of Flying Fish (Review), were accompanied by interviews which you can read on my previous blogs here and here. El Mudo from Peru by the Vega brothers was in the odd vien of their previous film, October. Not sure at the end just what the film was saying…
Toronto Film Fest Programmer Diana Sanchez’s official count of Latino films in the festival is 16. Of these, 5 are by women; 30% is a strong number. Venezuela and Chile are strong with year with two films each. Two other films might have been chosen except they went to San Sebastian for their world premieres. Especially hot this year was Mexico. 4 films are here but she might have chosen 10 if she could have. Costa Rica is making a showing with All About the Feathers and Central America is making more movies. There is lots of industry buzz coming from the good pictures from Brazil like A Wolf at the Door from Sao Paolo production
She is not counting Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron as as Latino film but as a U.S. film.
And Our White Society
The Dinner (Isa: Media Luna) by Menno Meyjes ♀ (Isa: Media Luna), a Dutch film deals with the personal and political as two families disintegrate when the affluent sons kill a homeless woman. Deeply disturbing social issues on the other side of the spectrum from those of 1982 and yet very much the same. How a society can foster such dissonance in class structure today which results in the disintegration of family and even a nation’s political life is, as I said, deeply disturbing. Based on the N.Y. Times best selling book which sold over 650,000 in The Netherlands, and is published in 22 countries, it stars four of Holland’s most renowned actors, Jacob Derwig, Thekla Reuten, Daan Schuurmans, and Kim van Kooten. This is a story that could be remade in America and still maintain its strength. The writer-director Menno Meyjes wrote the Academy Award nominee The Color Purple and collaborated with director Steven Speilberg on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In 2008 he directed Manolete with Penelope Cruz and Adrien Brody.
The Last of Robin Hood was a romp which thrilled us because Peter Belsito, my own dear husband, had a moment on screen (as the director of Errol Flynn’s last film Cuban Rebel Girls). He got the part because he had had an equally small role in the original Cuban Rebel Girls when it filmed in Cuba in 1959, four months after the Revolution. He happened to be there on vacation with his family including his 18 year old sister and his crazy aunt because Puerto Rico was full that year and Cuba had plenty of room. Directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland invited him to play in their film. The film actually had more meaning than merely a romp as it revealed what lays below the June-September love affair between Errol Flynn and 15 year old Beverly Aadland, the nature of fame (“a religion in this godless country” to quote Flynn himself) and ambition. Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandan and Dakota Fanning were all great in the repertoire piece.
Can a Song Save Your Life? garnered great praise as the film that followed the simple pure Once. I found it a bit flat though it kept my interest enough that I was not contemplating leaving. But it lacked the simplicity of Once.
Fading Gigolo proves that a Woody Allen Film is a Genre. John Turturro makes a Woody Allen middle-aged man fantasy of a wished for love affair with a Hasidic woman. Turturro is always lovable on screen, but his directing has something inauthentic about it…the only authentic thing was the twice-stated thought that somewhere in his heritage he was really Jewish. When I saw his previous film Passione, about Italians and passion, the opening song, being one of the first Cuban songs I ever heard, turned me off because again, it was inauthentic. It was Cuban, not Italian. I think he is not comfortable in his Italian guise.
Other films at Tiff I have seen previously:
Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Isa: HanWay, U.S. Spc). If you can see it as a dream of night, then the vampires dreaminess might appeal to you. I personally was ready to fall into my own stupor after watching this 123 minute movie of Vampires who have seen it all. Zzzzzz.
Don Jon is sexy and sweet. Scarlett Johansson is a superb comedienne, equal to Claudette Colbert in this film about two totally media mesmerized young lovers. ___ and his father are also great straight men. I loved this film, so funny and sweet and all about sex. Loved it!
Borgman Darkest humor, or is it humor? Creepy and definitely engrossing. Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam at his best. This is the Netherlands' Official Academy Awards Submission.
What I hear was good:
Aside from the ones that got snapped up for lots of money and are covered in all the trades already, there are films which I keep hearing about even now and will see:
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
The Lunchbox (Isa: The Match Factory)
Prisoners (Isa: Summit/ Lionsgate, U.S.: Warner Bros)
Dallas Buyers Clubs (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Life of Crime (Isa: Hyde Park, U.S.: )
A Touch of Sin (Isa: MK2, U.S. Kino Lorber)
Gravity (Isa: Warner Bros. U.S. Warner Bros.)
Enough Said (Isa: Fox Searchlight, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Criterion) Italy’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Violette (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S.: ?)
Omar (Isa: The Match Factory, U.S.: ?)
Le Passe (The Past) (Isa: Memento, U.S. Spc) Iran’s submission for Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
To the Wolf (Isa: Pascale Ramonda)
The Selfish Giant (Isa: Protagonist, U.S. IFC)
At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Zipporah)
The Unknown Known (Isa: Entertainment One, U.S. Radius-twc)
Ain’t Misbehavin (Un Voyager) by Marcel Ophuls (Isa: Wide House)
Faith Connections by Pan Nalin (Isa: Cite Films). This Indian French film, produced by Raphael Berduo among others is written about here.
Civil Rights (?)
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
12 Years a Slave (Isa: Summit, U.S. Fox Searchlight)
Belle (Isa: Bankside, all rights sold to Fox Searchlight)
Lgbt
Kill Your Darlings: The youthful finding of himself by Alan Ginsburg as he enters Colombia University and meets Lucien Carr, Jack Kerouac and Alan Bourroughs revolves around a murder which actually happened. The period veracity and Daniel Radcliffe’s acting carry the film into a fascinating character study. (U.S. Spc)
Dallas Buyers Club (Isa: Voltage, U.S. Focus Features)
Tom a la ferme / Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan Isa: MK2, U.S.:)
L’Armee du salut/ Salvation Army by Abdellah Taia (Isa: - U.S.:-)
Eastern Boys (Isa: Films Distribution)
Pelo Malo/ Bad Hair (FiGa Films)
The Dog (Producer Rep: Submarine)
Ignasi M. (Isa: Latido)
Gerontophilia (Isa: MK2, U.S. Producer Rep: Filmoption)...
- 10/8/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Besides being a fantastic actor, John Turturro is also a decent director. He hasn't helmed that many films (his last movie was 2010's Passione), but he's got a solid cast for his latest project, Fading Gigolo. Turturro wrote the script and is also the lead in the film alongside Woody Allen. The film is about two friends that get into the gigolo business: one as the manger/pimp (Allen) and the other as the gigolo (Turturro). Fading Gigolo cast also includes Liev...
- 8/14/2013
- by Jesse Giroux
- JoBlo.com
This week on iPOP, a slew of promising new films premiered in New York, stars flocked to the Hamptons for their annual film festival, New Orleans welcomed Jonathan Demme and more. Among the highlights: Actor Robert Longstreet celebrating his Gotham nomination for "Take Shelter" with a shot in the morning; Frances McDormand toasting to John Turturro's award hopeful documentary "Passione"; Sundance smash "Like Crazy" premiering in New York; George Clooney ...
- 10/21/2011
- Indiewire
Frances McDormand gives John Turturro a coffee table book about Naples at the awards season screening of Turturro's documentary "Passione" on Monday night at the Crosby St. Hotel in Manhattan, hosted by Pasta Garofalo and Irfe Paris. Turturro's acclaimed film looks at the musical roots and traditions of Naples, Italy, as well as its influence on the rest of the world. [Photo courtesy: Pasta Garofalo/Irfe Paris]...
- 10/20/2011
- Indiewire
iPOP was all over the place this week, stopping by to mingle at the Provincetown and Nantucket Film Festivals and checking out some cool premieres. Highlights: The star-studded NYC premiere of "The Ledge," with Liv Tyler and Patrick Wilson, the after party for John Turturro's musical "Passione" and the Silverdocs screening of Constance Marks' "Being Elmo." Below are the pictures from this week on the scene:...
- 6/24/2011
- Indiewire
John Turturro's musical adventure "Passione" premiered last night in New York at Film Forum, where it began its run on Wednesday. Guests caught the film then headed to Da Mikele to dine on Neapolitan specialties. From left to right: Mike Maggiore, Programmer at Film Forum; Julia Pacetti, President, Jmp Verdant, Richard Lorber, Chairman of Film Forum and President of Kino Lorber; John Turturro; Simonetta Magnani, Cultural Attache of the Italian Cultural Institute. [Photo by James Verdesoto]...
- 6/23/2011
- Indiewire
An unabashed valentine to Neapolitan music, John Turturro’s Passione also serves as a reminder that other people’s love letters rarely make for engrossing reading. As an actor, Turturro brings wit and a healthy sense of absurdity to many of his roles, but his directorial efforts are notably lacking in self-awareness or restraint. At least Passione, unlike his out-of-control 2005 film Romance & Cigarettes, doesn’t feature a lip-synching James Gandolfini or a chorus of dancing garbagemen. First things first: There’s a lot of great music in Passione, although it’s rarely adequately contextualized. Turturro’s onscreen narration is ...
- 6/23/2011
- avclub.com
For the past twenty-five years John Turturro has been one of the most dynamic presences in American narrative filmmaking, both in the independent world and in Hollywood. His roles in films such as Do The Right Thing, Barton Fink, Quiz Show and The Big Lebowski cemented his place as one of the most versatile actors around, someone who could slip easily between extremely varied character roles while occasionally moonlighting as a leading man. Beyond his work as an actor, he’s also directed a trio of mostly terrific feature narratives, 1992′s Mac, 1998′s Illuminata and 2005′s Romance and Cigarettes. With his latest film Passione, he’s taken the leap into documentary filmmaking with the same pinache and fearlessness he’s brought to his many screen roles.
A “musical adventure” that chronicles the world of contemporary Neopolitan music from top to bottom, Passione is that rare film in our cynical times that embraces large gestures,...
A “musical adventure” that chronicles the world of contemporary Neopolitan music from top to bottom, Passione is that rare film in our cynical times that embraces large gestures,...
- 6/22/2011
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"Openly, contentedly delighted with how our own dreams can appall us, and how close movies are to that appalling dreaminess," Luis Buñuel "may have been the greatest filmmaker of the medium's first century," suggests Michael Atkinson in the Boston Phoenix. "Had any filmmaker realized so acutely the unconscious torque inherent in cinema? Certainly among the 12 or so unassailable masters of the medium, he is the wittiest, the most philosophically imaginative, and the most formally unceremonious. His career stretched nearly 50 years, culminating amid what could be thought of as the death throes of international art cinema; his last masterpiece That Obscure Object of Desire hitting the open air the same year Star Wars forever wrecked the popular market and turned moviegoing into a experience of childish spinal emergency…. It's just as well: from the beginning Buñuel stood outside of fashion, and just as his flirtation with Surrealist dogma quickly became an...
- 6/22/2011
- MUBI
John Turturro likes killing cliches. Though he's best known as an actor, particularly for his work with Joel and Ethan Coen ("Barton Fink," "The Big Lebowski") and Spike Lee ("Do the Right Thing"), "Passione" is Turturro's fourth film as a director, and his first documentary. In it, he presents the music of the city of Naples in all its rich and vibrant character, from ancient ballads to classical compositions, to modern jazz, reggae, and more.
Turturro put his love of music on full display in his last film, 2005's "Romance and Cigarettes," which featured the likes of James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, and Christopher Walken bursting into song. "Passione" takes things even further; it's like a wild crazy jam session playing out on the streets of Naples, with one powerful performance after another all linked together with stories, personal anecdotes and even a few appearances by Turturro himself as narrator, storyteller,...
Turturro put his love of music on full display in his last film, 2005's "Romance and Cigarettes," which featured the likes of James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, and Christopher Walken bursting into song. "Passione" takes things even further; it's like a wild crazy jam session playing out on the streets of Naples, with one powerful performance after another all linked together with stories, personal anecdotes and even a few appearances by Turturro himself as narrator, storyteller,...
- 6/20/2011
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
When John Turturro faces the camera at the start of "Passione," his ode to the legacy of Neapolitan music, he makes a pronouncement with the superficial grandiosity of a tourist video. "There are places you go to when once is enough," he says, "and then there's Napoli." The free-ranging exploration that follows makes his point much stronger than this abrupt romanticism, but only when Turturro lets the art speak for ...
- 6/20/2011
- Indiewire
You can leave your heart in San Francisco, you can agree that Chicago is a wonderful town and so is New York, you can meet your girl in St. Louis, but you won't be as tempted to sing and dance on the street until you're in Naples. Napoli, as the Italians call the famous town in southern Italy, is famous for the wash that people hang on clothesline that could tempt a walk by Philippe Petit. Thanks to John Turturro, who directs and has co-written "Passione" people around the world can watch Neopolitans step to a variety of dances (inspired, perhaps by Mr. Turturro who at one point wanted to dance like Fred Astaire) and burst into song at the tops of their lungs while skipping cobblestone steps and simultaneously stirring macchiatos for a famous prisoner.
- 5/7/2011
- Arizona Reporter
By Annlee Ellingson
(March 2011)
Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Cinequest Film Festival has merged film and technology for two decades. The event was an early adopter of digital capture and exhibition as well as distribution across all platforms from the big screen to DVD to TV to the Internet to handheld devices.
The tradition continues in the festival’s 21st edition with a program that includes 3-D programming and panels, including the world premiere of the stereo version of “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” two 3-D shorts programs and seminars on the art and science of stereo filmmaking.
Meanwhile, Cinequest is screening 173 films this year from 41 countries — 75 of which are U.S., North American or world premieres. Audiences are expected to near 100,000, with more than 700 artists slated to attend.
This evening’s opening-night film is “Passione,” John Turturro’s musical love poem to the city of Naples.
(March 2011)
Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Cinequest Film Festival has merged film and technology for two decades. The event was an early adopter of digital capture and exhibition as well as distribution across all platforms from the big screen to DVD to TV to the Internet to handheld devices.
The tradition continues in the festival’s 21st edition with a program that includes 3-D programming and panels, including the world premiere of the stereo version of “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” two 3-D shorts programs and seminars on the art and science of stereo filmmaking.
Meanwhile, Cinequest is screening 173 films this year from 41 countries — 75 of which are U.S., North American or world premieres. Audiences are expected to near 100,000, with more than 700 artists slated to attend.
This evening’s opening-night film is “Passione,” John Turturro’s musical love poem to the city of Naples.
- 3/2/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
By Annlee Ellingson
(March 2011)
Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Cinequest Film Festival has merged film and technology for two decades. The event was an early adopter of digital capture and exhibition as well as distribution across all platforms from the big screen to DVD to TV to the Internet to handheld devices.
The tradition continues in the festival’s 21st edition with a program that includes 3-D programming and panels, including the world premiere of the stereo version of “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” two 3-D shorts programs and seminars on the art and science of stereo filmmaking.
Meanwhile, Cinequest is screening 173 films this year from 41 countries — 75 of which are U.S., North American or world premieres. Audiences are expected to near 100,000, with more than 700 artists slated to attend.
This evening’s opening-night film is “Passione,” John Turturro’s musical love poem to the city of Naples.
(March 2011)
Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Cinequest Film Festival has merged film and technology for two decades. The event was an early adopter of digital capture and exhibition as well as distribution across all platforms from the big screen to DVD to TV to the Internet to handheld devices.
The tradition continues in the festival’s 21st edition with a program that includes 3-D programming and panels, including the world premiere of the stereo version of “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” two 3-D shorts programs and seminars on the art and science of stereo filmmaking.
Meanwhile, Cinequest is screening 173 films this year from 41 countries — 75 of which are U.S., North American or world premieres. Audiences are expected to near 100,000, with more than 700 artists slated to attend.
This evening’s opening-night film is “Passione,” John Turturro’s musical love poem to the city of Naples.
- 3/2/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
By Elliot V. Kotek
(from Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)
John Turturro goes behind the camera for the fourth time with “Passione,” a film that allows the actor-director to give a unique perspective on his Italian heritage and bring to the screen the beauty — and intrigue — of Naples in the form of a musical journey. As he tells Moving Pictures, “It just turned out to be one of these movies that you get involved in that’s way beyond you.”
Moving Pictures: You were born in the U.S., but here you take a trip back to — or a trip to — Naples in the story.
John Turturro: Well … there are people who are interested in their background and their culture. I think a lot of people who come to America, you know, want to become Americanized. My father was born in Italy and came when he was 6 years old,...
(from Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)
John Turturro goes behind the camera for the fourth time with “Passione,” a film that allows the actor-director to give a unique perspective on his Italian heritage and bring to the screen the beauty — and intrigue — of Naples in the form of a musical journey. As he tells Moving Pictures, “It just turned out to be one of these movies that you get involved in that’s way beyond you.”
Moving Pictures: You were born in the U.S., but here you take a trip back to — or a trip to — Naples in the story.
John Turturro: Well … there are people who are interested in their background and their culture. I think a lot of people who come to America, you know, want to become Americanized. My father was born in Italy and came when he was 6 years old,...
- 3/2/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
By Elliot V. Kotek
(from Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)
John Turturro goes behind the camera for the fourth time with “Passione,” a film that allows the actor-director to give a unique perspective on his Italian heritage and bring to the screen the beauty — and intrigue — of Naples in the form of a musical journey. As he tells Moving Pictures, “It just turned out to be one of these movies that you get involved in that’s way beyond you.”
Moving Pictures: You were born in the U.S., but here you take a trip back to — or a trip to — Naples in the story.
John Turturro: Well … there are people who are interested in their background and their culture. I think a lot of people who come to America, you know, want to become Americanized. My father was born in Italy and came when he was 6 years old,...
(from Moving Pictures, winter issue, 2011)
John Turturro goes behind the camera for the fourth time with “Passione,” a film that allows the actor-director to give a unique perspective on his Italian heritage and bring to the screen the beauty — and intrigue — of Naples in the form of a musical journey. As he tells Moving Pictures, “It just turned out to be one of these movies that you get involved in that’s way beyond you.”
Moving Pictures: You were born in the U.S., but here you take a trip back to — or a trip to — Naples in the story.
John Turturro: Well … there are people who are interested in their background and their culture. I think a lot of people who come to America, you know, want to become Americanized. My father was born in Italy and came when he was 6 years old,...
- 3/2/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
March seems to be the preferred month for festival programmers, and I’ll be damned if I know why. SXSW, Sf International Asian American Film Fest, Cleveland International Film Fest, Charleston Film Fest… all unspooling across movie screens within days of each other if not simultaneously. March was probably viewed as a quiet film month once upon a time, but clearly that’s no longer the case. And here’s one more to add to the list… The Cinequest Film Festival 21 will be celebrating the medium next month from March 1st to March 13th in San Jose, Ca. Eighty-five feature films will play alongside ninety-nine shorts and multiple forums and special events. Some of the films we’re looking forward to this year are listed below, but some of the highlights include John Turturro’s latest directorial effort Passione, the darkly comic Australian thriller Bad Behaviour, the inspirational true story Soul Surfer, and...
- 2/22/2011
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The Italian Film Festival 2011 will kick off on 1 March 2011 with a concert at London’s Cadogan Hall by Nicola Piovani, winner of the Academy Award for the score of Roberto Benigni’s Life Is Beautiful in 1998. The festival, due to become an annual event, is organized by the Italian Cultural Institute in London and Cinecittà Luce in Rome.
The festival’s programme includes ten new Italian films: a selection of eight titles made by Italian film critic Irene Bignardi and a special choice of two by Adrian Wootton of Film London. The screenings at Ciné Lumière will be followed by Q&A sessions with directors and actors.
The event will offer an opportunity for London audiences to see Italian films most of which have yet to be screened in the UK, and a rare opportunity for British film distributors to catch up with brand new, cutting edge Italian cinema. The...
The festival’s programme includes ten new Italian films: a selection of eight titles made by Italian film critic Irene Bignardi and a special choice of two by Adrian Wootton of Film London. The screenings at Ciné Lumière will be followed by Q&A sessions with directors and actors.
The event will offer an opportunity for London audiences to see Italian films most of which have yet to be screened in the UK, and a rare opportunity for British film distributors to catch up with brand new, cutting edge Italian cinema. The...
- 2/22/2011
- by Martyn Conterio
- FilmShaft.com
John Turturro's documentary "Passione" and Sean McNamara's "Soul Surfer" will bookend the upcoming 2011 Cinequest Film Festival. "Passione," billed as Turturro's "beautiful love poem to the city of Naples," lays bare the rich musical culture in the city by combining archival footage with musical numbers on the streets. "John Turturro has already left an indelible mark on cinema as an actor in such groundbreaking films as Barton Fink, Do the ...
- 2/1/2011
- Indiewire
Italian-American actor-director John Turturro is beloved by the Italians—Venice Fest audiences treat him like a huge star. In fact, ill-fated Romance and Cigarettes, which was caught in the backdraft at the end of United Artists, was such a hit in Italy that financeers stepped up to hire Turturro to direct a doc about the music of Naples. Passione is not unlike Fatih Akin’s Crossing the Bridge: it’s a “musical adventure” showcasing the music, old and new, of Naples, via a mix of old footage and new performances by the city’s top artists. The film was exhilarating, and more than one moviegoer walked out of the theater humming. I also admired Turturro's Mac and Illuminata, even though American moviegoers have yet to click with his movies. I ...
- 10/2/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
My family is Sicilian and Naples has long held a fascination for me – for its beauty, its danger and above all its music. Passione is my attempt to put those feelings into film
My family is originally from Sicily and my father was from Puglia. My cousin Aida is half Neapolitan. Most of the Italians in New York are from Naples, Sicily and Calabria – the south. Naples itself reminds me a little bit of New York in the 70s, except everyone is crushed together more. It's so beautiful and so dangerous. It has a brutality, but also a sense of poetry – plenty of writers have lived there and written about it. Neopolitans have their own language and, most importantly, the people are unbelievably musical. The relationship between classical and popular music goes back a long, long time. Many classical musicians (and some great opera singers) have sung popular Neapolitan songs throughout the years.
My family is originally from Sicily and my father was from Puglia. My cousin Aida is half Neapolitan. Most of the Italians in New York are from Naples, Sicily and Calabria – the south. Naples itself reminds me a little bit of New York in the 70s, except everyone is crushed together more. It's so beautiful and so dangerous. It has a brutality, but also a sense of poetry – plenty of writers have lived there and written about it. Neopolitans have their own language and, most importantly, the people are unbelievably musical. The relationship between classical and popular music goes back a long, long time. Many classical musicians (and some great opera singers) have sung popular Neapolitan songs throughout the years.
- 9/9/2010
- The Guardian - Film News
John Turturro attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. John Turturro attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. John Turturro attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. John Turturro attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. John Turturro attending the 67th Annual Venice Film Festival.Photo copyright Insidefoto / PR Photos. 09/04/2010 - Raiz and John Turturro - 67th Annual Venice Film Festival - "Passione" Photocall - Palazzo del Casino - Venice, Italy © Insidefoto / PR Photos...
- 9/6/2010
- by Michelle Wray
- Monsters and Critics
The full lineup for this year's Venice film festival has been announced – but there's a no show for the new Terrence Malick
The full programme for this year's Venice film festival has been announced and, as predicted, many film-makers whose films weren't quite ready for Cannes will debut on the Lido. Somewhere, a Hollywood-set drama from Sofia Coppola, is amongst the premieres, likewise Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny sequel, Promises Written in Water, apparently a black-and-white tale of a girl with a terminal illness.
Julian Schnabel's Miral, which follows Hind Husseini's efforts to set up an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 partition of Palestine, also finds a home. However, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, which many had predicted would screen at the festival, is not on the list; nor that for the Toronto film festival, which directly follows Venice.
Other hotly tipped titles include Meek's Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt...
The full programme for this year's Venice film festival has been announced and, as predicted, many film-makers whose films weren't quite ready for Cannes will debut on the Lido. Somewhere, a Hollywood-set drama from Sofia Coppola, is amongst the premieres, likewise Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny sequel, Promises Written in Water, apparently a black-and-white tale of a girl with a terminal illness.
Julian Schnabel's Miral, which follows Hind Husseini's efforts to set up an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 partition of Palestine, also finds a home. However, Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, which many had predicted would screen at the festival, is not on the list; nor that for the Toronto film festival, which directly follows Venice.
Other hotly tipped titles include Meek's Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt...
- 7/30/2010
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
And the film I'm most looking forward to seeing (like I'm going to be there) is Vincent Gallo's Promises Written in Water. Someone send me a screener, asap! What else?
Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky.
Somewhere by Sofia Coppola.
13 Assassins by Takashi Miike.
Full list after the break.
In Competition
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky, U.S. (Opening Film)
"La Pecora Nera," Ascanio Celestini, Italy
"Somewhere," Sofia Coppola, U.S.
"Happy Few," Antony Cordier, France
"The Solitude of Prime Numbers," Saverio Costanzo, Italy, Germany, France
"Silent Souls," Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
"Promises Written in Water," Vincent Gallo, U.S.
"Road To Nowhere," Monte Hellman, U.S.
"Balada Triste de Trompeta," Alex de la Iglesia, Spain, France
"Venus Noir," Abdellatif Kechiche, France
"Post Mortem," Pablo Larrain, Chile, Mexico, Germany
"Barney's Version," Richard J. Lewis, Canada, Italy
"We Believed," Mario Martone, Italy, France
"La Passione," Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
"13 Assassins," Takashi Miike, Japan, U.
Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky.
Somewhere by Sofia Coppola.
13 Assassins by Takashi Miike.
Full list after the break.
In Competition
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky, U.S. (Opening Film)
"La Pecora Nera," Ascanio Celestini, Italy
"Somewhere," Sofia Coppola, U.S.
"Happy Few," Antony Cordier, France
"The Solitude of Prime Numbers," Saverio Costanzo, Italy, Germany, France
"Silent Souls," Aleksei Fedorchenko, Russia
"Promises Written in Water," Vincent Gallo, U.S.
"Road To Nowhere," Monte Hellman, U.S.
"Balada Triste de Trompeta," Alex de la Iglesia, Spain, France
"Venus Noir," Abdellatif Kechiche, France
"Post Mortem," Pablo Larrain, Chile, Mexico, Germany
"Barney's Version," Richard J. Lewis, Canada, Italy
"We Believed," Mario Martone, Italy, France
"La Passione," Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
"13 Assassins," Takashi Miike, Japan, U.
- 7/29/2010
- QuietEarth.us
The Afflecks will celebrate on the Lido together - both actor-turned-directors are featured in the Out of Competition line-up (see below) and will surely jet back to Tiff together with The Town and the Phoenix doc - though those chances are indeed slim. Speaking of Toronto, the Ooc also features Anurag Kashyap's That Girl in Yellow Boots and Andrucha Waddington's Lope (Tiff claims they have the World Premiere, but I think we might see a correction on that later on). Takashi Miike gets celebrated, so does Asian 3D films, and John Turturro feels at home with his first Italian language docu feature. Finally, the Golden Lion for his career will go to John Woo - who is presenting Reign of Assassin. Opening Night Tribute to Bruce Lee "The Return of Chen Zhen," Andrew Lau (China, Hong Kong) Opening Night Midnight Movie "Machete," Robert Rodriguez (U.S.)Closing Night: "The Tempest,...
- 7/29/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of... festival season. Two days ago Toronto announced a big chunk of its line-up, and now the Venice Film Festival has unveiled its own. Joining Darren Aronofsky ballerina drama "Black Swan," announced earlier as the opening night film, are Sofia Coppola's Hollywood saga "Somewhere" (trailer); Takashi Miike's samurai tale "13 Assassins" (trailer); "Meek's Cutoff," Kelly Reichardt's new film, once again starring Michelle Williams; Vincent Gallo's long-awaited follow-up to "The Brown Bunny" "Promises Made In Water," reportedly a 16-millimeter black-and-white tale of a girl with a terminal illness; "Road to Nowhere," a thriller from Monte Hellman (!); and "Three," the latest from "Run, Lola, Run"'s Tom Tykwer, about how the two halves of a middle-aged couple fall in love with the same man.
Out of competition, the Affleck brothers will screen Ben's "The Town" and Casey's Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary,...
Out of competition, the Affleck brothers will screen Ben's "The Town" and Casey's Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary,...
- 7/29/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
This morning the Venice Film Festival announced the line-up for their 2010 Festival which will run from September 1-11, and a lot of hot titles and directors are set to be on hand including the already announced festival opener Black Swan from Darren Aronofsky and closer, The Tempest from Julie Taymor. In competition, Aronofsky's feature is joined by titles from Sofia Coppola, Vincent Gallo, Julian Schnabel, Francois Ozon, Abdellatif Kechiche, Takashi Miike and Tom Tykwer. Also, making a midnight Lido appearance will be Robert Rodriguez with his grindhouse thriller Machete. One other notable title is the inclusion of the Casey Affleck-directed Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary I'm Still Here, which will be screening out of competition.
Unfortunately I won't be able to cover this one, but one of these years I would like to find a way to pull a triple play and cover Cannes, Venice and Toronto in the same year...
Unfortunately I won't be able to cover this one, but one of these years I would like to find a way to pull a triple play and cover Cannes, Venice and Toronto in the same year...
- 7/29/2010
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Rome -- Sofia Coppola's comedic drama "Somewhere" and "Road to Nowhere," a romantic thriller from veteran director Monte Hellman, were among the highlights of the main competition lineup for the 67th Venice Film Festival, which was released Thursday.
Other in-competition films include Vincent Gallo's "Promises Written in Water"; "Meek's Cutoff," a western from Kelly Reichardt; and Athina Racehel Tsangari's drama "Attenberg."
Artistic director Marco Mueller said that -- notwithstanding the presence of the 78-year-old Hellman -- the competition lineup was the youngest ever in the storied history of the festival, with the average age among the directors of the 22 in-competition films just 47.
"I think this is evidence of a new and dynamic kind of cinema that is being produced," Mueller told a standing-room-only crowd of reporters and industry players at Rome's Excelsior Hotel Thursday.
All told, the festival will include 79 world premieres, including the entire in-competition lineup for...
Other in-competition films include Vincent Gallo's "Promises Written in Water"; "Meek's Cutoff," a western from Kelly Reichardt; and Athina Racehel Tsangari's drama "Attenberg."
Artistic director Marco Mueller said that -- notwithstanding the presence of the 78-year-old Hellman -- the competition lineup was the youngest ever in the storied history of the festival, with the average age among the directors of the 22 in-competition films just 47.
"I think this is evidence of a new and dynamic kind of cinema that is being produced," Mueller told a standing-room-only crowd of reporters and industry players at Rome's Excelsior Hotel Thursday.
All told, the festival will include 79 world premieres, including the entire in-competition lineup for...
- 7/29/2010
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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