All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 7
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Latecomers boost Venice festival line-up
The Venice Film Festival hasannounced two late additions to its official line-up: Paul Morrissey and BerndBohm's documentary Veruschka and Neil Marshall's horror film TheDescent.Veruschka focuses on the life of legendary model andartist Vera von Lehndorff, a muse of Salvador Dali who appeared in MichelangeloAntonioni's seminal film Blow-Up and famously collaborated ...
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Mimmo Rotella to head Venice's Orizzonti jury
Italian artist Mimmo Rotellawill head the jury of Venice's Orizzonti competition, the Biennale hasannounced.Milan-based Rotella, who isone of Italy's leading contemporary artists, will be joined on the jury bySpanish writer-director Isabel Coixet, whose latest film, The Secret Life OfWords, with Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley, opens Orizzonti out-of-competition. Italian actor ...
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Italian directors win legal battle over lack of funding
A group of first time directors, known as Gruppo 16/12,who took legal action against the Italian government after being denied publicfunds that had been awarded to their projects, have won their case. Earlier this year, the government told the directors there were insufficientfunds to finance their 20 features which had ...
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Relief as Italian box office soars in July
After the gloomand doom of reports that Italian admissions tumbled sharply in the first halfof 2005, Italy has announced a formidable 44% rise in box office takings forthe month of July.According to figures released by data-gathering body,Cinetel, Euros 19m were earned at the box office in July, a 44% hike ...
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Sandrelli set for Golden Lion at Venice
The Biennale has announcedthat Italian actress Stefania Sandrelli will receive a Golden Lion for LifetimeAchievement at the upcoming Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10).Festivaldirector Marco Mueller said: "A 45-year-old career in film, and she doesn'tshow it. Stefania Sandrelli has lived through all the various periods ofItalian cinema."TheTuscan actress started out ...
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Mueller says he'll resign if no market at Venice
Venice festival chief MarcoMueller has said that he will not carry on unless there is a firm plan toestablish a film market on the Lido.Mueller, who will see arecord nine US premieres at Venice this year, told Screendaily:"I have no hesitation in saying I can't continue in Venice unless we ...
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RAI set to confirm new president today
Italian public broadcasterRAI is set to confirm the appointment of Claudio Petruccioli as its newpresident today. The appointment will end a 15-month management crisis at theheavily politicised broadcaster.Petruccioli, 64, a memberof Italy's Democratic Party of the Left, is a former head of the parliamentarywatchdog that oversees RAI.RAI's last president,left-wing journalist ...
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Venice unveils full competition line-up
The Venice FilmFestival (August 31-Sep 10) has unveiled its streamlined line-up, whichfeatures a record nine US world premieres, as well as an eclectic mix of HighDefinition titles, documentaries and pictures from celebrated internationalfilm-makers.The main competitionincludes George Clooney's Goodnight and Good Luck, starring Clooney, Jeff Daniels and Robert DowneyJr, Abel Ferrara's ...
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Venice unveils Secret History of Asian Cinema sidebar
The Biennale has unveiled the line-up of its SecretHistory of Asian Cinema sidebar, which was curated by Venice Film Festivaldirector Marco Mueller.The sidebar,which is dedicated to 'forgotten' restored classic Chinese films andJapanese genre pictures, includes ten restored Chinese films spanning from the1930s to the counter-revolution in 1949, as well as ...
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Venice Directors' Fortnight unveils 12 strong line-up
Twelve films from around theworld will screen in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar of the Venice FilmFestival, including Christopher Boe's Allegro, Ticket to Jerusalemdirector Rashid Masharawi's Waiting (Attente), and Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee's C.R.A.Z.Y.The secondedition of Venice Days, an independent sidebar run by Giorgio Gosetti, willfocus on "memory and cultural diversity." ...
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Venice festival shapes up as star magnet
The Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10) is once againshaping up as a glamorous magnet for A-list stars. However, visitors to theLido this year can expect a rather more streamlined and manageable event sinceartistic director Marco Mueller has reduced the number of pictures on the Lidoby a hefty 30% in ...
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Innocent Voices scoops top Giffoni prize
Mexican director LuisMandoki's Innocent Voices has scooped the top GoldenGryphon prize at the 35th Giffoni Film Festival, one of theworld's leading events dedicated to childrens' films. Innocent Voices, which is based on the true life story of co-screenwriterOscar Torres, is set in El Salvador in the 1980s against the back ...
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Venice unveils Critics Week line-up
US director RianJohnson's film noir Brick is among seven debut features screening in Critics Week at thisyear's Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10).The 20th CriticsWeek sidebar will also feature two French titles: Le Passager, a drama about a Parisian father-of-onewho heads back to Marseille when his brother, who he had ...
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Auteuil joins Bellucci for Napoleon comedy
Daniel Auteuil has joined Monica Bellucci in the cast ofPaolo Virzi's new comedy, which is entitled "N."The Euros 8.5m film, adapted from Ernesto Ferrero'sprize-winning novel, tells the story of Napoleon's exile on the island ofElba, where he lived for 300 days, and a librarian who closely observes histurmoil and his ...
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Seven Cecchi Gori cinemas up for auction
Seven Cecchi Gori-owned cinemas are to be put up for auctionin October, including the one-time movie mogul's jewel-in-the-crown, theAdriano multiplex in central Rome.Rome's Civil Court has announced a starting price of Euros10.12m for the 10-screen cinema. Other Cecchi Gori cinemas that will be sold atthe October 10 auction include Rome's ...
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Casanova to woo the crowds at Venice
The Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10) will host the worldpremiere of Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova, which stars Heath Ledger andSienna Miller."After at least a 30-year interval, Casanovaa is thefirst film made by a US studio to have been entirely shot in Italy, and for themost part in Venice," said festival ...
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De Laurentiis' call to abandon windows sparks reaction
Italian distributors andexhibitors have reacted strongly against a suggestion by Aurelio De Laurentiisthat Italy should counter the crisis that is currently hitting its box officeby simultaneously releasing films in cinemas, on Pay-TV and on DVD at differentprices. Laura Fumagalli, marketingdirector of Arcadia, an avant-garde digitally equipped multiplex near Milansays that ...
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Sorrentino readies Consequences follow-up
The Consequences Of Love director Paolo Sorrentinois lining up a new film about a loan shark, entitled L'amico Di Famiglia(literally, A Friend of the Family).It will be Sorrentino's third feature, and is set to shootin October in Latina, near Rome. Thepicture will be produced by Sorrentino's regular partner, Nicola Giuliano ...
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Italy's Eagle swoops for commercial horror pics
Italian distributor Eagle Pictures has added a host of commercialtitles to its upcoming slate, including several new horror movies. The Rome and Milan-based company's slate includes: horror flick FinalDestination 3, which is directed by James Wong and takes place six yearsafter the events in the previous instalment; Jan de Bont's ...
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Industry veterans crank up Italian productions
After anear 18-month freeze in public funds, a new round of financing from the state'sFondo di Garanzia has allowed several films to finally get off the ground. Amongthese is Michele Soavi's long-gestating Arrivederci Amore Ciao, which isproduced by StudioCanal Urania. Adapted from Massimo Carlotto's eponymousnovel, the film tells the story ...