Actor, director, screenwriter, jazz musician, music composer, politician, philanthropist, film legend.....these attributes could describe a cadre of people, but when they all wrapped into one outsized personality, it is truly impressive. Such is the career of Clint Eastwood, a television and film master who remains at the top of his professional game at 80 years young. To honor the octogenarian's contribution to the history of cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is devoting mu...

From 4-10 July 2010, the 8th edition of the Ischia Film Festival will take place in the natural beauty of the Aragona Castle. This international film competition pays artistic tribute to audiovisual productions, directors of photography and set designers who have enhanced the value of Italian and international locations, and highlighted the landscapes and cultural identity in their work. About one hundred films (feature films, short films and documentaries) from the whole world will be showcase...

  The Aruba International Film Festival (AIFF) announced today that legendary, Academy Award® winning filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, Last Tango in Paris, The Conformist, The Dreamers) will be bestowed with The Golden Aruba Award for outstanding achievement in film at the inaugural Film Festival, taking place June 4-11, 2010. The announcement was made by AIFF Artistic Director Claudio Masenza.Serving as the Festival's most prestigious symbol of r...

Synopsis: Claudio works on a site in the suburbs of Rome. He is madly in love with his wife who is pregnant with their third child. However, a dramatic event comes to upset this simple and happy life. In a rage for life, Claudio energetically fights against the injustice that fell upon him. Love and support from his friends and family as well as the laughter of his children will help him to triumph against the odds. Extract: ...

Marco Bellocchio is to give the Cinema Masterclass at the coming 63rd Festival de Cannes. Upon accepting the invitation, he declared: “I think that the most precious thing a director can teach anyone wanting to work in the business is how to work with actors and actresses. Anyone can teach technique, but the ability to get another person to interpret a character you have imagined is a gift, although it can be learned in part by a director who isn’t afraid of risking failure. You can never ...

  The Aruba International Film Festival (AIFF) announced today that legendary, Academy Award® winning filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor, Last Tango in Paris, The Conformist, The Dreamers) will be bestowed with The Golden Aruba Award for outstanding achievement in film at the inaugural Film Festival, taking place June 4-11, 2010. The announcement was made by AIFF Artistic Director Claudio Masenza. Serving as the Festival's most prestigious symbol of recognition, t...

My association with Philadelphia Cinema Alliance has once again brought me into contact with a world famous, critically-acclaimed writer/director- Marco Tullio Giordana. In Italy he is one of the most popular and well-regarded filmmakers of the last thirty years. His films such as, I cento passi (2000) Pasolini, un delitto italiano (1995) and most recently Sanguepazzo (Wild Blood) (2008) are so respected that many Universities in the US teach entire courses on Maestro Giordana's work, bo...

by Marla Lewin   Marla Lewin with Giuseppe Tornatore                                     photo by Marc Halperin The Italian film commission, brought together filmmakers from around the world for a party at the American Film Market in Santa Monica. The Department of Cinema of the Italian ministry of culture, the Italian consulate, and the Los Angeles Italian Cultural Institute along with friends and guests applauded legendary director, Giuseppe Tornatore winner of the Acad...

  It doesn’t get much better than this…..the Film Society of Lincoln Center, which presents the New York Film Festival each Fall, is in the midst of a revelatory review of one of the major film movements of the 20th century, presenting a list of acknowledged classics along with previously unknown (at least to me) gems. ITALIAN NEOREALISM AND THE BIRTH OF MODERN CINEMA is an exhaustive look at the cinema that flourished in Italy in the post-war period and that still remains a high poi...

“The Prophet”, one of the most notable and award-winning films of European cinema in the last year, will open the EFA selection on Friday 6th November at 22:15 in Seville’s Nervión Cinemas.This Section will be showing the latest European films pre-selected by the European Film Academy (EFA) for their annual awards. The ceremony of announcing the nominations for the European film awards will be held, as part of the Seville Festival, on Saturday 7th November.The French-Basque screenwriter T...

The New York Film Festival provides extraordinary access to some of world cinema's most interesting film talents via the HBO Films Directors Dialogue Series. Among those who are participating (all of whom have films in the festival proper): MARCO BELLOCCHIO With a career that spans the heyday of 60s Italian art cinema (Fists in the Pocket, China is Near) to religion (My Mother’s Smile, NYFF 2002) to political drama (Good Morning, Night, NYFF 2003 and this year’s Vincere), Marco B...

The New York Film Festival provides extraordinary access to some of world cinema's most interesting film talents via the HBO Films Directors Dialogue Series. Among those who are participating (all of whom have films in the festival proper): MARCO BELLOCCHIO With a career that spans the heyday of 60s Italian art cinema (Fists in the Pocket, China is Near) to religion (My Mother’s Smile, NYFF 2002) to political drama (Good Morning, Night, NYFF 2003 and this year’s Vincere), Marco Bellocchio ha...

by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor   Michael Haneke relishes his reputation as one of the controversial directors working in the film arts. He is a provocateur with a mission to shock audiences out of their complacency and contemplate the good, bad and ugly of modern society. “My films are an appeal for a cinema of insistent questions instead of false answers……for provocation and dialogue instead of consumption and consensus”, he stated in a recent inter...

 Abel Ferrara wins the “Ciak di Corallo” for his career achievements at the Ischia Film Festival seventh edition (July 5-11), the only international contest dedicated to the filming locations.The American director, born July 19 1951 in the Bronx, will receive the cinema’s world tribute thanks to his work, that has always been visionary, original and restless in a unique way in the international movie scene.The Ischia Film Festival will present a short preview of Ferrara’s docufiction ex...

  by Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor With the tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic covering the nasty divorce spat between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his former-actress wife (a spicy melange of adultery, illicit sex with teenage "models" and political corruption), the Italian penchant for soap opera and high drama continues unabated. Our on-going interest and curiosity about all things Italian c...

 The Palme d'Or was awarded to Michael Haneke for "The White Ribbon" ...

About the film: Marco Bellocchio and the Cannes Festival have loved one another for years. Nine of his features have been selected here, the two most recent being My Mother's Smile in 2002 and The Wedding Director in 2006. In 2007, he served on the Jury. Now, the Italian filmmaker returns to the Competition to present Vincere, which sheds light on an obscure aspect of Mussolini's private life. Before the outbreak of World War I, the future fascist dictator, an Italian sol...