“All this filming isn’t healthy,” says blind but perceptive Mrs. Stephens (Maxine Audley) late in Michael Powell’s resolutely disturbing Peeping Tom, and every aspect of the film’s rigorously self-reflexive construction seems to bear her out. From the opening shot of an opening eye, to the final shot of a blank screen swathed in black and blood-red gel lighting, Peeping Tom obsessively examines the social and psychological ramifications of overactive cinephilia. This situates Powell’s film as a direct precursor to later 1960s autocritiques along the lines of Federico Fellini’s 8½, Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, and Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool.
Powell and screenwriter Leo Marks originally wanted to make a film about Sigmund Freud and his theories, but word of John Huston’s upcoming Freud biopic put the kibosh on those plans. So instead they came up with the story of Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm), who works...
Powell and screenwriter Leo Marks originally wanted to make a film about Sigmund Freud and his theories, but word of John Huston’s upcoming Freud biopic put the kibosh on those plans. So instead they came up with the story of Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm), who works...
- 5/24/2024
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
THR puts the spotlight on the best films from the festival circuit that have yet to land a U.S. distribution deal.
La Cocina
Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios
Sales WME Independent, Fifth Season
From Anthony Bourdain giving American readers an inside look at the rock ’n’ roll restaurant industry in Kitchen Confidential to Nancy Meyers’ citrus-dotted white marble countertops in enviable home kitchens, modern American audiences have had an infatuation with cookery. Though previously largely reserved for the nonfiction space with entries like Bourdain’s No Reservations and Netflix’s operatic Chef’s Table, the narrative possibilities of the dark underbelly of back-of-house restaurant staff have began to emerge lately. The Bear, the anxiety-inducing FX series about a Chicago Italian beef joint, swept the Emmys in January and is poised to do the same this go-around. Enter director Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina. “Think The Bear on cocaine with a Red Bull chaser...
La Cocina
Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios
Sales WME Independent, Fifth Season
From Anthony Bourdain giving American readers an inside look at the rock ’n’ roll restaurant industry in Kitchen Confidential to Nancy Meyers’ citrus-dotted white marble countertops in enviable home kitchens, modern American audiences have had an infatuation with cookery. Though previously largely reserved for the nonfiction space with entries like Bourdain’s No Reservations and Netflix’s operatic Chef’s Table, the narrative possibilities of the dark underbelly of back-of-house restaurant staff have began to emerge lately. The Bear, the anxiety-inducing FX series about a Chicago Italian beef joint, swept the Emmys in January and is poised to do the same this go-around. Enter director Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina. “Think The Bear on cocaine with a Red Bull chaser...
- 5/19/2024
- by Scott Roxborough and Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
(Photo Credit – IMDb)
The most prestigious film festival in the world has officially commenced at the French Riviera with 2024 being a significant year for Indian cinema. Seven Indian films have been chosen to be screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, with Payal Kapadia-directorial leading the line.
The Malayalam film “All We Imagine as Light” broke the jinx as it became the first Indian cinema in three decades to compete at the festival’s main segment, Palme d’Or. Shaji N. Karun’s 1994 film “Swaham” was the last film to compete in this category.
Though not the Palme d’Or, several other Indian productions have won big in these 30 years and brought glory to the Indian cinema.
Trending House Of The Dragon Season 2 Trailer Review: The Dance Of The Dragons Begins With Bloodbath, Desperation, Greed & A Final Play For The Iron Throne The Garfield Movie Review: The Adventures Of...
The most prestigious film festival in the world has officially commenced at the French Riviera with 2024 being a significant year for Indian cinema. Seven Indian films have been chosen to be screened at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, with Payal Kapadia-directorial leading the line.
The Malayalam film “All We Imagine as Light” broke the jinx as it became the first Indian cinema in three decades to compete at the festival’s main segment, Palme d’Or. Shaji N. Karun’s 1994 film “Swaham” was the last film to compete in this category.
Though not the Palme d’Or, several other Indian productions have won big in these 30 years and brought glory to the Indian cinema.
Trending House Of The Dragon Season 2 Trailer Review: The Dance Of The Dragons Begins With Bloodbath, Desperation, Greed & A Final Play For The Iron Throne The Garfield Movie Review: The Adventures Of...
- 5/17/2024
- by Koimoi.com Team
- KoiMoi
Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network, Gone Girl. There's hardly anyone who hasn't seen, let alone heard, all of these movies and the name of the man behind them, David Fincher. From Alien 3 to The Killer with Michael Fassbender, from House of Cards to Love, Death & Robots, Fincher's career is now in its fourth decade and his films have collectively grossed over $2.1 billion. But of course, no matter how original his work, even a director as innovative as Fincher is inspired by the achievements of filmmakers who came before him. Here is a list of 26 films that David Fincher has cited as his favorites.
26 Must-See Movies David Fincher Loves
26. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
25. Chinatown
24. Dr. Strangelove
23. The Godfather Part II
22. Taxi Driver
21. Being There
20. Alien
19. Rear Window
18. Jaws
17. Lawrence of Arabia
16. Zelig
15. Cabaret
14. All That Jazz
13. Paper Moon
12. All the President's Men
11. Citizen Kane
10. 8½
9. The Graduate...
26 Must-See Movies David Fincher Loves
26. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
25. Chinatown
24. Dr. Strangelove
23. The Godfather Part II
22. Taxi Driver
21. Being There
20. Alien
19. Rear Window
18. Jaws
17. Lawrence of Arabia
16. Zelig
15. Cabaret
14. All That Jazz
13. Paper Moon
12. All the President's Men
11. Citizen Kane
10. 8½
9. The Graduate...
- 5/16/2024
- by louise.everitt@startefacts.com (Louise Everitt)
- STartefacts.com
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 neorealist drama is unsparing in its depiction of the heavy price of both resistance and collaboration with the Nazi occupation
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini.
Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism,...
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini.
Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism,...
- 5/15/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
These auteurs are ready for their close-up.
When Quentin Dupieux’s comedy about an ill-fated film set, “The Second Act,” opened the Cannes Film Festival May 14, it will be just one of several movies about filmmaking and filmmakers to touch down on the Croisette. After all, directors Christophe Honoré, Paul Schrader and Josh Mond are among the other prominent filmmakers who are ready to premiere semi-autobiographical stories.
Honoré’s in-competition comedy, “Marcello Mio,” casts Chiara Mastroianni as a version of herself who — after a director compares her to her late father, Marcello Mastroianni — dresses in drag and takes on his identity. Schrader’s in-competition drama, “Oh, Canada,” focuses on a documentary filmmaker (Richard Gere) telling his life story in a doc. Mond’s drama “It Doesn’t Matter” follows two friends chronicling their lives on video. Leos Carax’s 40-minute “C’est pas moi” is partly a self-portrait, with footage from his films and life.
When Quentin Dupieux’s comedy about an ill-fated film set, “The Second Act,” opened the Cannes Film Festival May 14, it will be just one of several movies about filmmaking and filmmakers to touch down on the Croisette. After all, directors Christophe Honoré, Paul Schrader and Josh Mond are among the other prominent filmmakers who are ready to premiere semi-autobiographical stories.
Honoré’s in-competition comedy, “Marcello Mio,” casts Chiara Mastroianni as a version of herself who — after a director compares her to her late father, Marcello Mastroianni — dresses in drag and takes on his identity. Schrader’s in-competition drama, “Oh, Canada,” focuses on a documentary filmmaker (Richard Gere) telling his life story in a doc. Mond’s drama “It Doesn’t Matter” follows two friends chronicling their lives on video. Leos Carax’s 40-minute “C’est pas moi” is partly a self-portrait, with footage from his films and life.
- 5/14/2024
- by Gregg Goldstein
- Variety Film + TV
When Roger Corman died on May 9 at age 98, the film world lost one of its great independent film legends. Over the course of his seven decade career, Corman directed over 55 films and received more than 500 producing credits, creating work that helped serve as the launchpad for major Hollywood stars and filmmakers like Peter Fonda, Frances Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich, and Jonathan Demme. And yet, from his first film to his last, Corman remained true to his roots of low-budget, independent, lowbrow-yet-brilliant genre filmmaking.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman was smart enough to attend Stanford University studying industrial engineering, but quit his first job in the field after only four days. Looking to go into the film industry, he worked his way up at 20th Century Fox from mail room messenger to story reader. But after he didn’t receive credit for the success of “The Gunslinger,...
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman was smart enough to attend Stanford University studying industrial engineering, but quit his first job in the field after only four days. Looking to go into the film industry, he worked his way up at 20th Century Fox from mail room messenger to story reader. But after he didn’t receive credit for the success of “The Gunslinger,...
- 5/14/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Roger Corman, the legendary B-movie filmmaker who directed, produced, and starred in upwards of 500 films over the course of a staggering eight decade-spanning career, has died. He passed away aged 98 this past Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California.
In a statement posted on Roger’s Instagram to announce his passing, Corman’s wife Julie and daughters Mary and Catherine shared the following: “It is with profound sadness, and boundless gratitude for his extraordinary life, that we remember our beloved husband and father, Roger Corman. He passed away on May 9th, at home in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife Julie and his daughters Catherine and Mary. He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him. A devoted and selfless father, he was deeply loved by his daughters. His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age.
In a statement posted on Roger’s Instagram to announce his passing, Corman’s wife Julie and daughters Mary and Catherine shared the following: “It is with profound sadness, and boundless gratitude for his extraordinary life, that we remember our beloved husband and father, Roger Corman. He passed away on May 9th, at home in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by his family. He is survived by his wife Julie and his daughters Catherine and Mary. He was generous, open-hearted and kind to all those who knew him. A devoted and selfless father, he was deeply loved by his daughters. His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age.
- 5/13/2024
- by Jordan King
- Empire - Movies
We’re always sad to report about the death of an important person from the industry, but that is also part of our reality and we have to honor the work that these people put into the history of cinema. This is why we are sad to report that it has been announced that legendary indie director Roger Corman passed away in his come in Santa Monica, CA, on May 9, 2024 at the age of 98. Roger Corman never became a mainstream author, but he was a pioneer of independent cinema and one of the most important filmmakers in history.
No official cause of death was revealed, but the news was confirmed by Corman’s family yesterday, who also issued the following statement: “His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just...
No official cause of death was revealed, but the news was confirmed by Corman’s family yesterday, who also issued the following statement: “His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age. When asked how he would like to be remembered, he said, ‘I was a filmmaker, just...
- 5/12/2024
- by Arthur S. Poe
- Fiction Horizon
As celebrated interior designer Michael Smith once noted, “Los Angeles is a dinner party town,” an observation that may explain the city’s house-proud fueled obsession with real estate and interior design. May’s one-two punch of design festivals — La Cienega Design Quarter Legends and the inaugural Design Miami.LA — celebrates our passion for all things home.
La Cienega Design Quarter Legends 2024: May 7-9
The La Cienega Design Quarter “Legends” event, which celebrates all things interior design, makes its annual bow on May 7. The theme this year is “Rooms in Bloom.”
Kicking off the Lcdq celebration is a May 7 gala at The Sunset Tower Hotel honoring Pamela Shamshiri, known for her work on the homes of Anne Hathaway, Paul McCartney and Ryan Murphy.
Interior designer Pamela Shamshiri of Studio Shamshiri
The design fest draws interior design professionals and aficionados for two days (May 8 and 9) of dynamic panels, exclusive lunches,...
La Cienega Design Quarter Legends 2024: May 7-9
The La Cienega Design Quarter “Legends” event, which celebrates all things interior design, makes its annual bow on May 7. The theme this year is “Rooms in Bloom.”
Kicking off the Lcdq celebration is a May 7 gala at The Sunset Tower Hotel honoring Pamela Shamshiri, known for her work on the homes of Anne Hathaway, Paul McCartney and Ryan Murphy.
Interior designer Pamela Shamshiri of Studio Shamshiri
The design fest draws interior design professionals and aficionados for two days (May 8 and 9) of dynamic panels, exclusive lunches,...
- 5/5/2024
- by Abigail Stone
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated drama “Io Capitano,” about the odyssey of two young African men who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe, and Paola Cortellesi’s feminist dramedy “There’s Still Tomorrow” were both the big winners at Italy’s 69th David di Donatello Awards.
“Io Capitano” won Davids for best picture, director, producers, editor, and cinematographer, among other prizes, while “Still Tomorrow,” which is about the plight of an abused housewife in post-war Rome and had 19 nominations scored six statuettes, including best directorial debut, actress, non supporting actress, screenplay, and audience award.
“Still Tomorrow,” which marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi, who also stars, is shot in black-and-white and riffs on Italy’s neorealist past, albeit with a contemporary female empowerment angle.
“I made this debut at the brink of menopause,” Cortellesi, who is 50, said while accepting the statuette for best debuting director. “I hope...
“Io Capitano” won Davids for best picture, director, producers, editor, and cinematographer, among other prizes, while “Still Tomorrow,” which is about the plight of an abused housewife in post-war Rome and had 19 nominations scored six statuettes, including best directorial debut, actress, non supporting actress, screenplay, and audience award.
“Still Tomorrow,” which marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi, who also stars, is shot in black-and-white and riffs on Italy’s neorealist past, albeit with a contemporary female empowerment angle.
“I made this debut at the brink of menopause,” Cortellesi, who is 50, said while accepting the statuette for best debuting director. “I hope...
- 5/3/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The red carpet will soon roll out for the 77th Festival de Cannes. The international film festival, playing out May 14-25, has a distinct American voice this year. “Barbie” filmmaker Greta Gerwig is the first U.S. female director name jury president. Many veteran American helmers are heading to the French Rivera resort town. George Lucas, who turns 80 on May 14, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or. Francis Ford Coppola’s much-anticipated “Megalopolis” is screening in competition, as is Paul Schrader’s “Oh Canada.” Kevin Costner’s new Western “Horizon, An American Saga” will premiere out of competition and Oliver Stone’s “Lula” is part of the special screening showcase.
Fifty years ago, Coppola was the toast of the 27th Cannes Film Festival. His brilliant psychological thriller “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman won the Palme D’Or and well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. The film would earn three Oscar nominations: picture,...
Fifty years ago, Coppola was the toast of the 27th Cannes Film Festival. His brilliant psychological thriller “The Conversation” starring Gene Hackman won the Palme D’Or and well as a Special Mention from the Ecumenical Jury. The film would earn three Oscar nominations: picture,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced its first wave of program details for its upcoming 58th edition, which is set to take place from June 28 through July 6, 2024. The Czech festival, widely considered to be the most prestigious film festival in Eastern Europe, is set to honor one of the nation’s most famous writers with a new retrospective titled “Franz Kafka and the Cinema.”
The series is set to feature screenings of a wide range of films inspired by the Czech novelist, who famously wove themes of alienation and existential angst into cryptic novels that often flirted with surrealism. Some films, like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” are direct adaptations of Kafka’s writings; but the series also includes movies about Kafka’s life, and films like Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” that were influenced by Kafka’s ideas.
“For decades, Kafka’s oeuvre has functioned as a continuing provocation to filmmakers,...
The series is set to feature screenings of a wide range of films inspired by the Czech novelist, who famously wove themes of alienation and existential angst into cryptic novels that often flirted with surrealism. Some films, like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” are direct adaptations of Kafka’s writings; but the series also includes movies about Kafka’s life, and films like Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” that were influenced by Kafka’s ideas.
“For decades, Kafka’s oeuvre has functioned as a continuing provocation to filmmakers,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The Karlovy Vary Film Festival and Variety have teamed up to honor Francine Maisler, one of the world’s most respected casting directors, whose recent credits include “Dune: Part Two,” “The Bikeriders,” “Challengers,” “Civil War” and “Joker: Folie à Deux.”
Maisler has worked on more than 70 feature films and is a recipient of 15 Artios Awards from the Casting Society of America, including for “Marriage Story” in 2020 and “Don’t Look Up” in 2021. As well as working with director Denis Villeneuve on “Dune: Part Two,” “Dune,” “Arrival” and “Sicario,” her other films include Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” and “Knight of Cups,” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” and “Birdman.” In 2022, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her work on HBO’s “Succession.”
As part of its homage, Karlovy Vary will hold a special screening of one of the films which Maisler worked on. Maisler will also give a public master class,...
Maisler has worked on more than 70 feature films and is a recipient of 15 Artios Awards from the Casting Society of America, including for “Marriage Story” in 2020 and “Don’t Look Up” in 2021. As well as working with director Denis Villeneuve on “Dune: Part Two,” “Dune,” “Arrival” and “Sicario,” her other films include Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” and “Knight of Cups,” and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “The Revenant” and “Birdman.” In 2022, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her work on HBO’s “Succession.”
As part of its homage, Karlovy Vary will hold a special screening of one of the films which Maisler worked on. Maisler will also give a public master class,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The Karlovy Vary Festival will pay tribute to one of the Czech Republic’s most famous sons with a retrospective of film adaptations of the work of Franz Kafka from some of the greatest names in cinema. To mark the centenary of Kafka’s death, the festival will screen a series of films directly adapted from, or inspired by, the literary master of angst.
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), Martin Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985) and Federico Fellini’s Intervista; Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations, including Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie version of Kafka’s famous short story. Other highlights include Ousmane Sembene’s Senegalese feature The Money Order (1968) and Kôji Yamamura’s animated short Franz Kafka’s a Country Doctor (2007).
“For decades,...
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), Martin Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985) and Federico Fellini’s Intervista; Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations, including Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie version of Kafka’s famous short story. Other highlights include Ousmane Sembene’s Senegalese feature The Money Order (1968) and Kôji Yamamura’s animated short Franz Kafka’s a Country Doctor (2007).
“For decades,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Baltimore native John Waters is filmdom’s pencil-mustached titan of trash who has spent a lifetime of dumpster-diving into a vat of bad taste, sleaze, kinky gross-outs, over-the-top camp, maudlin melodramatics, sick jokes, taboo sexuality, vulgarity and bizarre personalities. At least he has a fabulous sense of humor. The director is a New York University film school dropout who instead became a scholar of transgressive, envelope-shredding cinema, influenced by the directorial likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis, Federico Fellini, William Castle, Douglas Sirk and Ingmar Bergman. Early on, Waters assembled a stock company of players from suburban Baltimore who he would the Dreamlanders, including Mink Stole and Edith Massey.
But Waters would find his true muse and favorite leading lady in his childhood friend, Glenn Milstead, a drag queen whose alter-ego was known as Divine. When Milstead died at age 42 from an enlarged heart in 1988, Waters’ output went more mainstream, with...
But Waters would find his true muse and favorite leading lady in his childhood friend, Glenn Milstead, a drag queen whose alter-ego was known as Divine. When Milstead died at age 42 from an enlarged heart in 1988, Waters’ output went more mainstream, with...
- 4/20/2024
- by Susan Wloszczyna, Misty Holland and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Updated with minor clarifications from Martiros Vartanov. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is shining a spotlight on one of the most revered filmmakers in cinema history.
On Friday evening the museum in Los Angeles will screen a restored version of visionary Armenian filmmaker and poet Sergei Parajanov’s 1969 classic The Color of Pomegranates, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth. In addition, the museum is premiering the newly restored Parajanov: The Last Spring, a documentary about Parajanov directed by Soviet-born filmmaker and cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov.
The Color of Pomegranates, a visually metamorphic and hybrid narrative, follows the life of the great 18th century Armenian poet and musician, Sayat Nova. Oscillating between stillness and movement – Pomegranates is a mesmerizing wide-canvas painting on film and has been hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time in various polls conducted by Movieline, Time Out, and the British Film Institute’s magazine,...
On Friday evening the museum in Los Angeles will screen a restored version of visionary Armenian filmmaker and poet Sergei Parajanov’s 1969 classic The Color of Pomegranates, marking the 100th anniversary of his birth. In addition, the museum is premiering the newly restored Parajanov: The Last Spring, a documentary about Parajanov directed by Soviet-born filmmaker and cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov.
The Color of Pomegranates, a visually metamorphic and hybrid narrative, follows the life of the great 18th century Armenian poet and musician, Sayat Nova. Oscillating between stillness and movement – Pomegranates is a mesmerizing wide-canvas painting on film and has been hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time in various polls conducted by Movieline, Time Out, and the British Film Institute’s magazine,...
- 4/18/2024
- by Sunil Sadarangani
- Deadline Film + TV
Jeanine Basinger, a veteran film professor, historian and author, helped build Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, into a film powerhouse during her 60 years at the institution. On April 20, the esteemed academic will receive the TCM Classic Film Festival’s Robert Osborne Award, which recognizes an individual who has helped keep the cultural heritage of classic film alive for future generations. Its four previous recipients were Martin Scorsese and film historians/authors Kevin Brownlow, Leonard Maltin and Donald Bogle. Basinger, a youthful 88, spoke with THR about her life and career.
How did you fall in love with movies?
Jeanine Basinger
I grew up in South Dakota, and at 11 I got a job as an usher at a local movie theater. My film school was watching movies — and how audiences reacted to them — over and over again. I began visiting film archives and interviewing film personalities who responded to my outreach. I was hooked.
How did you fall in love with movies?
Jeanine Basinger
I grew up in South Dakota, and at 11 I got a job as an usher at a local movie theater. My film school was watching movies — and how audiences reacted to them — over and over again. I began visiting film archives and interviewing film personalities who responded to my outreach. I was hooked.
- 4/12/2024
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Marco Mueller has been appointed artistic director of Italy’s Taormina Film Festival, which will have a top notch selection committee comprising British film curator and former London fest chief Sandra Hebron and former Cannes Directors’ Fortnight boss Edouard Waintrop.
As anticipated by Variety, Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests — among several other events — is taking the reins of the storied Sicilian event that has had its ups and downs over the years. Held since the mid-1950s in the Sicilian resort known to U.S. audiences as the location of “The White Lotus” Season 2, the summer fest boasts an 8,000-seat open-air ancient Greek amphitheater in the shadow of Sicily’s active Mt. Etna volcano. Guests have included Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Federico Fellini, Pedro Almodovar and Tom Cruise.
The 70th edition of Taormina will run July 12-19. It will...
As anticipated by Variety, Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests — among several other events — is taking the reins of the storied Sicilian event that has had its ups and downs over the years. Held since the mid-1950s in the Sicilian resort known to U.S. audiences as the location of “The White Lotus” Season 2, the summer fest boasts an 8,000-seat open-air ancient Greek amphitheater in the shadow of Sicily’s active Mt. Etna volcano. Guests have included Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Federico Fellini, Pedro Almodovar and Tom Cruise.
The 70th edition of Taormina will run July 12-19. It will...
- 4/12/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Chicago – One of the heralded auteur filmmakers of the recent decade is Alice Rohrwacher. The Italian director joins her cinema forebears like Pier Paolo Pasolini and Federico Fellini, both of which she’s been favorable compared to, in creating unique and personal stories that resonant beyond their narrative. Her latest, opening at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre on April 5th, is “La Chimera.”
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Based on her memories as a child of Italy, the term “La Chimera” represents a pursuit that individuals have in the back of their minds and their lives that they somehow find elusive. Rohrwacher puts this in the context of a petty thief and English-speaking expatriate named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), out of jail but reverting back to his skill as a tomb raider for ancient Estrucian artifacts … in the 1980s this was a mania in Italy. His gang is looking for a quick score, but he...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Based on her memories as a child of Italy, the term “La Chimera” represents a pursuit that individuals have in the back of their minds and their lives that they somehow find elusive. Rohrwacher puts this in the context of a petty thief and English-speaking expatriate named Arthur (Josh O’Connor), out of jail but reverting back to his skill as a tomb raider for ancient Estrucian artifacts … in the 1980s this was a mania in Italy. His gang is looking for a quick score, but he...
- 4/5/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Veteran film festivals curator and chief Marco Mueller, who over the past decades has headed both the Venice and Rome fests – among several other events – is operationally back in Italy where he is expected to be appointed artistic director of Sicily’s storied but troubled Taormina Film Festival.
According to several sources Mueller, who in more recent years relocated to China, is expected to sign a contract on Thursday to become Taormina fest chief. The event is run by the Fondazione Taormina Arte Sicilia foundation currently being managed by Sergio Bonomo. Bonomo is a former board member of the foundation who was put in charge of Taormina Arte by the local government in January after political squabbles caused another board member to resign and the board to fall apart.
Mueller, 70, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Over the years he has amassed plenty of experience at Rotterdam, Locarno,...
According to several sources Mueller, who in more recent years relocated to China, is expected to sign a contract on Thursday to become Taormina fest chief. The event is run by the Fondazione Taormina Arte Sicilia foundation currently being managed by Sergio Bonomo. Bonomo is a former board member of the foundation who was put in charge of Taormina Arte by the local government in January after political squabbles caused another board member to resign and the board to fall apart.
Mueller, 70, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Over the years he has amassed plenty of experience at Rotterdam, Locarno,...
- 4/3/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two debuted in theaters earlier this month, receiving praise from critics and movie-goers alike. Now, joining the ranks of its fans, is none other than Steven Spielberg, who called the movie “one of the most brilliant science-fiction films [he’s] ever seen.”
The comments came in a conversation between Spielberg and Villeneuve at the DGA theater in Los Angeles, which has since been published as an episode of The Directors Guild of America’s podcast, The Director’s Cut. Speaking about the sequel — which follows-up 2021’s Dune — Spileberg commended Villeneuve’s eye for world-building.
“It’s an honor for me to sit here and talk to you,” Spielberg began. “There are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds. It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and Disney and Kubrick, George Lucas.” Spielberg then went on to list a number of directors,...
The comments came in a conversation between Spielberg and Villeneuve at the DGA theater in Los Angeles, which has since been published as an episode of The Directors Guild of America’s podcast, The Director’s Cut. Speaking about the sequel — which follows-up 2021’s Dune — Spileberg commended Villeneuve’s eye for world-building.
“It’s an honor for me to sit here and talk to you,” Spielberg began. “There are filmmakers who are the builders of worlds. It’s not a long list and we know who a lot of them are. Starting with [Georges] Méliès and Disney and Kubrick, George Lucas.” Spielberg then went on to list a number of directors,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Jo Vito
- Consequence - Film News
Sophia Loren is coming to Hong Kong. Well, a restaurant dedicated to the Italian icon is coming to Hong Kong, rather.
Opening in mid-April in the Wanchai district of Hong Kong is Sophia Loren House, the first international outpost of the actress’ burgeoning restaurant empire.
Sophia Loren House has taken over the four-story Woo Cheong Pawn Shop, a Hong Kong heritage building that was formerly the location of The Pawn restaurant. The venue pays homage to Italy of the 1960s and 1970s, the era of Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and also Loren’s heyday as a screen siren. The restaurant is designed by Italian architect Ivo Maria Redaelli, who also designed the four Sophia Loren Restaurants in Italy, and features a great deal of Loren themed art work.
Sophia Loren House Hong Kong
As for the food, the Sophia Loren House has four dining concepts across its four floors.
Opening in mid-April in the Wanchai district of Hong Kong is Sophia Loren House, the first international outpost of the actress’ burgeoning restaurant empire.
Sophia Loren House has taken over the four-story Woo Cheong Pawn Shop, a Hong Kong heritage building that was formerly the location of The Pawn restaurant. The venue pays homage to Italy of the 1960s and 1970s, the era of Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and also Loren’s heyday as a screen siren. The restaurant is designed by Italian architect Ivo Maria Redaelli, who also designed the four Sophia Loren Restaurants in Italy, and features a great deal of Loren themed art work.
Sophia Loren House Hong Kong
As for the food, the Sophia Loren House has four dining concepts across its four floors.
- 3/21/2024
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“This isn’t a flip-flops and shorts show!” yelled Madonna on Monday night, marking her Celebration Tour’s arrival in Los Angeles.
For the first time in close to a decade, the Material Girl returned to the Inglewood Forum in a breathless two-hour, forty minute-plus mammoth, visually enthralling, techno-savvy concert covering her 40-year career. The last time she played this L.A. haunt was October 2015 with her Rebel Tour.
And by the way, for those keeping count: Madge hit the stage early at 9:40 Pm, versus her standard 10 Pm start time.
“I’m about to tell you the story of my life. It’s like reading from my personal diary through music, through dance, through art, through videos. I hope you can handle it,” she exclaimed to the 17,500-filled venue, aged teen to 70-something.
With nods in its production design and costumes by Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, and even...
For the first time in close to a decade, the Material Girl returned to the Inglewood Forum in a breathless two-hour, forty minute-plus mammoth, visually enthralling, techno-savvy concert covering her 40-year career. The last time she played this L.A. haunt was October 2015 with her Rebel Tour.
And by the way, for those keeping count: Madge hit the stage early at 9:40 Pm, versus her standard 10 Pm start time.
“I’m about to tell you the story of my life. It’s like reading from my personal diary through music, through dance, through art, through videos. I hope you can handle it,” she exclaimed to the 17,500-filled venue, aged teen to 70-something.
With nods in its production design and costumes by Donatella Versace, Jean Paul Gaultier, and even...
- 3/7/2024
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
In April 2019, the Academy made a major change to the category formerly known as best foreign-language film. The following March, at the 92nd Academy Awards, Parasite made Oscar history when it became the first non-English film to take best picture — and the first movie to win the Oscar for the newly designated category of best international film.
The decision to rename the category was born out of the Academy’s efforts to diversify its membership and embrace the global filmmaking community. “We believe that ‘international feature film’ better represents this category, and promotes a positive and inclusive view of filmmaking, and the art of film as a universal experience,” Larry Karaszewski and Diane Weyermann, then co-chairs of the international film committee (Weyermann died in 2021), said in a statement.
The Academy has embraced more foreign-language films in its competition — since Parasite’s win in 2020, the best picture category has seen international (or largely non-English) nominees Minari,...
The decision to rename the category was born out of the Academy’s efforts to diversify its membership and embrace the global filmmaking community. “We believe that ‘international feature film’ better represents this category, and promotes a positive and inclusive view of filmmaking, and the art of film as a universal experience,” Larry Karaszewski and Diane Weyermann, then co-chairs of the international film committee (Weyermann died in 2021), said in a statement.
The Academy has embraced more foreign-language films in its competition — since Parasite’s win in 2020, the best picture category has seen international (or largely non-English) nominees Minari,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Tyler Coates
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix is bringing 1974 back to theaters thanks to rare archival prints, restorations, and select 35mm screenings of the curated “Milestone Movies” streaming collection.
The streaming platform debuts a slew of classic films across its trio of theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. The rarely screened archival prints for Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” are among the selected titles, as well as the premiere of the Dcp restoration of iconic Blaxploitation film “Foxy Brown” starring Pam Grier.
The screening series marks the 50th anniversaries of the 1974 films, which were unveiled as part of Netflix’s inaugural (and Criterion Channel-esque) curation channel “Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection,” which was unveiled in January 2024. Fifteen films will screen at the Paris Theater in New York from March 22 through 28, as 12 films screen at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from March 11 through...
The streaming platform debuts a slew of classic films across its trio of theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. The rarely screened archival prints for Martin Scorsese’s “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” are among the selected titles, as well as the premiere of the Dcp restoration of iconic Blaxploitation film “Foxy Brown” starring Pam Grier.
The screening series marks the 50th anniversaries of the 1974 films, which were unveiled as part of Netflix’s inaugural (and Criterion Channel-esque) curation channel “Milestone Movies: The Anniversary Collection,” which was unveiled in January 2024. Fifteen films will screen at the Paris Theater in New York from March 22 through 28, as 12 films screen at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from March 11 through...
- 2/20/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
As attention turns to the Oscars around this time every year, it’s easy to get caught up remembering some of the big winners. One of the most notable champs was The Silence of the Lambs, which took home the “Big Five” awards in 1992: Best Picture, Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Actress (Jodie Foster), Best Director (Jonathan Demme), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally), as well as Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing to round it out.
And despite owning the film rights to works of author Thomas Harris, super-producer Dino De Laurentiis saw none of that windfall, be it Oscar gold or box office riches. How could a savvy Hollywood player, responsible for making some of the most important movies of all time, make such a wild mistake?
It’s all Michael Mann’s fault.
Hannibal and the Italian
In 1981, author Thomas Harris published Red Dragon, a...
And despite owning the film rights to works of author Thomas Harris, super-producer Dino De Laurentiis saw none of that windfall, be it Oscar gold or box office riches. How could a savvy Hollywood player, responsible for making some of the most important movies of all time, make such a wild mistake?
It’s all Michael Mann’s fault.
Hannibal and the Italian
In 1981, author Thomas Harris published Red Dragon, a...
- 2/19/2024
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
One may resist celebrity culture, but most people have at least a few actors from pop culture history that mean something to them, whether they're from the silver screen or the flickering box.
Actors know how to spark our emotions and suspend our disbelief. They embody our favorite stories and the visions of our favorite filmmakers. The stars of film and television have the privilege of immortalizing themselves in certain times and places. But it is not just themselves that they immortalize. In their best projects, they capture many complexities of emotion and culture that are relevant to millions. Steve McQueen and his Mustang in "Bullet," Warren Beatty and his freewheeling libido in "Shampoo," Anthony Hopkins and his empathetic presidential turn in "Nixon" -- for better or worse, actors color our memories of the past in both trivial and important ways.
It can be wistful, therefore, when an old favorite passes,...
Actors know how to spark our emotions and suspend our disbelief. They embody our favorite stories and the visions of our favorite filmmakers. The stars of film and television have the privilege of immortalizing themselves in certain times and places. But it is not just themselves that they immortalize. In their best projects, they capture many complexities of emotion and culture that are relevant to millions. Steve McQueen and his Mustang in "Bullet," Warren Beatty and his freewheeling libido in "Shampoo," Anthony Hopkins and his empathetic presidential turn in "Nixon" -- for better or worse, actors color our memories of the past in both trivial and important ways.
It can be wistful, therefore, when an old favorite passes,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Jack Hawkins
- Slash Film
Italian actor who brought an earthy vitality and rambunctiousness to her role in Federico Fellini’s 1963 masterpiece 8½
In 1962, Federico Fellini placed advertisements in Italian newspapers seeking a woman to play the lead character’s mistress in his next film, which would eventually be titled 8½ and released the following year. The successful candidate, he wrote, should be “somewhat old-fashioned … with a pink-and-white complexion and a small pea-hen’s head on a Rubens body, very soft, flowery, maternal and opulent”.
The director auditioned as many as 5,000 applicants. “An interminable procession of ladies who had deserted their worried husbands and children came forward,” reported the writer Angelo Solmi in 1967. It was rumoured that the whole endeavour was merely a publicity stunt and that all along the role had been earmarked for Sandra Milo.
In 1962, Federico Fellini placed advertisements in Italian newspapers seeking a woman to play the lead character’s mistress in his next film, which would eventually be titled 8½ and released the following year. The successful candidate, he wrote, should be “somewhat old-fashioned … with a pink-and-white complexion and a small pea-hen’s head on a Rubens body, very soft, flowery, maternal and opulent”.
The director auditioned as many as 5,000 applicants. “An interminable procession of ladies who had deserted their worried husbands and children came forward,” reported the writer Angelo Solmi in 1967. It was rumoured that the whole endeavour was merely a publicity stunt and that all along the role had been earmarked for Sandra Milo.
- 2/7/2024
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSEvil Does Not Exist.We are saddened to learn that Issue 97 will be Cinema Scope’s last in its current form. To “do something valuable in this field,” editor and publisher Mark Peranson writes, “one needs creative freedom.” This is exactly what, for twenty-five years and just under 100 issues, Cinema Scope was able to provide, offering a space that allowed, per Peranson, “a certain kind of filmmaker’s work to be treated with the intellect and respect they deserve.” The print issue is on its way to subscribers now, and its entire contents—including interviews with Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Rodrigo Moreno, and Alex Ross Perry—can also be read online.Sandra Milo has died at the age of 90. She starred in Federico Fellini’s 8½ (1963) and Juliet of the Spirits...
- 1/31/2024
- MUBI
Andrei Tarkovsky’s penultimate film, 1983’s gorgeously haunting Nostalghia, also marked new territory for the director. His first film made outside the Ussr, the Cannes Best Director winner (a prize he shared with Robert Bresson for L’Argent), was also a unique collaboration with writer Tonino Guerra, frequent collaborator of Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, and Francesco Rosi. Now restored in 4K in 2022 by Csc – Cinetecanazionale in collaboration with Rai Cinema at Augustus Color laboratory, from the original negatives and the original soundtrack preserved at Rai Cinema, the restoration will begin rolling out on February 21 at NYC’s Film Forum via Kino Lorber and we’re pleased to exclusively unveil the trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “Andrei Tarkovsky explained that in Russian the word ‘nostalghia’ conveys ‘the love for your homeland and the melancholy that arises from being far away.’ This debilitating form of homesickness is embodied in the film by Andrei,...
Here’s the synopsis: “Andrei Tarkovsky explained that in Russian the word ‘nostalghia’ conveys ‘the love for your homeland and the melancholy that arises from being far away.’ This debilitating form of homesickness is embodied in the film by Andrei,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Italian actress Sandra Milo, who was best known for her supporting roles in Federico Fellini’s Oscar winner 8 ½ and Golden Globe winner Juliet of the Spirits, has died at the age of 90.
Born in Tunisia to Italian parents in 1933, Milo grew up in Tuscany.
She got her first big screen break in 1955 opposite Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s comedy The Bachelor.
Milo’s career quickly took off with roles in Roberto Rossellini’s General Della Rovere, Pietrangeli’s Hungry for Love, Edouard Molinaro’s Witness in the City and Claude Sautet’s The Big Risk over the course of the late 1950s.
It briefly hit the buffers in 1961 when her performance in Rosselini’s Stendhal adaptation Vanina Vanni was brutally panned by critics at the Venice Film Festival, but Milo returned to the set and went on to rack up more than 80 credits across her 70-year career.
Internationally, Milo...
Born in Tunisia to Italian parents in 1933, Milo grew up in Tuscany.
She got her first big screen break in 1955 opposite Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s comedy The Bachelor.
Milo’s career quickly took off with roles in Roberto Rossellini’s General Della Rovere, Pietrangeli’s Hungry for Love, Edouard Molinaro’s Witness in the City and Claude Sautet’s The Big Risk over the course of the late 1950s.
It briefly hit the buffers in 1961 when her performance in Rosselini’s Stendhal adaptation Vanina Vanni was brutally panned by critics at the Venice Film Festival, but Milo returned to the set and went on to rack up more than 80 credits across her 70-year career.
Internationally, Milo...
- 1/29/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Veteran Italian actress Sandra Milo, best known for her roles in Federico Fellini‘s 8½ and Juliet of the Spirits, has died. She was 90. According to Variety, Milo’s passing was confirmed on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzura, and son Ciro, who revealed she died in her sleep on Monday (January 29) morning at her home in Rome. Born Salvatrice Elena Greco on March 11, 1933, in Tunis, French Tunisia, Milo made her on-screen film debut in 1955’s The Bachelor. From there, she landed her first major role in Roberto Rossellini‘s 1959 drama film General Della Rovere; she also starred in Rossellini’s 1961 drama Vanina Vanini. Milo briefly retired from acting after her first marriage but was convinced to return by Fellini to star opposite Marcello Mastroianni in his 1963 avant-garde classic 8½, which is available to stream on Prime Video and Apple TV. She also starred in Fellini’s 1965 comedy-drama Juliet of the Spirits.
- 1/29/2024
- TV Insider
Italian actor Sandra Milo, known for memorable roles in Federico Fellini’s “8½” and “Juliet of the Spirits” as well as her work with Roberto Rossellini, died on Monday at her Rome home. She was 90.
News of Milo’s death was announced on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzurra, and son Ciro, who said Milo died in her sleep on Monday morning.
Italian deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni mourned the passing of Milo as the loss of a “protagonist of Italian cinema … a great, talented artist with an overwhelming charisma” and “the muse of great directors such as Federico Fellini who won the hearts of millions of Italians.”
Milo, whose work spanned several genres, made her big screen debut in 1955 alongside popular comic actor Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s “Lo Scapolo” (“The Bachelor”). Other comedies followed such as “Totò in the Moon” (“Totò Nella Luna”), one of...
News of Milo’s death was announced on social media by her daughters, Debora and Azzurra, and son Ciro, who said Milo died in her sleep on Monday morning.
Italian deputy culture minister Lucia Borgonzoni mourned the passing of Milo as the loss of a “protagonist of Italian cinema … a great, talented artist with an overwhelming charisma” and “the muse of great directors such as Federico Fellini who won the hearts of millions of Italians.”
Milo, whose work spanned several genres, made her big screen debut in 1955 alongside popular comic actor Alberto Sordi in Antonio Pietrangeli’s “Lo Scapolo” (“The Bachelor”). Other comedies followed such as “Totò in the Moon” (“Totò Nella Luna”), one of...
- 1/29/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In 2012, the world’s film critics considered Federico Fellini’s 1963 Oscar-winning “8 ½” one of the 10 greatest films of all time. By 2022, Fellini’s landmark film had fallen out of the top 30.
Once upon a time, director/screenwriter/producer Martin Scorsese had reportedly cited it as his favorite film of all time. More recently it’s come in second for Scorsese, tucked behind Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Endlessly copied, cribbed from (both consciously and unconsciously) and parodied, it inspired Paul Mazursky’s 1970 film “Alex in Wonderland” (which includes a cameo by Fellini) and was the source material for the Tony-winning musical “Nine.”
Variety’s critic Bob Hawkins was effusive about the film straight out of the gate, reviewing it after its Rome premiere. He noted that it was “an exciting, stimulating monumental creation” and an example of what Hawkins’ deemed “the author-director picture par excellence.”
While Hawkins colorfully described...
Once upon a time, director/screenwriter/producer Martin Scorsese had reportedly cited it as his favorite film of all time. More recently it’s come in second for Scorsese, tucked behind Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Endlessly copied, cribbed from (both consciously and unconsciously) and parodied, it inspired Paul Mazursky’s 1970 film “Alex in Wonderland” (which includes a cameo by Fellini) and was the source material for the Tony-winning musical “Nine.”
Variety’s critic Bob Hawkins was effusive about the film straight out of the gate, reviewing it after its Rome premiere. He noted that it was “an exciting, stimulating monumental creation” and an example of what Hawkins’ deemed “the author-director picture par excellence.”
While Hawkins colorfully described...
- 1/9/2024
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.
In all honesty, the films of 2023 should take a backseat to the images we are seeing every day in Gaza, where journalists and average citizens have been recording and documenting a daily assault on their homes and livelihoods by the Idf. Whatever fakery we watched and enjoyed in the cinema this year should always be kept in perspective in importance with images that are real and actually happening right now. The Palestinians who have documented these important images have been targeted and killed with intent and purpose to silence what their photos and videos are showing and saying.
List of journalists who have been killed.
The below is of lesser note:
Best First Watches:
Angel’s Egg La belle noiseuse Centipede Horror Charley Varrick Coffy Crimson Gold...
In all honesty, the films of 2023 should take a backseat to the images we are seeing every day in Gaza, where journalists and average citizens have been recording and documenting a daily assault on their homes and livelihoods by the Idf. Whatever fakery we watched and enjoyed in the cinema this year should always be kept in perspective in importance with images that are real and actually happening right now. The Palestinians who have documented these important images have been targeted and killed with intent and purpose to silence what their photos and videos are showing and saying.
List of journalists who have been killed.
The below is of lesser note:
Best First Watches:
Angel’s Egg La belle noiseuse Centipede Horror Charley Varrick Coffy Crimson Gold...
- 1/3/2024
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
Robert De Niro has had a hell of a year. In April, the screen icon welcomed a daughter, Gia, with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen. Three months later, he lost his grandson, Leandro, to a drug overdose at just 19 years of age. Then came the actors’ strike, causing an industry-wide shutdown that put him out of work for the next four months and prevented him from promoting Killers of the Flower Moon, a masterful crime saga boasting his best performance in years. Finally, he was embroiled in a legal nightmare with an ex-assistant that,...
- 12/20/2023
- by Marlow Stern
- Rollingstone.com
Tony McNamara was a voracious reader as a kid growing up in a rural town outside Melbourne, Australia. But he never once considered becoming a writer. “I was always failing English,” he says. “I couldn’t get my head around grammar. Still can’t.”
And yet today, McNamara, 56, is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind some of the most sharp-witted, intricately verbal projects of the past five years, including 2018’s “The Favourite,” for director Yorgos Lanthimos; the 2020 Hulu series “The Great,” with Elle Fanning; and 2021’s “Cruella,” starring Emma Stone. Most recently, McNamara reunited with Lanthimos and Stone for “Poor Things,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a rapturous reception and opened in limited release on Dec. 8. It tells the fantastical story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a Victorian woman transplanted with an infant’s brain who launches on an odyssey of sexual and intellectual self-discovery.
The common thread in all...
And yet today, McNamara, 56, is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind some of the most sharp-witted, intricately verbal projects of the past five years, including 2018’s “The Favourite,” for director Yorgos Lanthimos; the 2020 Hulu series “The Great,” with Elle Fanning; and 2021’s “Cruella,” starring Emma Stone. Most recently, McNamara reunited with Lanthimos and Stone for “Poor Things,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a rapturous reception and opened in limited release on Dec. 8. It tells the fantastical story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a Victorian woman transplanted with an infant’s brain who launches on an odyssey of sexual and intellectual self-discovery.
The common thread in all...
- 12/10/2023
- by Adam B. Vary
- Variety Film + TV
“Poor Things” marks a radical shift for Yorgos Lanthimos. The director gained global acclaim with the microbudget “Dogtooth” in 2009; by 2018, he scored 10 Oscar nominations and one win for star Olivia Colman with the $15 million “The Favourite” ($95 million worldwide). With Venice Golden Lion winner “Poor Things,” he has a $35 million budget, critical acclaim, and another crack at multiple Oscars.
Based on the 1992 novel by Scottish artist and author Alisdair Gray, screenwriter Tony McNamara (“The Favourite”) focused the narrative on young Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman reanimated by scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) who placed her own baby’s brain into her skull.
Lanthimos loved Gray’s book and in 2009 traveled to Scotland to meet the author and plead his case for adaptation. Around 2015, Irish producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures optioned the rights with Film4, Lanthimos’ longtime backer.
“We were all in. Yorgos was so passionate about it,...
Based on the 1992 novel by Scottish artist and author Alisdair Gray, screenwriter Tony McNamara (“The Favourite”) focused the narrative on young Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman reanimated by scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) who placed her own baby’s brain into her skull.
Lanthimos loved Gray’s book and in 2009 traveled to Scotland to meet the author and plead his case for adaptation. Around 2015, Irish producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures optioned the rights with Film4, Lanthimos’ longtime backer.
“We were all in. Yorgos was so passionate about it,...
- 12/4/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
“All art is autobiographical,” Federico Fellini once said. “The pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.” No one would accuse Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s two-and-a-half-hour epic (that’s the theatrical cut’s running time, mind you; there’s a four-hour version waiting in the wings as well) about the French dictator’s rise and fall, of being thinly veiled autofiction in period dress. You sure as hell wouldn’t call it a pearl, either. Starting with the French revolution and ending with Monsieur Bonaparte’s no-bang-all-whimper exit from this mortal coil,...
- 11/21/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
October is usually thought of as the prime time for horror, but the best horror movie of 2023 — for that matter, the most deliriously entertaining horror movie since Wes Craven‘s original “Scream” — arrives not for Halloween but for Thanksgiving. It’s a movie horror fans have been eagerly anticipating ever since director Eli Roth created a fake “Thanksgiving” trailer for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s “Grindhouse” in 2007, and the feature version that Roth and writer Jeff Rendell have extrapolated from that hilarious and gory short is well worth the wait. Their “Thanksgiving” is an ingeniously structured, elegantly composed thrill machine. It’s also a gleeful assault on good taste; it’s what you get when a 1970s or ’80s Canadian tax shelter thriller like “Prom Night” or “My Bloody Valentine” is directed by a true artist.
“Thanksgiving” riffs on dozens of slasher favorites from “Black Christmas” and John Carpenter...
“Thanksgiving” riffs on dozens of slasher favorites from “Black Christmas” and John Carpenter...
- 11/16/2023
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
“Hollywood is mourning the loss of two of its own today,” the radio newscaster announced 30 years ago. My ears perked up, perhaps a bit more than the average listener’s would. “Federico Fellini,” he continued, “is dead at the age of 73.”
“Ah, well,” I thought. “He’s been ill for some time.”
“And in Los Angeles,” the newscaster said, “actor River Phoenix…” A sudden rush of adrenaline made my heart race and I felt as if I’d been punched in the stomach.
Five years earlier, I had spent the afternoon of River’s 18th birthday with him. At the time, I was working on a daily radio network program where I chatted with stars of new movies. Of the hundreds of actors I’ve interviewed, River easily made it to my personal “Top 10 Favorites” list.
River – accompanied by his mom – came to our studio, just off Times Square, to speak about his latest film,...
“Ah, well,” I thought. “He’s been ill for some time.”
“And in Los Angeles,” the newscaster said, “actor River Phoenix…” A sudden rush of adrenaline made my heart race and I felt as if I’d been punched in the stomach.
Five years earlier, I had spent the afternoon of River’s 18th birthday with him. At the time, I was working on a daily radio network program where I chatted with stars of new movies. Of the hundreds of actors I’ve interviewed, River easily made it to my personal “Top 10 Favorites” list.
River – accompanied by his mom – came to our studio, just off Times Square, to speak about his latest film,...
- 10/31/2023
- by Steve North
- The Wrap
The Rome Film Fest, which is currently underway, is taking movies to screens all over the Eternal City, including jails, housing projects and a suburban park with two enormous ancient aqueducts.
While the event’s 18th edition – the core component of which runs Oct. 18-29 – is drawing record-breaking crowds at the Renzo Piano-designed auditorium, screenings are also taking place in various other venues, including a program of fresh movies and talks being held in local penitentiaries.
On Wednesday, Rome’s opener “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a feminist dramedy that marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi is playing in the women’s ward of Rome’s maximum security Rebibbia jail with screenwriters Giulia Calenda and Furio Andreotti in tow to introduce the screening. On Thursday, a first work titled “Troppo Azzurro,” about a 25-year-old named Dario who still lives with his parents and frets about his first date,...
While the event’s 18th edition – the core component of which runs Oct. 18-29 – is drawing record-breaking crowds at the Renzo Piano-designed auditorium, screenings are also taking place in various other venues, including a program of fresh movies and talks being held in local penitentiaries.
On Wednesday, Rome’s opener “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a feminist dramedy that marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi is playing in the women’s ward of Rome’s maximum security Rebibbia jail with screenwriters Giulia Calenda and Furio Andreotti in tow to introduce the screening. On Thursday, a first work titled “Troppo Azzurro,” about a 25-year-old named Dario who still lives with his parents and frets about his first date,...
- 10/24/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Though there had been earlier efforts, like Ealing Studios’s Dead of Night from 1945, the horror anthology film came into its own in the 1960s with titles like Kobayashi Masaki’s Kwaidan and the Poe-centric Spirits of the Dead from directors Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini. Hammer Films’s rival Amicus churned out no fewer than seven of them in a 10-year period starting with Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. But the one that really got the omnibus rolling was Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath from 1963, an Italian-American co-production that resulted in two different versions of the film.
After the success of 1960’s Black Sunday, American International Pictures took a more active hand in producing several of Bava’s later films, altering them in the process to suit American audiences that tended to skew younger. The Aip cut of Black Sabbath rearranges its three segments, tones down some...
After the success of 1960’s Black Sunday, American International Pictures took a more active hand in producing several of Bava’s later films, altering them in the process to suit American audiences that tended to skew younger. The Aip cut of Black Sabbath rearranges its three segments, tones down some...
- 10/16/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Execs took part in Netflix showcase panel at Mia Market in Rome.
Netflix VP content for Italy Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta says she is looking for content that goes beyond the stereotypes about the country that were formed by the success of Italian cinema in the 1960s.
“The biggest challenge we have nowadays is to overcome the big success that Italy had in the 1960s that created some stereotypes about our country. It was so huge,” Andreatta said on a panel at Mia Market in Rome.
“Now the ambition is to relaunch a more modern, more acutal, more true, more out of stereotype image of Italy.
Netflix VP content for Italy Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta says she is looking for content that goes beyond the stereotypes about the country that were formed by the success of Italian cinema in the 1960s.
“The biggest challenge we have nowadays is to overcome the big success that Italy had in the 1960s that created some stereotypes about our country. It was so huge,” Andreatta said on a panel at Mia Market in Rome.
“Now the ambition is to relaunch a more modern, more acutal, more true, more out of stereotype image of Italy.
- 10/13/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Exec says she is after ‘modern’ and ‘out of stereotype’ content about Italy.
Netflix VP content for Italy Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta says she is looking for content that goes beyond the stereotypes about the country that were formed by the success of Italian cinema in the 1960s.
“The biggest challenge we have nowadays is to overcome the big success that Italy had in the 1960s that created some stereotypes about our country. It was so huge,” Andreatta said on a panel at Mia Market in Rome.
“Now the ambition is to relaunch a more modern, more acutal, more true, more...
Netflix VP content for Italy Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta says she is looking for content that goes beyond the stereotypes about the country that were formed by the success of Italian cinema in the 1960s.
“The biggest challenge we have nowadays is to overcome the big success that Italy had in the 1960s that created some stereotypes about our country. It was so huge,” Andreatta said on a panel at Mia Market in Rome.
“Now the ambition is to relaunch a more modern, more acutal, more true, more...
- 10/13/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Ali Kalthami’s satirical drama “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) examines the class divide in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, telling the story of a hapless delivery man and the desperate avenues he takes to make money.
Comedic actor Mohammed Aldokhei plays Fahad, who finds himself in a precarious situation after he is fired from his day job at a call center. Trying to make ends meet, and help his ailing father get necessary medical treatment, Fahad embarks on an illicit scheme to sell stolen liquor while delivering food to wealthy customers.
The film, which unspooled in Toronto and at the Zurich Film Festival, is also a visual tour of Riyadh and its low-income and working-class neighborhoods, mostly by night and often in the rain. Kalthami was eager to capture the city and its glaring lights during the country’s short rainy season. The wide, multi-lane streets and heavy traffic also allowed...
Comedic actor Mohammed Aldokhei plays Fahad, who finds himself in a precarious situation after he is fired from his day job at a call center. Trying to make ends meet, and help his ailing father get necessary medical treatment, Fahad embarks on an illicit scheme to sell stolen liquor while delivering food to wealthy customers.
The film, which unspooled in Toronto and at the Zurich Film Festival, is also a visual tour of Riyadh and its low-income and working-class neighborhoods, mostly by night and often in the rain. Kalthami was eager to capture the city and its glaring lights during the country’s short rainy season. The wide, multi-lane streets and heavy traffic also allowed...
- 10/8/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Horace Ové, director of “Pressure” (1976), the first full-length Black British film, died on Sept. 16. He was 86.
Ové’s son Zak posted on Facebook: “Our loving father Horace, took his last breath at 4.30 this morning, while sleeping peacefully. I hope his spirit is free now after many years of suffering with Alzheimer’s. You are forever missed, and forever loved. Rest in Peace Pops, and thank you for everything.”
Born in Trinidad in 1936, Ové’s moved to London in 1960 to study interior design. A stint in Rome, during which he worked as a film extra including on Joseph Mankiewicz’s “Cleopatra” (1963), he was exposed to the work of Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica, who would become infuences. He returned to Britain in 1965 and covered social and political events in the country while being a student at the London Film School. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the...
Ové’s son Zak posted on Facebook: “Our loving father Horace, took his last breath at 4.30 this morning, while sleeping peacefully. I hope his spirit is free now after many years of suffering with Alzheimer’s. You are forever missed, and forever loved. Rest in Peace Pops, and thank you for everything.”
Born in Trinidad in 1936, Ové’s moved to London in 1960 to study interior design. A stint in Rome, during which he worked as a film extra including on Joseph Mankiewicz’s “Cleopatra” (1963), he was exposed to the work of Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica, who would become infuences. He returned to Britain in 1965 and covered social and political events in the country while being a student at the London Film School. During the 1960s and 1970s he was one of the...
- 9/17/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Donyale Luna: Supermodel director Nailah Jefferson with Anne-Katrin Titze on Beyoncé’s 2018 Vogue cover, shot by Tyler Mitchell: “It was the first Vogue cover that had ever been shot by a Black photographer.”
“My name is Luna, I come from the moon” is how Donyale Luna used to introduce herself. It looks as though the memory of the supermodel’s brief, brimful life had gone back up to the heavens with her for decades. Nailah Jefferson’s insightful and revealing documentary ameliorates this and celebrates an extraordinary woman’s journey. William Klein’s 1966 fashion film Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, Federico Fellini’s Satyricon, a Vogue cover and one for Harper’s Bazaar, collaborations with Richard Avedon and David Bailey (interviewed here), images that show her with Salvador Dali and Groucho Marx, relationships with The Rolling Stone’s Brian Jones and Klaus Kinski, Andy Warhol bondings, and and and...
“My name is Luna, I come from the moon” is how Donyale Luna used to introduce herself. It looks as though the memory of the supermodel’s brief, brimful life had gone back up to the heavens with her for decades. Nailah Jefferson’s insightful and revealing documentary ameliorates this and celebrates an extraordinary woman’s journey. William Klein’s 1966 fashion film Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo?, Federico Fellini’s Satyricon, a Vogue cover and one for Harper’s Bazaar, collaborations with Richard Avedon and David Bailey (interviewed here), images that show her with Salvador Dali and Groucho Marx, relationships with The Rolling Stone’s Brian Jones and Klaus Kinski, Andy Warhol bondings, and and and...
- 9/14/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: It’s a scorching 90 degrees in Rome at the end of July, but producer Lorenzo Mieli isn’t breaking a sweat.
In the course of three days, he’s fully booked, first working into the night with Luca Guadagnino on the filmmaker’s new Daniel Craig movie, Queer, which wrapped shooting in June at Rome’s Cinecittà. Then Mieli’s presence is required in Naples the next day on the set of Paolo Sorrentino’s new untitled movie centering around the character, Parthenope. There’s talk of the production shooting on the water — which is always complicated for any movie. While there were ocean shots in Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated international film, Hand of God, what’s required here on Parthenope is a whole other level. Then Mieli will make a pitstop on the fourth and final season of the HBO series My Brilliant Friend in Caserta, outside Naples, which he executive produces.
In the course of three days, he’s fully booked, first working into the night with Luca Guadagnino on the filmmaker’s new Daniel Craig movie, Queer, which wrapped shooting in June at Rome’s Cinecittà. Then Mieli’s presence is required in Naples the next day on the set of Paolo Sorrentino’s new untitled movie centering around the character, Parthenope. There’s talk of the production shooting on the water — which is always complicated for any movie. While there were ocean shots in Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated international film, Hand of God, what’s required here on Parthenope is a whole other level. Then Mieli will make a pitstop on the fourth and final season of the HBO series My Brilliant Friend in Caserta, outside Naples, which he executive produces.
- 9/3/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
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