Revisiting last year's introduction when putting together 2021's favorites, it is with a shock to realize how little has changed in the wildly disrupted world of cinema under the shroud of the pandemic. The urge to copy-and-paste the whole shebang is quite tempting indeed.What can we say about this year, 2021? We got a little more used to long-term instability. Cinemas and festivals re-opened, only for some to close again. We, like many, ventured carefully out into the world to finally see films again with audiences, all kinds: nervous ones, uproarious ones, spartan ones, and delighted ones. It was an experience both anxious and joyous. We also doubled down on the challenges, but also the pleasures, of home viewing: of virtual cinemas and virtual festivals, of straight to streaming premieres, of trying to capture a social joy in semi-isolation by connecting with others over experiences shared and disparate.The long...
- 12/27/2021
- MUBI
If 2021 has been a calvacade of bad decisions, dashed hopes, and warning signs for cinema’s strength, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming has at least buttressed our hopes for something like a better tomorrow. Anyway. The Channel will let us ride out distended (holi)days in the family home with an extensive Alfred Hitchcock series to bring the family together—from the established Rear Window and Vertigo to the (let’s just guess) lesser-seen Downhill and Young and Innocent—Johnnie To’s Throw Down and Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons in their Criterion editions, and some streaming premieres: Ste. Anne, Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
Special notice to Yvonne Rainer’s brain-expanding Film About a Woman Who . . .—debuting in “Female Gaze: Women Directors + Women Cinematographers,” a series that does as it says on the tin—and a Joseph Cotten retro boasting Ambersons,...
- 11/21/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Il bandito (1946) When his peers were busy whitewashing their nation’s crimes in the preposterous pietism of Neorealism, he made films that exposed the transactional individualism that ruled post-war Italy. When orthodox Marxists deemed commercial cinema the ultimate evil, he infused it with possibilities that exceeded box office returns. While everyone shot in Rome, he set many of his films in the anonymous provinces of northern Italy. Too popular to be considered an auteur yet too intellectual to be easily brushed aside, these may well be some of the reasons why Alberto Lattuada has occupied such an ambivalent place in the history of Italian cinema, one that has resisted canonization and has been largely confined to the country’s borders. An almost complete retrospective of his films, organized by Roberto Turigliatto during the last edition of the Locarno Film Festival, has given us the chance to (re-)discover a director who has worked across genres,...
- 9/20/2021
- MUBI
For years Locarno has been an essential player among the major film festivals, a place where one could count on watching uncompromising works of filmmaking, curation, and film history. It has served as a vital venue for international art cinema with little of the wider publicity needs and industry compromise imposed by media-courting festivals like Cannes and Venice. Highlights of recent Golden Leopard winners bear this out: Pedro Costa, Wang Bing, Hong Sang-soo, Lav Diaz. Along its main competition, it also featured multi-film profiles and large retrospectives, as well as an important section of more cinematically adventurous works that balanced the iconic, hugely attended outdoor screenings in the Piazza Grande. Now, it seems possible that the festival is in trouble. Like so many film events, it has struggled through the pandemic, effectively canceling its 2020 edition. The 2021 festival resumes anew: Not only returning to a physical event in the mountains of Switzerland near Italy,...
- 8/16/2021
- MUBI
The Locarno Film Festival returns to its original physical format under the guidance of new Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro, who worked with the Selection Committees to pick out the titles screening in Locarno from 4 through 14 August. Alongside the welcome return of long-established favorites, there are also new items such as the competitive short films program Corti d’autore in the Pardi di domani section, plus a dedicated program for younger viewers: Locarno Kids: Screenings.
In full compliance with current health and sanitary regulations, Locarno74 will once again be an in-person event, with the return of evenings in Piazza Grande and of screenings in the other twelve theaters around the city. The venue for all meetings and panel discussions with guest personalities accompanying their films will be the Rotonda by la Mobiliare, the new home of the Forum.
The Ticket Shop will be open for ticket purchase from mid-July, whereas...
In full compliance with current health and sanitary regulations, Locarno74 will once again be an in-person event, with the return of evenings in Piazza Grande and of screenings in the other twelve theaters around the city. The venue for all meetings and panel discussions with guest personalities accompanying their films will be the Rotonda by la Mobiliare, the new home of the Forum.
The Ticket Shop will be open for ticket purchase from mid-July, whereas...
- 7/19/2021
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
After Blue (Paradis sale)The lineup for the 2021 festival has been revealed, including new films by Bertrand Mandico, Axelle Ropert, Abel Ferrara and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes, and much more.Piazza GRANDEBeckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino)Free Guy (Shawn Levy)Heat (Michael Mann)Hinterland (Stefan Ruzowitzky)Ida Red (John Swab)Monte Verità (Stefan Jäger)National Lampoon's Animal House (John Landis)Respect (Liesl Tommy)Rose (Aurélie Saada)Sinkhole (Kim Ji-hoon)The Alleys (Bassel Ghandour)The Terminator (James Cameron)Vortex (Gaspar Noé)Yaya e Lennie — The Walking Liberty (Alessandro Rak)Tomorrow My Love (Gitanjali Rao)Lynx (Laurent Geslin)Zeros and OnesCONCORSO INTERNAZIONALEAfter Blue (Paradis sale) (Bertrand Mandico)Al Naher (The River) (Ghassan Salhab)Espíritu sagrado (The Sacred Spirit) (Chema García Ibarra)Gerda (Natalya Kudryashova)I giganti (The Giants) (Bonifacio Angius)Jiao ma teng hui (A New Old Play) (Jiongjiong Qiu)Juju StoriesLa Place d'une autre (Secret Name) (Aurélia Georges)Leynilögga (Cop Secret...
- 7/1/2021
- MUBI
It will replace the Kinuyo Tanaka retrospective planned by former director Lili Hinstin.
The Locarno Film Festival will turn the spotlight on the work of late Italian director Alberto Lattuada for the retrospective of its 74th edition, scheduled to run from August 4- 14 this year.
The programme, which will be curated by Roberto Turigliatto, is the first element of Locarno’s 74th edition to be unveiled by the festival’s newly appointed artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.
Plans have been dropped for a retrospective celebrating the work of Japanese director and actress Kinuyo Tanaka, which was announced by Nazzaro’s...
The Locarno Film Festival will turn the spotlight on the work of late Italian director Alberto Lattuada for the retrospective of its 74th edition, scheduled to run from August 4- 14 this year.
The programme, which will be curated by Roberto Turigliatto, is the first element of Locarno’s 74th edition to be unveiled by the festival’s newly appointed artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.
Plans have been dropped for a retrospective celebrating the work of Japanese director and actress Kinuyo Tanaka, which was announced by Nazzaro’s...
- 1/26/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Above: Hungarian poster for The Sleeping Car Murders. Designer: Sándor Benkő.Last summer I wrote about my discovery of Hungarian movie poster design and featured a number of posters for very well known films from The Wizard of Oz to The Elephant Man. Those posters highlighted the distinctly different graphic approaches taken by Hungarian designers compared to their country-of-origin counterparts. But while delving deeper into the world of Hungarian poster design—mostly via the auction site Bedo—I have come across many even more remarkable designs for films that are less well known. The fifteen posters that I’ve chosen to highlight here were all made in the ’60s and ’70s and there is a distinct pop art sensibility at work: a lot of bold, primary colors and almost cartoonish illustrations, but always in the service of bold, striking graphics. Distinctly upbeat, while perhaps not expressly joyful, they do give...
- 1/21/2021
- MUBI
Alberto Lattuada, the Italian filmmaker who generously supplied Federico Fellini’s first director’s credit for 1950’s “Variety Lights,” once claimed that he “invented Fellini.” His peer, Massimo Mida, disputed this, noting that if anyone invented il Maestro, it was legendary Italian auteur Roberto Rossellini. Respectfully, they’re both wrong. For his part, Fellini, who now towers over Mida, Lattuada, and arguably Rossellini in Italy’s cinematic canon, credits Rome for shaping him.
Continue reading Federico Fellini: The Essential Films at The Playlist.
Continue reading Federico Fellini: The Essential Films at The Playlist.
- 12/1/2020
- by Andrew Crump
- The Playlist
Selection also pays tribute to late UK filmmaker and cinema theorist Peter Wollen.
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s award-winning romantic drama In The Mood For Love is among the 25 narrative titles and seven documentaries selected for Cannes Classics 2020, the cinema heritage programe of the Cannes Film Festival.
The festival said many of the titles would now play at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, which Cannes Film Festival’s delegate general Thierry Frémaux oversees and runs October 10-18 this year.
Some of the works will also screen at the long-running Rencontres Cinématographiques de Cannes, scheduled for November 23 to 26.
The festival...
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s award-winning romantic drama In The Mood For Love is among the 25 narrative titles and seven documentaries selected for Cannes Classics 2020, the cinema heritage programe of the Cannes Film Festival.
The festival said many of the titles would now play at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, which Cannes Film Festival’s delegate general Thierry Frémaux oversees and runs October 10-18 this year.
Some of the works will also screen at the long-running Rencontres Cinématographiques de Cannes, scheduled for November 23 to 26.
The festival...
- 7/15/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Selection also pays tribute to late UK filmmaker and cinema theorist Peter Wollen.
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s award-winning romantic drama In The Mood For Love is among the 25 narrative titles and seven documentaries selected for Cannes Classics 2020, the cinema heritage programe of the Cannes Film Festival.
The festival said many of the titles would now play at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, which Cannes Film Festival’s delegate general Thierry Frémaux oversees and runs October 10-18 this year.
Some of the works will also screen at the long-running Rencontres Cinématographiques de Cannes, scheduled for November 23 to 26.
The festival...
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s award-winning romantic drama In The Mood For Love is among the 25 narrative titles and seven documentaries selected for Cannes Classics 2020, the cinema heritage programe of the Cannes Film Festival.
The festival said many of the titles would now play at the Festival Lumière in Lyon, which Cannes Film Festival’s delegate general Thierry Frémaux oversees and runs October 10-18 this year.
Some of the works will also screen at the long-running Rencontres Cinématographiques de Cannes, scheduled for November 23 to 26.
The festival...
- 7/15/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Mubi's retrospective Fellini at 100 is showing April 29 - July 13, 2020 in many countries.As someone raised in a town of 500, itching to escape to the nearest city for the best part of my childhood, Fellini’s characters have always felt familiar. “His films are a small-town boy’s dream of the big city,” Orson Welles told Playboy in a 1967 interview, and indeed, dotting them are heroes and eccentrics who either share the director’s provincial origins or dance through the frame with the stupor of perpetual strangers in strange lands. “He’s right,” Fellini said about Welles’s remark, “and that’s no insult.” For that naïve awe is the source of the ageless charm of Fellini’s whole cinema. If the films he made over a career spanning five decades still feel so alive and vibrant, it’s because they nurture the same childlike wonder of their protagonists, and their inordinate lust for life.
- 6/12/2020
- MUBI
The coronavirus pandemic is still going on, and shutdowns are being lifted oh so gently. That generally means two things: go outside with a mask on while strafing away from passersby on the sidewalk, or stay in and watch stuff. Luckily, The Criterion Channel has announced its June 2020 lineup, which is full of things old and new.
June sees the streaming premiere of Bertrand Bonello’s fantasy-horror, Zombi Child, which originally premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The month also brings us the Channel’s addition of Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, which comes with deleted scenes, a making-of documentary, and more. Meanwhile, they will also flesh out the service’s Chantal Akerman selection, adding features such as One Day Pina Asked…, Golden Eighties, and her penultimate feature, Almayer’s Folly. On the other side of the coin comes Jamie Babbit...
June sees the streaming premiere of Bertrand Bonello’s fantasy-horror, Zombi Child, which originally premiered in the Director’s Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The month also brings us the Channel’s addition of Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho, which comes with deleted scenes, a making-of documentary, and more. Meanwhile, they will also flesh out the service’s Chantal Akerman selection, adding features such as One Day Pina Asked…, Golden Eighties, and her penultimate feature, Almayer’s Folly. On the other side of the coin comes Jamie Babbit...
- 5/20/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
Next year will mark the centennial of Federico Fellini, born on January 20, 1920 in Rimini, Italy. While we imagine there will be no shortage of retrospectives and screenings celebrating the Italian master, New York City’s Film Forum is getting ahead of the pack with a presentation of a new 4K restoration of the director’s first solo directorial effort The White Sheik. We’re pleased to present the exclusive trailer debut ahead of an opening on Christmas Day.
Coming after Fellini’s 1950 debut Variety Lights, co-directed with Alberto Lattuada, this 1952 slapstick rom-com follows a honeymoon gone off the rails when the bride (Brunella Bovo) goes off in search of her titular idol. Based on an original treatment by Michelangelo Antonioni, the film also marks a number of early collaborations with future Fellini stalwarts, notably a memorable cameo by Giulietta Masina as Cabiria (five years before Nights of Cabiria) and a score by composer Nino Rota.
Coming after Fellini’s 1950 debut Variety Lights, co-directed with Alberto Lattuada, this 1952 slapstick rom-com follows a honeymoon gone off the rails when the bride (Brunella Bovo) goes off in search of her titular idol. Based on an original treatment by Michelangelo Antonioni, the film also marks a number of early collaborations with future Fellini stalwarts, notably a memorable cameo by Giulietta Masina as Cabiria (five years before Nights of Cabiria) and a score by composer Nino Rota.
- 12/9/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Federico Fellini's The White Sheik (1952) is showing January 20 - February 19, 2018 and Nights of Cabiria (1957) from January 21 - February 20, 2018 on Mubi in the United States. Even the most straight-faced Federico Fellini film veers toward the illusory. From the lackadaisical daydreams of wayward young men to the ingenuousness of a simple-minded woman wanting nothing more than to be loved in a world that is anything but loving, his characters regularly search for something so perceptibly near and so conceivably real, yet something often revealed to be deceptive at best, nonexistent at worst. And when he applies this tendency with extravagant conviction, enhancing the whimsy further toward the fantastic, the result is something for which an adjective had to be created: “Felliniesque.” Variety Lights (1950), the first film Fellini directed—in collaboration with Alberto Lattuada—revolved around the world of vaudeville, so...
- 1/20/2018
- MUBI
For the first time in Venice, the recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement has been given “carte blanche” to select rare, forgotten or underestimated films for the Venice Classics section. This year's festival runs September 2-12, 2015. French cinema auteur (and dedicated film critic) Bertrand Tavernier will present four masterpieces he has personally chosen as Guest Director of the Venice Classics section: "White Paws" by Jean Grémillon (France, 1949, 92’, B&W), "The Vixen" by Alberto Lattuada (Italy, 1953, 93’, B&W), "Ray of Sunshine" by Pál Fejös (Germany/Austria, 1933, 87’, B&W) and "A Matter Of Life and Death" by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (UK, 1946, 104’, Color). Read More: Fellini Restoration Makes World Premiere in Venice Also, Italian film director Francesco Patierno will chair the Jury of film students which, for the third time, will award Best Restored Film and Best...
- 7/20/2015
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
Akahige, Amarcord, Aleksandr Nevskij among Venice Classics titles; Bertrand Tavernier selects four films.
Akahige, Amarcord, Aleksandr Nevskij and A Matter of Life and Death are among 21 titles announced today to screen in Venice’s (September 2-12) Classics section, which will reveal further titles later this month.
Director Bertrand Tavernier, who is to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award, has selected and will present four films for the Classics strand: Pattes Blances (White Paws) by Jean Grémillion, La Lupa (The Vixen) by Alberto Lattuada, Sonnenstrahl (Ray of Sunshine) by Pál Fejös and A Matter of Life and Death by Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger.
The 21 restorations:
Akahige (Red Beard) by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1965, 185’, B&W), restoration by Tōhō Co., Ltd.
Aleksandr Nevskij (Alexander Nevsky) by Sergej Michajlovič Ėjzenštejn (Ussr, 1938, 108’, B&W), restoration by Mosfilm
Amarcord by Federico Fellini (Italy, 1973, 123’, Color) restoration by Cineteca di Bologna with the support of yoox.com and the...
Akahige, Amarcord, Aleksandr Nevskij and A Matter of Life and Death are among 21 titles announced today to screen in Venice’s (September 2-12) Classics section, which will reveal further titles later this month.
Director Bertrand Tavernier, who is to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award, has selected and will present four films for the Classics strand: Pattes Blances (White Paws) by Jean Grémillion, La Lupa (The Vixen) by Alberto Lattuada, Sonnenstrahl (Ray of Sunshine) by Pál Fejös and A Matter of Life and Death by Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger.
The 21 restorations:
Akahige (Red Beard) by Akira Kurosawa (Japan, 1965, 185’, B&W), restoration by Tōhō Co., Ltd.
Aleksandr Nevskij (Alexander Nevsky) by Sergej Michajlovič Ėjzenštejn (Ussr, 1938, 108’, B&W), restoration by Mosfilm
Amarcord by Federico Fellini (Italy, 1973, 123’, Color) restoration by Cineteca di Bologna with the support of yoox.com and the...
- 7/20/2015
- by mantus@masonlive.gmu.edu (Madison Antus)
- ScreenDaily
Above: Bedrich Dlouhy’s 1970 poster for Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950).Flipping through the website of the incomparable Czech poster store Terry Posters the other day, I came across an artist whose name I hadn’t known before. I was aware of some of Bedřich Dlouhý’s posters: his split-screen design for Věra Chytilová’s Something Different was one of my favorites in Isabel Stevens’s recent piece on Chytilová’s posters in Sight & Sound, and I knew his designs for Rashomon, Red Desert, The Pink Panther and 8 1/2, but I had never put two and two together that they were by the same designer.Part of the reason I didn’t know more of his work is that most of the films Dlouhý worked on in the ten years that he was designing posters (from 1962 to 1971) were films from the Eastern Bloc that are little known here. Films from Hungary, Yugoslavia...
- 6/19/2015
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Virna Lisi, who won a best actress award in Cannes as well as a César and the Italian Silver Ribbon for her portrayal of Catherine de' Medici in Patrice Chéreau's Queen Margot (1994), has passed away at the age of 78. In a career that spanned over half a century, Lisi appeared in over 100 film and television productions. She worked with Jeanne Moreau in Joseph Losey's Eva (1962), with Jack Lemmon in in How to Murder Your Wife (1965), with Tony Curtis in Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966), with Frank Sinatra in Assault on a Queen (1966), with Rod Steiger in The Girl and the General (1967) and with Anthony Quinn in The 25th Hour (1967) and Stanley Kramer's The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969). For her performance in Alberto Lattuada's The Cricket (1980), she won her first David di Donatello award. » - David Hudson...
- 12/18/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Virna Lisi, who won a best actress award in Cannes as well as a César and the Italian Silver Ribbon for her portrayal of Catherine de' Medici in Patrice Chéreau's Queen Margot (1994), has passed away at the age of 78. In a career that spanned over half a century, Lisi appeared in over 100 film and television productions. She worked with Jeanne Moreau in Joseph Losey's Eva (1962), with Jack Lemmon in in How to Murder Your Wife (1965), with Tony Curtis in Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966), with Frank Sinatra in Assault on a Queen (1966), with Rod Steiger in The Girl and the General (1967) and with Anthony Quinn in The 25th Hour (1967) and Stanley Kramer's The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969). For her performance in Alberto Lattuada's The Cricket (1980), she won her first David di Donatello award. » - David Hudson...
- 12/18/2014
- Keyframe
Above: Pedro Costa's Horse Money
The Locarno Film Festival has announced their lineup for the 67th edition, taking place this August between the 6th and 16th. It speaks for itself, but, um, wow...
"Every film festival, be it small or large, claims to offer, if not an account of the state of things, then an updated map of the art form and the world it seeks to represent. This cartography should show both the major routes and the byways, along with essential places to visit and those that are more unusual. The Festival del film Locarno is no exception to the rule, and I think that looking through the program you will be able to distinguish the route map for this edition." — Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director
Above: Matías Piñeiro's The Princess of France
Concorso Internazionale (Official Competition)
A Blast (Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands)
Alive (Jungbum Park, South Korea)
Horse Money (Pedro Costa,...
The Locarno Film Festival has announced their lineup for the 67th edition, taking place this August between the 6th and 16th. It speaks for itself, but, um, wow...
"Every film festival, be it small or large, claims to offer, if not an account of the state of things, then an updated map of the art form and the world it seeks to represent. This cartography should show both the major routes and the byways, along with essential places to visit and those that are more unusual. The Festival del film Locarno is no exception to the rule, and I think that looking through the program you will be able to distinguish the route map for this edition." — Carlo Chatrian, Artistic Director
Above: Matías Piñeiro's The Princess of France
Concorso Internazionale (Official Competition)
A Blast (Syllas Tzoumerkas, Greece/Germany/Netherlands)
Alive (Jungbum Park, South Korea)
Horse Money (Pedro Costa,...
- 7/25/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Italian actor-director to receive Excellence Award.
Italian actor and director Giancarlo Giannini is to attend the 67th Locarno Film Festival (Aug 6-16) as one of the guests of honour of the Titanus retrospective and will receive an Excellence Award Moët & Chandon.
Giannini will receive the honour on the Piazza Grande on Aug 12. As per Locarno tradition, the next day the Festival audience will have the opportunity to attend an “In Conversation” session with the actor at the Spazio Cinema (Forum).
A series of screenings will accompany this tribute. In addition to Non stuzzicate la zanzara and Indian Summer, screened as part of the Titanus retrospective, there will also be a screening of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Lili Marleen (1981) in his honour.
Locarno 2014 line-up
An Excellence Award is also being presented to Juliette Binoche this year.
Previous recipients of the Excellence Award include Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Michel Piccoli, Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert, [link...
Italian actor and director Giancarlo Giannini is to attend the 67th Locarno Film Festival (Aug 6-16) as one of the guests of honour of the Titanus retrospective and will receive an Excellence Award Moët & Chandon.
Giannini will receive the honour on the Piazza Grande on Aug 12. As per Locarno tradition, the next day the Festival audience will have the opportunity to attend an “In Conversation” session with the actor at the Spazio Cinema (Forum).
A series of screenings will accompany this tribute. In addition to Non stuzzicate la zanzara and Indian Summer, screened as part of the Titanus retrospective, there will also be a screening of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Lili Marleen (1981) in his honour.
Locarno 2014 line-up
An Excellence Award is also being presented to Juliette Binoche this year.
Previous recipients of the Excellence Award include Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Michel Piccoli, Toni Servillo, Isabelle Huppert, [link...
- 7/23/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the 21 restored films – 18 features and 3 shorts - that will screen in its Classics section of restored films.
The section, introduced in 2012, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.
Director Giuliano Montaldo will chair the jury of film students which will award the Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film and for Best Documentary on Cinema.
The 2014 Venice Classics line up:
Features
Baisers volés (Stolen Kisses), dir François Truffaut (France, 1968, Colour) restored by : Mk2
Bez końca (No End), dir Krzysztof Kieślowski (Poland, 1984, 108’, Colour) restored by: Studio Filmowe Tor with the support of the National Audiovisual Institute (the Multiannual Government Programme Culture +) and the Polish Film Institute
Gelin (Bride), dir Omer Lütfi Akad (Turkey, 1973, 92’, Colour) restored by: Erman Film
Guys and Dolls, dir Joseph L. Mankiewicz (USA, 1955, 150’, Colour) restored by: Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Imaging and [link...
The section, introduced in 2012, features a selection of classic film restorations completed over the past year by film libraries, cultural institutions or production companies around the world.
Director Giuliano Montaldo will chair the jury of film students which will award the Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film and for Best Documentary on Cinema.
The 2014 Venice Classics line up:
Features
Baisers volés (Stolen Kisses), dir François Truffaut (France, 1968, Colour) restored by : Mk2
Bez końca (No End), dir Krzysztof Kieślowski (Poland, 1984, 108’, Colour) restored by: Studio Filmowe Tor with the support of the National Audiovisual Institute (the Multiannual Government Programme Culture +) and the Polish Film Institute
Gelin (Bride), dir Omer Lütfi Akad (Turkey, 1973, 92’, Colour) restored by: Erman Film
Guys and Dolls, dir Joseph L. Mankiewicz (USA, 1955, 150’, Colour) restored by: Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Imaging and [link...
- 7/15/2014
- by sarah.cooper@screendaily.com (Sarah Cooper)
- ScreenDaily
Norma Bengell dead at 78: Iconic (and controversial) Brazilian film, stage, television, and recording star made history as the first actress to be seen naked (full frontal) in a mainstream film (photo: Norma Bengell and John Herbert in ‘As Cariocas’) Norma Bengell, a sort of Brazilian Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Fonda rolled into one, died of lung cancer in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro on October 9, 2013. She was 78. Best known internationally for her leading-lady roles in several Italian-made cult classics of the mid-’60s, Norma Bengell was known in Brazil as a controversial show business veteran and for being the first “name” actress (purportedly anywhere in the world) to be seen fully naked — full frontal — in a mainstream film. Note: Hedy Lamarr, then billed as Hedy Kiesler, does swim and run around in the nude in Gustav Machaty’s 1933 Czech drama Ecstasy. However, Lamarr’s naked swimming was disguised by the water,...
- 10/9/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Italian composer of film scores and musicals
Armando Trovajoli, who has died aged 95, was a prolific composer for Italian films and stage musicals. He worked with many of Italy's leading directors, including Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Vittorio De Sica, for whom he composed music for La Ciociara (Two Women, 1960) and Matrimonio all'Italiana (Marriage Italian Style, 1964), both of which starred Sophia Loren, who became a friend. When Loren was going to Hollywood for the first time in the mid-1950s, Trovajoli composed and recorded with his orchestra a song in Neapolitan for her, Che M'è Mparato a Ffà (What Did You Teach Me to Do?), which did much to launch her in the Us.
Trovajoli was born into an upper-middle-class family in Rome. He learned to play the violin as a boy and, in the 1930s, studied piano at the Santa Cecilia conservatory. By 1939 he was playing with a leading jazz band.
Armando Trovajoli, who has died aged 95, was a prolific composer for Italian films and stage musicals. He worked with many of Italy's leading directors, including Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Ettore Scola and Vittorio De Sica, for whom he composed music for La Ciociara (Two Women, 1960) and Matrimonio all'Italiana (Marriage Italian Style, 1964), both of which starred Sophia Loren, who became a friend. When Loren was going to Hollywood for the first time in the mid-1950s, Trovajoli composed and recorded with his orchestra a song in Neapolitan for her, Che M'è Mparato a Ffà (What Did You Teach Me to Do?), which did much to launch her in the Us.
Trovajoli was born into an upper-middle-class family in Rome. He learned to play the violin as a boy and, in the 1930s, studied piano at the Santa Cecilia conservatory. By 1939 he was playing with a leading jazz band.
- 3/10/2013
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
While New Yorkers have plenty of opportunity to see classic films on the big screen, you'll be hard pressed to find a lineup as front to back awesome as the Film Society Of Lincoln Center's "15 For 15: Celebrating Rialto Pictures."
The series honors the reknowned arthouse distribution shingle founded in 1997 that has brought some of the best known (and previously unknown) classics of cinema to American audiences. And the selection here by programmers Scott Foundas, Eric Di Bernardo and Adrienne Halpern represents the breadth and scope of the films Rialto has put their stamp on, ranging from the French New Wave ("Breathless") to film noir ("Rififi") to comedy ("Billy Liar") and more. There is something here for everybody and with the series kicking off tonight, we've got a special prize for some lucky readers.
Courtesy of Film Society Of Lincoln Center, we've got a copy of the excellent Rialto DVD...
The series honors the reknowned arthouse distribution shingle founded in 1997 that has brought some of the best known (and previously unknown) classics of cinema to American audiences. And the selection here by programmers Scott Foundas, Eric Di Bernardo and Adrienne Halpern represents the breadth and scope of the films Rialto has put their stamp on, ranging from the French New Wave ("Breathless") to film noir ("Rififi") to comedy ("Billy Liar") and more. There is something here for everybody and with the series kicking off tonight, we've got a special prize for some lucky readers.
Courtesy of Film Society Of Lincoln Center, we've got a copy of the excellent Rialto DVD...
- 3/19/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Directed by: Alberto Lattuada
Written by: Alberto Lattuada, Giorgio Proseri, Giordano Corsi
Cast: Renato Rascel, Yvonne Sanson, Biulio Stival, Ettore Mattia, Giulio Cali
I must admit, my knowledge of Italian cinema is limited to the works of Dario Argento and Mario Bava and the grindhouse classics of the '70s. So when Il Cappotto (The Overcoat) showed up for me to review, I was a bit hesitant about trying to critique a restored classic. But, according to the DVD cover, the film is a ghost story, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Well, the jacket wasn't exactly telling the truth. A ghost does show up, but not until the final 10 minutes of the film. And using phrases like "retribution" and "wreaks havoc" in the plot summary implies much more than the movie delivers. The film is quite good, with stunning cinematography and solid performances, but it is not...
Written by: Alberto Lattuada, Giorgio Proseri, Giordano Corsi
Cast: Renato Rascel, Yvonne Sanson, Biulio Stival, Ettore Mattia, Giulio Cali
I must admit, my knowledge of Italian cinema is limited to the works of Dario Argento and Mario Bava and the grindhouse classics of the '70s. So when Il Cappotto (The Overcoat) showed up for me to review, I was a bit hesitant about trying to critique a restored classic. But, according to the DVD cover, the film is a ghost story, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Well, the jacket wasn't exactly telling the truth. A ghost does show up, but not until the final 10 minutes of the film. And using phrases like "retribution" and "wreaks havoc" in the plot summary implies much more than the movie delivers. The film is quite good, with stunning cinematography and solid performances, but it is not...
- 3/9/2012
- by Chris McMillan
- Planet Fury
Director Alberto Lattuada’s keenly observed erotic comedy Come Have Coffee with Us is most definitely a product of its time (and patriarchal culture). Produced in Italy in 1970, this vibrantly shot film walks a fine line between sexism and the burgeoning feminist movement of the ‘60’s. Paronzini (played with much charm by La Cage aux Folles’ Ugo Tognazzi), a middle-aged tax inspector in a small Italian city, decides it’s time to leave his comfortable bachelor existence for a wealthy wife. He sets his sights on three single middle-aged sisters whose father (a wealthy taxidermist) recently passed away. The three women live a happy yet modest and cloistered life on an expansive estate. Fortunata (Angela Goodwin), the oldest sister, is the most prudish of the trio. Tarsilla (Francesca Romana Coluzzi) is the more adventurous middle child. Camilla (Milena Vukotic), the youngest, is naïve and childlike.
After seeking Paronzini’s advice on some tax matters,...
After seeking Paronzini’s advice on some tax matters,...
- 2/10/2012
- by Bradley Harding
- Planet Fury
Another in a series of remasters of the lesser-known Italian auteur Alberto Lattuada, Come Have Coffee with Us is a distinctly Mediterranean take on what in any other hands would be a sex farce. Fastidious, handsome war veteran Emerenziano Paronzini (Ugo Tognazzi, La Cage aux Folles) relocates to a small Lombardy town and sets his sights on the wealthy Tarsilla sisters, whose father and benefactor has recently died. Though not as "ugly" as the subtitles would have us believe, the sisters are certainly not conventionally beautiful, and certainly not young. The oldest is a stuffy, middle-aged virgin. The middle one is a childlike harpist, given to shrieks and giggles. And the youngest is a giantess and librarian, who is also being pursued by a young, poor Romeo for trysts at the local church.
Read more...
Read more...
- 1/24/2012
- by David M. DeLeon
- JustPressPlay.net
Hellion
Today's the day Sundance 2012 opens and Salon's Andrew O'Hehir pretty well sums up why those who've written the festival off completely might want to reconsider:
If Robert Redford's annual celebration of independent film is no longer the cutting-edge cultural phenomenon it appeared to be in the 1990s, it also isn't the wretched-excess Sundance of the early 2000s, when the overly precious downtown of Park City, Utah, was bedecked with 'gifting lounges' that attracted all kinds of entertainment and sports celebrities who had no plausible connection to the independent-film business. Current festival director John Cooper took the reins from longtime director Geoff Gilmore (a charismatic and polarizing figure) two and a half years ago, just as the national economy was going south. Whether by coincidence, strategy or an inevitable consequence of structural change, Cooper's first two festivals have felt leaner and more focused on actual films and filmmakers — and...
Today's the day Sundance 2012 opens and Salon's Andrew O'Hehir pretty well sums up why those who've written the festival off completely might want to reconsider:
If Robert Redford's annual celebration of independent film is no longer the cutting-edge cultural phenomenon it appeared to be in the 1990s, it also isn't the wretched-excess Sundance of the early 2000s, when the overly precious downtown of Park City, Utah, was bedecked with 'gifting lounges' that attracted all kinds of entertainment and sports celebrities who had no plausible connection to the independent-film business. Current festival director John Cooper took the reins from longtime director Geoff Gilmore (a charismatic and polarizing figure) two and a half years ago, just as the national economy was going south. Whether by coincidence, strategy or an inevitable consequence of structural change, Cooper's first two festivals have felt leaner and more focused on actual films and filmmakers — and...
- 1/20/2012
- MUBI
The Overcoat is a film adaptation of a well-known short story by Nikolai Gogol, only it lifts the dark, tragicomedy tone that seems so quintessential to Russian stories and transports it to contemporary Italy. Of course, by contemporary, I mean 1952, as that was when Alberto Lattuada directed the film. Now being released as another installment in RaroVideo’s series of digitally restored Italian classics, The Overcoat benefits from being wholly devoted to the bleak, stereotypically Russian nature of the story, and including enough of Gogol’s brand of sharp, satirical humor to keep the viewer from being completely blindsided by our protagonist’s agony.
Read more...
Read more...
- 1/18/2012
- by Lee Jutton
- JustPressPlay.net
"Although most film festivals are consecrated to glamorous premieres and the newsworthy new, [To Save and Project: The Ninth Moma International Festival of Film Preservation, opening tomorrow and running through November 19,] treasures the rediscovered and dusted-off," writes J Hoberman in the Voice. "Like browsing a used bookstore in an unfamiliar city — another endangered pleasure — parsing Tsap's lineup, you're never sure what will turn up. This year's attractions range from a restored color version of Georges Méliès's A Trip to the Moon (the Star Wars of 1902) and the first Soviet stereo-vision feature, Robinzon Kruso (1947), to new prints of Roger Corman's anti-segregationist screen-scorcher The Intruder (the most alarming B-movie of 1962), Louis Malle's 1969 doc Calcutta (showing with Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad's lyrical portrait of a leper colony, The House Is Black), Alberto Lattuada's 1952 neorealist adaptation of Gogol's The Overcoat, and Elaine May's 1976 black comedy Mikey and Nicky (the best movie John Cassavetes never made), as well as the preserved work of the late downtown performance artist Stuart Sherman.
- 10/13/2011
- MUBI
We are here to continue with news from Cannes. We just learned that The Festival de Cannes will welcome Jean-Paul Belmondo on Tuesday 17 May with a special evening held in his honour. That definitely sounds great, and if anybody deserves to have a special night at this year’s Cannes, it’s Mr. Belmondo, I hope you all agree.
Since the late 1950s, Jean-Paul Belmondo has encapsulated the very best of popular cinema (Philippe de Broca, Henri Verneuil, Gérard Oury, Georges Lautner, Jacques Deray), ably blending this with the glorious art-house cinema of the ‘60s and ‘70s. (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, François Truffaut, Claude Lelouch and Alain Resnais, not to mention Vittorio Sica and Alberto Lattuada).
That Man from Rio, Breathless, Pierrot le Fou, Léon Morin,Priest, Mississippi Mermaid, Le Magnifique, Stavisky and Borsalino are just a few examples of his extraordinary range.
Or, as Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux...
Since the late 1950s, Jean-Paul Belmondo has encapsulated the very best of popular cinema (Philippe de Broca, Henri Verneuil, Gérard Oury, Georges Lautner, Jacques Deray), ably blending this with the glorious art-house cinema of the ‘60s and ‘70s. (Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, François Truffaut, Claude Lelouch and Alain Resnais, not to mention Vittorio Sica and Alberto Lattuada).
That Man from Rio, Breathless, Pierrot le Fou, Léon Morin,Priest, Mississippi Mermaid, Le Magnifique, Stavisky and Borsalino are just a few examples of his extraordinary range.
Or, as Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux...
- 4/1/2011
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
The Cannes Film Festival will honor Jean-Paul Belmondo on May 17 with a gala event celebrating the actor's career. French New Wave star Belmondo worked with directors Philippe de Broca, Henri Verneuil, Gérard Oury, Georges Lautner, Jacques Deray, Jean-Pierre Melville, François Truffaut, Claude Lelouch and Alain Resnais, Vittorio Sica, Alberto Lattuada, and - of course - Jean Luc Godard, whose 1960 Breathless helped launch his long career. Among his other credits are That Man from Rio, Pierrot le Fou, Léon Morin, Priest, Mississippi Mermaid, Le Magnifique, Stavisky and Borsalino. See photo gallery and video clips below. “We are delighted," say Cannes's Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux. "His range and personal charisma, the precision of his acting, his cocky wit, the ease with which he carries ...
- 3/30/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Festival de Cannes will welcome Jean-Paul Belmondo on Tuesday 17 May with a special evening held in his honour. “We are delighted that he has agreed to attend this gala evening in celebration of his talent and career. His range and personal charisma, the precision of his acting, his cocky wit, the ease with which he carries himself have made him, along with Jean Gabin and Michel Simon, one of the greatest French actors of all time, a fact to which many films bear ample witness. No doubt the entire panoply of French actors, headed by his Conservatory friends Jean Rochefort, Claude Rich, Pierre Vernier and Jean-Pierre Marielle, will want to walk up that Cannes staircase to celebrate ‘Bébel’ to the sound of the rapturous applause of his diehard fans,” say Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux. The time has certainly come to celebrate this extraordinarily talented French actor. Since the late 1950s,...
- 3/30/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Producer of Pier Paolo Pasolini's early films
Though an enterprising film producer, often ahead of his times, Alfredo Bini, who has died aged 83, is best remembered for having given the poet Pier Paolo Pasolini the chance to make his debut as a film-maker with Accattone (1960), when no other film company was prepared to back it. Bini produced more than 40 films, including all the features made by Pasolini up until 1967, including Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to St Matthew, 1964). Among his other films were many starring his wife, Rosanna Schiaffino.
Bini was born in Livorno, Tuscany, and, during the second world war, ran away from home to join the army. He was wounded and got a medal, but went back to finish his studies in biology. He soon gave up the idea of a scientific career and in 1945 moved to Rome, where, after taking on various jobs, he managed a theatre group.
Though an enterprising film producer, often ahead of his times, Alfredo Bini, who has died aged 83, is best remembered for having given the poet Pier Paolo Pasolini the chance to make his debut as a film-maker with Accattone (1960), when no other film company was prepared to back it. Bini produced more than 40 films, including all the features made by Pasolini up until 1967, including Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to St Matthew, 1964). Among his other films were many starring his wife, Rosanna Schiaffino.
Bini was born in Livorno, Tuscany, and, during the second world war, ran away from home to join the army. He was wounded and got a medal, but went back to finish his studies in biology. He soon gave up the idea of a scientific career and in 1945 moved to Rome, where, after taking on various jobs, he managed a theatre group.
- 11/2/2010
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
I guess it was inevitable that somebody should ask Martin Scorsese, a man whose reputation was made and is still probably widely typified by his crime stories, to come up with a list of his favorite gangster movies. The Daily Beast did just that and while it's easy to see why, it looks like Scorsese is a big Jimmy Cagney fan. Being a voracious film fan, many of the titles on Scorsese's list are not your typical mob fare (Sorry, no Godfather to be found). But there is The Public Enemy, my favorite Cagney role and probably one of my favorite gangster movies of all time, at the top of Scorsese's chronological list.
While it would be hard to imagine Scorsese submitting a dull survey, it's nice to see that he's putting his curatorial powers to good use. After Cagney roles like White Heat and The Roaring Twenties, there are...
While it would be hard to imagine Scorsese submitting a dull survey, it's nice to see that he's putting his curatorial powers to good use. After Cagney roles like White Heat and The Roaring Twenties, there are...
- 9/10/2010
- by Simon Abrams
- Cinematical
Italian screenwriter who worked with directors such as Visconti and Zeffirelli
The Italian screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico, who has died aged 96, collaborated on the scripts of more than 100 films, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), Mario Monicelli's I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She also worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on Le Amiche (The Girlfriends, 1955) and Franco Zeffirelli on Jesus of Nazareth (1977), but she was best known for her creative contribution to the films of Luchino Visconti, including Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963).
She was born Giovanna Cecchi in Rome to a Tuscan painter, Leonetta Pieraccini, and the literary critic Emilio Cecchi, a major figure in 20th-century Italian letters. For a few years in the early 1930s, before the Cinecittà studios were built in Rome, her father had been entrusted by Mussolini's government with...
The Italian screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico, who has died aged 96, collaborated on the scripts of more than 100 films, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), Mario Monicelli's I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She also worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on Le Amiche (The Girlfriends, 1955) and Franco Zeffirelli on Jesus of Nazareth (1977), but she was best known for her creative contribution to the films of Luchino Visconti, including Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963).
She was born Giovanna Cecchi in Rome to a Tuscan painter, Leonetta Pieraccini, and the literary critic Emilio Cecchi, a major figure in 20th-century Italian letters. For a few years in the early 1930s, before the Cinecittà studios were built in Rome, her father had been entrusted by Mussolini's government with...
- 8/1/2010
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
Jose here.
The luscious Anouk Aimée turns 78 today.
If you ask me, too few people love her nowadays, heck most don't even seem to know who she is, despite the fact she has worked with some of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
So for those of you who don't know her well.
If you're into auteurs...Anouk's the femme for you!
She has worked with Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada, Anatole Litvak, Vittorio de Sica, Jacques Demy & Agnes Varda, Marco Bellocchio, Robert Altman and of course Claude Lelouch.
If you're an actressexual...Anouk's the femme for you!
She was nominated for an Oscar for A Man and a Woman for which she also won a Golden Globe and BAFTA.
Plus if you think Diane Lane's train scene in Unfaithful was all sorts of brilliant, you have to see how Anouk invents the whole "amazing display of emotions...
The luscious Anouk Aimée turns 78 today.
If you ask me, too few people love her nowadays, heck most don't even seem to know who she is, despite the fact she has worked with some of the greatest filmmakers of all time.
So for those of you who don't know her well.
If you're into auteurs...Anouk's the femme for you!
She has worked with Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuada, Anatole Litvak, Vittorio de Sica, Jacques Demy & Agnes Varda, Marco Bellocchio, Robert Altman and of course Claude Lelouch.
If you're an actressexual...Anouk's the femme for you!
She was nominated for an Oscar for A Man and a Woman for which she also won a Golden Globe and BAFTA.
Plus if you think Diane Lane's train scene in Unfaithful was all sorts of brilliant, you have to see how Anouk invents the whole "amazing display of emotions...
- 4/27/2010
- by Jose
- FilmExperience
Italian model and film actor, she left the cinema and joined the jet set
Rosanna Schiaffino, who has died aged 69, was one of those Italian beauty queens who began a promising acting career in the post-neorealist cinema of the 1950s. She gave up the cinema in the 1970s and married the handsome playboy and steel industry heir Giorgio Falck. Their marriage and, a decade later, their break-up and divorce, had overtones of melodrama more piquant than the content of any of the 45 films in which Schiaffino had starred.
She was born in Genoa, in north Italy, into a well-off family and, although her father wanted her to pursue studies as a surveyor, her mother encouraged her showbusiness ambitions, helping her to study privately at a drama school and then to take part in beauty contests, which she usually won. These led to modelling jobs, with photographs in important magazines, including Life.
Rosanna Schiaffino, who has died aged 69, was one of those Italian beauty queens who began a promising acting career in the post-neorealist cinema of the 1950s. She gave up the cinema in the 1970s and married the handsome playboy and steel industry heir Giorgio Falck. Their marriage and, a decade later, their break-up and divorce, had overtones of melodrama more piquant than the content of any of the 45 films in which Schiaffino had starred.
She was born in Genoa, in north Italy, into a well-off family and, although her father wanted her to pursue studies as a surveyor, her mother encouraged her showbusiness ambitions, helping her to study privately at a drama school and then to take part in beauty contests, which she usually won. These led to modelling jobs, with photographs in important magazines, including Life.
- 11/18/2009
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
By Matt Singer and Alison Willmore
DVD box sets remain the go-to gift for any film fan in your life -- they come in a range of sizes and prices, so that you can scale up or down depending on how much you like the recipient, and this time of year they're often discounted for last-minute holiday shoppers (and those treating themselves to a present). Here are the new or revamped box sets from 2008 that we've been eyeing:
Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition
Shout Factory, $59.99
"Mystery Science Theater 3000"'s inaugural release from Shout Factory (after many years and discs with Rhino Records) celebrates the show's 20th anniversary with a spiffy box set featuring four never-released-to-dvd episodes: "Werewolf" (with the "great" Joe Estevez), "Future War," "First Spaceship on Venus" and the long-awaited and highly coveted "Laserblast," the final episode on Comedy Central. The set also includes an 80-minute documentary on the show's MSTory,...
DVD box sets remain the go-to gift for any film fan in your life -- they come in a range of sizes and prices, so that you can scale up or down depending on how much you like the recipient, and this time of year they're often discounted for last-minute holiday shoppers (and those treating themselves to a present). Here are the new or revamped box sets from 2008 that we've been eyeing:
Mystery Science Theater 3000 20th Anniversary Edition
Shout Factory, $59.99
"Mystery Science Theater 3000"'s inaugural release from Shout Factory (after many years and discs with Rhino Records) celebrates the show's 20th anniversary with a spiffy box set featuring four never-released-to-dvd episodes: "Werewolf" (with the "great" Joe Estevez), "Future War," "First Spaceship on Venus" and the long-awaited and highly coveted "Laserblast," the final episode on Comedy Central. The set also includes an 80-minute documentary on the show's MSTory,...
- 12/18/2008
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
ROME -- After a drawn out bout with illnesses over the past several years, Italian director Alberto Lattuada, famed for his satirical take on Italy's sexual norms, died on Saturday in Rome. He was 90. With a career that spanned the 1950's to the early 1980's -- considered the golden era of Italian cinema -- Lattuado was credited with writing some of the most cutting edge women's roles and for helping to discover a bevy of female talent including Catherine Spaak, Natassja Kinski, Clio Goldsmith and Barbara De Rossi. Lattuada's best known credits include the movie La Spiaggia (1954) and I Dolci Inganni (Sweet Deceits), which pushed the traditional envelope with its exploration of a 16-year-old girl's first sexual experiences.
PARIS -- The Festival de Cannes on Monday unveiled its selection of restored movies and documentaries that will unspool in the Bunuel Theater during the May14-25 event. The lineup kicks off with a restored version of Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel's 1929 surrealist classic short "Un Chien Andalou" (An Andalusian Dog), restored by the Filmoteca Espanola in Madrid. Other restored 35 mm prints include "C'Eravamo Tanto Amati" (We All Loved Each Other So Much), directed by Ettore Scola (1974); "The Evergreen", by Korean director Shin Sang-Ok (1961); "In Cold Blood", directed by Richard Brooks (1967); "La Marseillaise", directed by Jean Renoir; (1938); "This Sporting Life", directed by Lindsay Anderson (1963); "I Dolci Inganni" (Sweet Deceptions), directed by Alberto Lattuada (1960); "Shock Corridor", directed by Samuel Fuller (1963); "Soy Cuba" (I Am Cuba), directed by Mikhail Kalatozov (1964); and "Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo" (The Gospel According to St. Matthew) from Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964).
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