News

In the decades of cinema that have transpired since Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 film L’avventura, one cannot overlook its seminal status not only within the auteur’s own priceless filmography, but as a milestone in developing cinematic language. Greeted with a divisive response at the Cannes Film Festival, where a group of thirty-five renowned critics were able to turn the cultural tide after the film’s second screening (in that influential way that criticism can’t quite muster in contemporary arenas), it would go on to be awarded the Jury Prize, tying with Kon Ichikawa’s Odd Obsession, and beaten out by Fellini’s iconic La Dolce Vita. It’s hard to believe that such titanic masterpieces were competing against one another, all relishing unprecedented renown in the years to come. Antonioni’s is, truly, the harder film to love, its grasp residing somewhere within its own banality as an...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 25, 2014

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Monica Vitti does the ennui thing in Antonioni's L'avventura.

Michelangelo Antonioni (La notte) unleashed a new kind of cinematic grammar–one that was more concerned with pace and space than it was with dialogue–with his 1960 masterwork L’avventura.

An iconic and undeniably challenging slice of 1960s cinema and a gripping narrative in its own right, the classic L’avventura concerns the enigmatic disappearance of a young woman during a yachting trip off the coast of Sicily, and the search taken up by her disaffected lover (Once Upon a Time in the West’s Gabriele Ferzetti) and best friend (L’eclisse’s Monica Vitti, in her breakout role).

Antonioni’s controversial international sensation—it was the cocktail party conversation piece of the year—is a gorgeously shot tale of modern ennui and spiritual isolation.

Criterion’s new DVD and Blu-ray...

Screenwriter and poet who co-scripted films with Fellini, Antonioni and Tarkovsky

The Italian poet, novelist and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, who has died aged 92, brought something of his own poetic world to the outstanding films he co-scripted with, among others, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Francesco Rosi, but also many non-Italian directors including Theo Angelopoulos and Andrei Tarkovsky. Perhaps his most creative contribution was to Fellini's colourful account of life in a small coastal town in the 1930s, Amarcord (1973), of which he was truly co-author, because the film reflected their common experiences growing up in Romagna.

The two were born in the region a couple of months apart – Fellini in Rimini and Guerra in Santarcangelo, in the hills above the Adriatic resort, the son of a street vendor father.

Guerra's own "amarcord" ("I remember" in dialect) is scattered over many books of poetry and short stories. He first started writing...

2009 Torino Glbt Film Festival Awards 2009 Torino Glbt Film Festival: April 23-30, 2009 Best Feature Film: Leonera / Lion’s Den by Pablo Trapero (Argentina/South Korea/Brazil, 2008) Special Mention: Actress Martina Gusman for Lion’s Den Special Jury Award: Elève libre / Private Lessons by Joachim Lafosse (Belgium, 2008) Special Mention: Actor Jonas Bloquet for Death in Venice Special Mention: Wu sheng feng ling / Soundless Wind Chime by Kit Hung (Hong Kong/China/Switzerland, 2008) Best Documentary (ex-aequo): Khastegi / Sex My Life by Bahman Motamedian (Iran, 2008) and Out in India: A Family’s Journey by Tom Keegan (USA/India, 2007) Special Mention: Giorgio/Giorgia…storia di una voce by Gianfranco Mingozzi (Italy, 2008) Best Short Film: Saliva by Esmir Filho (Brazil, 2008) Special Mention: Même pas mort / Tomboy by Claudine Natkin (France, 2008) The Nuovi Sguardi Award: Wu sheng feng ling / Soundless Wind Chime by Kit Hung (Hong Kong/China/Switzerland, 2008) Audience Awards Best Feature [...]...

Torino Glbt Film Festival 2009: Documentary / Short Film Lineup Documentaries In Competition Boriven nee yu pai tai karn kuk kun (This Area is Under Quarantine) by Thunska Pansittivorakul (Thailand, 2009) friday 24 april, 16.45 – monday 27 april, 11.30 Out in India: A Family’s Journey by Tom Keegan (USA/India, 2007) friday 24 april, 18.30 – saturday 25 april, 11.30 Intimidades de Shakespeare y Victor Hugo (Shakespeare and Victor Hugo’s Intimacies) by Yulene Olaizola (Mexico, 2008) friday 24 april, 15.30 (Sala 3) – saturday 25 april, 11.30 (Sala 3) Giorgio/Giorgia… storia di una voce (Giorgio/Giorgia…History of a Voice) by Gianfranco Mingozzi (Italy, 2008) saturday 25 april, 16.30 – sunday 26 april, 11.30 Falusi Románc: Meleg Szerelem (A Village Romance: Lesbian Love) by Kriszta Bódis (Hungary, 2007) sunday 26 april, 17.20 – tuesday 28 april, 12.30 No Woman’s Land by [...]...

• The Tarantinos, the Hanekes and the von Triers will be sharing the limelight at the Cannes Film Festival next month along with great masters Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini. Cannes will be host to Images From The Playground -- a new compilation film containing unique and never before seen material from nine of Ingmar Bergman's behind-the-screen films, from Sawdust and Tinsel to Persona, and today comes word that the fest will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Federico Fellini's "La dolce vita" with the world premiere of "Noi che abbiamo fatto 'La dolce vita' " (We Who Made "La dolce vita"). One of my most beloved scenes in the history of film is when Anita Ekberg decides to walk into the fountain.  The documentary is about the making the film, and is directed by Assistant Director at the time in Gianfranco Mingozzi. The picture was conceived by Fellini

...