News

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected 10 world premieres for its Critics’ Picks section, including titles from Italy, Bhutan and Kazakhstan.

Three of the features hail from Italy, including Vincenzo Alfieri’s crime thriller The Body, in which an inspector begins to question whether the businesswoman whose death he is investigating is really dead.

Scroll down for the full list of Tallinn Critics’ Picks titles

Starring Claudia Gerini and Giuseppe Battiston, it is produced by Roberto Proia with Columbia Pictures Industries handling world sales.

The section will open with Paolo Marinou-Blanco’s Dreaming Of Lions, which was previously presented...

Sony Pictures International Productions and Italy’s Eagle Pictures have announced psychological thriller “Il Corpo” (“The Body”), starring Claudia Gerini (“John Wick: Chapter 2”), as part of their local co-production partnership.

Principal photography recently wrapped on the film, which is co-written by its director Vincenzo Alfieri (“Mad Dog”) with Giuseppe G. Stasi, who recently made a splash in Italy as the writer and co-director of hit Amazon Prime Video series “The Bad Guy.”

Gerini (pictured in the first-look image above) plays a rich entrepreneur named Rebecca Zuin whose death, due to an alleged heart attack, raises suspicions on the part of a police inspector played by Giuseppe Battiston (“Perfect Strangers”) after her body disappears from the morgue. When her handsome young husband, played by Andrea Di Luigi (“Nuovo Olimpo”), becomes a suspect, he starts thinking she may have faked her death to sadistically torment him.

“We are delighted to bring...

The Italian premieres of Cannes Film Festival opener Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny will be among the international highlights of the 69th Taormina Film Festival which gave a taster of its line-up at a press conference in Rome on Tuesday.

Principal cast for James Mangold’s Indiana Jones reboot including Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies and Mads Mikkelsen are expected to be in attendance for the screening.

The event, unfolding June 23 to July 1 in Sicily, is under the new co-artistic directorship of Barrett Wissman this year.

There will also be Italian premieres for Lisa Cortes’s Little Richard: I Am Everything, a documentary about the life and career of the legendary musician, and A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, starring Teyana Taylor.

Italian highlights include the world premiere of the comedy The Worst Days by Edoardo Leo,...

Pinocchio Review — Pinocchio (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Chris Weitz, Robert Zemeckis and Carlo Collodi and starring Tom Hanks, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Angus Wright, Cynthia Erivo, Sheila Atim, Lorraine Bracco, Keegan-Michael Key, Jamie Demetriou, Giuseppe Battiston, Jaquita Ta’le, Lewin Lloyd and Luke Evans. Tom Hanks stars [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Pinocchio (2022): Tom Hanks is Geppetto in a Harmless Live-Action Remake of the Classic Cartoon...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on September 8th, 2022, reviewing “Pinocchio,” the live-action remake of the 1940 animated classic, directed by Robert Zemeckis. It’s streaming on Disney+ beginning September 8th.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Geppetto (Tom Hanks) carves the puppet Pinocchio (voice of Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) in reaction to losing his wife and child. Wishing upon a star, the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) lands in Geppetto’s workshop and turns Pinocchio into a puppet without strings, and assigns Jiminy Cricket (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as his conscience. As his new father tries to normalize his life, he is kidnapped by Honest John (voice of Keegan-Michael Key) and sold to the traveling show of Stromboli (Giuseppe Battiston). A rescue by his father and friends are in order.

“Pinocchio” streams on Disney+ beginning September 8th. Featuring actors and the voices of Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth,...

Click here to read the full article.

When caught in that perennial dilemma of going head-to-head with an identical-sounding movie (meteor threatens planet; volcano threatens city; Truman Capote makes friends), it’s probably comforting when a filmmaker can tell himself his competitor is a nobody whose film won’t be a real concern. What you don’t want is for the other movie to be made by Guillermo del Toro — especially when the subject is one the Mexican auteur was practically born to interpret.

But Robert Zemeckis’ live action/CG hybrid version of Pinocchio wouldn’t be in a great spot even without a second ambitious adaptation coming soon. A well-intentioned work that largely falls flat, it arrives today as just another widget in Disney’s “remake ’em all!” agenda, one whose pedigree offered the hope of something better. (At least, unlike Warners, Disney’s profit strategy doesn’t involve...

Plot: Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live-action and CGI retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the woodcarver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his real son.

Review: Disney’s remakes of their classic animated masterpieces come in two distinct flavors: reinventions that play with the conventions of the original story in a new way like Maleficent and Alice in Wonderland or they are almost beat-for-beat reenactments of the original with photo-realistic animation or live actors like in The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Occasionally, these new films are refreshingly unlike the films that inspired them, like Cruella or even Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, while still maintaining the heart and soul that earned the originals the title of “masterpiece”. The...

The new trailer from Disney’s live-action ‘Pinocchio,’ premiering on Disney+ Day 8 September, has been released.

Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live-action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.

Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana and Jaquita Ta’Le as her marionette Sabina, Giuseppe Battiston as Stromboli and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

Also in trailers – Trailer lands for comedy series ‘Reboot’

The...

Pinocchio Trailer 2 — Disney+ has released the second movie trailer for Pinocchio (2022). Crew Robert Zemeckis‘ Pinocchio stars Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, Kyanne Lamaya, Giuseppe Battiston, and Lewin Lloyd. Chris Weitz and Robert Zemeckis wrote the screenplay for Pinocchio. Characters “Tom Hanks as Geppetto…Hanks is [...]

Continue reading: Pinocchio (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Robert Zemeckis’ Live-action Adaptation starring Tom Hanks...

Pinocchio (voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) in Disney’s live-action Pinocchio, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The new trailer, key art and stills from Disney’s live-action “Pinocchio,” premiering on Disney+ Day September 8, are available now. The film stars Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, with Cynthia Erivo and Luke Evans. Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award...

Disney+’s upcoming live-action Pinocchio has just released a new trailer, poster, and photos ahead of the film’s September 8, 2022 (“Disney+ Day”) premiere. The new two-minute trailer shows the moment when the wooden toy surprises his dad, Geppetto, by walking, talking, and acting like a real boy. The second trailer also shows the start of Pinocchio’s adventures as he leaves the safety of Geppetto’s toy shop, heads to school, and winds up with Stromboli’s puppet show.

Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis directs a cast that includes Oscar winner Tom Hanks as the woodcarver Geppetto. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Haunting of Bly Manor) voices the title character; Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Super Pumped) voices Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; two-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) is the Blue Fairy; and Keegan-Michael Key (Schmigadoon!) is Honest John.

Oscar nominee Lorraine Bracco (Goodfellas) is Sofia the Seagull,...

“Why do you want to be real when you can be famous?”

Such is the haunting question at the center of Disney+’s “Pinocchio,” premiering September 8. Co-written and directed by Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis, the live-action/animated hybrid retelling of the beloved classic tale stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as the titular wooden doll who dreams of becoming a real boy.

Yet as “Honest” John (Keegan-Michael Key) lures Pinocchio, a talking puppet, into performing as the “eighth wonder of the world,” it’s up to Geppetto, the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo), and Jiminy Cricket (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to guide the boy built with “no conscience.”

Lorraine Bracco, Luke Evans, Kyanne Lamaya, Jaquita Ta’Le, Giuseppe Battiston, and Lewin Lloyd also star.

Based on the 1883 Italian book by Carlo Collodi and the 1940 Disney movie, the new “Pinocchio” has been in development since 2015. While a slew of writers and...

"Why on Earth would you want to be real when you can be… famous?!" Disney has revealed the full-length official trailer for their own live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto. This new film is a remake of the 1940 Disney animated classic, which is itself based on the 1883 Italian book The Adventures of Pinocchio. Hanks is joined by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio, a wooden puppet carved by Geppetto, who is turned into a living puppet by the Blue Fairy. Cynthia Erivo also co-stars with Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the voice of Jiminy Cricket, Keegan-Michael Key as "Honest" John, a deceptive red fox, and Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull, a brand new character. With Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana, Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli, and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick. Disney is giving this one the same treatment as The Lion King and Aladdin before it, but unfortunately it looks like trash.

Disney+ has debuted a teaser trailer for the upcoming Tom Janks led live-action retelling of ‘Pinocchio.’

Robert Zemeckis directs this live-action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.

Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the woodcarver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana (and her marionette Sabina), Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

Robert Zemeckis, Derek Hogue, Andrew Miano, Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz are the film’s producers,...

Tom Hanks as Geppetto in Pinocchio, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc. © 2022 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The global celebration of Disney+ Day will return on Thursday, September 8, 2022, leading into D23 Expo: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event presented by Visa in Anaheim, CA.

In celebration, the streaming service will host special experiences for fans and subscribers, and will premiere new content from its marquee brands, including the return of the beloved Disney franchise in the all-new live action “Pinocchio” on Disney+ Day, September 8.

Here’s your first look at the teaser trailer and poster for the film, starring Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco and Luke Evans.

In addition to “Pinocchio,” Disney+ will announce more Disney+ Day premieres from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic in the coming months.

Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live...

Pinocchio will return with a new movie on Thursday, September 8 (aka Disney Day), the streamer announced Tuesday morning.

The teaser trailer and key art for the film, starring Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco, and Luke Evans, have been unveiled.

Academy Award® winner Robert Zemeckis directs this live-action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.

Tom Hanks leads the cast as Geppetto, the woodcarver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his "conscience."

Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy, Keegan-Michael Key is "Honest" John, Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman.

Also in the...

Disney+ has set Thursday, September 8 for the premiere of Pinocchio, Robert Zemeckis’ live-action adaptation starring Tom Hanks as Gepetto. The release is timed for Disney+ Day, a lead-in to the D23 Expo in Anaheim CA. The streamer also released the first footage in a teaser trailer below, along with key art.

Zemeckis directs the live action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast...

Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis are back together again.

The Oscar-winning “Forrest Gump” collaborators, who also made “Cast Away” and “The Polar Express” together, have reunited for a new take on “Pinocchio.” The project will stream on Disney+ later this year.

Here’s the official boilerplate provided by Disney about the project:

Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the wood carver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award® nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award® nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman. Also in the cast are Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana (and her marionette Sabina), Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli and Lewin Lloyd as Lampwick.

Zemeckis, Derek Hogue, Andrew Miano,...

Disney has set the release date for its remake of classic tale “Pinocchio,” starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto, exclusively on Disney+.

The film, a live-action version of Disney’s 1940 animated classic, will premiere on Disney+ worldwide on Sept. 8, 2022. That’s timed for Disney+ Day, the Mouse House’s celebration of the streamer that it first produced last year. In addition to “Pinocchio,” Disney will announce more Disney+ Day premieres from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and National Geographic “in the coming months,” the company said.

Disney also released a teaser trailer for “Pinocchio,” which in addition to Hanks stars Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco and Luke Evans.

When you wish upon a star…⭐ Watch the trailer for the all-new live action #Pinocchio and stream the movie, a #DisneyPlusDay premiere, September 8 on @DisneyPlus.

A luminous Cynthia Erivo‘s Blue Fairy works her magic on behalf of Tom Hanks’ wishful Geppetto in the first trailer for Disney+‘s Pinocchio movie, which is set for a Thursday, Sept. 8 (aka Disney Day) premiere.

Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis, who previously collaborated with Hanks on Forrest Gump and Cast Away and… well, let’s leave it at that… directed this live-action retelling of the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy.

More from TVLineObi-Wan Kenobi Recap: A Jedi Grieves, and Darth Vader Has Entered the ChatObi-Wan Kenobi:...

When you wish upon a star, you just might get the first teaser trailer for Disney’s live action “Pinocchio.” But you won’t get a look at Pinocchio himself in the footage just yet.

In the first-look footage, Tom Hanks is hard at work as Gepetto, with his beloved cat Figaro on hand too. He’s crafting the soon-to-be famous puppet Pinocchio, but as always, is very lonely. So, we see him start to make his ultimate wish. But before we see the puppet come to life, we meet his conscience, Jiminy Cricket.

In fact, Pinocchio isn’t seen at all in the footage, beyond just his hand. Instead, audiences get a tease of all the adventures he’ll have, through the eyes of Jiminy Cricket. But there is someone we do get to see: Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy. We even get a few bars of her...

"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight..." Disney has revealed the first teaser trailer for their new live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto. The classic story has been updated many times recently, including with an Italian live-action adaptation, which didn't get good reviews. Plus del Toro has a Netflix version in the works. This new film is a remake of the 1940 Disney animated classic, which is itself based on the 1883 Italian book The Adventures of Pinocchio. Hanks is joined by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio, a wooden puppet carved by Geppetto, who is turned into a living puppet by the Blue Fairy. Cynthia Erivo also co-stars with Luke Evans, plus Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the voice of Jiminy Cricket, Keegan-Michael Key as "Honest" John, a deceptive red fox, and Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull, a brand new character. Also with Kyanne Lamaya as Fabiana, Giuseppe Battiston as Señor Stromboli,...

Jeff Lipsky’s Glass Half Full Media has acquired all U.S. rights for Emma Dante’s “The Macaluso Sisters,” which world premiered in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Represented in international markets by Charades, the movie is also being featured in the Flash Forward section of the Busan Film Festial.

“The Macaluso Sisters” opened in Italian theaters on Sept. 10 and has reached over 68,000 admissions to date. Glass Half Full plans to release the ensemble drama in theaters next spring.

The film tells the story of a tight-knit family of five orphaned sisters living in an apartment in Palermo, Sicily. The film follows them at three different stages of their lives: as they holiday together, grow apart, and ultimately reconnect at just the right moments.

“While only Ms. Dante’s second film, ‘Macaluso’ is the work of an exquisitely mature filmmaker. I was utterly swept away by...

Second prize went to Noura’s Dream, while Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi were crowned Best Actors, 143 Sahara Street Best International Doc and Fuori tutto Best Italian Doc. A White, White Day, the second work by the Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, has been named Best Film of the 37th Turin Film Festival, which drew to a close on Saturday 30 November. The award was handed over by a jury presided over by Cristina Comencini (Italy) and composed of Fabienne Babe (France), Bruce McDonald (Canada), Eran Riklis (Israel) and Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia). The next most important accolade, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation Award, went to Noura’s Dream by Hinde Boujemaa, while Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina were named Best Actresses (for Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole), and Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi Best Actors (for Antonio Padovan’s Il grande passo). Within the international documentary section, a jury comprising Sara...

The Friulian actor makes his start in film production with an independent company; among the first films are Le Sorelle Macaluso, Honeymood, Here We Are and Due. Taking its first steps on the production market is Rosamont, an independent production company created by Marica Stocchi and actor Giuseppe Battiston with the goal of producing films of quality for the national and international markets. Among the first titles the company is working on is Le Sorelle Macaluso (see the news) by Emma Dante, in cinemas in 2020 and distributed by Teodora Film. Rosamont is also currently involved with Israeli company Spiro Films in the co-production of Honeymood by Talya Lavie and Here We Are by Nir Bergman. Among Rosamont’s future projects (the name is taken from a verse by Friulian poet Pierluigi Cappello and means “red sunset”) there is also Battiston’s directorial debut with Due, from the novel Bouvard and Pécuchet.

In the Italian provinces, the Virgin Mary appears to a directionless woman who tries to reject her commands in Gianni Zanasi’s unremarkable “Lucia’s Grace.” Perhaps it’s cynical to suggest, but the film’s Europa Cinema Label prize in Directors’ Fortnight says more about the movie’s expected chances at the box office, where its sunny and unchallenging cuteness will translate to robust sales, rather than any intrinsic cinematic merits. Lazily constructed and stocked with familiar caricatures, “Lucia’s Grace” can generously be called a pleasant comic bauble whose extremely mild ecological message will make multiplex audiences feel good without inspiring them to action.

It’s not easy for single mom Lucia (Alba Rohrwacher) to find regular employment as a surveyor, maybe because she’s a little too nervy and a little too honest. Brash local businessman Paolo (Giuseppe Battiston) hires her and assistant Fabio (Daniele De Angelis...

Title: La felicità è un sistema complesso (Happiness is a complex system) Director: Gianni Zanasi Starring: Valerio Mastandrea, Giuseppe Battiston, Hadas Yaron, Paolo Briguglia, Teco Celio, Maurizio Donadoni, Filippo De Carli and Chiara Martini. Criticism on capitalism is at the core of Gianni Zanasi’s new flick: La felicità è un sistema complesso (Happiness is a complex system). Enrico Giusti (Valerio Mastrandrea) has a very peculiar job: he convinces irresponsible entrepreneurs to sell their companies, in order to make them competitive again through arguable mechanisms he is not fully aware of. But he will start to question what he does through a Deus ex machina: the arrival of Achrinoam, an Israeli [ Read More ]

The post La felicità è un sistema complesso (Happiness is a complex system) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

This low-watt Italian comedy about a Falstaffian man’s relationship with his dart-wielding nephew doesn’t quite hit the mark

A curious item to push into our crowded marketplace: a low-watt Italian comedy that proceeds with no stars, droll-to-hypoglycaemic energy levels and a very familiar odd-couple dynamic. Pairing the Falstaffian Paolo (Giuseppe Battiston) with Zoran (Rok Prasnikar), the dorky teen he inherits from his late aunt’s estate, yields one semi-winning diversion when the kid reveals a money-spinning facility with darts. Even this tangent proves a dead end, pulling up short of the much-mooted world championships in Glasgow. Though not unpleasant, such meandering feels naggingly negligible.

Continue reading...

La Belle Vie gets special mention and wins Europa Cinemas Label.

Espionage drama Bethlehem, from Israel’s Yuval Adler, has picked up the top prize in the Venice Days section of the 70th Venice Film Festival.

The winner was announced by the Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean (Fedora).

It also selected Milko Lazarov as best young director for his Bulgarian film Alienation, while a special metntion was given to Jean Denizot’s La Belle Vie.

Europa winner

Denizot’s French film, about a father who has brought up his sons in hiding after losing a custody battle, also won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in Venice Days.

La Belle Vie was chosen by a jury of four exhibitors from the network, which described it as “a highly poetic and moving version of an extraordinary true story”.

In receiving the Label, La Belle Vie will benefit from promotional support from Europa...

Venice Critics Week, run in cooperation with The National Union of Italian Film Critics, has unveiled its list of titles for 2013.

This is the 28th edition of Critics’ Week in Venice. All are feature debuts in competition plus two special events.

The selections include Chilean feature The Quispe Girls about shepherd sisters, which counts Pablo Larrain and Juan de Dios Larrain as producers, and Italian comedy Zoran, My Nephew The Idiot starring Giuseppe Battiston as a winelover who has to indulge his nephew.

Also in the line-up is the two-part The Reunion by Swedish performance artist Anna Odell, about a class reunion; Africa-set White Shadow, which has Ryan Gosling as an executive producer; Salvation Army, about a young gay man in Casablanca; and Slovenian drama Class Enemy, about a school recovering from a student’s suicide.

Opening film The Art of Happiness is about two brothers in Naples and closing film Illiterate stars Gloria actress Paulina García.

The...

Venice Critics Week, run in cooperation with The National Union of Italian Film Critics, has today unveiled its list of titles for 2013.

This is the 28th edition of Critics’ Week in Venice. All are feature debuts in competition plus two special events.

The selections include Chilean feature The Quispe Girls about shepherd sisters, which counts Pablo Larrain and Juan de Dios Larrain as producers; Italian comedy Zoran, My Nephew The Idiot starring Giuseppe Battiston as a winelover who has to indulge his nephew; the two-part The Reunion by Swedish performance artist Anna Odell, about a class reunion; Africa-set White Shadow which has Ryan Gosling as an executive producer; Salvation Army, about a young gay man in Casablanca; and Slovenian drama Class Enemy, about a school recovering from a student’s suicide. The opening film The Art of Happiness is about two brothers in Naples; the closing film Illiterate stars Gloria actress Paulina García.

The full list...

Another title In Competition for Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival 2010.

Next project that we’re going to talk about is movie titled La Passione or if you prefer The Passion from Italian director Carlo Mazzacurati who was in charge for the script as well, together with Umberto Contarello, Doriana Leondeff and Marco Pettenello.

Check out the La Passione synopsis: “When you’re over fifty, it becomes increasingly difficult to be an up-and-coming director. Gianni Dubois knows this only too well. He hasn’t made a film for years, and now that he has the chance to direct a young TV star he can’t even think up an idea for a story.

As if this wasn’t enough, a leak in his apartment in Tuscany has ruined the 16th-century fresco in the chapel next door. To avoid being sued and publicly shamed, Gianni must accept the bizarre proposal of...

Are you guys ready for the oldest film festival in the world? Yeah, sure you are! Who’s crazy enough to miss all that glamour, great movies, and well-known faces? Guess nobody!

This year’s Venice Film Festival runs from September 1- 11th and some great titles will compete for Leone d’Oro, or if you prefer Golden Lion, indeed!

Just in case you don’t trust us, check out a list of all the films playing in competition:

In Competition

Black Swan, Opening Night Film (dir. Darren Aronofsky – U.S.) Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

La Pecora Nera, (dir. Ascanio Celestini – Italy) Ascanio Celestini, Giorgio Tirabassi, Maya Sansa

Somewhere, (dir. Sofia Coppola – U.S.) Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Benicio Del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Laura Chiatti, Simona Ventura

Happy Few, (dir. Antony Cordier – France) Marina Fois, Elodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Nicolas Duvauchelle

The Solitude of Prime Numbers,...

Along with the list of films playing in-competition, the Venice Film Festival has announced which films are playing out-of-competition this year. The movies include Ben Affleck’s The Town, Casey Affleck’s Joaquin Phoenix documentary I’m Still Here, Martin Scorsese’s Elia Kazan documentary A Letter to Elia, John Turturro’s Passione, Julie Taymor’s The Tempest as the closing night film, and Robert Rodriguez’ Machete as the opening night film. It’s an eclectic bunch of flicks and they’re just a small sampling of the movies playing out-of-competition. Hit the jump to check out the full list.

The 67th Venice Film Festival will run from September 1 – 11th.

Ben Affleck – The Town

USA, 120′

Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively

Casey Affleck – I’M Still Here

USA, 108′ (documentary)

Joaquin Phoenix

Marco Bellocchio – Sorelle Mai

Italy, 110′

Alba Rohrwacher, Donatella Finocchiaro, Elena Bellocchio, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio

Piergiorgio Gay...

Earlier this week, the fifty films showing at the Toronto International Film Festival were announced. Today, we have a list of the films showing in-competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Highlights of the Festival include Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, Richard J. Lewis’ Barney’s Version, Julian Schnabel’s Miral, and Tom Tykwer’s Drei. What’s also cool about this list is that we see the runtimes of each of the films. However, it’s not unusual for a film to undergo changes between a festival and its general release.

Hit the jump for a list of all the films playing in-competition and click here for the films playing out-of-competition. This year’s Venice Film Festival runs from September 1 – 11th.

Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan

USA, 103′

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder

Ascanio Celestini – La Pecora Nera

Italia, 93′

Ascanio Celestini,...

The line-up for the 67th Venice Film Festival has finally been announced and we've handily posted the runners and riders below...

The Italian cinematic shindig, which runs from September 1-11 and features the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo Arriaga, Arnaud Desplechin, Danny Elfman, Luca Guadagnino and Gabriele Salvatores on the competition jury, has pulled out all the stops this year with some very exciting flicks.

Top on our list of must-see movies includes Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, Vincent Gallo's Promises Written In Water and Anh Hung Tran's Murasaki adaptation Norwegian Wood.

The films to be shown at the 67th Venice Film Festival are...

Black Swan, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel.

La Pecora Nera, directed by Ascanio Celestini and starring Ascanio Celestini, Giorgio Tirabassi and Maya Sansa

Somewhere, directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Stephen Dorff,...

Rome -- Matteo Garrone's organized crime thriller "Gomorrah" dominated the David di Donatello awards Friday, taking home seven prizes, including a near-sweep of the major categories.

"Il Divo," the biopic from Paolo Sorrentino, also won seven awards, meaning the two films that burst onto the scene a year ago in Cannes combined to win 14 of the 18 categories in which they were eligible for a prize.

But "Gomorrah" -- which was Italy's selection for the Oscars' foreign-language-film category -- was the biggest winner, earning best film, best director for Garrone, best screenplay (for six writers), and best producer for Domenico Procacci.

The top prize for "Il Divo" went to Toni Servillo, for his portrayal of icon Italian politician Guilio Andreotti. Co-star Piera Degli Esposti was named best supporting actress. The film's other prizes include photography and musical score.

Alba Rohrwacher won the best actress prize for her role as Giovanna...

ROME -- Nine months, two distributors, several prizes and much positive word-of-mouth later, Gianni Zanasi's 2007 Venice hit comedy "Don't Think About It" has finally made it to Italian screens. Zanasi's last film was 1999's "Beside Myself", a much smaller and more intimate effort. Bubbly and smart, the new film was branded the first worthy "commedia all'italiana" in years. It has sold to 17 territories and the appeal of its broadly recognizable theme and humor could push it beyond the arthouse niche in some venues.

Failed 35-year-old punk rock musician Stefano (Valerio Mastandrea) returns to his small hometown from Rome after catching his girlfriend cheating on him. Seeking refuge, the prodigal son nevertheless freely criticizes his family and their "bourgeois facades." But things are never as simple as they seem: His older brother is running the family business into the ground and falling for a call girl, his sister has dropped out of college to work with dolphins, his mother does nothing but frequent New Age classes and his father plays golf all day long.

When skeletons start popping out of closets (even about the identity of his real father) and the house is foreclosed upon, Stefano is the least equipped of all to handle it. With a tinge of melancholy, he realizes he craves the safety nets he fled, which the others, however, have outgrown.

Zanasi shoots in bright, sunny colors with a style that is classic yet loose. He allows his actors to perform with naturalistic ease. They are fun to watch -- from the ever-dependent Mastandrea to stars Giuseppe Battiston and Anita Caprioli, as well as Gisella Burinato and Teco Celio as Stefano's parents.

While the subject matter may not be entirely original -- and The New Age and golf touches smack more of American than Italian families -- the film is solidly entertaining and features a great soundtrack with songs by Merci Miss Monroe, Les Fauves and Atomik Dog.

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT

ITC Movie, Pupkin Production in collaboration with La7

International sales: Pyramide International

Credits:

Director: Gianni Zanasi

Writers: Zanasi, Michele Pellegrini

Producers: Beppe Caschetto, Rita Rognoni

Director of photography: Giulio Pietromarchi

Production designer: Roberto De Angelis

Music: Merci Miss Monroe, Les Fauves and Atomik Dog

Costume designer: Valentina Tavia

Editor: Rognoni

Cast:

Stefano: Valerio Mastandrea

Michela: Anita Caprioli

Alberto: Giuseppe Battiston

Mamma Nardini: Gisella Burinato

Walter: Teco Celio

Nadine: Caterina Murino

Paolo: Paolo Briguglia

Stefano: Dino Abbrescia

Running time -- 105 minutes

No MPAA rating...

RomaCinemaFest

ROME -- Carlo Mazzacurati's The Right Distance may not be the director's best film, but is stronger and tighter than what he's produced in the last decade. An inconsistent director, Mazzacurati does warm to making movies about marginalized characters without dipping too far into the syrupy posturing that passes as small-town nostalgia in much of today's Italian cinema. Despite overreaching ambitions, word-of-mouth and positive local reviews could help boost figures as it carves out an arthouse niche for itself. Released in Italy by 01 Distribution on October 20, the day after its RomeCinemaFest screening, it modestly grossed under half a million euros in its first week.

This film opens with a spectacularly sunny and sweeping shot of the lush countryside along the banks of the River Po, the best camerawork by an otherwise underused Luca Bigazzi. It then homes in on a bus carrying -- we are told through a young man's voiceover -- Mara (Valentina Lodovini), the pretty elementary school substitute teacher who will change his life forever, to his sleepy town of Concadalbero.

A loner who recently lost his mother, 18 year-old Giovanni (Giovanni Capovilla, making an impressive feature debut) tells us about his first "adult" crush on 30 year-old Mara, along the way providing background information on Concadalbero and its inhabitants.

Giovanni is a budding journalist obsessed with a recent rash of serial dog killings. He lands a job writing anonymously for a local paper, whose stereotypically cantankerous editor (Mazzacurati regular Fabrizio Bentivoglio) tells him to always keep the "right distance" between himself and a story -- not too far so as to lose empathy, not too close so as to become emotionally involved.

The story then shifts to Mara, who in emails to a friend back in Florence exalts the peace of rural living but complains that pickings are slim among the local men. The Only Ones interested are philandering tobacconist Amos (Giuseppe Battiston, who picked up a best acting award at the Fest for his performance) and Hassan (Ahmed Hafiene), a Tunisian mechanic who spies on Mara from the woods by her house, and is in turn spied on by Giovanni.

After catching Hassan in the act, Mara first scorns him but is won over by his gentle shyness and they begin dating. He falls hard, yet she is just passing through, en route to more gratifying work in Brazil.

Just when you think that apart from their personal drama, and the disturbing canine slayings, nothing much happens in Concadalbero -- even the racism endured by many immigrants in Italy seems relatively benign here -- an unexpected brutal murder turns the film into a whodunit in the third, and weakest, act.

Throughout the music by San Francisco acoustic chamber trio Tin Hat is appropriately haunting but Distance ultimately stretches itself thin. Two of its plot threads -- the poignant tale about growing up in Anytown, Italy and the unfulfilled love story -- are almost overshadowed by a facile courtroom drama and investigation that belie the emotional realism of the first two thirds of the film. Which is a shame, because what lies beneath is a compelling story on how human triumphs and tragedies stem, in equal measure, from our inability to maintain the right distance in life.

THE RIGHT DISTANCE

Fandango, RAI Cinema

Credits:

Director: Carlo Mazzacurati

Writers: Carlo Mazzacurati, Doriana Leondeff, Marco Pettenello, Claudio Piersanti

Producer: Domenico Procacci

Director of photography: Luca Bigazzi

Production designer: Giancarlo Basili

Music: Tin Hat

Costume designer: Francesca Sartori

Editor: Paolo Cottignola

Cast:

Giovanni: Giovanni Capovilla

Mara: Valentina Lodovini

Hassan: Ahmed Hafiene

Amos: Giuseppe Battiston

Bencivegna: Fabrizio Bentivoglio

Bolla: Roberto Abbiati

Franco: Natalino Balasso

Guido: Stefano Scandaletti

Running time -- 107 minutes

No MPAA rating...

RomaCinemaFest

ROME -- Silvio Soldini, best known for his multiple award-winning Bread and Tulips from 2000, may have toned down his lyrical ways in Clouds and Days, but he has not strayed from his favorite subject matter -- a middle-aged couple in crisis. Here Soldini forgoes his trademark fairy tale or literary touches (such as in 2002's Burning in the Wind) for austere naturalism, complete with handheld camerawork that may not be entirely justified but lends itself to the film's verite feel.

A universal story with which almost anyone can identify, the film was released domestically Oct. 26 on 176 screens, coming in fifth at the boxoffice with nearly €725,000 grossed from its opening weekend -- over half of what Soldini's previous title, Agata and the Storm (2004), took in overall at home.

In the U.S., Days will be most-successful among highbrow audiences with a taste for smart European fare and the Italian realism of a bygone era. It should also win back European audiences -- in particular in Switzerland and Germany, where he has a large following -- ready for a more mature story from the director.

Although Michele (Antonio Albanese) has a solid marriage, he waits until his wife Elsa (Margherita Buy) has obtained her art history degree to tell her that he was fired two months earlier by the company he helped create. They will have to sell their lavish home immediately. Reeling from shock over the abysmal state of their finances, she quickly finds part-time work as a telemarketer while he goes on fruitless job interviews for positions for which he is overqualified.

Depressed, Michele begins skipping the interviews to do menial work, first as a moped messenger then as a handyman with two of his former employees (Giuseppe Battiston and Antonio Carlo Francini). Eventually, he refuses to get out bed, forcing Elsa to accept a full-time office job and take over his role as the family breadwinner. As their life of privilege slips further away, they start taking their frustrations out on one another and their 20-year-old daughter Alice (Alba Rohrwacher).

The intelligently crafted plot (by Soldini, his longstanding collaborator Doriana Leondeff, Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli) is balanced by comedic moments that keep it from becoming bleak. The film relies more on nuance rather than dramatic peaks. One particularly gripping, wordless scene comes when Alice, oblivious to her parents' problems, pulls up next to Michele, who is on a moped delivering a package, at a stoplight.

Soldini also reigns in Albanese (a renowned comic prone to hamming it up) and Buy (who has perfected the role of the neurotic urbanite), drawing from them two sober, highly credible performances that reflect how life's unexpected struggles can wear away at even the most loving relationships.

However, two hours on the exhaustive, day-by-day fallout of these struggles weighs down rather than heightens the tension and threat to Elsa and Michele's livelihood and love (even when she begins flirting with a co-worker). At times Days seems more of a social commentary on the shrinking middle class than the will-they-or-won't-they-make-it story at the heart of the film.

DAYS AND CLOUDS

Lumiere & Co., Amka Films, RTSI

Credits:

Director: Silvio Soldin

Writers: Soldini, Doriana Leondeff, Francesco Piccolo, Federica Pontremoli

Producer: Lionello Cerri

Executive producer: Tiziana Soudani

Director of photography: Ramiro Civita

Production designer: Paolo Bizzarri

Music: Giovanni Venosta

Costume designers: Silvia Nebiolo, Patrizia Mazzon

Editor: Carlotta Cristiani

Cast:

Elsa: Margherita Buy

Michele: Antonio Albanese

Alice: Alba Rohrwacher

Vito: Giuseppe Battiston

Riki: Fabio Troiano

Nadia: Carla Signoris

Salviati: Paolo Sassanelli

Luciano: Antonio Carlo Francini

Running time -- 117 minutes

No MPAA rating...

VENICE -- Cristina Comencini's multilayered drama Don't Tell is a refreshingly insightful look at the lingering impact of child abuse, a subject that has been dealt with in all too many trite and exploitive television shows and feature films.

The well-crafted screenplay by Francesca Marciano, Giulia Calenda and Comencini, based on a novel by the director, explores how a brother and sister deal with their grown-up recollections of being abused by their late father.

The film, which screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, goes beyond the fate of Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorgno) and Daniele Luigi Lo Cascio) to include their lovers, friends and children.

Powerfully moving but laced with incisive wit, Don't Tell has terrific performances with a wise tone and polished look that should find appreciative audiences well beyond art houses.

There is a Richard Curtis feel to the intertwining relationships although the subject matter is handled with a depth way beyond the shallow waters of Four Weddings and a Funeral or Notting Hill.

Sabina's nightmares begin after she arranges for her father's cremation and while she wants a baby with her genial actor lover Franco (Alessio Boni), the reality of it spins her into an emotional trauma. Seeking answers, she flies to America to see her older brother Daniele, but she quickly sees in his awkward dealings with his own children that he has been traumatized too.

There are searing scenes that leave Sabina with some answers but no resolution and when she returns to Italy, her pregnancy becomes the nucleus of all her fears. Her friends, Emilia (Stefania Rocca), who is gay and blind, and Maria (Angela Finocchiaro), who is divorced and lonely, lend their support and develop an unlikely liaison themselves.

Franco's director (Giuseppe Battiston) also plays an important role as the characters deal with their own failings and strengths, helping each other to find a kind of love that is understanding and forgiving.

VENICE -- Cristina Comencini's multilayered drama "Don't Tell" is a refreshingly insightful look at the lingering impact of child abuse, a subject that has been dealt with in all too many trite and exploitive television shows and feature films.

The well-crafted screenplay by Francesca Marciano, Giulia Calenda and Comencini, based on a novel by the director, explores how a brother and sister deal with their grown-up recollections of being abused by their late father.

The film, which screened In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival, goes beyond the fate of Sabina (Giovanna Mezzogiorgno) and Daniele Luigi Lo Cascio) to include their lovers, friends and children.

Powerfully moving but laced with incisive wit, "Don't Tell" has terrific performances with a wise tone and polished look that should find appreciative audiences well beyond art houses.

There is a Richard Curtis feel to the intertwining relationships although the subject matter is handled with a depth way beyond the shallow waters of "Four Weddings and a Funeral" or "Notting Hill".

Sabina's nightmares begin after she arranges for her father's cremation and while she wants a baby with her genial actor lover Franco (Alessio Boni), the reality of it spins her into an emotional trauma. Seeking answers, she flies to America to see her older brother Daniele, but she quickly sees in his awkward dealings with his own children that he has been traumatized too.

There are searing scenes that leave Sabina with some answers but no resolution and when she returns to Italy, her pregnancy becomes the nucleus of all her fears. Her friends, Emilia (Stefania Rocca), who is gay and blind, and Maria (Angela Finocchiaro), who is divorced and lonely, lend their support and develop an unlikely liaison themselves.

Franco's director (Giuseppe Battiston) also plays an important role as the characters deal with their own failings and strengths, helping each other a kind of love that is understanding and forgiving.