Articles by: Natasha Lardera

  • Art & Culture

    Imagine Interviewing Italy's Toughest Female Journalist: FALLACI, a Woman Against

    Emilia Costantini is a journalist and theater critic for Corriere della Sera, one of the major Italian daily newspapers published in Milan, where she writes on culture and theater. Until 2011 she was a member of the Commissione Cinema del Ministero per i Beni Culturali.

    Presently she is a member of the literary jury for Premio Roma­Campidoglio, for Premio Le
    Maschere del Teatro     and Premio Pavoncella dedicated to female creativity.
     

    Costantini is also the author of "FALLACI, a woman against” a post­mortem interview with the famous and controversial journalist Oriana Fallaci. The play was presented in Manthattan, at TheatreLab, during the second edition of In Scena, Italian theater festival. Starring Andrus Nicholls in the role of the journalist from Florence, and Giulia Bisinella in the role of the interviewer, the play is a love letter written by a woman who is clearly fascinated by Oriana Fallaci, by what she has meant to Italian journalism and by her irreverent style of writing aimed to always get to the truth.

    The image of Fallaci that transpires is that of a woman of numerous contrasts, strong and fragile at the same time, intense and deeply scared by her own sensibility.

    She's the woman who has written against Islamic extremists, who has interviewed the likes of Gaddafi and Arafat, who had an affair with the subject of one of her interviews, Alexandros Panagoulis, (a Greek politician who attempted to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos), who suffered insanely when her mother died and who is being eaten by cancer. Emilia Costantini was available to answer to some questions, that give us the chance to find out more about her work.

    If you were to describe Oriana Fallaci to someone who’s never heard of her, what would you say?

    I never met Oriana Fallaci face to face, because here at Corriere della Sera I write about

    Entertainment so I never had a chance to. So I cannot describe her as she was as a person, although there were numerous legends about her difficult temper. What I can say for sure is that she was the first female war correspondent, the greatest Italian female journalist of the 1900s and them most known internationally. Most of all she was a writer, and she loved to define herself a “scrittore,” the word in Italian for male writer, rather then “scrittrice,” the word in Italian used for female writers. She was a “scrittore” who had been lent to journalism. She was a tough woman, and I reckon the reason was she had to deal with a men dominated world, a world that was tough and hostile towards her. When she started working as a journalist, her few female colleagues used to write about fashion, cooking and sewing.

    How did you discover Oriana Fallaci?

     

    I discovered Oriana Fallaci when I was a girl and I started reading her books: my favorites are “A Man” (Un Uomo, 1979), dedicated to Alexandros Panagoulis, and “Letter to a Child Never Born (Lettera a un bambino mai nato, 1975), which is a real masterpiece. But it was in 2011, 5 years after her death and 10 years after the Twin Towers terrorist attacks, that I came up with the idea of dedicating a show to her: an imaginary interview conducted by a journalist of the Corriere della Sera to the most important journalist at the Corriere della Sera. The play, which was performed, in Italy, by Monica Guerritore, was a great success at the Spoleto Festival, and then toured the country’s major theaters, including the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and the Eliseo in Rome. I basically dove into Oriana Fallaci’s world and it all was a continuous discovery: I admired, and still do, her courage, her strength and her moral honesty. 

    Given the chance to ask her one question in person, what would you have asked?

    Ask her a question? That's impossible! She hated being interviewed, that’s why I wrote an imaginary interview. She would have never accepted to answer my questions. But if I had a chance, I probably would have asked when she gave up on her life as a woman in favor of her profession.

    Tell us about the process of writing the play?

    The writing process has been really difficult, because she has written so much. Choosing what to include in the play was very hard. I wanted to use her own words: attributing to her words written by me was simply unthinkable. The interview is a real interview, where she answers with her own words to my questions.

    How important was it to you to bring this play to the US?

    This American production has made me really happy. Bringing it to the US has been amazing, first of all it's a question of personal pride, this being the first time a text of mine has been translated into another language and performed by an American actress, and then because I brought Oriana Fallaci back to her beloved Manhattan, 8 years after her death.
  • Arte e Cultura

    Cogliere l'attimo con Eternal NOW. Improvvisazione pura

     La Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), il centro per le arti dello spettacolo più antico d'America, presenta (dal 19 al 21 giugno), al BAM Fisher, la prima mondiale di Eternal Now, l'ultima opera della coreografa coreana Young Soon Kim e della compagnia WHITE WAVE DANCE.

    Young Soon Kim e' tra i coreografi coreani più conosciuti. Nata a Kwang Ju, si e' trasferita negliStati Uniti nel 1977, a seguito di un invito dalla parte della prestigiosa Martha Graham School.  

    Kim ha ballato con svariate compagnie tali Jennifer Muller/The Works (1980-1984), Pearl Lang e Joyce Trisler. Inoltre, ha studiato con Louis Falco, Lynn Simonson, Zvi Gotheiner, Lar Lubavitch, Twyla Tharp e Martha Myers. Nel 1988 fondò la WHITE WAVE DANCE.

    Con i suoi movimenti provocatori, intimi ed incontestabilmente affascinanti, Eternal NOW rivela agli spettatori i desideri nascosti celati in storie fondamentalmente umane. L'opera unisce visione e movimento, un liguaggio che anima l'immaginazione, la passione e lo spirito. Ogni pezzo e' rivolto al presente, spaziale e temporale, mentre esplora le turbolenze delle emozioni umane. 

    "In quanto esseri umani, siamo sempre presi dalle turbolenze delle emozioni, le quali spesso provengono dal passato o dal futuro. Quest'opera si concentra sull'affrontare il presente (NOW) con speranza ed ottimismo", dice Young Soon Kim del suo lavoro. 
     

    Eternal NOW riporterà insieme Young Soon Kim ed un suo collaboratore passato, il compositore italiano Marco Cappelli, con i suoi brani originali dal vivo, mentre i ballerini interagiscono con immagini e video messi insieme dall'artista Kate Freer e proiettati su grandi schermi.

    "Sono in un angolo del palco, seduto in un area che assomiglia all'abitacolo di un aereo, circondato da lucine, cavi, e strumenti dove leggerò i movimenti dei ballerini" ci dice Marco Cappelli. 

    La collaborazione tra il musicista e Kim risale al 2009. "Viaggio spesso in Corea per lavoro e lì ho conosciuto molti compositori. Uno di loro, Kyoung Kim, mi ha presentato Young Soon Kim perche come me era di base a New York City. Viste le distanze, era più facile che noi due collaborassimo insieme, piuttosto che con lui che vive cosi lontano. Lo spettacolo che presentano adesso e' il terzo di una serie ed ho creato la musica anche per gli ultimi due: So Long for Now e Here and Now."

    Abbiamo subito capito che il filo conduttore tra queste tre opere e' la parola NOW (adesso). "Si", ci ha spiegato Marco, "ed e' rappresentato sul palco dall'immediatezza della musica e dallo spazio lasciato all'improvvisazione. C'e' un riquadro ben specifico e strutturato all'interno del quale i ballerini, la video artist ed io, abbiamo uno spazio per improvvisare. E per quanto mi riguarda, riesco a leggere i movimenti come se fossero delle note musicali. Sono molto interessato alla relazione tra la composizione e l'improvisazione e lo stesso vale per Young Soon Kim, per questo e' ideale lavorare insieme.

    All'inizio i ballerini sono lasciati alla pura improvvisazione,  si inventano. Dopo si fanno guidare da lei e mi lascio guidare anch'io. Viene tutto insieme."

    Marco Cappelli suonerà vari strumenti: la chitarra, la tastiera e l'uboingee,che solo due persone al mondo possiedono e Cappelli e' uno di loro! "L'uboingee e' una chitarra con le molle", spiega "sembra uscito da un film di fantascienza e si può suonare sia come chitarra che come percussione, il che e' ottimo per i ballerini.
    Fu creato da Mark Stewart, il chitarrista e direttore artistico di Paul Simon e Art Garfunkel, che fa pure l'inventore di strumenti. Farò anche uso di effetti sonori e renderò il tutto estremamente coinvolgente." 
  • Events: Reports

    Living in the Moment with Eternal NOW

    BAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music, America's Oldest Performing Arts Center, is about to present (June 19th­22nd, 2014 ), at BAM Fisher, the world premiere of Eternal NOW the latest work of Korean choreographer Young Soon Kim and the company WHITE WAVE DANCE.

    Young Soon Kim is one of the most renowned choreographers Korea has ever produced. Born in Kwang Ju, Korea, Kim came to the United States in 1977 at the invitation of the Martha Graham School.

    Kim danced with Jennifer Muller /The Works (1980­1984), Pearl Lang and Joyce Trisler Companies, among others. Kim also studied with Louis Falco, Lynn Simonson, Zvi Gotheiner, Lar Lubavitch, Twyla Tharp and Martha Myers. She formed WHITE WAVE in 1988.

    Presenting audiences with visually provocative, intimate, and undeniably beautiful movement,
    Eternal NOW reveals the secret longings of utterly human stories. A work of vision and movement language that reaches into the imagination, passion, and spirit, each piece perpetually affirms the now, in space and time, while exploring the turbulence of human emotions.

    “What we are feeling at the very moment of now is unknown territory. We as human beings are constantly struck by the turbulence of human emotion, which mostly comes from the past or the future. This piece is about facing NOW with a sense of hope and possibility,” Young Soon Kim has said about her work.

    Eternal NOW is also reuniting Young Soon Kim’s fluid and intertwining dramatic movement with longtime collaborator, Italian composer Marco Cappelli, who will perform an original score live, as dancers interact with scenes of lusciously composed images and edited footage by video artist, Kate Freer, playing on wide screen monitors.

    “I will be in a corner on stage, sitting in an area that looks like the cockpit of an airplane,
    surrounded by little lights, cables and instruments and I will play, reading what the dancers do,”

    Marco Cappelli told us. The collaboration between the composer and Kim started back in 2009. “I often travel to Korea for work and I have met many musicians and composers. One of them, Kyoung Kim, introduced me to Young Soon Kim, because she was based, as I am, in New York City. It was easier for us to collaborate than for him who lived so far away. The show they are presenting now is the third of a series, and I composed music for the previous two as well: So Long for Now and Here and Now.”

    We immediately realize that the common thread between the shows is the word NOW. “Yes,”
    Marco explained, “and that is captured on stage by the immediacy of the music and the space
    given to improvisation. Believe me, there is a well structured frame where we, and by we I mean me, the dancers and the video artist, have room to improvise. As far as I am concerned, I get to read movement as if I were reading a sheet of music. I am very interested in the relation between composition and improvisation and Young Soon Kim shares the same interest, that's why working together is really ideal. At the very beginning dancers are left to totally improvise, she wants to see what they come up with. Then they are guided by her and I let myself be guided to. It all comes together.”

    Marco Cappelli will be playing different instruments: the guitar, keyboards and the uboingee, an instrument that only two people have in the world and M is one of them! “The Uboingee is a guitar with springs,” Marco explained, “It looks like it belongs in a sci­fi movie and it can be used both as a guitar and as percussion, which is great for the dancers. It was created by Mark Stewart, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel's guitarist and artistic director, who happens to be also an inventor of instruments. I will also play with some sound effects and make it all incredibly engaging.”

    Eternal NOW runs June 19 ­ 21, Thursday ­ Saturday at 7:30 PM.
    BAM Fisher is located at 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn NY 11217. For information and
    reservations call 718­855­8822 or visit BAM.org.
  • Art & Culture

    David di Donatello 2014 and the Renaissance of Italian Cinema




    As predicted The Great Beauty and The Human Capital triumphed at the David di Donatello Competition. Named after Donatello's David, this film award ceremony is considered the Italian equivalent of the Academy Awards. It is presented each year, since 1955, for cinematic performances and production by L'accademia del Cinema Italiano (ACI, The Academy of Italian Cinema).


    The Great Beauty won 9 statuettes, in the form of Donatello's famous sculpture, including Best Director to Paolo Sorrentino, Best Production for Indigo Film and for Best Photography, while male lead Toni Servillo won his fourth Donatello for Best Actor. The Human Capital got 7, the most important being Best Film. The other awards given to Virzi's film went to Francesco Piccolo and Francesco Bruni for Best Screenplay for their story of how a chance roadside accident impacts two families. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi won the best actress prize and Fabrizio Gifuni and actress Valeria Golino won the awards for supporting actor and actress.


    Among all other Awards, two were given to Pif, Piefrancesco Diliberto, for his film The Mafia Only Kills in Summer, that was just presented in New York at the Open Roads Film Festival. Pif won for Best Debut Director and was given the Youth Award. Philomena and The Grand Budapest Hotel were awarded Best Foreign Film from inside and outside the EU. Sophia Loren was honored for her work in The Human Voice, a film directed by her son Edoardo Ponti and adapted in collaboration with Erri De Luca. Director Marco Bellocchio was given a special Lifetime Award. Other awards were assigned to director Carlo Mazzacurati, who has recently passed, to composer Riz Ortolani, who also has recently passed, to director Francesco Rosi and to producer Andrea Occhipinti. The film I Quit Whenever I Want, which also was just presented at Open Roads, had several nominations but won nothing.  Sydney Sibilia is just at the beginning, we are sure he'll make more films that will bring home awards in the future.


    The morning of the ceremony all candidates were invited to visit Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinale. With great emotion, the political leader has confessed his passion for cinema and his dreams when he was a young boy: “I remember Giuliano Montaldo playing a partisan in the film Achtung Banditi! (Attention, Bandits!) by Carlo Lizzani. I know this is prehistory but it's great that Montaldo, who attended the ceremony, has reminded us that we too were young once. Personally speaking, I had the temptation to enter the world of cinema before getting lost on the way. We are now experiencing a renewed and positive season for Italian Cinema. In the past we have abused the word “crisis,” while our cinema, with all its difficulties, is indeed strong, and sports an extraordinary creative force, mostly thanks to the new generations. All of you have helped Italian cinema win, yes there are difficulties but also great vitality.” Could this be the Renaissance of Italian cinema?
  • Events: Reports

    Kicking-Off the FIFA World Cup @ Don Antonio by Starita

    The 2014 FIFA World Cup has just started with a victory of Brasil over Croatia (3-1). The international men's soccer tournament that is taking place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July has been welcomed by several events scattered around the restaurants and bars of the city. Among them, pizza artist Giorgia Caporuscio hosted a private kick-off party at Don Antonio by Starita. The evening, organized to commemorate Italy’s beloved sport and the pinnacle of soccer, was sponsored by Peroni and Fratelli Branca and featured some really special treats.

    “We wanted to do something fun to celebrate the super bowl of soccer, Giorgia said as she was helping the staff with trays of steaming hot pizza, “The game is such a huge part of Italian culture, as is pizza, so it’s a perfect match. When you walk into Don Antonio, you feel as if you’re in Naples, something in which we take great pride. What better venue to kick off the World Cup and celebrate Italy’s favorite pastime.”

    The preview party was the perfect occasion to introduce the attending crowd to signature appetizers as well as specially crafted pizza and cocktails created in honor of the World Cup. These commemorative pizza and drinks will be offered as specials at Don Antonio’s New York and Atlanta locations throughout the month of June until the end of the competition. Named after Italy’s all-time best FIFA World Cup players, the menu includes:

    ◆ Pizza Baggio - Authentic Neapolitan wood-fired pizza topped with homemade mozzarella, pesto, sun dried tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil. It is no coincidence that the ingredients pay homage to the colors of the Italian flag. Roberto Baggio is now retired but he has been one of Italy's greatest players who has played for Juventus, Milan and Inter.
    ◆ Maldini Cocktail - Fresh pineapple puree, Peroni, vodka and blue curaçao. Paolo Maldini is a champion who spent all 24 seasons of his career at Milan.
    ◆ Meazza Mintonic Cocktail - Freshly muddled mint and lime, Fernet Branca, soda water and sugar. Giuseppe "Peppino" Meazza, also known as il Balilla, was an Italian footballer playing mainly for Inter in the 1930s. Meazza is also the name of San Siro stadium in Milan, which is home of both Milan and Inter teams.

    If you're not a cocktail fan, you can always have an ice-cold Peroni beer. Italy is known for both wine and pizza, but surprisingly, Italians rarely pair the two together. Most Italians consider the best drink for pizza to be beer and Peroni, with its subtle flavor, complements most pizzas without overpowering them.

    “Soccer is Italy's national sport,” Giorgia explained further, “we grow up watching it … as we grow up eating pizza!” Giorgia Caporuscio, a native of Terracina learned the art of Neapolitan pizza-making under the watchful eye of her father Roberto (the pizza chef of the wildly popular Kesté Pizza &Vino in New York City). After spending eight months training with the pizza pro, she went to Naples and completed a lengthy training internship under the guidance of her dad’s mentor, Antonio Starita, third generation Chef/Owner of one of the city’s most revered pizzerias - Pizzeria Starita a Materdei.

    In September 2013, the prize-winning pizziaola made history as the youngest of only two women to ever win the title of “First Place in the Classic Pizza Category” in the 12th Annual International Pizza Competition - Naples Italy’s largest, most prestigious pizza competition, which includes over 500 competitors from 47 different countries. Giorgia has been turning out pizzas at her family’s restaurants Kesté Pizza and Vino and Don Antonio by Starita in New York City for three years, and was most recently appointed head pizza maker at Don Antonio’s new location in Atlanta. During the World Cup she will be traveling among the two locations to welcome fans who come to Don Antonio to watch the games. So if you're looking for the ideal spot to plant yourself for the duration of the tournament... look no further.
  • Art & Culture

    Open Roads - A Look Behind the Scenes

    Open Roads New Italian Cinema has returned for its 14th year. One of the most popular annual programs held at Lincoln Center, it has served as the leading North American showcase of contemporary Italian cinema. 

    This year's exceptionally strong and diverse edition, featuring many US premieres, highlighted the latest work from established veterans alongside promising new talents.

    Every year Istituto Luce-Cinecittà- Filmitalia brings to New York City a delegation of film directors, actors, writers and producers who come to promote their film to an international public, to attend screenings and participate in the following q&as, to meet the international press and to look for international distribution. 

    This year i-Italy was lucky enough to have a chance to follow the delegation on their day-to-day activities. So instead of booking the usual interviews, we have something different. So how does the day go for these guys? Wake up call is pretty early in the morning, between jet lag and interviews to be a part of, there is not really much time to sleep in... and then off to the first screening. 

    Director Bruno Oliviero, presenting The Human Factor, a noir set in Milan, had a screening at 4.00 pm on opening day. As he landed at 1.30 there was not much time to be at the Walter Reade Theater to introduce his work (usually directors introduce the film and then, at the end, participate at a Q&A). 

    Oliviero, who traveled his son, had to go straight there, suitcases included. Then there are the cocktail parties held for the press and dignitaries, the lunches, more interviews and special events. 

    The majority of the directors, for example, were part of a special round table held at Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimo' where they were asked, by Casa's director Stefano Albertini, to pitch their films. Edoardo Winspeare was in town but he was not present, because, at the same time, he had to be at the Walter Reade to introduce his vibrant drama Quiet Bliss.

    And we can definitely talk about bliss, every member of the delegation seemed pretty content. If they had a problem, they never showed it. Many directors already know each other, some have never met but adore the other's work, some are even star struck. 

    Actress Lara Licchetta, who stars in Winspeare's film, was so taken by Valeria Solarino's beauty and acting skills. “She is so stunning. I cannot believe I am here with her, as part of the same group. And I cannot believe I am going to be interviewed. I've never been interviewed before. I hope they're not going to ask me any weird questions.I haven't even seen the movie.” Despite her nervousness, Lara always did more than fine. As did Umberto Montella.

    Umberto Montella is the Neapolitan lawyer and building administrator who stars in Vincenzo Marra's The Administrator. The older gentleman never stopped repeating “I don't belong here. What am I doing here?” But we can all agree that he did belong. The audience was so taken by this humble man who “Was not acting, but I was simply myself caught on camera.” 

    Selected by the director himself, Montella manages a few buildings in Naples, not an easy feat, and he does it with charm, loads of patience and the help of psychology. “Marra came to talk to me one day and after he heard me speak to a tenant on the phone he decided I was to become the main character of his film. I know psychology because my brother in law is a therapist and he has taught me some tricks.” Montella came to NYC with his partner and one of his daughters (Ilaria, who also has a cameo in the film): this was the perfect opportunity to see a city he thought he would never see. 

    So what was on his schedule between an interview, a lunch with all the others and a screening? “Shopping at the Woodbury Commons outlets, with a list of requests from friends and family back in Italy, a visit at the Statue of Liberty and endless sightseeing... I can't feel my legs anymore.”

    And he's not the only one. Pif, Pierfrancesco Diliberto, who came to present his The Mafia Only Kills in Summer, went running in Central Park on his first morning here. But he forgot to stretch and we all know how bad that is for our muscles. 

    Although in pain, the TV personality turned film director has been more than available to anybody who had a question, a comment or just wanted to pose for a picture. “My feet hurt so much,” he often said when he had to dress up and wear his Armani suit and shoes which were not “black but navy and black, definitely more elegant.” Despite his confession of not ever wearing suits for work and not speaking English (“At 42 I know it's too late to learn. I don't know how I get by but I do somehow.

    People think I understand when they speak to me and I put words together and come up with something to say... which apparently they understand...or maybe we both don't understand each other?”) Pif has incessantly been answering questions from the audience and the press who have been charmed by his re-telling of some of Italy's most tragic events in Italy's recent history. 

    “I am a little nervous,” he confessed at lunch before the first screening of his film but once on stage Pif turned into the irreverent character Italian audiences are used to seeing on TV. The only cause of concern? “My name, when I tell Americans my name they get confused, they think my name's “Beef”.

    “What really attracts audiences to the screenings is the fact that we have Q&As afterwards,” Irene Richard, Manager of Ticket Strategy at the Film Society of Lincoln Center has confessed and indeed the films where the directors were present were more popular at the box office. Director Gianfranco Rosi, who presented Sacro Gra, the first documentary to win the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, is proud of his sold out screenings. People were in line for hours trying to get tickets to see his portrait of life around Rome's Grande Raccordo Anulare, the 43.5 mile highway that encircles the city. 

    “Let me read the program, I don't remember what my film is about.” Rosi often joked before facing the audience or a journalist. And later, at the Q&A, he would say something not entirely different. “My film has no beginning and no end. Not a specific structure. These are fragments of life of people who live around the Gran Raccordo. Some people say it's political, some say it's not at all. I love to think it is universal as it captures people and their lives. I don't film just to film, I turn the camera on when there is a moment of truth to be captured. This is the story of my film.” Rosi, with his pink scarves, dark glasses and spontaneous smile, always had people around him, fans but mostly friends. 

    The director has indeed lived in the city for about 20 years (he attended NYU) and has kept in touch with local writers, directors and artists of all sorts. He is not the only one who is familiar with the City. Fabio Mollo, presenting South is Nothing, has also studied here and the lights of the Met have no particular effect on him. We can say the same of Jacopo Cullin, the actor of The Referee.

    And the rest of the delegation? There are those who are more independent and prefer to leave the hotel that has been booked for them and experience the City in a local apartment, preferably in one of the cool hoods, like the LES, there are those who don't miss an opportunity to go shopping, Uniqlo is the greatest hit, those who love to eat hamburgers (Yes, American food is something they want to try, why go to an Italian restaurant where they can have the best Italian food back home?) and those in search of inspiration (Alessandro Rossetto looked for it at the Brooklyn Museum).

    “I've come to New York many times during my career,” director Gianni Amelio confessed during a cab drive to Casa Italiana where he was going to be interviewed by Stefano Albertini for i-Italy TV, “Always for a festival or something like that. I don't know how experiencing it as a tourist would be like... this is close enough. And now, let's go to Uniqlo.”
  • Art & Culture

    Women & the Theater: Carlotta Corradi Wins the 1st Mario Fratti Award

    Inaugurated last year as an official event of "2013 Year of Italian Culture" in the USA, the In Scena! Italian Theater Festival (www.inscenany.com) returns for its second edition ( June 9 to 24).

    Presented by Kairos Italy Theater, the preeminent Italian theater company in NYC, the event, which is taking place in all five boroughs, will feature six full productions and four readings. 

    One of the biggest news of the year is that the festival will present the first Mario Fratti Award for Emerging Italian Authors. “Last year, for our first edition, we dedicated part of the festival to playwright Mario Fratti,” Laura Caparrotti, founder and artistic director, told i-Italy, “For this edition we wanted to celebrate the theater work of an Italian who's very active in the New York theater scene. We searched high and low and all roads led to Mario.

    That's when I realized there is no award dedicated to him and there was an immediate need for one!” “Laura Caparrotti is a volcano of ideas,” Mario Fratti added, “She contacted me and gave me the great news. I am honored and excited as this is an amazing opportunity to attract new talents.”
     

    So Laura Caparrotti and Mario Fratti got to work and started to read the material that was submitted. The winning play was selected among over 30 submissions by a jury that included Alberto Bassetti (multi-awarded Italian playwright, director Teatro Lo Spazio, Rome), Emilia Costantini (theater critic for Corriere della Sera and playwright), Francesco Foti (actor/playwright), Giovanna Marinelli (theater consultant) and Ernesto Orrico (actor/director/playwright).

    Selection criteria were: quality of the writing (technique, style, fluidity, staging potential), originality of the subject matter, treatment of the Award's theme (this year's theme: women's languages), and universality (potential to be meaningful in an international context, easily translated etc.). 
     

    The winner was just announced: her name is Carlotta Corradi, and her play is Via Dei Capocci. In the play, Lina, an old resident of Via dei Capocci in Rome, rents out rooms to immigrant prostitutes. Here she meets Irina, a former prostitute from Easter Europe, who is looking for work as a cleaning woman. Their present situation mixes with scenes from the 1950s, in which prostitutes Viola and Mery share a room in a brothel. As the play progresses, we discover a secret connecting the women in it. 
     

    “The theme of the competition, as desired by Mario himself, was The Woman,” Laura explained, “Carlotta's play not only followed the requested criteria but was particularly convincing for its character study, for the characters' tridimensionality and all the story's nuances.

    This is a story of women, women of the past and of the present, and it hits the mark... totally.” “The characters of this story are incredibly fascinating,” Mario Fratti added, “they are women who are victims of their contemporary society, who confess themselves and deal with it all with irony. A recipe for success.”
     

    The play, directed by Laura Caparrotti and translated by her with Carlotta Brentan and Dave Johnson, will be staged as a reading on June 23 at 7:00 PM at Theater for the New City (155 First Ave.) as an event of the festival.

    Beside receiving the reading of her play, Ms. Corradi will be presented with an especially created painting made by Victora Febrer, a visual artist who uses wine to create her paintings. 
     

    “The Award committee loved the play. I am also very happy that the winner is a young woman. We still have fewer women playwrights and directors in general, so to have a woman winning the Mario Fratti Award gives me extra pleasure," Laura added, “I prefer to avoid thinking about it, I don't like thinking that women are “set aside,” but the truth is hard and being I woman I experience it on my skin. Here in New York I'm a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, who are fighting hard to get at least an equal opportunity in the theater business. It's not easy. At In Scena! we are having a reading titled FALLACI, a Woman Against. In it author Emilia Costantini imagines a post-mortem interview with the famous and controversial journalist Oriana Fallaci who says she sees no difference between men and women and she does not understand why The Woman is treated like an endangered species. At Cannes a jury led by a woman has awarded a woman director. People talk about that, not about the film itself. The examples are endless... but what I want to say as that at In Scena! the winner of the Mario Fratti Award happens to be a woman and is awarded for her talent, not her sex.”
     

    Playwright Carlotta Corradi, already a director and documentarian, began writing for the stage in 2010. In 2012 she became part of a writing group led by famous Italian playwright Fausto Paravidino at Teatro Valle Occupato, Italy’s oldest theatre which, since 2011, has been occupied by a group of actors, musicians, directors, technicians and creative staff who took it over when it was about to be shut down due to budget cuts, and have transformed the space into one of Europe’s most ground-breaking cultural venues .
     

    “Carlotta's play spoke to me,” Mario Fratti concluded, “Especially these women's confessions. I learned this directly from Tennessee Williams and I want to share it with all the writers out there: the secret to make it is to be persistent. 9 times out of 10 your work will be rejected but if you're passionate about writing you can't give up. Keep going. And don't forget, always put something autobiographical in your story and confessions, confessions, confessions... This is what intrigues the audience.”
  • Facts & Stories

    And the Italian Brand Ambassador Award Goes to...

    The Italian Trade Commission of New York, has recognized “Industry Trailblazers” of the Made in Italy with the first edition of the Italian Brand Ambassador Award, on Sunday, June 1

    ceremony which took place at the Highline Ballroom.
     

    Presented in  collaboration with Emirates Airline, Colavita USA  and Monini North America, the award ceremony recognized two leaders in the retail food sector whose vision, dedication, drive and passion have contributed to growing the Made in Italy Brand in the US consumer marketplace over  the  course  of  their  careers.  

    This  year's  award  paid  tribute  to  "Italy's  Liquid  Gold"  and celebrated  the  success  of  premium  Italian  olive  oil  in  the  US  market  in  both  qualitative  and quantitative terms. “This is not just an award,”  Trade Commissioner and Executive Director for the USA , Pier Paolo Celeste said when presenting the winners, “this symbolizes a commitment, a lifelong engagement because once you have got to know the quality and taste of Italian products you can't just stop.”

    “The Italian Brand Ambassador Award exemplifies the qualitative relationship between Italy, its import  partners  and  the  evolution  of  products  positioned  in  these  markets”  Pier  Paolo  Celeste continued,  ”The recipients  of  the  Award  this first  year  are respected  businessmen  whose retail philosophies  have  contributed  to  the  paramount  success  of  their  retail  chain  operations.  It  is precisely the important relationships cultivated with consumers across retail aisles that allows Italy to consolidate and grow its position in the US market. The confidence placed in the quality of our products  coupled  with  the  leadership  of  our  import,  distributor  and  retail  partners  is  the  true impetus of our market expansion.”

    The  awards,  handed  out  by  Italy's  Minister  of  Health,  Beatrice  Lorenzin,  were  given  to  Mel Bomprezzi, Vice President of Grocery & Natural Foods merchandising at Kroger Co. and Steve Jenkins, Vice President of Imports at Fairway Market.

    “As a second generation Italian Americam” Bomprezzi said when accepting the award, “all I did

    was continue the family's tradition of enjoying good food.” Bomprezzi started working for Kroger Co. in 1979, and through the years he has moved from meat cutter, to head produce buyer, meat merchandiser and in 2004 he was promoted to Vice President of Merchandising in the Columbus Division.  “This  award  makes  me  proud,”  he  added,  “but  most  of  all  my  90  year  old  father  is ecstatic. He taught me how to appreciate good quality, authentic Italian food products.”

    “I get paid for my hobby,” Steve Jenkins said, “I've been so lucky to dedicate my life, since 1975,

    to Italian food. Sometime  back  then I  also met my wife. My  career  took  off  in  1978 when we

    st, at a traveled to Italy,  discovered Fontina  cheese  and introduced it to Americans. Fontina  cheese  has been made in the Aosta Valley,  a small region  in the Alps, since  the 12th century.  Up to then Americans  thought  it  came  from  Sweden  and  Denmark.  There  is  indeed  a  cheese  made  there labeled Fontina, and it can be distinguished from Italian Fontina by its red wax rind and milder flavor. I knew I had to bring these unknown products to the US, educate consumers and cooks. All real cooks had to have the real thing in their kitchens.”

    Jenkins is credited with having introduced countless cheeses and other foodstuff to New Yorkers, and subsequently the rest  of the US,  and  continues to  generate remarkable  publicity  and  public awareness for food artisans and artisanal foods. “A few years back,” Jenkins continued to explain, “I was invited by the Italian Trade Commission to an event featuring Italian products. Everybody was paying attention to the chefs and nobody as paying attention to me. But it's important to give retailers the credit they deserve. We are the ones who promote your products.”

    Jenkins,  who  played  a  big  role  in  the  introduction  of  products  like  balsamic  vinegar,  colatura anchovy sauce and saba,  was recently named one of the 25 most important people in the history of the American specialty foods industry.

    “This  award  could  not  be  more  deserved,”  Fred  Plotkin,  gourmand,  author  of  “Italy  for  the Gourmet Traveler” and a guest at the evening said, “Jenkins has always been essential in educating Americans to recognizing Italian products and enjoying them. He was always in the store, talking, tasting, comparing...”

    The  award  ceremony  was  followed  by  a  jazz  concert  featuring  acclaimed  Italian  jazz  talent

    Gianluca Pellerito and his quintet. Pellerito was the youngest musician in the world to play at the Blue  Note  at  just  age  fourteen.  

    Performances  include  eight  seasons  at  Umbria  Jazz,  the  2012 London Olympics,  an  exhibition show for former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,  and  a performance upon invitation from the Kennedy family at the Kennedy Center to name a few. 

    As he was playing, guests were enjoying platters of Prosciutto di Parma DOP and Arista di Maiale (both from  Parmacotto  USA);  Asiago  DOP,  Piave  DOP  and  Grana  Padano  DOP  (from  Agriform); focaccia  bread seasoned  with  Badia  a  Coltibuono  evoo,  Cesare  Casella  Tuscan  evoo,  Colavita evoo, Colonna  evoo,  Galuffo  evoo, La Baita  evoo,  Monini  evoo  and Terre  di  Grifonetto  evoo.

    Everything was more savory paired with Maschio Prosecco Brut DOC.
  • Events: Reports

    Everybody's Right: Iaia Forte Brings Sorrentino's Novel to the Stage

    The character walks on stage: he's wearing a jacket covered in sequins , a bright red tie, thick glasses coming straight from the 70's and rings on every finger. He sets himself right in front of the microphone and lets his own cockiness envelope the audience that's come to see him. He sings, his voice is hoarse, a victim of a lifetime of abuse of cigarettes, alcohol and cocaine. His name is Tony Pagoda and he's a Neapolitan singer, the fictional character who's the protagonist of Paolo Sorrentino's novel Hanno Tutti Ragione (Everybody's Right).

    Tony has such a strong personality that he's left the pages of the book behind and has come to life on stage, in the theatrical representation of his long career. Tony Pagoda is a singer from the suburbs of Naples and during his long career, he has performed on stage across the world's most important venues, he's even met Frank Sinatra! He's a great ladies' man with a soft spot for prostitutes, a cocaine addict and an alcoholic who emigrates to Brazil to start a new life. 

    Tony is played by Iaia Forte, who starred as Trumeau in The Great Beauty by Paolo Sorrentino (Academy Award, 2014, Best Foreign Language Film). Yes a woman gives life to a macho and bully who tries to hide his fragility. Iaia Forte is from Naples, graduated from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, made her theatrical debut opposite the award-winning actor Toni Servillo and began a long collaboration with the theater company Teatri Uniti and some of Italy's most prominent theater directors.

    She was awarded the critics' prize for best actress in The Misanthrope, directed by Toni Servillo, and the 'Florino Doro' award of the Societa' Dantesca. On filmwww.inscenany.com/, she has worked with Pappi Corsicato, Peter Greenaway and many others. She has won two Nastri D'Argento awards, a David award (the 'Italian Oscar'), a Globo D'Oro award, a Ciak d'oro, as well as a Linea d'Ombra and a Sacher award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

    Iaia Forte is now bringing Hanno Tutti Ragione to New York, as the show is featured in the second edition of the In Scena Italian Theater Festival, (June 9-24). The show is particularly close to her heart as she is the one who had the idea to bring Tony's story to the stage, she's its director and actor.
     

    In order to find out more about it, we had a nice chat over Skype.

    How did you find Hanno Tutti Ragione?

    I've known Paolo Sorrentino for years. This book was awarded the Premio Fiesole, an Italian literary award, and Paolo had asked me read two of its chapters at the ceremony. When I read it aloud, I realized it has such a strong and unique language, and not just an interesting storyline. That's when I knew I wanted to bring it to the theater. Fortunately, the theater is not a place where verisimilitude is necessary, the fact that the story's main character is a coke addict, an alcoholic, and a male singer did not worry me. Friends were trying to talk me out of it, but considering that Sorrentino is even crazier than I am, I had to ask. He gave me the thumbs up. That's how the show came to be. In order to bring it on stage, I picked only the novel's first two chapters, which tell about the concert that Tony Pagoda is about to do at the Radio City Music Hall in New York in front of Sinatra.

    Did you make a lot of changes when adapting the novel to theatrical form?

    No, but I have extracted some parts that were theatrically functional. Paolo helped me create a dramatic construction that works in the theater. Everything you see on stage is found in the novel, I have not changed anything. The show starts in Tony Pagoda's dressing room, then he performs his New York concert, which is followed by a meeting with Sinatra and with some prostitutes. After all this Tony thinks about his life and where it has taken him. 

    What do you do to become Tony?

    First of all, I had to think about his look, his physicality... I decided I wanted a wig that is so obviously a bad, fake wig... I wanted to create a sort of mask. That was the starting point. Then I worked on my body, I changed its center of gravity. I worked on my voice, so through the whole show my tone is decisively lower than my normal, every day voice, but also of my stage voice. My body and the way I move help me become the character. My Tony is the combination of a heavy body and a kitschy 70's look. I was inspired by Franco Califano, a famous Roman singer, a “cafone anni 70”.

    I saw some pictures, you wear a lot of rings, one on each finger, a flashy jacket, thick glasses... is there anything in the costume that really helps you?

    Even my shoes are horrendous! But what helps me the most are the wig and the glasses. I feel I am wearing a mask and that allows me to enter a different dimension. My shiny jacket is also essential, my body disappears under those huge shoulder pads. All this contributes to the success the show has had in Italy, both with audiences and with the press. And it is such an achievement for me because I give it my all.

    Are there any aspects of Tony that you like, admire or dislike?

    Saying I admire him is stretching it a bit... but there is such great irony in this character that I find myself liking him no matter what. What I like most about him is that he has no moralism. He never judges. I was able to bring out of him his feminine side: there is romanticism, torment, longing, a bunch of characteristics he doesn't even acknowledge but that are part of him. This strange combination of boldness and tenderness find their best vehicle in a female performer. And here's where I come into play.

    You brought the show to several cities, was the audience's reaction any different?

    This show speaks to everybody and therefore is liked by all. I think it's because of its language, which is strong and communicative, and because it's “pop” and cool... there are songs, dance numbers, a certain type of glamor, the 70's, irony. It seaks to all – the elite and the masses.

    And now you are bringing it to New York...

    Earlier this year I came to New York to act in a show by Paolo Martone and I was really looking forward to coming back. I am Neapolitan, and I always say, just like Sorrentino does, that other than Naples I could only live in New York. I can't wait to perform for this new audience... I can really picture being at the Radio City Music Hall, as we are so close... when I was here I went to see it and I took a picture of myself in front of it. Being in this show is fun. Having fun creates a necessary distance between the character and myself, I never forget that I am playing.

    Tell me about your collaboration with Sorrentino and if having been in a film that has won an Academy Award has had any effect on you and your career?

    We've known each other for a very long time. He is younger than me but we both belong to a group of actors and directors, like Servillo and Martone, called Teatri Uniti. Plus he's always been a real fan of a director I've often worked with, Pappi Corsicato. Hanno Tutti Ragione has been our first collaboration, The Great Beauty has come after. When I read the script I immediately thought it was a masterpiece, I felt it had a unique strength, something different from the current Italian cinema. I never thought though that we would get an Academy Award, even though I felt so passionate about it. I don't know if it has changed anything... Any actor's dream is to get an Oscar. A recurring joke among actors is to tell each other “you're so good, you'll get an Oscar.” And when you actually get it, it's just out of this world.

    Acting for the cinema vs acting for the theater...

    A famous actor said “cinema belongs to the directors, the theater to the actors.” This quote sums it all up perfectly. I have more fun acting for the theater but the most important factor when I chose a role to play is who is involved in the project, the creative team behind it. I like being in projects I believe in, either for the theater or the cinema.

    When did you know you wanted to be an actress?

    I was a restless teenager and I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I was studying dance and then I started working with a group making experimental theater where the body was an essential tool to the performance. That's how it all started. I think an actor's vocation never ceases to exist, but it has to be continually challenged. Today I still ask myself if doing this makes sense or not. I'll never stop asking myself that.

    Performances

    (In Italian with English supertitles)

    June 10, 8:00 pm, Dicapo Opera, 184 E 76th Street, Manhattan
    June 12, 7:00 pm, Embassy of Italy, 3000 Whitehaven St. NW, Washington, DC
  • Events: Reports

    Open Roads, New Italian Cinema 13th Edition

    The Film Society of Lincoln Center is ready to welcome the 13th edition of Open Roads: New Italian Cinema (June 5-12). The festival is recognized as “the leading North American showcase of contemporary Italian cinema,” and this summer's edition is going to be exceptionally strong and diverse.

    The calendar includes the latest work from established veterans, such as Gianni Amelio,
    Roberto Andò and Daniele Luchetti, top award winners, alongside promising new talents from both the commercial and independent spheres, with in-person appearances at many screenings.

    “We are pleased to welcome some familiar faces back to Open Roads—including Daniele Luchetti for Opening Night and Gianni Amelio with his two latest films—and also to introduce so many promising emerging filmmakers,” Dennis Lim, the Film Society’s Director of Programming has said. “This year’s rich and diverse program, which ranges from sober drama to irreverent comedy, includes films from all across Italy, continuing the strong regionalist trend of recent years. With exemplary new work by Gianfranco Rosi and Vincenzo Marra, it also underscores the emergence of documentary as a breeding ground for some of the most exciting developments in contemporary Italian cinema.”

    Open Roads: New Italian Cinema was organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center together with Istituto Luce-Cinecittà - Filmitalia in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of New York,  Antonio Monda, the Alexander Bodini Foundation, and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò.

    Opening Night

    Those Happy Years (Anni felici)
    Daniele Luchetti, Italy, 2013, DCP, 100m
    Luchetti’s warm-hearted, bittersweet autobiographical account of his childhood as a budding filmmaker growing up in Rome in the ’70s stars Kim Rossi Stuart and Micaela Ramazotti as unconventional parents caught up in turbulent times. He’s an avant-garde artist and she’s wrestling with gender roles as she discovers feminism and free love. Luchetti (My Brother Is an Only Child) brilliantly re-creates the atmosphere of urgency and rapid change surrounding the family. He also poignantly conveys his own coming-of-age perspective, that of a boy grappling with radical transformations inside his family and on the street, capturing it all with his brand-new Super-8 camera.
    Thursday, June 5, 1:00pm (Q&A with Daniele Luchetti)
    Thursday, June 5, 6:30pm (Q&A with Daniele Luchetti)

    The Administrator (L’amministratore)
    Vincenzo Marra, Italy, 2013, 83m
    In the lively and absorbing fifth installment in a series of docs celebrating his native Naples, Marra turns a spotlight on the life of Umberto Montella, a building administrator whose job seems to demand skills in management as much as in therapy. An effortless arbiter of the passionate conflicts that arise among tenants, the Quixotic Montella leads us in and out of the homes of his larger-than-life clients, rich and poor Neapolitans whose lives illuminate the city’s volatile moods. Sometimes funny and always poignant, these profoundly human stories flow in and out of one another following a natural rhythm.
    Monday, June 9, 6:30pm
    Tuesday, June 10, 1:30pm

    The Fifth Wheel (L’ultima ruota del carro)
    Giovanni Veronesi, Italy, 2013, DCP, 113m
    Veronesi’s irresistible romantic comedy takes a journey through pivotal events in four decades of recent Italian history, as seen through the lens of Ernesto Fioretti’s unexceptional life. Played with charm and a disarming sense of humor by Elio Germano, Ernesto is a good-hearted, honest middle-class guy who struggles to keep up with changes and is always a step behind. His father disparaged Ernesto by likening him to the “fifth wheel of the wagon,” and his aspirations and involvement through the rise and fall of Socialism and the Berlusconi era are accordingly modest. But his protagonist’s apparent simplicity is precisely one of the strengths of this Tuscan director’s fifteenth feature, which opened the Rome Film Festival last year to great acclaim. Rich in emotions, its ups and downs coinciding with those of the country, Ernesto’s life serves as the perfect platform for abundant laughter and tears.
    Friday, June 6, 6:30pm (Q&A with Giovanni Veronesi)
    Wednesday, June 11, 1:00pm (Q&A with Giovanni Veronesi)

    Happy to Be Different (Felice chi è diverso)
    Gianni Amelio, Italy, 2014, 93m
    A moving and enlightening work of oral history, Gianni Amelio’s new documentary is a chronicle of gay life in Italy from the fall of Fascism through the early 1980s. Amelio combines interviews with a wide range of older gay Italian men (including Pasolini's muse Ninetto Davoli), newsreel footage, and clips from “educational” films warning against homosexuality, and in the process reveals a profound gap between the subjects’ firsthand experiences and the Italian media’s representations of them. The resulting film is a deeply personal account of the advent of gay culture amid the ruins of Mussolini’s Italy and the eternally poignant story of how persecuted individuals developed pragmatic ways to attain everyday happiness.
    Tuesday, June 10, 9:00pm
    Wednesday, June 11, 4:00pm

    The Human Factor (La variabile umana)
    Bruno Oliviero, Italy, 2013, DCP, 82m
    Matters get very complicated for chief inspector Monaco (Silvio Orlando) after the murder of a high-profile member of Milan’s seedy nightlife. He is a widower with a teenage daughter, and, one night, all his neglected personal issues seem to catch up with him, forcing him out of the slump he’s been in since the death of his wife. Rendered darkly beautiful as a noir setting, Milan is the electric backdrop for this detective story that delves as much into the intimate life of one man and his daughter as into this elegant city’s underworlds. In his fiction debut, Olivierio’s extensive documentary experience is palpable in his portrait of Milan—a character in itself—as well as in the vivid and telling details with which he characterize its inhabitants.
    Thursday, June 5, 4:00pm
    Friday, June 6, 9:30pm

    I Can Quit Whenever I Want (Smetto quando voglio)
    Sydney Sibilia, Italy, 2014, 100m
    A band of brilliant unemployed and underemployed academics—two Latinists, a chemist, a neurobiologist, an anthropologist, and an economist—turn to a life of crime in order to survive. Deftly assimilating such influences as Breaking Bad and Trainspotting, this biting parody on the plight of the Italian middle class in the aftermath of the economic crisis boasts a fast pace, witty dialogue, and a terrific cast. A debut to watch from Salerno-native Sibilia, the film was a resounding commercial and critical hit when released in Italy earlier this year.
    Friday, June 6, 3:30pm (Q&A with actress Valeria Solarino)
    Sunday, June 8, 9:00pm (Q&A with actress Valeria Solarino)

    A Lonely Hero (L'intrepido)
    Gianni Amelio, Italy, 2013, DCP, 104m
    Amelio follows his 2011 Camus adaptation, The First Man, with a deadpan parable about a small everyday hero from Milan who contends with the unemployment crisis in a very particular way: he’s a “professional” substitute worker, skilled and knowledgeable enough to replace anyone in any job. True to his name, Antonio Pane is as good and essential as bread. Whether working as a train conductor, fishmonger, tailor, street sweeper, or bricklayer, he approaches the country’s instability with a deep moral consistency as he reinvents himself everyday. Amelio wrote this film especially for actor Antonio Albanese, who personifies the film’s dark humor and underlying sense of hope.
    Monday, June 5, 9:15pm
    Tuesday, June 10, 6:30pm

    Long Live Freedom (Viva la libertà)
    Roberto Andò, Italy, 2013, DCP, 93m
    Enrico Oliveri, a brilliant Toni Servillo, is a seasoned center-left politician and president of the opposition who realizes that the decline of his party is inevitable. As the polls announce he will lose dramatically in the upcoming elections, he falls into a profound existential crisis and disappears. We later learn that he has fled to Paris and is hiding out at the home of his ex-girlfriend Danielle (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi). While his colleagues panic, his top aide (Valerio Mastandrea) discovers that Enrico has a twin brother living in a psychiatric institution. What at first seems like a crazy plan soon proves to be their only solution. A scathing critique of Italian political dynamics, Andò’s film is also a pulsating thriller with great comic moments that brings together some of the most talented actors working in Italy today.
    Friday, June 6, 1:00pm (Q&A with Roberto Andò)
    Saturday, June 7, 9:00pm (Q&A with Roberto Andò)

    The Mafia Only Kills in Summer (La mafia uccide solo d’estate)
    Pierfrancesco Diliberto, Italy, 2013, DCP, 89m
    Pierfrancesco Diliberto (a renowned TV host and political comedian, better known as Pif) wrote, directed, and stars in this subversive, irreverent feature debut about Arturo, a young boy whose obsession with the Mafia’s casual presence in his city surpasses even his passion for Flora, the beautiful schoolmate who remains his main love interest until adulthood. Pif uses Arturo’s unrequited love story as the vehicle to narrate the most tragic events in Italy’s recent history, starting with the Cosa Nostra’s criminal actions in Sicily in the ’70s, which soon spread through the country (encompassing the barbaric murder of judges Falcone and Borsellino, an event that Pif handles with astounding boldness). Winner of the Audience Award at the Torino Film Festival, the film is a brave and intelligent dark comedy with a powerful message.
    Saturday, June 7, 3:30pm (Q&A with Pierfrancesco Diliberto aka Pif)
    Thursday, June 12, 4:00pm (Q&A with Pierfrancesco Diliberto aka Pif)

    Quiet Bliss (In grazia di Dio)
    Edoardo Winspeare, Italy, 2014, 127m
    Three generations of women seek refuge in their family’s Salento olive grove after their small textile business collapses in Winspeare’s warm and vibrant drama. Against the backdrop of a radiant southern Italian landscape, Winspeare’s characters—serene Salvatrice (Anna Boccadamo), hardened Adele (Celeste Casciaro), loudmouthed Ina (Laura Licchetta), and aspiring thespian Maria Conchetta (Barbara De Matteis)—revive their lives in the wake of economic catastrophe. Turning to a back-to-basics existence as a means of healing the wounds wrought by the recession, they undergo transformations that the director renders with equal parts pathos, insight, and humor.
    Saturday, June 7, 6:00pm (Q&A with Edoardo Winspeare)
    Monday, June 9, 1:00pm (Q&A with Edoardo Winspeare)

    The Referee (L’arbitro)
    Paolo Zucca, Italy/Argentina, 2013, 96m
    Sardinian third-league soccer team Atletico Pabarile is suddenly winning every match of the season, after years of losing consistently to Montecrastu, the team led by cocky and abusive landowner Brai. The return of soccer wizard Matzutzi from a sojourn in Argentina has turned the team of farmers into unexpected champions—and now it feels like anything is possible. Enter Cruciani (a great Stefano Accorsi), a young referee greedily climbing his way to the top, and two cousins playing for Montecrastu who are involved in an escalating conflict about archaic sheep-breeding codes in Sardinia. These disparate plots come together explosively in the lush black-and-white world of Zucca’s slyly funny and utterly distinctive first feature.
    Tuesday, June 10, 4:00pm
    Wednesday, June 11, 9:00pm

    Sacro GRA
    Gianfranco Rosi, Italy/France, 2013, DCP, 93m
    The first documentary to win the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival, the latest from Gianfranco Rosi (El Sicario, Room 164 and Below Sea Level), reveals the sheer diversity of life bubbling around the margins of Rome’s Grande Raccordo Anulare, the 43.5-mile highway that encircles the city, the longest in all of Italy. The absorbing and often moving individual portraits that emerge—an ambulance driver caring for his ailing mother, a scientist studying palm trees ravaged by beetles, an eel fisherman nostalgic for old traditions—give visibility and a human face to the places Sacro GRA drivers pass through but never see, while exposing the city’s striking contradictions. Inspired in part by Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities, Rosi’s captivating chorale plunges the viewer into this paradoxical reality, allowing us a more direct, even sensorial experience of life in the shadow of progress.
    Sunday, June 8, 6:30pm (Q&A with Gianfranco Rosi)
    Monday, June 9, 4:00pm (Q&A with Gianfranco Rosi)

    Small Homeland (Piccola Patria)
    Alessandro Rossetto, Italy, 2013, DCP, 111m
    Best friends Luisa and Renata long above all else to leave their stifling provincial town in northeastern Italy, where tensions between locals and immigrants are forever threatening to boil over. They work as maids in a hotel but supplement their income with sexual trysts, sometimes assisted by Luisa’s Albanian boyfriend, and hatch a blackmail scheme that fails to play out as expected. The rhythms of daily life in this border zone—where city meets countryside—are captured in vivid detail in the highly promising fiction debut by Rossetto, an experienced documentarian working mainly with nonprofessional actors.
    Sunday, June 8, 3:30pm (Q&A with Alessandro Rossetto)
    Thursday, June 12, 8:45pm

    South Is Nothing (Il Sud e niente)
    Fabio Mollo, Italy, 2013, DCP, 86m
    Grazia was 12 years old when she was told by her widower father that her beloved older brother Pietro had died, and never spoken a word since. Now a tomboyish 18, after one of her regular arguments with her father, Grazia flees to the seaside and into the water, where she has an otherworldly experience and thinks she sees her brother. Thus begins her quest to discover another truth, not only about her lost sibling but also about herself. This poised and striking debut by the young Mollo, who shot this film in the Reggio Calabria village where he grew up, features a remarkable central performance by the young Miriam Karlkvist.
    Sunday, June 8, 1:00pm
    Monday, June 9, 9:00pm

    A Street in Palermo (Via Castellana Bandiera)
    Emma Dante, Italy, 2013, DCP, 92m
    Based on her own novel, Emma Dante’s first feature is set in Palermo and shot almost entirely in a narrow alleyway in a run-down neighborhood. On a hot Sunday afternoon, three women are caught in what turns out to be a tragic confrontation. Rosa (Dante) and her partner, Clara (Alba Rohrwacher), have just driven in from Milan and are on their way to a friend’s wedding. As they turn onto Via Castellana Bandiera, they find the Calafiore family jammed into a car driven by Samira (Elena Cotta), a mule-headed Sicilian of Albanian descent. Both drivers stubbornly refuse to back up, as tensions escalate and the neighborhood looks on. An accomplished theater director, Dante includes some knowing nods to spaghetti Westerns and genre conventions in her ambitious film debut, and coaxes formidable performances from her skilled cast (Cotta won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival).
    Wednesday, June 11, 6:30pm
    Thursday, June 12, 1:30pm

    Tir
    Alberto Fasulo, Italy/Croatia, 2013, 83m
    The first Italian film to win the top prize at the Rome Film Festival, Fasulo’s striking fiction debut follows Branko (played by Branko Zavrsan, from the Oscar-winning No Man’s Land), a former teacher from Bosnia who takes a job driving a tractor trailer (“tir”) through Europe. A native of Friuli with a documentary background, Fasulo immerses the viewer in the experience of the trucker on theroad—the sounds, the landscape, and the longing for company (Branko’s phone conversations with his wife are particularly poignant). Part of a growing movement of Italian filmmakers exploring hybrid combinations of documentary and fiction, Fasulo uses both professional actors and real truck drivers, and his approach yields both an intimate connection to his characters and an evocative sense of place.
    Saturday, June 7, 1:00pm
    Thursday, June 12, 6:30pm (Q&A with Alberto Fasulo) 

    All screenings will be held at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, at 165 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. 

Pages