L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano " The new year will open with an Italian evening or- ganized by the LA Clip- pers in collaboration with the Institute and dedicated to the NBA champion Danilo Gal- linari, on the occasion of the game against the Utah Jazz. This event will be followed by the Filming Italy film festival, and numerous meetings dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci, in celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of his death." In presenting a busy calendar of events for 2019 Valeria Rumori, director of the Italian Cultural In- stitute of Los Angeles, underlines the importance of continuing to promote and valorize the many sec- tors of Italian excellence in the United States: sport, cinema, mu- sic, theatre, but also design, fash- ion, culinary traditions, technology and linguistics. The goal of the Ital- ian Cultural Institute, whose area of responsibility includes Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, Ok- lahoma and Texas, remains the one to carry on what was accomplished in 2018 following ministerial guidelines, in collaboration with the entire Sistema Italia and the various local cultural entities. Valeria, how was 2018 for the IIC? 2018 was a year full of initia- tives and programs in a variety of fields, very much representative of Italy. Among the most significant new projects, the IIC of Los Ange- les has joined the first World Re- search Day in the World, an initia- tive of the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) to valorize the work of our re- searchers abroad and to dissemi- nate its results. On this occasion we conferred the IIC Los Angeles Creativity Award to Emiliana Bor- relli, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the School of Medicine of the Univer- sity of California Irvine (UCI), for her research on dopamine and on its role in brain diseases, walking problems and addiction. This year, particular attention was given to Italian design through a three-stage journey that started with the Italia Bellissima exhibi- tion, followed by the artistic design project Not an Artist - realized in collaboration with the European In- stitute of Design - and ended with a presentation on the relevance and excellence of Italian industrial de- sign in the world given by Silvio Pietro Angori, CEO of Pininfa- rina. You have also dedicated some events to entrepreneurs. Yes, the institute organized MEETItaly, along with Davide Ac- comazzo, a forum for Italian and Italian-American entrepreneurs and executives, also open to represen- SILVIA GIUDICI The Italian Cultural Institute wraps up a 2018 full of events amples, we had the curators of some important exhibitions held this year at the Getty and LACMA, respectively on Caravaggio and on chiaroscuro in Renaissance en- gravings, and on the influence on art of Rome from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment; James Con- lon, Music Director of LA Opera, illustrated their production of Don Carlo; on occasion of Gioacchino Rossini's 150th death anniversary we organized, in collaboration with the Rossini Opera Festival, a Sum- mer series of outdoor screenings of some of the Marche's com- poser's comic operas, that were much appreciated. The screening of the documen- tary about Caravaggio organized with Sky Italia was also a great success. What level of success have you recorded this year across the whole of your area of responsi- bility? We have tried to be as active as possible also in the rest of our vast territory: our participation was very significant in various interna- tional film festivals that have brought Italian films and directors to Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Houston, as well as several film festivals in Long Beach, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and San Diego. Collaboration was also strengthened with all the Italian Departments of the main universities of our jurisdiction and with cultural associations such as the Casa Italiana of Las Vegas. Lastly, the Institute supported the tours of emerging music groups such as the Bruskers Guitar Duo and the New Candys throughout the whole of our jurisdiction. What were the events you are most proud of? In addition to being very proud of having given the Institute's cre- ativity award to Emiliana Borrelli, I am very pleased that 2018 opened with a great tribute to one of the most famous faces of Italian inter- national cinema: Gina Lollob- rigida, during Filming on Italy, an event organized by the Institute with Agnus Dei Productions, re- ceived her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was a real honor to have Gina Lollobrigida at the Institute in this occasion, and also Monica Bellucci, who brought to Los Angeles her latest film di- rected by Emir Kusturica. Last spring we had the pleasure of having Christian Greco, the Di- rector of the Egyptian Museum of Turin, one of the most important Egyptian archeology museums in the world, who introduced us to the intriguing world of Egyptol- tative local figures of the Los An- geles area, in order to promote Ital- ian networking and entrepreneurial creativity. We also organized two events dedicated to Digital Media and Business Entertainment, and Aerospace Research.The latter highlighted the many Italian ex- cellences working at NASA's Jet Propulsory Laboratory. Being in Los Angeles, cinema remains an important sector Yes and a new initiative on this topic was Making Cinema - First Week of Italian Cinema in the World, a project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, to give voice to Ital- ian excellences in the field of cin- ema. Our Institute and Luce Cinecittà presented a special mas- terclass held by Milena Canonero, winner of four Academy Awards, and Stefania Cella, set designer for directors like Nick Cassavetes, Alexander Payne and Paolo Sor- rentino. Which goals did you have in particular? One of our goals is to promote the image of Italy, collaborating with both local and Italian bodies and top notch cultural associations. In this context, to cite a few ex- LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY FILMING ON ITALY 2018, L to R: Filming On Italy Director Tiziana Rocca, IIC Los Angeles Director Valeria Rumori, Gina Lollobrigida and Consul General Antonio Verde CHRISTIAN GRECO PRESENTA IL MUSEO EGIZIO, L to R: Dr. Christian Greco, Director of the Museo Egizio, Torino, with the Director of the IIC, Valeria Rumori, and Davide Gasparotto, Senior Curator of Paintings at the Getty Museum Continued to page 34

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