L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 4 Sara Pichelli won an Oscar for her work on Spider Man: Into the Spider Verse. She comes from Porto Sant'Elpidio, Marche LUCA FERRARI Continued to page 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS A holy procession in Naso, Sicily, where Lady Gaga's grandfather came from © Photo: SIGNORINO FOTOGRAFI C inema and red carpet aficionados rarely resist the allure of the Oscars. Without movies officially competing, some may have thought Italy enjoyed the show as a spectator only this year, but that wasn't the case. Here's how and when Italians and Italian-Ameri- cans took center stage at this year's Academy Awards. Let's start, of course, with Sara Pichelli, Marvel Comic illustrator, born in Porto Sant'El- pidio (in the region of Marche) and praised by director Peter Ramsey - who won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Movie with Spider-Man: Into the Spi- der-Verse - as the creative mind who "did the heavy work." Her Miles Morales is the result of six long months of pre-production and endless sketches, all to find the perfect balance between nar- rative tradition and innovation. Using a clever mix of computer graphics, hand-drawn animation, comics and street art, Spider- Man: Into the Spider-Verse already earned more than 358 million dollars worldwide. Its protagonist Morales - and here is the true challenge Pichelli's work represents - is the first African- American superhero. "It's incred- ibly rewarding - says Pichelli, 35, a career as storyboard artist, ani- mator and character designer - but I must admit I'm not used to this type of success." If it's true that Pichelli brought a flavor of Italy to the Oscars, the Academy also paid its homage to some of Italy's greatest creatives, who left us during the past 12 months: during a celebratory in memoriam video, Italian cinema masters Bernardo Bertolucci, Vittorio Taviani and Ermanno Olmi were fondly remembered. Italian creativity also made a glamorous appearance on the red carpet: Spike Lee's pendant, one of the most talked about pieces of jewellery on social media, was made in Italy by two young Neapolitan designers, Amedeo Scognamiglio and Roberto Faraone Mennella. The winner of the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay with BlacKkKlas- man commissioned this one-of- a-kind 18 carat gold piece, enriched by an eye catching opal, decorated with diamonds. The pendant has been defined an "Italian-gothic" reinterpretation of Prince's Purple Rain, made to honor the late artist. On and around the Dolby Theatre's stage, however, all attention was for Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known to us all as Lady Gaga. It was a truly magical evening for the Italian-American artist, whose grandfather came from Naso, in Sicily: she was nominated both as Best Actress for her role in A Star is Born and for Best Song with Shallow. She won the Oscar for the latter, and gave a breathtaking performance of the tune along with Bradley Cooper, her co-star and director, who wanted her, and only her, for the leading role. A Star is Born pre- miered at the 75th Mostra Inter- nazionale d'Arte Cinematografi- ca di Venezia: here is one more Italian connection for us. Social media also liked the all Italian-American hug between Lady Gaga and Madonna, whose Oscars 2019: Plenty of Italy took the stage

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