L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano T he screening of The Traitor, Italy's entry to the Academy Awards 2020 for Best Foreign Lan- guage Film, has officially ope- ned the 2019 edition of Cinema Italian Style. From the historical TCL Chinese Theater stage in Hollywood, Italian actor Pie- francesco Favino and director Marco Bellocchio welcomed the audience and introduced their movie. "Someone asked me earlier what the message is. But there is no message," renowned director Bellocchio said to the full thea- ter. "The movie is in two langua- ges, Italian and Sicilian, but you will have only English so you'll loose a little bit. You are very smart so you'll catch it! I still hope it will make you emo- tional." "I was sure the movie would have a long journey, we traveled all-over the world: the movie was sold in more than 100 coun- tries. I guess that means it can be understood by the audience , who can also feel represented by it," Added Favino. The Traitor is a mafia drama about Tommaso Buscetta, the man who brought down Cosa Nostra. "You don't want to be like one of those people, there is nothing cool with shooting guns and even if sometimes it is cool to see gangsters in movies, I am proud that this film actually shows the real faces of gang- sters, of the mafia: a bunch of ignorant people," concludes Favino, who plays Buscetta on the big screen, and his words are welcomed by a warm and inten- se applause. The Traitor world premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in the Official selection, and has been recently nominated to four EFA Awards including best director, best actor and best screenplay. Italy's submission for the International Feature Film Award at the Oscars is based on the real-life travails of Tommaso Buscetta, a mafia boss who became the most famous infor- mer on the Sicilian mafia by revealing information to judge Giuseppe Falcone and testifying at a lengthy trial (1986-1992) that landed many feared mafia bosses in jail. Falcone paid for this with his life, as he was assassinated by the Corleonesi mafia. The gang- ster fled to Brazil with his third wife and young children before the mob dove headlong into heroin trafficking. Buscetta anti- cipated inter-gang violence, but didn't imagine that maniac Sicilian mafioso Totò Riina would kill Buscetta's adult chil- dren and brother-in-law, who had nothing to do with gang business. "The maxi trial was a mile- stone, a victory of the State over the mafia. Buscetta had to do this to save his family, but he showed courage, he was not afraid to die, just preferred to die in his bed, not murdered by his enemies. Falcone was an unassu- ming hero, he wanted to uphold respect for the law." Said Bellocchio, who has also direc- ted Fists in the Pocket (I Pugni in Tasca, 1965), China is Near (La Cina è Vicina, 1967), Victory March (Marcia Trionfale, 1976), A Leap in the Dark ( Salto nel Vuoto, 1980), Good Morning, Night ( Buongiorno, Notte, 2003), Dormant Beauty (Bella Addormentata, 2012). Cinema Italian Style is pre- sented every year by Sony Pictures Classics on the occasion of the AFIFest 2019. It's well known as a dynamic film festi- val, showcasing the top new Italian films from emerging film- makers and seasoned masters alike. Seven narrative feature films—including dramas, come- dies and a mystery— screened at this year's festival, highlighting the extraordinary talent of Italy's greatest actors. Cinema Italian Style coincides with the 4th Week of Italian Cuisine in the world, and the festival also pre- sented one documentary, Food Makers: The Future of Nutrition, about the state of food and inter- national food policy, along with speakers and sampling of foods of the future. This year edition is dedicated to Lina Wertmüller. The 91- year-old Italian filmmaker and trailblazer received an honorary Academy Award last month as the first woman to be nominated as Best Director in 1977 for her movie Seven Beauties ( Pasqualino Settebellezze). The film was also nominated for the Best Foreign Film Golden Globe. At the Governors Awards on October 27, Jane Campion and Greta Gerwig, two other Oscar-nomi- nated directors, presented Wertmüller with the Oscar sta- tuette, while Italian actresses Sophia Loren and Isabella Rossellini flanked her at the podium. A restoration of Seven Beauties was screened at the Aero on October 25. The festival is produced by Luce Cinecittà which is the government agency tasked with promoting Italian cinema around the world, along with the American Cinemateque, and it is a celebration and invitation for all cinephiles to indulge in one of Italy's greatest exports, transcen- dent cinema. The annual show- case of the best in contemporary Italian cinema was compiled by artistic curator Laura Delli Colli, President of the Italian Film Journalist Association and Gwen Deglise, Director of Programming of the American Cinematheque. Cinema Italian Style scree- nings followed at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica November 21-24, 2019. On the opening night, acclaimed comics artist, illustrator, script writer, musician and film director Igort introduced the movie he realized from the graphic novel he publi- shed in 2002 5 is the perfect number, with Toni Servillo and Valeria Golino. The movie is a Neapolitan noir, that he began drawing in Tokyo and completed after about 10 years of proces- sing and rewriting. The book, which is Igort's most popular to date, won the Book of the Year Award at the Frankfurt Book Fair. On Saturday, November 23rd, actor Claudio Santamaria intro- duced Volare, the latest wok by Oscar winner director Gabriele Salvatores, the story of an estranged father who reconnects with his autistic teenage son. Francesca Archibugi (Mignon Has Come to Stay, Towards Evening, The Great Pumpkin, Flying Lessons, Like Crazy) is featured with Vivere, the story of a modern Roman family. Daniele Luchetti, who direc- ted The Yes Man, My Brother is an Only Child, Those Happy Years, returns with Ordinary Happiness (Momenti di Trascurabile Felicità) which chronicles the last 90 minutes of a man's life. Also in the program are emerging directors like Pietro Marcello, at his second feature after Lost and Beautiful (Bella e Perduta, 2015). His Martin Eden is adap- ted from the 1909 novel of the same title by Jack London, but is set in post-war Naples. The film stars Luca Marinelli, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival, and is also acting in Ricordi? by Valerio Mieli, that director's second feature, after Ten Winters (Dieci Inverni, 2010). Other excellent Italian actors are featured in other movies: Riccardo Scamarcio and Fabrizio Bentivoglio in The Invisible Witness (Il Testimone Invisible). Another movie showed was Romulus and Remo-The First King (Il Primo Re), a historical drama that revisits the legend of the founders of Rome, with a notable soundtrack by Andrea Farri. From left, Camilla Cormanni, producer Paolo Del Brocco, Marco Bellocchio, producer Simone Gattoni, Laura Delli Colli (Copyrights: Faye Sadou) SILVIA GIUDICI LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY From left, LA Consul General Silvia Chiave, HFPA President Lorenzo Soria and IIC Director Valeria Rumori (Copyrights: Faye Sadou) Italian movies take the stage in Hollywood with Cinema Italian Style

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