L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 3 I t just ended in Los Angeles, the 12th edition of Cinema Italian Style - annual show- case of Italian films by the most talented filmmakers operating in Italy – that, this year, celebrated als o D ino Ris i's centennial, through a special screening of the restored version of the mae- s t r o ' s , I l S o r p a s s o ( a k a T h e Easy Life, 1962). As I stepped into the press conference that officially kicked o f f t h e f i l m f e s t i v a l o n November 16 th , I immediately noticed how, compared to last year's substantial female pres- ence, this year, only Polish-born actress Kasia Smutniak was rep- resenting women's contribution to the seventh art. I s t r e s s o u t t h i s , w i t h t h e intention not to criticize the choices of the festival's artistic curator, Laura Delli Colli and her team, but, on the contrary, to praise their programmatic vision and efforts to "shed skin" at every edition and to give visibil- ity to the full spectrum of Italian talent. In the 2016 edition, along- side more "mature" filmmakers, t h e l i k e s o f I v a n C o t r o n e o , G a b r i e l e M u c c i n o a n d Gianfranco Rosi, whose searing d o c u m e n t a r y , F i r e a t S e a - about the limbo faced by waves of refugees and immigrants on t h e S i c i l i a n i s l a n d o f Lampedusa - is representing Italy in the Oscars' race, there w a s a n I t a l i a n " N o u v e l l e Vague", in the words of Rosi's himself, made up of very talent- ed young filmmakers, such as Claudio Giovannesi, Gabriele Mainetti, Edoardo De Angelis and Francesco Carrozzini. Here is a conversation I've had with filmmaker and jazz musician, Claudio Giovannesi, whose latest film, Fiore, was screened last Sunday's night at t h e A e r o T h e a t r e i n S a n t a Monica. Alongside your talent and passion for film-making, you studied jazz guitar at the Saint Louis Music Center in Rome and scored your own movies. W h a t s t i r r e d y o u r l o v e f o r music? My love for music goes back long time before the one for film-making. As a child, I stud- ied classical guitar, before turn- ing into jazz. L a t e r o n , w h e n I s t a r t e d working as a filmmaker, striving for my feature film debut, I used to make ends meet, playing jazz music and bossa nova, accom- p a n i e d b y a s a x o p h o n i s t , i n small jazz clubs in Rome. When I started shooting my own films, it came natural to compose the soundtrack that would match the images. From left to right - Francesco Carrozzini, Claudio Giovannesi, Gabriele Muccino, Gianfranco Rosi, Kasia Smutniak, Gabriele Mainetti and Edoardo De Angelis. Photo Credits sgpitalia LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY 2016 Cinema Italian Style: Italian "Nouvelle Vague" VALERIO VIALE Over time, I've been choos- ing to limit my scores to the least. My last film, Fiore, fea- tures only two musical pieces of mine. That's because I currently p r e f e r p u r e i m a g e s , w i t h o u t music to underline them. S i n c e y o u r f e a t u r e f i l m debut, you stood out for a per- sonal style that blends docu- Continued to page 6

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