Federico Fellini: Last News

Ed Meza @edmezavar Ali Kalthami’s satirical drama “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) examines the class divide in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, telling the story of a hapless delivery man and the desperate avenues he takes to make money. Comedic actor Mohammed Aldokhei plays Fahad, who finds himself in a precarious situation after he is fired from his day job at a call center. Trying to make ends meet, and help his ailing father get necessary medical treatment, Fahad embarks on an illicit scheme to sell stolen liquor while delivering food to wealthy customers.

Naman Ramachandran Horace Ové, director of “Pressure” (1976), the first full-length Black British film, died on Sept. 16. He was 86.

Mitski has announced listening parties for her upcoming LP ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We’, along with film screenings.The music and film double features will occur next week on Thursday, September 7. These events will be presented in movie theatres in eight international cities, including Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Nashville, Sydney, and New York — plus one planetarium in Tokyo, Japan — with the US events co-presented by Spotify.Fans will be able to gather together in an intimate setting for an early preview of ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We’ in its entirety.

Jaden Thompson Film and sound editor Garth Craven, who edited films including “Legally Blonde” and got his start in film editing with Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” died May 20 in Barcelona. He was 84. His death was only recently announced by his daughter Willow.

Andrea Iervolino, the Italian producer behind Michael Mann’s forthcoming Ferrari, today announced his investment of around 50 million euros, or $55M U.S., in The Tuscany Film Studios, a top-flight production facility soon to be active in central Italy.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Federico Fellini’s post-war immigration story “Napoli-New York,” which was penned for the big screen by the famed director but never produced, is set to become a graphic novel written by French comic book writer Jean-David Morvan. Meanwhile, as previously announced, cameras are rolling in Naples on the movie version by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores. Fellini co-wrote the tale with his frequent collaborator Tullio Pinelli, a writer on the Italian maestro’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2,” as well as other titles. Turin-based media company Arancia Studio has now attached the prolific Morvan – who has written more than 250 books that have sold millions of copies – for the graphic novel adaptation.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor As far as history goes, you can’t get much more historical than Taormina for a film festival. The Antico Teatro (or Greek Theater) – where the latest films will be shown – dates back to 300 BC. More recently – as in a mere century or so – the Sicilian coastal town has proved an irresistible getaway for many, from Oscar Wilde to Greta Garbo. Born in 1955 as the Taormina and Messina Film Festival, the festival has frequently hosted many international stars of cinema, and intermittently distributed the Nastri Azzurri awards voted on by Italian journalists, and at others the David di Donatello, Italy’s equivalent to the Italian Oscars. Here are some key moments from its history. When Dickie fought with Liz: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had used Taormina as a getaway right at the beginning of their romance fresh from the set of “Cleopatra.” In 1967, they returned to Taormina to attend the film festival with Franco Zefferelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” for which Burton received the David di Donatello as best foreign actor. According to rumors, a blazing row on the terrace of their hotel – the San Domenico Palace – ended when Taylor conked Burton on the head with a mandolin.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off the series finale of CBS’ True Lies, Omar Miller has entered production in Italy on Naples to New York, an indie based on a story penned in the 1940s by a young Federico Fellini, who was not yet a filmmaker, and his longtime friend and collaborator Tullio Pinelli.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores (“Mediterraneo”) is back behind the camera on “Napoli – New York,” a period immigration drama based on a story written for the screen by Federico Fellini. Fellini co-wrote the tale of two Neapolitan kids who embark on a ship to New York to escape Italy’s early postwar poverty with his frequent collaborator Tullio Pinelli, a writer on the Italian maestro’s “La Dolce Vita” and “8 1/2,” as well as other titles. Italian A-lister Pierfrancesco Favino (“The Traitor,” “Nostalgia”) stars as the chief officer of the ship which the two kids, named Carmine and Celestina, manage to board surreptitiously in the port of Naples, becoming clandestine passengers. The youngsters are on a mission to reach the U.S. where they dream of living with Celestina’s sister, who emigrated to New York two years earlier. Newcomers Dea Lanzaro e Antonio Guerra play the kids. (See first-look image above of Favino with the kids and Salvatores.)

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian producer, director, and film and TV industry pioneer Renzo Rossellini is being honored with the Locarno Film Festival’s lifetime achievement award. The Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema will pay tribute to the consummate filmmaker and renaissance man – who as a producer shepherded works by master directors such as Federico Fellini, Lina Wertmüller, Werner Herzog and Francis Ford Coppola – with a screening of Fellini’s 1980 work “City of Women” on its 8,000 seat open-air Piazza Grande venue on Aug. 10, followed by an onstage conversation the next day. Rossellini who also worked as assistant director for his father Roberto and, among others, François Truffaut and Claude Chabrol – and is a director in his own right – “Has never ceased his quest to pass on his knowledge of the cinema, teaching generations of students and cineastes with passion and commitment,” the fest said in a statement.

John Dartigue, a 22-year Warner Bros executive who rose to VP Publicity and supervised campaigns for such hits as The Fugitive and The Dark Knight and after starting his career at United Artists and working on the first 10 James Bonds pics, has died. He was 82.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Damien Chazelle’s Hollywood epic “Babylon” will open in theaters across the country on Dec. 23. Paramount initially planned to debut the movie in select theaters on Dec. 25 before expanding it nationwide on Jan. 6. Sources close to “Babylon” suggest the earlier release date points to the studio’s confidence in the film, which carries a $78 million production budget. The news comes the day after Sony amended release plans for “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks, which was supposed to debut nationwide on Dec. 14 and will now open in select theaters on Dec. 25 before expanding nationwide on Jan. 13.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s storied Titanus studio, producers of myriad golden era Cinema Italiano works, is getting a reboot and reviving its production side with several projects in development, including a contemporary sequel of Dario Argento’s supernatural chiller “Phenomena.”  Established in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo, Titanus was a true Italian major, which during the 1960s forged a partnership with MGM. They slowed down considerably from the mid-1960s onwards after Luchino Visconti’s lavish Sicily-set costumer “The Leopard” (1963), starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon, went way over budget. Since the mid-1980s the studio’s output has been on a much smaller scale, and primarily for TV.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent The dream child of 10 Basque businessmen who hoped to prolong San Sebastián’s summer season into late September, the San Sebastian Film Festival was born on Sept. 21, 1953.  Presented by bullfighter Mario Cabré, who romanced Ava Gardner, and comprising just 19 films, won by “La guerra de Dios,” directed by Rafael Gil., rescued from a potential Republican firing squad by Luis Buñuel not so many years before. Fireworks, bullfights and quayside parties regaled the film week. From that first edition remain the beauty and gastronomy of San Sebastian, a Belle Epoque resort boasting the spectacular white-sand Concha Bay, steep-backed hills, an old quarter of higgeldy-piggeldy streets and a trio of three-star Michelin restaurants. 70 years later, San Sebastián still stuns.     

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The ongoing overhaul of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios is getting traction thanks to booming demand from international productions just as the number of sound stages increase, prompting realistic prospects of turning a profit by end of 2022, which is a year earlier than planned. Cinecittà has been undergoing a radical revamp devised by managing director Nicola Maccanico since June 2021, when European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Italian premier Mario Draghi (pictured above at Cinecittà) jointly visited the iconic studio lot and held a press conference in its vast Studio 5 — known as the late, great filmmaker Federico Fellini’s second home — to announce a €300 million ($300 million) investment to meet the growing international demand for studio space,

EXCLUSIVE: The Exchange has announced a licensing and partnership deal with DDL Entertainment producers Daniele Di Lorenzo and Stefano Corti, who have optioned the rights to develop a TV series adapted from Federico Fellini’s 1960 Oscar-winning classic La Dolce Vita.

Bardo” be Alejandro González Iñárritu’s third best director Oscar in a row following “Birdman” and “The Revenant” wins? It’s a question many were asking heading into the Venice Film Festival, where the Netflix-backed “Bardo” world premiered in competition. The three-hour-long drama, which wrapped at 12:15 a.m. Venice time, earned a standing ovation of just over four minutes at the Sala Grande. A number of audience members began leaving before the movie ended given the late hour, but the vast majority stayed to applaud the helmer.Iñárritu was visibly moved by the reception to his film, certainly one of his most personal efforts to date, and had tears in his eyes as he embraced his cast and producers.

due to natural causes amid Europe’s unprecedented heat wave, reports Variety. “The fire has been extinguished.

Fire broke out at Italy’s historic Cinecittà Studios on Monday afternoon (August 1), destroying part of an old set depicting Renaissance Florence, which was in the process of being dismantled, and disrupted Netflix film Old Guard 2.  

Rome’s historic Cinecittà Studios on Monday afternoon (Aug. 1) and was extinguished by three teams of firefighters. The fire broke out in the area where a set depicting renaissance Florence was housed and which was being decommissioned, destroying parts of it.