Italia Film: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentMoviegoing in Saudi Arabia has come a long way since April 18, 2018, when “Black Panther” premiered to a packed crowd in a converted symphony hall in Riyadh, ending the country’s 35-year ban on public screenings prompted by an ultraconservative Islamic wave that started in the 1980s.Cut to three-and-a-half years after the “Panther” premiere — at which men and women sat together as they watched the Marvel superhero — and when it comes to watching movies on the big screen “things have evolved on different levels,” says Carlo Vincenti, head of Italia Film, which is Disney’s distributor in the region.Today there are 57 state-of-the-art cinema sites in 16 Saudi cities for a total of more than 500 screens. Admissions have soared from 149,000 from just two venues in 2018 to more than 13 million tickets sold at 53 different locations in 2021.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterAn Italian TV host was slated to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom this week to give testimony in the rape and sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein.But the host, Pascal Vicedomini, did not show up, after his attorney informed prosecutors last week that he would remain in Italy.Vicedomini is the founder of several film festivals, including the L.A. Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, which is being held this week at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.Before his downfall in 2017, Weinstein was a regular guest at Vicedomini’s festivals, and according to court records the two were close friends.In 2013, Weinstein flew to Los Angeles to attend the L.A.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA limousine driver testified on Wednesday about working for Harvey Weinstein, making him the first witness to take the stand for the producer’s upcoming Los Angeles trial.Alfred “Freddy” Baroth was called to testify early because L.A. prosecutors worry that his health could prevent him from appearing at the trial, which has not been scheduled and remains at least several months away.Baroth’s testimony referred largely to trip records and invoices that established Weinstein’s presence in the city on various dates in 2010 and 2013. Weinstein is facing 11 counts of rape and sexual assault in incidents involving five women between 2004 and 2013.Weinstein appeared in a wheelchair, wearing a mask and a jail jumpsuit, and clutching a paperback copy of the bestselling novel “All the Light We Cannot See.” Netflix is currently adapting the book as a limited series.