Jonas Carpignano: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Isabella Torre is at Venice with her first feature “Basileia.” The film follows an archaeologist who, while exploring a tomb containing an ancient treasure in Southern Italy’s rugged Aspromonte mountains, unleashes mythical nymphs. The dark fairytale – which is closing the fest’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori, also known as Venice Days – was developed at the Sundance Lab. It is produced by Torre’s partner, director Jonas Carpignano (“A Chiara”) and sold by Luxbox.

UK director, writer and cinematographer Molly Manning Walker, who won the Cannes Un Certain Regard prize last year for How To Have Sex, has been selected for the festival’s four-and-a-half month La Résidence program in Paris.

The Cannes Film Festival has admitted six filmmakers, five women and one man, to its 2024 residency program. 

Guy Lodge Film Critic Though it’s become a convenient catch-all term for journalists covering the subject, the phrase “European migrant crisis” can’t help but leave a sour taste in the mouth — implying as it does that Europe, the destination for so many hard-up voyagers from variously ailing or hostile countries, is the disadvantaged party in all this. That bias carries through to the bulk of well-intended films on the matter, which tend to pick up migrants’ stories, however sympathetically, on European turf.

Ellise Shafer Venice Film Festival international jury president Damien Chazelle showed support for the ongoing strikes in Hollywood at the event’s first press conference, sporting a “Writers Guild on Strike” shirt and pin. During the jury press conference — which also included artistic director Alberto Barbera, La Biennale president Roberto Cicutto, Orizzonti president Jonas Carpignano and Luigi De Laurentiis president Alice Diop — Chazelle made a powerful statement about the current state of Hollywood, touting “art over content.” “Today is the 121st day that the writers in Hollywood have been on strike; the 48th day that the actors have been on strike,” Chazelle began.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Jane Campion, Laura Poitras, Mia Hansen-Løve and Martin McDonagh are among high-caliber members of the Venice Film Festival’s main jury. The prominent directors, most of whom are Venice regulars – Poitras last year scored the Golden Lion with documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” – will be joined on the Venice jury panel by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (“Wajib”); Chinese star Shu Qi (“The Assassin”); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was at Venice last year with “Freaks Out”; and Argentinian auteur Santiago Mitre whose “Argentina, 1985” also launched from the Lido last year. They will join Damien Chazelle who – as previously announced – will serve as president of the Venice competition jury. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian actor Caterina Murino, best known globally for playing Solange in James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” will be the master of ceremonies at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. Born in Cagliari, Sardegna, Murino made her big screen debut in 2002 in late Chilean writer/director Luis Sepulveda’s political drama “Nowhere” which played well in France. She returned to French film screens in 2004 in “L’Enquete Corse” opposite actors Christian Clavier and Jean Reno. In 2006 Murino gained global visibility as the new 007 Bond Girl alongside Daniel Craig with her role as the shady seductive Solange Dimitrios in “Casino Royale.” 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Damien Chazelle will preside over the competition jury of the upcoming Venice Film Festival. The U.S. director is a Venice regular, having opened the Lido event on two occasions, in 2016 with “La La Land” and in 2018 with “First Man.” Damien Chazelle, welcoming Venice’s proposal stated: “For ten days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this year’s jury. I can’t wait to discover a new crop of great films at the 80th Venice Film Festival.”

EXCLUSIVE: Licorice Pizza and If Beale Street Could Talk producer Sara Murphy and War Pony producer Ryan Zacarias have launched their own TV and film production company and have struck a deal with Anonymous Content.

The David di Donatello Awards were held in Rome on Tuesday evening, the first time Italy’s equivalent to the Oscar has had a fully in-person ceremony in the pandemic era. Taking top honors was Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God which scooped Best Film and Director as well as Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Saponangelo and a tie for Best Cinematography. In the latter category, The Hand Of God shared the win with Freaks Out, a fantasy drama that likewise debuted in Venice.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentPaolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” and Gabriele Mainetti’s “Freaks Out” lead the pack at the David di Donatello Awards this year with 16 nominations each.Here’s the complete list of nominees:PICTURE “Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage), Leonardo Di Costanzo “The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino “Ennio,” Giuseppe Tornatore “Freaks Out,” Gabriele Mainetti “Qui Rido Io” (The King of Laughter), Mario MartoneDIRECTOR “Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage), Leonardo Di Costanzo “The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino “Ennio,” Giuseppe Tornatore “Freaks Out,” Gabriele Mainetti “Qui Rido Io” (The King of Laughter), Mario MartoneDEBUT DIRECTOR “The Bad Poet,” Gianluca Jodice “Maternal,” Maura Delpero “Small Body,” Laura Samani “Re Granchio” (The Legend of King Crab), Alessio Rigo De Righi, Matteo Zoppis “Una Femmina” (The Code of Silence), Francesco Constabile PRODUCER “A Chiara,” Jon Coplon, Paolo Carpignano, Ryan Zacarias, Jonas Carpignano (Stayblack Productions) — RAI Cinema “Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage), Carlo Cresto Dina (Tempesta), Michela Pini (Amka) RAI Cinema “The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino, Lorenzo Mieli “Freaks Out,” Andrea Occhipinti, Stefano Massenzi, Mattia Guerra (Lucky Red) — Gabriele Mainetti (Goon Films) — RAI Cinema “Qui Rido Io” (The King of Laughter), Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori (Indigo Film) RAI CinemaACTRESS Swami Rotolo, “A Chiara” Miriam Leone, “Diabolik” Aurora Giovinazzo, “Freaks Out” Rosa Palasciano, “Giulia” Maria Nazionale, “Qui Rido Io” (The King of Laughter)ACTOR Elio Germano, “America Latina” Silvio Orlando, “Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage) Filippo Scotti, “The Hand of God” Franz Rogowski, “Freaks Out” Toni Servillo, “The King of Laughter”SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCannes’ Directors Fortnight, the section running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, is set to change its leadership after the 2022 edition. It will be Paolo Moretti’s third and last edition as artistic director of the program.