News

Skinheads (1993), directed by Claudio Fragasso and starring Gianmarco Tognazzi and Franca Bettoia, arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films on November 25. The drama follows unemployed 22-year-old Marco as he is drawn into a neo‑Nazi group and confronts escalating violence that collides with his relationship with an African woman. The film runs 99 minutes and is presented in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The release is sourced from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Audio is Italian stereo with English subtitles; all foreign-language featurettes are subtitled in English. The disc is Region A locked. Key art is designed by Matt Needle. Special features centre on a new, in‑depth documentary and the film's theatrical trailer.

Franca Bettoia, the Italian actress who starred opposite Vincent Price in the 1964 cult sci-fi film The Last Man on Earth, has died in Rome, her family told the Italian news agency Adnkronos. She was 88.

Bettoia was married to Italian actor Ugo Tognazzi — he starred in the 1978 movie La Cage aux Folles in the part played by Robin Williams in Mike Nichols’ 1996 adaptation The Birdcage — from 1972 until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1990 at age 68.

In The Last Man on Earth, directed by Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, Bettoia portrays Ruth, a woman who, with the help of Price’s Dr. Robert Morgan, is fending off the effects of a plague that has turned humans into vampiric creatures.

Filmed in Rome, produced by Robert L. Lippert and distributed by American International Pictures, the movie was based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend. The author then co-wrote the screenplay credited as Logan Swanson.

“The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore and Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera play alternate versions of themselves on the final episode of the Italian adaptation of “Call My Agent,” which was released this weekend on pay-tv Sky Italia.

Shot in September 2023, during the real Venice event, the show sees Impacciatore play the fest’s master of ceremonies who, wearing a red gown, disembarks with her agent from a motorboat on the Lido at the Excelsior Hotel dock, greeted by throngs of fans and paparazzi. She then starts acting a bit strange, speaking to Barbera in English instead of Italian and almost falling into the lagoon, as seen in the above exclusive subtitled clip.

Impacciatore, who played Valentina, the hotel manager in the Sicily-set second season of “White Lotus,” was mostly unknown outside of Italy before appearing in the hit HBO show which also gave her domestic career a nice boost.

Brand new sales agency Neo Art International has picked up worldwide sales rights outside Italy to Claudio Amendola’s black comedy film trilogy “Cassamortari” (“Funeral Family”).

The film trilogy narrates the story of The Pasti Family, a Roman family who work in the funeral business.

The three titles of the saga are set up at Rome-based company Paco Cinematografica, and co-produced with Antonia Nava’s Neo Art Producciones in Barcelona.

“I Cassamortari,” the first title of the saga, was streamed in 2022 in Italy by Amazon Prime Video, described as an Amazon Exclusive production.

Written by Mary Estella Brugiati and Alessandro Bosi, “Ari-Cassamortari” (“Funeral Family 2”), the second delivery, is currently in post.

This time the film tells how the Pasti Brothers have created a name for themselves as VIP gravediggers, along with an eccentric half-sister they had no idea they had.

“Funeral Family 2” cast take in many of the stars of “I Cassamortari,...

The much-awaited prequel of Netflix’s superhit Spanish series Money Heist is finally here and the fans are loving it. Berlin follows the story of the titular character before the events of Money Heist as he recruits a gang of master thieves to pull off one of the biggest jewel heists ever in Paris. Created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, Berlin stars Pedro Alonso in the lead role with Begoña Vargas, Julio Peña, Itziar Ituño, and Michelle Jenner starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the Netflix series here are some similar shows you might want to check out next.

Money Heist (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Money Heist is the original series that started this madness. The Netflix heist thriller series became a global hit for the streamer because of its intense and clever storyline with genuine and relatable characters. Money Heist tells the story of a motley...

Emmy-nominated “The White Lotus” star Sabrina Impacciatore will play the Venice Film Festival’s master of ceremonies in the upcoming second season of the Italian version of “Call My Agent,” which will also feature a cameo by Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Impacciatore, wearing a red gown, disembarked from a water taxi at the Excelsior Hotel pier on the Venice Lido on Saturday welcomed by Barbera, as cameras rolled for a key scene in the show. Actors playing photographers for the scene and also real paparazzi snapped away upon her arrival.

“’Call My Agent – ​​Italia’ is a true love letter to cinema, its rituals and its protagonists,” Nils Hartmann, EVP of Sky Studios for Italy and Germany, said in a statement. “It is therefore a truly great emotion, and at the same time a great motive of pride for us, to be able to shoot the second season of such...

The 69th Taormina Film Festival boasts an impressive lineup of Italian and world premieres as it seeks to reboot and re-establish its status as a date to watch on the festival circuit. Located in the historical Sicilian town – its visibility recently getting an unlooked for boost with the second season of HBO’s ”The White Lotus” – will be hosting a series of screenings. The outdoor Teatro Antico will provide a suitably antique background for the Italian premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, and Mads Mikkelsen in attendance.

The directorial debut of Italian artist Marco Perego, “The Absence of Eden,” will receive its world premiere. The film stars Perego’s wife Zoe Saldaña, Garrett Hedlund and Adria Arjona. The thriller tells the story of an undocumented immigrant fleeing a drug cartel whose path crosses with a U.S. Immigration...

Market

The Cannes Film Market has launched Cannes Investors Circle, which will commence with a keynote introduction by Liesl Copland, Participant’s executive VP, content and platform strategy, who will offer her perspective on the modern media landscape. The initiative will also feature a panel discussion titled Navigating Film Finance in a Changing World that aims to offer insights on global financing and market trends in 2023 and beyond. The panelists will include Elisa Alvares, finance expert at Jacaranda Consultants; Rikke Ennis, CEO of REinvent Studios; Emilie Georges, co-founder and CEO of Paradise City; Mike Goodridge, U.K. producer at Good Chaos who is also presenting Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero” in the festival’s official competition; with film festival consultant Wendy Mitchell moderating.

The event will also include an invitation-only session where VIP private investors will listen to pitches of nine new global film projects at the investment stage. The...

The Italian premieres of Cannes Film Festival opener Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny will be among the international highlights of the 69th Taormina Film Festival which gave a taster of its line-up at a press conference in Rome on Tuesday.

Principal cast for James Mangold’s Indiana Jones reboot including Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies and Mads Mikkelsen are expected to be in attendance for the screening.

The event, unfolding June 23 to July 1 in Sicily, is under the new co-artistic directorship of Barrett Wissman this year.

There will also be Italian premieres for Lisa Cortes’s Little Richard: I Am Everything, a documentary about the life and career of the legendary musician, and A.V. Rockwell’s A Thousand and One, starring Teyana Taylor.

Italian highlights include the world premiere of the comedy The Worst Days by Edoardo Leo,...

Italian soccer icon Francesco Totti will be the subject of a six-part Sky Original series with the working title “Speravo De Mori’ Prima – The Series About Francesco Totti.”

Produced by Mario Gianani for Wildside, part of the Fremantle group, with Virginia Valsecchi’s Capri Entertainment, The New Life Company and Kwaï, the series is based on the book “Un Capitano” by Totti and Paolo Condò, published by Rizzoli Libri S.p.A.

Principal photography is set to commence in Rome shortly.

The series will focus on the last two years of the legendary Roma player’s career and the story of his final years with the famous “giallorossi” shirt.

The series will star Pietro Castellitto (“Don’t Move”) as Totti, and will also feature Greta Scarano (“Suburra: Blood on Rome”) as Totti’s wife Ilary Blasi, Monica Guerritore (“A Perfect Day”) as his mother, and Gianmarco Tognazzi (“There Is No Place Like Home”) as Luciano Spalletti,...

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes release details and the trailer for Chemical Peel, premiere details for Refuge, Day for Night, and Perfidy, a new Summer of Blood trailer and much more:

Chemical Peel Release Details and Exclusive Comments from Actress Natalie Victoria: Actress Natalie Victoria stars in “Chemical Peel,” a Lionsgate Home Entertainment Release that will be available on October 14th. Here are some comments from Natalie on us why she enjoyed working on this movie:

“I think the best thing about this film is it’s a unique, fun, realistic concept that will scare people, you know? I love films that are set in a real and really raw reality that frighten you to the core. Chemical Peel is a real ‘what would You do?’ kind of film that gets you thinking,...

A Five Star Life (Viaggio sola) Music Box Films Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: A- Director: Maria Sole Tognazzi Screenplay: Ivan Cotroneo, Francesca Marciano Cast: Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Gianmarco Tognazzi, Alessia Barela, Lesley Manville, Henry Arnold Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/30/14 Opens: July 18, 2014 A typical five-star hotel in the more expensive areas of Europe, Morocco and China would cost, figure, oh, $700 a night and up. And that doesn’t include the enormous tip that would be expected for your butler, assigned to you only, waiting in the hall at your beck and call with room service treats that, of course, [ Read More ]

The post A Five Star Life Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Title: Viaggio Sola Director: Maria Sole Tognazzi Starring: Margherita Buy, Stefano Accorsi, Fabrizia Sacchi, Gian Marco Tognazzi, Alessia Barela, Lesley Manville ‘Viaggio Sola’ (I travel on my own) is a great commercial to promote the Leading Hotels in the World consortium, but as movie it is pretty mediocre. The story spins around the forty year old, single, childless, Irene (Margherita Buy), who is completely absorbed by her job as incognito-reviewer of five star hotels. Her jet-hopping life intertwines with the brief moments she spends with her sister, Silvia (Fabrizia Sacchi), who is married and has two daughters, and her ex boyfriend, Andrea (Stefano Accorsi). Irene is self-sufficient, she doesn’t need a [ Read More ]

The post Viaggio Sola Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Toronto – On July 24th, Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, unveiled some of the films that will headline the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.

According to Bailey, Tiff 2012 will include the “most diverse Gala programme to date with films from Japan, China, India, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, USA and Canada”.

Handling describes this year’s festival as looking “particularly strong” with a wide variety of work from “established and emerging filmmakers.”

Toronto audiences will be first in line to see many “exciting and prestigious films” with further announcements slated in the coming weeks. Until then, here is a sample of what you can expect to see:

Looper (Opening Night film, World Premiere)

Rian Johnson, USA

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels

Directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper is a futuristic action thriller set in a...

Toronto – On July 24th, Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, unveiled some of the films that will headline the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.

According to Bailey, Tiff 2012 will include the “most diverse Gala programme to date with films from Japan, China, India, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, USA and Canada”.

Handling describes this year’s festival as looking “particularly strong” with a wide variety of work from “established and emerging filmmakers.”

Toronto audiences will be first in line to see many “exciting and prestigious films” with further announcements slated in the coming weeks. Until then, here is a sample of what you can expect to see:

Looper (Opening Night film, World Premiere)

Rian Johnson, USA

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Jeff Daniels

Directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper is a futuristic action thriller set in a...

Earlier today, the Toronto International Film Festival released their spectacular line-up for this year, and the festival has now released new images and synopses to from the movies playing at the fest. Among the films with new images and synopses are: Dormant Beauty (Directed by Marco Bellocchio) Starring Isabelle Huppert, Toni Servillo, Alba Rohrwacher, Michele Riondino, Maya Sansa, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Brenno Placido, Fabrizio Falco, Gian Marco Tognazzi, and Roberto Herlitzka Dreams for Sale (Directed by Nishikawa Miwa) Starring Matsu Takako, Abe Sadavo, and Tanaka Lena English Vinglish (Directed by Gauri Shinde) Starring Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou, and Priya Anand Everybody Has a Plan (Directed by Ana Piterbarg) Starring Viggo Mortensen Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses. The 2012 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 6 – 16th. All images and info via Tiff. Dormant Beauty Italy is cleaved by Eluana Englaro’s drama, who will die...

Jayne Mansfield.s Car

Piers Handling, CEO and Director of Tiff, and Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival, made the first announcement of films to premiere at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival. Films announced include titles in the Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The announced films include 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations, including 38 world premieres.

Toronto audiences will be the first to see the world premieres of films from directors Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Earlier, we brought you a snapshot glance at the first wave of programming announced for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Shortly after, the fest released a thorough breakdown of the Galas and Special Presentations for this year’s event, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 6.

So far, 17 Galas and 45 Special Presentations have been announced, including 38 world premieres. Andrew Adamson, Ben Affleck, David Ayer, Maiken Baird, Noah Baumbach, J.A. Bayona, Stuart Blumberg, Josh Boone, Laurent Cantet, Sergio Castellitto, Stephen Chbosky, Lu Chuan, Derek Cianfrance, Nenad Cicin-Sain, Costa-Gavras, Ziad Doueiri, Liz Garbus, Dustin Hoffman, Rian Johnson, Neil Jordan, Baltasar Kormákur, Shola Lynch, Deepa Mehta, Roger Michell, Nishikawa Miwa, Ruba Nadda, Mike Newell, François Ozon, Sally Potter, Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, Eran Riklis, David O. Russell, Gauri Shinde, Ben Timlett & Bill Jones & Jeff Simpson, Tom Tykwer & Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski, Margarethe von Trotta, Joss Whedon and...

2012′s Toronto International Film Festival is set to officially announce its initial line-up later today, but Variety let the cat out of the bag, at least partially; and it’s quite astounding. Most of our most-anticipated films of the year will be premiering at the Canadian festival, notably Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer‘s epic-sounding Cloud Atlas, Rian Johnson‘s Looper (which will open the fest), Ben Affleck‘s Argo, Dereck Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines and much, more more.

Coming from Sundance, the only mentioned film was Ben Lewis‘ John Hawkes-starring The Sessions, while Cannes premieres include Matteo Garrone‘s Reality, Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt, Pablo Larrain‘s No and Jacques Audiard‘s Rust and Bone. One of the biggest surprises is a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring Greta Gerwing titled Frances Ha. There’s also The Avengers director Joss Whedon...

Woody Allen’s next film, heretofore known as ‘Nero Fiddled’, was officially re-titled yesterday and given a new name that should see it resonate better in its international territories, and so from here on out we’ll know it as ‘To Rome With Love’.

We now have the first eleven images to share with you, some images of the film itself and others including Allen on set, as well as the full cast line-up (which is excellent) and the full soundtrack details (which are just a little bit impeccable).

The romantic-comedy is made up of four vignettes, two of which revolving around American characters and two around Italian characters, with the main cast including the likes of Allen himself, Alec Baldwin, Penélope Cruz, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Roberto Benigni, Judy Davis, Greta Gerwig, and Alison Pill.

The newly re-titled To Rome With Love will open in Italy on 20th April...