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Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSMy Life as a Dog.Amid concerns over new provisions for AI, IATSE members have voted to ratify their new three-year contract with AMPTP, which includes a historic 40 percent raise for television and theatrical costume designers.Meanwhile, Teamsters Local 399 “remain far apart” on terms after five weeks of bargaining, reporting that “this was the first week in which we saw the employers take this process seriously.” Their current contract will expire on July 31, after which the union could strike.The Swedish motion-picture industry is calling for a change to the state’s “first-come, first-served” funding process, which most recently distributed all available funds in one minute and seven seconds.Germany plans to nearly double its national film funding...

Yvonne Furneaux, the glamorous actress who had memorable performances in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Le Amiche, Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, has died. She was 98.

Furneaux died July 5 at her home in North Hampton, New Hampshire, of complications from a stroke, her son, Nicholas Natteau, told The Hollywood Reporter.

She also was the female lead in the Hammer horror film The Mummy (1959), starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Though she considered the project less than ideal, she said she ultimately learned from those actors that “if you don’t take a film like The Mummy seriously and put your heart and soul into it, then you can bring it down,” she explained in Mark A. Miller’s 2010 book, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing and Horror Cinema.

She starred in Italian, French, German and Spanish films during her career.

In Le Amiche (1955), a hit at the...

Laura Luchetti on Man Ray, Lee Miller, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jacques-Henri Lartigue: “The inspiration for me was photographs and photographs and photographs.” Photo: Anne Katrin Titze

The day after Cinecittà and Film at Lincoln Center’s Open Roads: New Italian Cinema opening night screening in New York of Edoardo De Angelis’s masterful The War Machine, Laura Luchetti joined me inside Film at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater for a conversation on her latest film, The Beautiful Summer (La Bella Estate) starring Deva Cassel (Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter), Yile Yara Vianello, and Nicolas Maupas.

Based on the novel by Cesare Pavese, previously adapted by Michelangelo Antonioni in Le Amiche, Luchetti energetically and with flair takes us to 1938 Turin and the fashion atélier where 17-year-old Ginia (Yile Yara Vianello) works under the perceptive eye of Signora Gemma (Anna Bellato). She lives with her brother Severino (Nicolas Maupas...

With their newest film The Idea of You, a May-December romance based on the novel by Robinne Lee, filmmaker Michael Showalter and producer Jordana Mollick appear to have hit the zeitgeist yet again.

Garnering glowing reviews in its SXSW world premiere, the crowd-pleaser clocked 125M global views across social with its first trailer — the most for any Amazon original streaming movie to date — on the way to its launch today on Prime Video.

Anne Hathaway stars as Solène, who meets cute with Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), the lead singer of internationally famous boy band August Moon, while at Coachella with her daughter. Thereafter, the pair set off on a globe-trotting romantic journey, complicated by what the world, and Solène’s own family, think of the situation.

A sucker for the rom-com, Showalter has previously mined the territory with projects like Hello, My Name Is Doris, a specialty breakout starring Sally Field...

Novel Audio, the multi-award-winning premium podcast production company, has announced the appointment of audio industry veteran Craig Strachan as its new CEO.

Prior to joining Novel, Strachan held a leadership role as head of global podcast industry at Amazon Music, where he was responsible for managing partner and industry relations; editorial; programming; local content strategy, and growth across all marketplaces. Before working in podcasting, Craig served as head of brand at Amazon Music where he led all brand campaigns, social media and partnerships across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

As CEO, Strachan will be responsible for building on Novel’s success, growing the business internationally, and further establishing its high-quality shows in the expansive podcast category.

Since its founding in 2019, Novel has grown significantly as a disruptor within the category to become one of the biggest independent podcast companies in Europe. Novel’s standing in the sector has been cemented...

“Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas” took the honor for Podcast of the Year on Tuesday night at the fourth annual The Ambies awards recognizing excellence in audio.

The awards were handed out in 27 categories at a ceremony held Tuesday night at downtown Los Angeles’ J.W. Marriott LA Live Los Angeles and live streamed on The Podcast Academy’s YouTube channel. The ceremony was hosted by Trixie Mattel, Season 3 winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Trixie Mattel.

“This is amazing,” said Joel Anderson, host of Slate’s most recent season of its “Slow Burn” podcast. “Becoming Clarence Thomas” follows the Supreme Court justice’s life story and his journey from youthful radical to conservative icon.

“Weight For It,” hosted by Ronald Young Jr., earned the most wins, with three Ambies including Best Indie Podcast, Best Indie Podcast Host/Hosts and Best Society and Culture Podcast.

“I can’t even lie — this feels good,...

Exclusive: After seeing his Amazon MGM romantic drama The Idea of You debut to glowing reviews on the closing night of SXSW, Michael Showalter has been set to reteam with the studio on Oh. What. Fun, a holiday comedy to star Golden Globe winner and Academy Award nominee Michelle Pfeiffer (French Exit).

In the film, Pfeiffer plays Claire Clauster, who organizes a special Christmas outing when her family forgets her in the shuffle. By the time they realize their mistake, she’s gone missing. Their Christmas is in jeopardy, but Claire has other plans.

Written by Showalter and Chandler Baker, the film is based on a short story from the latter that was originally published by Amazon Original Stories. Producers on the project include Showalter and Jordana Mollick via Semi-Formal Productions, as well as Tribeca Productions’ Berry Welsh & Jane Rosenthal (The Irishman), and...

Novel and iHeartRadio are launching a second series The Girlfriends, with an introductory episode now available. The first series told the true story of host Carole Fisher and a group of women who all dated the same guy, Bob Bierenbaum, who it transpires murdered his wife, Gail Katz. Carole returns for the second to investigate the next chapter in the story.

SmartLess, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, On Purpose with Jay Shetty and Normal Gossip are among the titles in contention for the 2024 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.

The category, which will be voted on by fans from Feb. 5 through Feb. 18, also includes popular podcasts Crime Junkie, The Daily, My Favorite Murder, New Heights, The Retrievals and Scamanda. Las Culturistas, hosted by Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers, took home the top prize last year.

Other competitive awards span 29 categories, including comedy, crime, news, tv and film, sports, food and business.

In the Icon Awards categories, which honor those who have made groundbreaking contributions to the industry, Wrongful Conviction hosts Maggie Freleng and Jason Flom will both be honored with the 2024 Social Impact Icon Award. Jonathan Goldstein, host of the Heavyweight podcast, will be honored with the 2024 Pioneer Icon Award.

The podcast Rotten Mango will receive the Innovator Award presented by YouTube, which...

AudioUK, the trade association for podcast, radio and audiobook producers, has launched a new four-point manifesto, detailing policies to grow the UK’s audio production sector.

The manifesto, entitled ‘The Sound of Success’, calls for political parties to support audio production in the way that successive governments have already given a boost to other content production sectors, for example high-end and children’s TV, animation, video games and film:

An Audio Production Tax Relief, would, according to the calculations of Communications Chambers, deliver a net gain to Hm Treasury through attracting international investment into UK-made podcasts from brands, broadcasters and platforms. Audio-specific funds will grow the sector both internationally and domestically. A Global Audio IP Fund would mirror the success of the Global IP Fund, to which the current government has just re-emphasised its support, in developing international podcast formats and IP. Audio IP has already been used to develop spinoffs including TV,...

What’s The Story Sounds are delighted to announce some new additions to our talented team!

David Waters has joined us from the production company Novel, while Alex Gatenby has joined us from Folding Pocket.

David will become Wts new ‘Head of Narrative’ – overseeing our production and development of narrative series. David comes with a wealth of experience – he is a multi-award winning journalist and audio producer, specialising in character focussed narrative documentary series, including Suspect, The Superhero Complex, Witness: Borderlands and Deliver Us From Ervil. In his previous role, David established and ran Europe’s largest longform audio documentary department at Novel, leading a team of producers and editors who were responsible to a number of global chart-topping series including The Girlfriends, Harsh Reality, Filthy Ritual and Stolen Hearts.

Alex joins the team as Senior Producer, focused on long-form narrative storytelling. Her past role was as Development Producer with Folding Pocket,...

What’s The Story Sounds are delighted to announce some new additions to our talented team!

David Waters has joined us from the production company Novel, while Alex Gatenby has joined us from Folding Pocket.

David will become Wts new ‘Head of Narrative’ – overseeing our production and development of narrative series. David comes with a wealth of experience – he is a multi-award winning journalist and audio producer, specialising in character focussed narrative documentary series, including Suspect, The Superhero Complex, Witness: Borderlands and Deliver Us From Ervil. In his previous role, David established and ran Europe’s largest longform audio documentary department at Novel, leading a team of producers and editors who were responsible to a number of global chart-topping series including The Girlfriends, Harsh Reality, Filthy Ritual and Stolen Hearts.

Alex joins the team as Senior Producer, focused on long-form narrative storytelling. Her past role was as Development Producer with Folding Pocket,...

A24 is at it again.

The studio has outbid fierce competition for the rights to adapt Rufi Thorpe’s upcoming book Margo’s Got Money Troubles, with David E. Kelley in talks to co-write the TV adaptation. Nicole Kidman as well as Elle and Dakota Fanning’s production companies are also attached to executive produce the potential series, which landed at A24 following a bidding war that featured nearly a dozen companies that were competing for the rights to the book about controlling your own narrative.

Scheduled for publication in June via HarperCollins imprint William Morrow, Margo’s Got Money Troubles revolves around Margo Millet, the daughter of a Hooters waitress and former pro wrestler who, after having an affair with her junior college English professor, gets pregnant and turns to OnlyFans to make ends meet. After reuniting with her estranged father, who imparts advice he learned in the wrestling ring,...

In mid-May, with the writers strike still in its infancy, UTA partner and media rights co-head Jason Richman found himself trying to gauge the industry’s appetite for dealmaking. A few years earlier, indie studio A24 had scooped up the rights to his client David Gauvey Herbert’s 2021 Esquire article, “Daddy Ball,” but the option had lapsed, and he was eager to test the market. So, Richman sent around the 6,700-word piece, about two Little League dads with complicated pasts who took a deep rivalry way too far. In a matter of weeks, there were eight offers, some of them with major talent like Ben Stiller or Jason Bateman attached.

Netflix, which was already in business with Bateman via his Aggregate Films, ultimately proved triumphant, plunking down what multiple sources say was a staggering $2 million outright for the article. Bateman would not only direct but also star in what’s...

A24 has won yet another major bidding war.

This time, the indie studio outbid stiff competition for the rights to turn true-crime podcast The Girlfriends, from iHeartPodcasts and Novel, into a television series. The weekly podcast, which launched in the summer, tells the real-life story of a group of women who band together to put a murderous ex behind bars. And though details of the TV version are being kept under wraps, Michael Showalter and his Semi-Formal Productions are already attached.

Showalter, who’s on a hot streak with a string of recent successes across TV (The Dropout) and film (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), is set to direct, with Semi-Formal partner Jordana Mollick executive producing. She’ll be joined by fellow EPs Conal Byrne, Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman of iHeartPodcasts, and Julia Bromberg and Neil Krishnan of Novel.

The news comes as the broader IP market has only...

Although she made her screen debut in 1996, Tracee Ellis Ross' career has risen to prominence in the last decade or so. The Girlfriends star and daughter of iconic singer Diana Ross has become a Golden Globe winner and 5-time Primetime Emmy nominee since 2016, all for her impressive work as Rainbow Johnson on ABC's hit sitcom Black-ish.

Related: Black-ish - The 10 Best Characters, Ranked

With Black-ish coming to a close in 2022, Ellis Ross looks ahead to a pair of new TV projects in the works, including series entitled Jodie and The Premise. Along with the recent film The High Note, Ellis Ross will most likely return to the big screen in the near future as well.

Valentina Cortese, an Italian actress who held the extremely rare distinction of having been nominated for best supporting actress for her work in a foreign film, Francois Truffaut’s 1973 classic “Day for Night,” has died, according to Italian news agency Ansa. She was 96.

In Truffaut’s “Day for Night,” considered by many to be the best movie about making movies ever made, Cortese played, in the words of Roger Ebert, “the alcoholic diva past her prime.” The New York Times said: “The performances are superb. Miss Cortese and Miss Bisset are not only both hugely funny but also hugely affecting, in moments that creep up on you without warning.”

For a two-part, Carlo Ponti-produced 1948 film adaptation of “Les Miserables,” Cortese caused a sensation by playing both female leads, Fantine and Cosette. (The film was otherwise an adequate treatment of the Victor Hugo novel.)

“With Valentina Cortese’s passing, the...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

The Boy and the Beast (Mamoru Hosoda)

Two worlds collide once young Kyuta (Shôta Sometani) and warrior Kumatetsu (Kôji Yakusho) meet in Mamoru Hosoda‘s The Boy and the Beast. The former was recently orphaned after his mother’s death (she had divorced his father years ago and her family refuses to get in touch with him), currently working his way towards becoming a solitary street...

When one considers the work of Michelangelo Antonioni, the terms "crackling pace" and "dialogue heavy" likely do not spring to mind. Yet, both apply quite prominently to the director's 1955 female-centric drama, Le amiche (The Girlfriends). Within five short years the director's reputation would be cemented as one of the foremost auteurs on the buzzing "world cinema" landscape. With 1960's radically groundbreaking L'Avventura, Antonioni would permanently turn a corner into the philosophical and sociological avant-garde. When it came to crafting stylized visuals while communicating themes of alienation in the modern world, he was the undisputed maestro. This phase gave way to Antonioni, via his latest works, being loudly proclaimed, debated and anticipated. Films such as Red Desert (1964) and Blow-Up (1966), love them or hate...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson)

Charlie Kaufman, the writer behind Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, teams up with animator Duke Johnson to create a complex emotional drama starring lifelike puppets. The premise is riddled with existential dread of modern-day life, presented uniquely through Kaufman’s idiosyncratic point-of-view. For protagonist and self-help author Michael Stone (voiced soulfully by David Thewlis), everyone around him has the same voice (thanks to Tom Noonan) and nothing feels right. It isn’t...

Michelangelo Antonioni's pre-international breakthrough drama is as good as anything he's done, a flawlessly acted and directed story of complex relationships -- that include his 'career' themes before the existential funk set in. It's one of the best-blocked dramatic films ever... the direction is masterful. Le amiche Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 817 1955 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 106 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date June 7, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Eleonora Rossi Drago, Gabriele Ferzetti, Franco Fabrizi, Valentina Cortese, Madeleine Fischer, Yvonne Furneaux, Anna Maria Pancani, Luciano Volpato, Maria Gambarelli, Ettore Manni. Cinematography Gianni De Venanzo Film Editor Eraldo Da Roma Original Music Giovanni Fusco Written by Suso Cecchi D'Amico, Michelangelo Antonioni, Alba de Cespedes from a book by Cesare Pavese Produced by Giovanni Addessi Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

It's time to stop being so intimidated by Michelangelo Antonioni. His epics of existential alienation La notte, L'eclisse and...

Stanley Kubrick's dark comedy Dr. Strangelove and René Laloux's animated dazzler Fantastic Planet lead Criterion's pack of releases for June 2016. The former features Peter Sellers in multiple roles and is a stellar offering from the early 1960s. Released some 10 years later, the latter title is a beautiful slab of science fiction and no less a political commentary. Other planned releases include Jean Renoir's La chienne (1931), Alexander Hall's Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), Michelangelo Antonioni's Le amiche (1955), and Olivier Assayas' Clouds of Sils Maria (2014). They all represent different eras of cinema, and are all worthy of closer, extended consideration. Read onward for all the details from Criterion's prepared statement. Le Amiche Blu-ray & DVD Editions This major early achievement by Michelangelo...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Summer still feels distant, but today, The Criterion Collection is hastening its arrival by unleashing their massive June slate. So get ready to spend your summer job money on these releases. The biggie of the bunch is Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." It's the director's fourth entry in the collection following "Spartacus," "The Killing," and "Paths Of Glory," and it's coming in a new 4K restoration, with extras including documentaries, new and archival interviews, and more. Kubrick heads will want to jump on this one. Another titan of cinema adds a title Criterion as well, with Michelangelo Antonioni's "Le Amiche" getting the wacky C stamp. It's mostly a bare bones release, save for a couple of interviews and conversations, but just having the newly restored movie will soften the blow. Oh, sorry, there's yet another big name on the June slate: Jean Renoir.

The Italian master's challenging and difficult L'Avventura was booed at its premiere in Cannes. But nowadays the director gets something far more hurtful: indifference

This is the centenary year of Michelangelo Antonioni. He was born on 29 September 1912 and died in 2007 at the age of 94, having worked until almost the very end. As well as everything else, he gave us one of the founding myths of postwar cinema: The Booing of L'Avventura. For film historians, it's as pretty much important as the audience riots at the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

At the Cannes film festival on 15 May 1960, Antonioni presented his L'Avventura, a challenging and difficult film and a decisive break from his earlier work, replete with languorous spaces and silences. This was movie-modernism's difficult birth. The film was jeered so ferociously, so deafeningly, that poor Antonioni and his beautiful star Monica Vitti burst into tears where they sat. There...

A pair of recent releases from the always dependable Eureka imprint Masters of Cinema (re)introduce us to the 50s work of Michelangelo Antonioni, a filmmaker usually most closely associated with the 60s. The first is La Signora Senza Camelie, the behind the scenes tale of the rise and fall of an Italian actress, and the second is Le Amiche, an ensemble drama centred on a group of female friends in Turin.

La Signora Senza Camelie opens at night in Rome and Clara, played by the intoxicating Lucia Bose, is walking away, framed as a distant figure moving through the streets. She pauses before slowly entering a cinema which is playing host to the première of a musical melodrama of which she is the star. The screen is filled with Clara’s face, the close up on screen directly contrasting the lone figure we have just seen wandering towards the première.

(Michelangelo Antonioni, 1953; 1955, PG, Eureka!)

These invaluable additions to Eureka!'s admirable Masters of Cinema series help us understand the continuity between Michelangelo Antonioni's early work and what followed the controversial 1960 breakthrough of L'Avventura at Cannes. La signore senze camelie (The Lady Without Camelias) belongs in an important tradition of movies about the film industry (it was preceded and followed in Italy by Visconti's Bellissima and Fellini's Otto e mezzo) and stars Lucia Bosè as a movie star trapped between her culturally ambitious husband and her exploitative producers.

In Le Amiche (aka The Girlfriends), his first fully achieved masterpiece, the empathy for and attraction to women join a socialist critique of modern society as the dominant elements in Antonioni's work. Eleonora Rossi Drago plays a working-class beauty returning to her native Turin to open a branch of a Rome couturier. She becomes involved with four local women from the city's haute bourgeoisie and four weak,...

Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1953 film, La Signora Senza Camelie (The Woman Without Camelias), tells the tale of a young actress who struggles against the overbearing men in her life and the confusion that arises from the direction her career takes.

Clara Manni (Lucia Bosè) is a young Milanese shop worker plucked from obscurity to work in pictures by an impulsive producer who also asks her to marry him when she’s at her most vulnerable. Gianni Franchi (Andrea Checchi), her svengali-husband, suddenly turns into a control freak and only wants his wife to make classy movies. At the Venice Film Festival, where her latest film is screened, she meets a diplomat (Ivan Desny) and embarks on an affair believing she has sacrificed everything for “true love”.

Along with Antonioni’s 1955 Le Amiche (read the review here) La Signora Senza Camilie gets a digital polish and transfer on Blu-ray and DVD (both...

Le Amiche (The Girlfriends) proved a transitory work in Michelangelo Antonioni’s long career as a filmmaker. It not only signalled new intentions and experiments in form, but the characters began to emerge into what would become the iconic existential figure.

Although not as openly modernist as the later films from which he cultivated an international reputation and staked his claim in history, it’s a very modern and outstanding work. Especially given Antonioni’s unusual place in Italian cinema.

It should also be noted Le Amiche derives from a literary source; a novella by Cesare Parvese. Only three of Antonioni’s films came from such origins. There’s a lot to enjoy in Le Amiche, even if the narrative isn’t as beguiling as some of the later, more famous pictures.

Eleonora Rossi-Drago plays Clelia, a Roman living in Turin who is accidentally drawn into the lives of Signora...

Eureka! are launching two Michelangelo Antonioni classics on dual playing Blu-ray and DVD through their Masters of Cinema label. The Italian director’s second feature film La Signora Senza Camelie and the later work, Le Amiche, will be released to buy from 21st March.

As with most Masters of Cinema titles they come with an excellent array of extra features for film lovers and students to pore over. Below are disc details for both pictures.

Synopsis La Signora Senza Camelie:

The second feature film by cinema master Michelangelo Antonioni, La signora senza camelie [The Lady Without Camelias], expanded the expressive palette of contemporary Italian movies, demonstrating that a personal vision could take an explicitly poetic tack; that “seriousness = neo-realism” was perhaps already turning into something of a truism; and that Antonioni would answer to no-one but himself.

It’s the story of a shopclerk named Clara (played by the captivating Lucia Bosé, also...

Updated through 8/4.

Legendary screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico has died in Rome at the age of 96. More impressive than the sheer number of screenplays she'd written since 1946 — over 110 — is the lasting mark she's left on Italian and international cinema. She worked on the screenplay for that landmark of Italian Neo-Realism, Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948), the first credit mentioned in most of today's first round of reports. But she may ultimately be best remembered for her literary adaptations, among them, Le Amiche (1955) for Michelangelo Antonioni, based on the short novel by Cesare Pavese, and of course, The Leopard (1963) for Luchino Visconti, from the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

Italian screenwriter who worked with directors such as Visconti and Zeffirelli

The Italian screenwriter Suso Cecchi d'Amico, who has died aged 96, collaborated on the scripts of more than 100 films, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), Mario Monicelli's I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She also worked with Michelangelo Antonioni on Le Amiche (The Girlfriends, 1955) and Franco Zeffirelli on Jesus of Nazareth (1977), but she was best known for her creative contribution to the films of Luchino Visconti, including Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963).

She was born Giovanna Cecchi in Rome to a Tuscan painter, Leonetta Pieraccini, and the literary critic Emilio Cecchi, a major figure in 20th-century Italian letters. For a few years in the early 1930s, before the Cinecittà studios were built in Rome, her father had been entrusted by Mussolini's government with...

Lamberto Maggiorani in Vittorio de Sica‘s Bicycle Thieves (aka The Bicycle Thief) Suso Cecchi D’Amico, the only top female screenwriter in the post-war Italian cinema, died today in Rome. She had turned 96 on July 14. According to reports, no cause of death was given. Chiefly among Cecchi D’Amico’s screenwriting contributions — nearly 120 of them — are those for Vittorio de Sica‘s Oscar-winning neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Cannes Film Festival co-winner Miracle in Milan (1951), and for numerous films directed by Luchino Visconti, among them Bellissima (1951), Senso (1954), Rocco e i suoi fratelli / Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Il Gattopardo / The Leopard (1963), Ludwig (1973), and Conversation Piece (1975). Additionally, Cecchi D’Amico collaborated with a number of other celebrated Italian filmmakers, including Michelangelo Antonioni (Le Amiche / The Girlfriends), Alessandro Blasetti (La fortuna di essere donna / Lucky to Be a Woman), Luigi Zampa (L’onorevole Angelina), [...]...

I Am Love is an unusual film that begins as an uninviting forray into the politics of a wealthy Italian family and then quickly shifts gears to focus on a passionate love affair that resonates louder than the rest of the film. The grandiose and bravado of filmmaker Luca Guadagnino is almost operatic with both scenes and characters, so as a viewer it’s easy to be taken aback by the symphonic overtures at play.

But at the heart of the film is a restrained and elegant performance by actress and producer Tilda Swinton, who steals the show as a Russian housewife seeking freedom from the shackles of her dull marriage. Swinton known for her delicate features has worked twice in the past with Guadagnino, on The Protagonists and The Love Factory. Serving as both the muse to Guadagnino’s style and acting as the pulse of the film, Swinton...

Director Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1955 feature "Le Amiche" ("The Girlfriends") has been restored by Cineteca di Bologna.

The Italian drama is currently screening in key cities across North America courtesy new distributors The Film Desk.

Lensed in black-and-white, "Le Amiche" is adapted from author Cesare Pavese's 1949 novella "Tra donne sole" focusing on Rome-based fashion courtier 'Clelia' (Eleonora Rossi Drago), who leaves the city to work at a boutique in Torino.

Antonioni wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Suso Cecchi d'Amico and Alba De Cespedes, shooting the film on location for the Trionfalcine production company, who distributed the film in Italy through Titanus, without securing a proper North American release at the time.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Le Amiche"...

Literally translated as “The Girlfriends,” Michelangelo Antonioni’s Le Amiche was made in 1955, but never given a proper Us release. A restored print by Cineteca di Bologna arrives at Film Forum next week in New York and will play DC, La and beyond, courtesy of an exquisitely curated new distribution company, The Film Desk. Reported features of the movie: a picnic by the sea that foreshadows L’Avventura; a collection of deep, and deeply troubled, female characters; a tea party — this is much more than a completionist’s dream come true!

The San Francisco International Film Festival opens today for yet another two weeks of great films from all over the world: Bulgaria, Ecuador, Philippines and even all the way from San Francisco! It’s the festival’s 52nd year and it looks like it’s shaping up to be an exciting one, pointed by the number of big guests in attendance. There are a couple of screenings of great oldies, as well, particularly two westerns I hold dear.

I will, of course, be going to as many films as my body would allow me. I have seen a few in advance, though, and here are some of the highlights that would be paramount to try and get into.

Atom Egoyan's newest film Adoration is the best one I've seen so far. The story of an orphaned boy who reimagines his dead parents as players in a terrorist bombing plot,...