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Known as the queen of Italian pop, Mina has sold over 150 million records worldwide and remains a music legend who’s been captivating fans since the ’60s. Her new album, Gassa d’Amante, drops on November 22, and its title — named after an essential sailing knot — represents the solid and yet easily untangled nature of love. Just like the knot, the album explores the twists and turns of love in all of its beauty and complexity. At 84, Mina is still going strong, and she’s as iconic as ever.

Mina, born Mina Anna Mazzini, is one of the most adored pop stars in Italy. She is a cult figure who can be compared to Liza Minelli and Bette Midler; a musical diva who is as great a superstar to the Italians as Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift today. Like a 21st century Greta Garbo, she lives in exile in Lugano, Switzerland,...

Sony Pictures International Productions and Italy’s Colorado Film have teamed up on Italian comedy/road movie “50km per Hour” which has started shooting with multi-hyphenate Fabio De Luigi directing and starring.

The film is an Italian remake of Sony’s 2018 German box office hit “25 Km/h,” written by Oliver Ziegenbalg and directed by Markus Goller about two estranged siblings who reunite at their father’s funeral and make a spur of the moment decision to fulfill their childhood dream of driving across the country on their old motorbikes. It has also recently been remade in Mexico with the title “A Todas Partes” (“All the Places”).

De Luigi, who is among Italy’s most bankable talents, recently starred in “The Worse Week of My Life” and “When Mom is Away,” which was Italy’s top grossing local title during pandemic-stricken 2019. De Luigi on this film is pairing up with another top local box office draw,...

Paris-based company had a high-profile 2021 with titles including ’Compartment No. 6’ and ‘My Sunny Maad’.

Paris-based Totem Films will launch a quartet of first features with 2022 festival hopes at the EFM next week (February 10-17), including directorial debuts by The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki co-writer Mikko Myllylahti and Italian actress Jasmine Trinca.

The company’s 2021 slate enjoyed a buzzy festival run, led by Cannes Grand Prix winner Compartment No. 6 as well as Berlinale best documentary winner We, Berlin Competition title Ballad Of A White Cow and My SunnyMaad, which took the jury award at Annecy.

Finnish...

The Goddess Of Fortune (La dea fortuna) Breaking Glass Pictures Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Ferzan Ozpetek Writer: Ferzan Ozpetek, Silvia Ranfagni, Gianni Romoli Cast: Stefano Accorsi, Edoardo Leo, Jasmine Trinca, Sara Ciocco, Edoardo Brandi, Barbara Alberti, Serra Yilmaz Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 11/18/20 Opens: November […]

The post The Goddess of Fortune Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

The annual 16 Days 16 Films short film competition has revealed a heavyweight jury including James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, Emmy-winning actor Anna Friel (“Marcella”) and award-winning “Blue Story” producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor.

This jury also includes actor and political activist Ashley Judd (“Berlin Station”), directors Phyllida Lloyd (“Herself”) and Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”), writer Abi Morgan (“Suffragette”), actor Stacy Martin (“Nymphomaniac”), actress and producer Julie Gayet (“Raw”), stunt performer and intimacy coordinator Teniece Divya Johnson (“Succession”), actor Jasmine Trinca (“The Goddess of Fortune”), and director and actor Tamara Yazbek Bernal (“After Lucia”).

The short film competition platforms female filmmakers and their films, which “explore, emote, and educate” on forms of violence against women. Inspired by the Un Women campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, the initiative will run online from Nov. 25 – Dec. 10, between the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and International Human Rights Day.

Sixteen finalists have been chosen...

Among the market premieres were Venice Days winner 200 Meters and Evi Romen’s Why Not You.

Italian sales outfit True Colours has closed a number of sales for its autumn slate at this year’s Mia Market (October 16-20) in Rome.

Among the market premieres were Venice Days audience award winner 200 Meters by Palestinian director Ameen Nayfeh, which was acquired for French-speaking territories by Shellac and for Turkey by Filmarti. Italian distribution rights for the film have been secured by I Wonder.

Also premiering at Mia was Evi Romen’s Why Not You, winner of best picture in...

The visionary work by Carlo S Hinterman, with executive production by Terrence Malick, will open the 35th edition of the Venice Film Festival's sidebar. The Book of Vision by Carlo S Hintermann will officially open the 35th edition of the Venice International Film Critics’ Week, the sidebar section organised by the Union of Italian Film Critics (Sncci) within the 77th Venice International Film Festival. The visionary work by Hintermann, his first fiction feature after a few documentaries, features executive production by Terrence Malick, and tells the story of a fascinating journey between past and present, life and death, the deepest sorrow and unconditional love. The film stars an international cast: Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), Lotte Verbeek, Sverrir Gudnason (Borg/McEnroe), Isolda Dychauk and Filippo Nigro (The Goddess of Fortune). The cinematographer is Jörg Widmer, one of the most celebrated in Europe, who has worked with...

Marco Bellocchio’s mafia movie The Traitor topped last night’s David di Donatello Awards, Italy’s national film awards, scooping six prizes including Best Film.

The movie also won Director for Bellocchio, Screenplay, Actor for Pierfrancesco Favino, Supporting Actor for Luigi Lo Cascio, and Best Editing. It premiered at Cannes last year before going on to gross a healthy $5.3M in Italy via local outfit 01 Distribution. Sony Pictures Classics released in the U.S., taking $294,783.

There was no physical ceremony this year due to the ongoing lockdown but host network Rai instead put on a virtual ceremony, with winners appearing via video link.

As reported by Republica, Italian president Sergio Mattarella sent in a message of support for the Italian film industry during the coronavirus crisis. “To my great regret, this year, for the well-known reason of health , it was not possible to organize the presentation ceremony of the David di Donatellos,...

Marco Bellocchio’s elegant mob drama “The Traitor,” about the first high-ranking member of Cosa Nostra to break the Sicilian Mafia’s oath of silence, was the big winner at Italy’s 65th David di Donatello Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars.

“The Traitor” scored six statuettes including best picture, director, and actor honors.

The prizes were announced – but not physically given out – during a no-frills ceremony conducted in primetime on pubcaster Rai by star host Carlo Conti in an empty studio with talents appearing in live web platform link-ups. The event served as a collective rebirth rite just when local coronavirus lockdown restrictions slowly begin to lift.

“My wish is for the Italian film community to start working again,” Bellocchio, who is a revered veteran auteur, said speaking from his home, before adding: “I’m 80, and I also hope to make a few more movies.”

“The Traitor,...

Sales also secured on ‘The Goddess Of Fortune’, ‘Once Upon A Time… In Bethlehem’ and more.

Rome-based sales company True Colours has secured deals on a raft of titles out of the Efm, led by Sergio Castellitto’s romantic drama A Bookshop In Paris.

The film, starring Castellitto and Berenice Bejo, has pre-sold to Taiwan (Andrews Film), Poland (Aurora), Benelux (Paradiso), former Yugoslavia (Stars Media), Sweden (Studio S Entertainment), Finland (Future Film), Denmark (Another World) and Israel (Nachshon).

The romantic drama, now in post-production, marks the last screenplay written by the late Ettore Scola and has subsequently been adapted by Castellitto and novelist Margaret Mazzantini.

The painful disintegration of a couple who have been together for 15 years plays out in Ferzan Ozpetek’s La dea Fortuna (literally, "The Goddess Fortune"), a breakup complicated by their sick friend Annamaria, who parks her two kids with them while she’s in the hospital. After his poetic-exotic excursions in Red Istanbul and Naples in Veils, the director returns to the familiar ironies of gay dramedy that found a broad Italian audience for two of his most popular works, Le fate ignoranti (in which a young widow discovers her dead husband was bisexual) and Loose Cannons (a youth has to ...

The painful disintegration of a couple who have been together for 15 years plays out in Ferzan Ozpetek’s La dea Fortuna (literally, "The Goddess Fortune"), a breakup complicated by their sick friend Annamaria, who parks her two kids with them while she’s in the hospital. After his poetic-exotic excursions in Red Istanbul and Naples in Veils, the director returns to the familiar ironies of gay dramedy that found a broad Italian audience for two of his most popular works, Le fate ignoranti (in which a young widow discovers her dead husband was bisexual) and Loose Cannons (a youth has to ...