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A Roman screenwriter without inspiration turns to a ghost writer who, in turn, is inspired by a mysterious character who tells her a story about the Sicilian mafia’s involvement in the case of a famous stolen painting in the glossy Italian film The Stolen Caravaggio (Una storia senza nome). It can’t come exactly as a surprise, however, that there are some stories that the mafia would prefer to keep buried, which is the dramatic motor of this peculiar mystery-thriller-drama hybrid. Director Roberto Ando (Long Live Freedom, The Confessions), who is also from Sicily, co-wrote this odd tale, which seems ...

A Roman screenwriter without inspiration turns to a ghost writer who, in turn, is inspired by a mysterious character who tells her a story about the Sicilian mafia’s involvement in the case of a famous stolen painting in the glossy Italian film The Stolen Caravaggio (Una storia senza nome). It can’t come exactly as a surprise, however, that there are some stories that the mafia would prefer to keep buried, which is the dramatic motor of this peculiar mystery-thriller-drama hybrid. Director Roberto Ando (Long Live Freedom, The Confessions), who is also from Sicily, co-wrote this odd tale, which seems ...

The Confessions (Le Confessioni) director Roberto Andò with Anne-Katrin Titze: "So Toni Servillo and I both read this book about Italian monasteries ..." Photo: Michael Moore

Roberto Andò, the director of Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà with Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valerio Mastandrea) met with me at his hotel on Central Park South for a conversation on his latest film The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Servillo with an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's The Odyssey), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell's My Cousin Rachel), and Johan Heldenbergh (Felix van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown).

Toni Servillo is Carthusian monk Roberto Salus

A luxury resort with unfading allure and...

The final film of Jan Nemec, who died in March, to play in the main competition.Scroll down for competition line-ups

The 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 1-9) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West and Documentary sections.

The 12-strong main competition will comprise eight world premieres and four international premieres, including the last film from renowned Czech director Jan Nemec, who died in March.

The Czech filmmaker was a notable voice of the country’s New Wave movement of the 1960s with titles such as Diamonds Of The Night (1964). His final film, The Wolf From Royal Vineyard Street, will world premiere at Kviff and is an adaptation of his own quasi-autobiographical short stories.

Other titles include Slovak-Czech drama The Teacher from Jan Hrebejk while Roberto Andò is returning to Kviff with The Confessions, three years after his hit Viva la Libertà.

Debut features...

Drama stars The Great Beauty’s Toni Servillo.

Rome-based sales company True Colours has sealed distribution agreements for upcoming political thriller The Confessions.

The film, directed by Roberto Andò (Viva la libertà) has been sold to Spain (Wanda), Latin America including Brazil (Cdi with Mares), South Korea (JinJin Pictures), Benelux (Imagine), Greece (Danaos), Hungary (Cinenuovo), ex-Yugoslavia (Stars-Media), Taiwan (Swallow Wings).

The international cast includes Toni Servillo (The Great Beauty), Daniel Auteuil, Connie Nielsen, Lambert Wilson, Marie-Josee Croze, Pierfrancesco Favino and Moritz Bleibtreu,

The story revolves around a G8 meeting, held at a luxury hotel on the German coast, where the world’s most powerful economists are gathered to enact important provisions that will deeply influence the world economy.

One of the guests is a mysterious Italian monk (Servillo), invited by Daniel Rochè (Auteuil), the director of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the monk to receive his confession, that night, in secret...

Viva La LIBERTÀ Distrib Films U.S. Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: C+ Director: Roberto Andò Screenwriter: Roberto Andò Cast: Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Anna Bonaiuto, Valerio Mastandrea, Michela Cescon, Eric Nguyen Screened at: Dolby88, NYC, 10/28/14 Opens: November 7, 2014 When Barack Obama gave that rousing speech during the 2004 Democratic convention, the public believed that progressives would finally come to power. When he accepted the nomination for president in 2008, he again got large segments of the American public to its respective feet, making us think that we would be graced with charismatic leaders into the foreseeable future. Now, however—not to [ Read More ]

The post Viva la liberta Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

This weekend is shaping up to mirror early fall, when specialty distributors packed theaters with new titles. Many of those disappeared quickly, and this weekend could be similar as companies usher in about a dozen limited-release theatrical newcomers. Focus Features’ The Theory Of Everything, however, has amassed a good amount of attention. Directed by Oscar winner James Marsh (Man On Wire), the Stephen Hawking biopic is opening two months after its Toronto debut. Two notable nonfiction titles also join the fray this weekend: Cinema Guild’s Actress, from director Robert Greene, and Zipporah Films’ National Gallery by nonfiction maverick Frederick Wiseman. Both deserve attention as the awards-race heats up. Two years after the theatrical bow of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, the 16th U.S. President is the focus of Amplify’s The Better Angels — though it focuses a very different phase of his life. Distrib Films is opening Italian political...

From Dave to The Dictator, politicians-replaced-by-doppelgängers has long been a favorite comedy movie device — yet never has it been employed for more torturous faux-funny business than in Viva la Libertà. Squandering all the good will he engendered with last year's superb The Great Beauty, Toni Servillo stars as Enrico, a dour and unpopular politician who abandons his post to hang out with his former girlfriend Danielle (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) in France. Luckily for Enrico's left-in-the-lurch comrades, he has a twin brother no one knows about! And better still, that sibling, professor Giovanni (also Servillo), is a freethinking (and antipsychotics-popping!) author and philosopher who charms Italy and fires up his party by spoutin...

In this weekend’s specialty box-office debuts, IFC Films hopes to replicate the critical and commercial success of Michael Winterbottom’s first amusing little travelogue/talker of a feature, The Trip, with a semi-sequel, The Trip To Italy. The second Trip again stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon; the entertainingly garrulous pair on yet another jaunt across restaurants, countryside and philosophy. The latest Trip will bow in NYC and La this weekend after a successful Australian run earlier this summer (or their winter).

Frank, a British-Irish-American drama from Magnolia Pictures featuring Michael Fassbender that had runs at Sundance and SXSW, bows in only one U.S. theater this weekend. Frank centers on an eccentric band, giving Fassy fans a chance to hear the Oscar-nominated actor sing, albeit from behind a mask (he’s not bad, actually).

Other notable new films include Philippe Garrel‘s Jealousy, which Distrib Films will expand...

Toni Servillo as Senator Enrico Oliveri in Long Live Freedom

The morning before Roberto Andò's Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà), starring Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Valerio Mastandrea, screened at Open Roads: New Italian Cinema in New York, I spoke with the director at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. We discussed Federico Fellini mixing religion with cinema, the genius of Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, Wong Kar-wai's style, what moves Marco Bellocchio and the masquerade of politics.

Long Live Freedom, where leaving a message is "perfectly useless" and new lives begin in the middle of old ones, unfolds smartly as part farce, part political commentary, part soul-searching device. Cinema and politics happen to be twin worlds here. The film is based on Andò's novel Il Trono Vuoto.

Giovanni as Senator Enrico Oliveri in the map room: "The prototype I'm thinking of is also from...

Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive and Andrzej Wajda’s Walesa: A Man Of Hope will open this year’s ¨Febiofest¨.

The Prague International Film Festival (March 20-28) will present 141 films from 60 countries in 18 different sections.

Special tributes are being dedicated to the Finnish actress Kati Outinen, French animator Sylvain Chomet, Slovak actress Barbora Bobulová, Italian director Gianni Amelio and Ivory Coast-born actor Isaach de Bankolé.

De Bankolé, who first came to prominence in the French film industry with his role in Black Mic Mac, will present his two newest films, Mother Of August and Chaos, in Prague and will receive the Kristian Award for his Contribution to World Cinema.

Febiofest’s New Europe Competition open to first and second feature films will have such films as Wolfskinder, My Nephew, The Idiot, Life Feels Good, Puppy Love, The Machine and Rock The Casbah competing for the €10,000 Grand Prix, including a €5,000 premium for a potential Czech distributor...

Av Festival | Goldfrapp: Tales Of Us | Viva! Spanish & Latin American Film Festival | Cinema Made In Italy

Av Festival, Newcastle upon Tyne

This imaginative festival mines the rich theme of "extraction" this year, with a host of films and events exploring human appropriation of raw materials in the broadest sense. It's a very literal theme for Chinese film-maker Wang Bing, whose epic films (such as the 14-hour Crude Oil and The Ditch) convey the full scope of industrial activity. There's music too, as Test Department regroup to bring industrial site Dunston Staiths – a massive structure on the Tyne – back to life for a series of outdoor audio-visual events.

Various venues, Sat to 31 Mar

Goldfrapp: Tales Of Us, Nationwide

No self-respecting music artiste indulges in mere music videos these days. Like Sigur Rós, Kanye West and Beyoncé before her, Alison Goldfrapp has taken things a stage further, producing a 30-minute...