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Mubi has picked up La Grazia from writer and director Paolo Sorrentino ahead of a spring 2025 shoot in Italy for the love story.

The streamer nabbed the worldwide rights, excluding Italy, and will retain all rights in North America, Latin America, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, Turkey, India, Australia and New Zealand.

“Paolo Sorrentino has always been a master of cinematic poetry, but La Grazia is something truly special—profound, melancholic, and wickedly sharp in its contemplation of power, influence, and the weight of history—all told with Sorrentino’s singular elegance and wit. We at Mubi are honored to be the home for this film and cannot wait to share its brilliance with audiences worldwide,” Efe Cakarel, founder and CEO of Mubi, said in a statement on Thursday.

The streamer also plans a theatrical release for La Grazia, which stars Toni Servillo, Sorrentino’s go-to actor after earlier...

Mubi has acquired worldwide rights excluding Italy for Paolo Sorrentino’s upcoming La Grazia starring Toni Servillo, which will begin production this spring in Italy.

Mubi will retain all rights in North America, Latin America, UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, Turkey, India, Australia and New Zealand, with theatrical releases planned. The Match Factory will sell the remaining territories.

Efe Cakarel, founder and CEO of Mubi, said the project is “wickedly sharp in its contemplation of power, influence, and the weight of history”.

Sorrentino’s previous films include Parthenope and The Great Beauty, and La Grazia is his seventh collaboration with Servillo.

“The Substance” distributor Mubi is pursuing its buying spree with another anticipated film from an internationally celebrated auteur, Paolo Sorrentino.

The global distributor, streaming service and production company has bought Sorrrentino’s next movie “La Grazia” for worldwide rights excluding Italy and will retain all rights in North America, Latin America, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Benelux, Spain, Turkey, India, Australia and New Zealand, with theatrical release plans to be announced in the coming months. The Match Factory will sell the remaining territories.

A love story, the exact plot of which remains under wraps, “La Grazia” marks Sorrentino’s follow up to “Parthenope” which launched from Cannes and scored record-breaking grosses at the Italian box office. “La Grazia,” which translates into English as “Grace,” reteams the Oscar-winning director with “The Great Beauty” actor Toni Servillo.

“La Grazia” was being courted by at least two other major distributors at the European Film Market,...

There are two ways one can perceive Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope. You can either conclude it’s the old man losing his marbles and making an almost two-and-a-half-hour exposition of how the male gaze works. Or it can be taken as a sort of introspection—of life, beauty, and youth. Quite naturally, the appeal of Parthenope depends on how you take it. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you’ll be able to form an opinion about it.

Spoilers Ahead

What Happens In The Movie?

A siren that seduces sailors with her voice—that’s what ‘Perthenope’ means in Greek mythology. Going by that, being born in the waters of picturesque Naples is only fitting for the titular character. She’s named by this old aristocrat named Commander, who eventually jokes about whether Parthenope would have married him if he was forty years younger. Commander sees her affectionately, though,...

“Captain America: Brave New World” director Julius Onah is a proud American, but he’s also a truly international director. Born in Nigeria, a globetrotter through his earliest years, and now based in Berlin, the indie filmmaker behind “Luce” was a bold choice to direct one of Marvel’s biggest tentpoles and bring a new Captain America, Sam Wilson, to the big screen.

But as with any MCU movie, Onah isn’t making a film — even one with “America” in the title — just for an American audience. Since its peak with “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel has had a tough time trying to regain its former prominence and box office domination, seeing some hits, yes, but definitely some misses. So Onah knew that in getting back there, “Brave New World” needed to be a universal story with ties to all different cultures, especially his own.

Onah grew up in America from a young age,...

The role that Italy has played in film history is significant with Neorealist greats such as Roberto Rossellini or stylized auteurs like Federico Fellini shaping a view on the world that is both fantastical and honest. In modern Italian cinema, the most significant voice that has the same priority of both style and substance is the underrated, yet internationally recognized Italian director, Paolo Sorrentino. His filmography, as diverse and far reaching as it is, remains one of the best modern cinematic styles in both visual and thematic terms. Visual feasts and introspective looks into loss, aging, and beauty in his spiritually grounded world of cinema make him a modern day film auteur worth looking into. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values...

Jennifer Lawrence obviously has clout and has been using her cache for cinematic good. After declaring she wanted to work with filmmakers like tastemaking filmmakers like Ari Aster, Leos Carax and the Coen Brothers, well, she didn’t quite do that. At least not yet. However, not long before that, she had already set up similar intentions and had linked up with projects with cinephile-friendly filmmakers like Lynne Ramsay and Academy Award-winning Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”) on two different projects.

Continue reading Director Paolo Sorrentino Says Jennifer Lawrence Projects ‘Sue’ & Mob Girl’ Are Dead at The Playlist.

In Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope,” the title character is constantly asked by the men in her life what she’s thinking. Only a few are actually interested in her thoughts, which Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta) rarely reveals anyway. As the actress explained to IndieWire, that’s just one of the ways she never shows her hand.

“Sometimes, as a woman, you find yourself before people that make yourself feel insecure, and Parthenope is like a snake that wiggles out of all of that in very beautiful ways without ever having the feeling that she needs to explain herself,” she said of the film, which premiered in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

The Naples set coming-of-age drama follows Parthenope over decades — first, as a young woman summering in Capri with her beloved brother Raimondo (Daniele Rienzo) and his best friend Sandrino (Dario Aita) in a sordid, not-so-family-oriented love triangle. The...

Beauty, we’re told, is in the eye of the beholder. There are some types of beauty that go beyond the subjective, however — the kind that stops traffic, turns modest men into Tex-Avery-style wolves and have entire feature films centered around them. This is the category that the title character of Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope falls into. She is named after the beguiling siren of Greek and Roman mythology, as well as the ancient handle for Sorrentino’s hometown of Naples. She is introduced emerging from the sea as if...

The Boring & Beautiful: Sorrentino’s Tone Deaf Portrait of a Lady

It’s unfortunate no one’s as likely to be infatuated with the eponymous Parthenope (pronounced like ‘Penelope’) as Paolo Sorrentino, utilizing the myth of the failed siren as subtext for a bildungsroman about a beautiful young woman in 1970s Naples. Having borrowed (or rather plundered) the narrative aesthetics of Fellini over the past decade, perhaps no where more successfully than with his 2013 success The Great Beauty, Sorrentino turns to mythology to bolster the rise of a Napolitano goddess amongst the angsty social scene whose denizens have grown numbly accustomed to the languid paradise around them.…...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. A24 releases “Parthenope” on Friday, February 7.

It’s no secret that Paolo Sorrentino is profoundly obsessed with the topics of youth and great beauty. Such preoccupations — and several more! — are self-evident in films like “Youth” and “The Great Beauty,” two unbridled displays of Italian maximalism that are every bit as subtle as their titles suggest.

Following 2021’s achingly personal “The Hand of God,” in which the Neapolitan director filtered the agony and the ecstasy of his formative years through the same veil of Fellini-esque sacrilege that he’d previously cast over movies about Silvio Berlusconi and the fading splendor of Roman history, Sorrentino is back on his proverbial bullshit with another sprawling flesh parade that’s more consumed with abstract ideals than it is with the stuff of life itself. Once again, he returns with a rapturously...

At the outset of Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, a young woman gives birth in the Mediterranean Sea while her son looks on from the beach. “Let’s call her Parthenope,” the newborn’s godfather triumphantly bellows as he gestures toward Mount Vesuvius, invoking the mythological siren who lent the city of Naples its original name.

Though there’s no clear allegorical parallel between the myth and the story that Sorrentino will leisurely spool out, the connection between the title character and the land of her birth makes explicit the film’s thematic agenda. As much a city symphony as was Sorrentino’s 2013 Roman odyssey The Great Beauty, Parthenope presents itself as a meditation on youth, beauty, and the passage of time but finally unfurls as an ode to Naples itself—the director’s own birthplace, and likewise the setting for his autobiographical The Hand of God from 2021.

“It is impossible...

Italy’s box office revenues remained stable in 2024, totalling roughly €494 million ($513 million) in grosses and 70 million admissions – which is just slightly below the country’s $514 million 2023 intake.

Disney landed the year’s top 3 titles with “Inside Out 2,” which grossed $48.3 million locally; “Moana 2,” which pulled $20 million; and “Deadpool & Wolverine” which clocked in at $18.7 in the Italian theatrical market, according to figures released by national box office compiler Cinetel.

But amid a dearth of Hollywood blockbusters, due to the impact of last year’s Hollywood strikes, it was local movies, such as Italy’s sleeper hit “The Boy With Pink Pants,” that proved crucial to keeping the market buoyant. “The Boy With Pink Pants,” a teen drama by relatively unknown director Margherita Ferri about the harrowing true tale of a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after enduring bullying at school and online, became the year’s surprise...

The collection "Rewind and Play: Music Documentaries" is now showing exclusively on Mubi.Cinema is a principal part of our sensory education. Its images, sounds, and music intertwine in our memory, often to the point that we can no longer separate them.In the third season of Mubi Podcast: Voci Italiane Contemporanee, the journalist, music critic, author, and sound selector Giulia Cavaliere takes us through five conversations to investigate the points of contact between what we see and what we hear.In the second episode Lele Marchitelli, composer for such productions as There’s Still Tomorrow (2023), The Young Pope (2016), and The Great Beauty (2013), takes us behind the scenes of the soundtracks, revealing details of his collaborations with great directors such as Paolo Sorrentino.Emphasizing that music must say what images cannot, Marchitelli explains the challenge of maintaining a balance between personal creation and adherence to the director's vision.Listen to the...

Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino has set his next feature and will re-team with his longtime collaborator Toni Servillo who has signed on to star.

The film will be titled La Grazia. Fremantle confirmed news of the project with us this morning. There are currently no details about the film’s plot, but we understand it will feature a love story. Sorrentino has penned the screenplay. Shooting will begin next spring with Annamaria Morelli producing for The Apartment alongside Sorrentino’s Numero 10 outfit in association with PiperFilm. Piper will release the film in Italy.

Servillo is perhaps best known internationally for his collaborations with Sorrentino. The pair have made seven films together. Their joint credits include Loro, Il Divo, The Hand Of God, and The Great Beauty, which won the Best International Feature Oscar.

Sorrentino’s latest film Parthenope is currently on release in Italy via PiperFilm. The film debuted at...

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is reteaming with Neapolitan actor Toni Servillo, star of Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, for his next feature, titled La Grazia.

Details of the new film are being kept under wraps, but it is said to be a love story. Sorrentino, who also wrote the script, is set to begin shooting next Spring. Annamaria Morelli, head of Fremantle-owned The Apartment will proceed together with Sorrentino’s shingle Numero 10, in association with PiperFilm, which will release the movie in Italy.

PiperFilm has had huge local success with Sorrentino’s latest, Parthenope, a sumptuous love letter to his native Naples. The feature has grossed more than $8 million at the local box office, making it the most successful Italian film of the year and surpassing the Italian take for Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty. A24 picked up Parthenope for the U.S. ahead of its Cannes festival premiere...

Paolo Sorrentino – whose latest film “Parthenope” is scoring record-breaking grosses at the Italian box office – is set to return behind camera to shoot “La Grazia,” a drama that will re-team the Oscar-winning director with “The Great Beauty” actor Toni Servillo.

Plot details of Sorrentino’s next film are being kept under wraps besides the fact that it will be a love story set somewhere in Italy. The title, “La Grazia,” can be translated in English as “Grace.”

Servillo is best known to international audiences for his memorable turn as Roman writer and socialite Jep Gambardella who embarks on a Dantesque descent amid the Eternal City’s grotesque glitterati in “The Great Beauty,” which won the 2014 best international film Oscar.

The Neapolitan actor has appeared in seven of Sorrentino’s 10 feature films to date, starting with his dazzling debut, “One Man Up” in which Servillo played an ageing cocaine-addicted crooner. Besides “The Great Beauty,...

Vermiglio is the name of a mountain village in Northern Italy where director Maura Delpero stages a powerful drama of family, betrayal and coming of age.

Her visually sumptuous feature, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, takes place as the Second World War ends and one generation moves into the next. The slow-burn plot focuses on a teacher’s daughter who falls in love with an army deserter – and how the relationship impacts the lives of everyone in the village.

“Vermiglio” is Italy’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. Italy is the most awarded (14 Oscars) and most nominated (33) country in the category’s history, having last won in 2014 with Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty.” Delpero is the first women filmmaker submitted since Cristina Comencini (“Don’t Tell”) in 2005.

You have said that this project began with a dream. What was the vision that triggered the story?...

Admire the Criterion Collection, but can’t afford the thousands of dollars required to purchase all those DVDs? There’s a more elegant solution…just get a Max subscription. Warner Bros and HBO have announced a renewal of their deal with Criterion to keep decades of film classics in one streamable spot. “We are excited to continue to bring the Criterion Collection’s catalog of top-quality films to our audiences,” said Royce Battleman, Executive Vice President, Content Acquisitions, Warner Bros. Discovery. “Both the existing and new additions to the collection provide Max viewers with the opportunity to experience cinematic excellence as part of our offering.” Founded in 1984, the Criterion Collection is dedicated to the preservation, restoration and protection of the art of cinema. Their famous line of DVDs and Blu-Rays span a hundred years of moviemaking, publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world. The list is too long to mention here,...

A24 has dropped an eye-catching new trailer for Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” ahead of the February U.S. release of the Oscar-winning director’s lavish love letter to his native Naples.

The U.S. trailer focuses on the film’s titular character, a young woman born in Naples – Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans” – played by newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta. In his review, Variety critic Siddhant Adlakha praised Dalla Porta for delivering “a beguiling performance,” he said, as “a woman of such stunning beauty that people stop and stare.”

Adlakha called “Parthenope” as “an exquisite treatise on cinematic beauty.” But it is also, as Sorrentino put it in an interview with Variety, a film about “missed youth” that comes as a follow-up to his autobiographical “The Hand of God” and has elicited comparisons with his 2013 love letter to Rome, “The Great Beauty,” which won the Academy Award for best international feature film.

Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” is doing gangbuster business at the Italian box office, where the director’s lavish love letter to his native Naples has surpassed the €5 million ($5.3 million) mark less than two weeks after going on full release. These numbers have made it the country’s top local draw – excluding commercial comedies – of the year to date.

For its first theatrical outing since bowing at Cannes in May, new Italian distributor PiperFilm came up with a smart release strategy for “Parthenope” that involved marketing the film to youth audiences. “Parthenope” was teased with some midnight premieres in select Italian cinemas – between Sept. 19 and 25 – to stoke excitement prior to its full launch on Oct. 24.

On Wednesday, “Parthenope” reached $5.5 million in cumulative grosses from roughly 500 Italian screens, according to national box office compiler Cinetel. The film, which is Sorrentino’s 10th feature, could now become his personal best in terms of local returns.

When director Paolo Sorrentino’s hit series The Young Pope debuted in 2016, it took the Vatican a year to grudgingly bless his imagined and occasionally blasphemous portrayal of the pope. Not so for Sorrentino’s latest film Parthenope, which has gotten an early thumbs-down from Italy’s Catholic Church.

That has only seemed to pique interest in the film, driving it to the top of the box office here for Italian films since its release in theaters last month.

Set in Sorrentino’s native Naples, the film is a lush meditation on beauty, love and death, drawn from the Greek myth of the siren Parthenope, who throws herself into the sea after she fails to entice Odysseus with her song. Parthenope is closely affiliated with Naples, such that the city is sometimes called “Partenope” and its people “Partenopei” in Italian.

The film is by no means about the church, but toward the end,...

Paolo Sorrentino and Piccolo America — which runs both Rome’s largest open-air film festival and Europe’s first 24-hour movie theater — want to see your short films.

Together, Sorrentino’s newly formed company Numero 10 and Piccolo America have launched their premier short film festival, Corto Condorello. Aimed at young filmmakers under 35 around the world, the festival boasts a jury including Willem Dafoe, Debra Winger, Carla Bruni, Jan Komasa, and Radu Mihaileanu, with “Parthenope” director Sorrentino serving as chair.

Ahead of the festival running November 22 through 24 in Rome, submit your films to Corto Condorello via Film Freeway here through Sunday, October 20. The jury will select a winning short from 10 finalists, and the jury’s top prize, the “Golden Condorello,” will be accompanied by Mubi’s acquisition of the winning short — with streaming on Mubi’s online platform to follow. Mubi has had a banner year with the successful wide release...

New Italian distribution company PiperFilm is launching its international sales unit at Rome’s upcoming Mia Market with veteran sales agent Catia Rossi spearheading the potentially high-powered player’s sales side having secured a small but promising multi-genre film slate.

Rossi is a former head of international sales at Vision Distribution, True Colours, and Rai Com. She launched True Colours and the sales unit at Vision. She’s now joining PiperFilm as director of international sales and will be unveiling the brand new PiperFilm lineup of Italian movies to buyers in Rome.

Domestically, PiperFilm is adopting an innovative distribution model having struck an agreement with Netflix under which the streaming giant will have the first exclusive post-theatrical window for Italy on their titles, while Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia will handle the operational distribution of their lineup in Italian movie theatres.

In Italy, the first PiperFilm to be released is Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope,...

Italy has selected “Vermiglio” as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. The movie written and directed by Maura Delpero won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival and will make its stateside debut at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 10.

“Vermiglio” is set in 1944, in Vermiglio, a high mountain village of the Italian Alps where war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a refugee soldier, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the eldest daughter of the teacher, instantly drawn to each other, led to marriage and an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.

Italy has won Best International...

The Italian government has selected the film “Vermiglio” to represent the country for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The drama, directed by Maura Delpero, tells the story of a family living in a remote Alpine village during World War II.

Set in northern Italy, “Vermiglio” follows siblings Maria, Giovanni, and Lucia who live with their grandparents. Their peaceful village life is disrupted when a wounded soldier seeks refuge with them. As the war intensifies around them, the family must decide how to respond amid the conflict.

Delpero drew inspiration from her own family history in the region during the 1940s. The film was shot on location to accurately portray rural life at the time. “Vermiglio” shows how even an isolated community was affected by worldwide events.

After premiering at the Venice Film Festival last month, “Vermiglio” won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. It has since screened...

The Oscars international feature film race got another strong competitor on Tuesday when Italy announced it would submit “Vermiglio” as its entry for the 97th Academy Awards. Written and directed by Maura Delpero, the film won the Silver Lion in Venice earlier this month.

Delpero’s drama is set in 1944 in the alpine village of the film’s title. When a young Sicilian soldier named Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico) comes to town, his presence, according to the synopsis provided by Sideshow and Janus Films, “disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia, the eldest daughter of the teacher, instantly drawn to each other, led to marriage and an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.”

Produced by Cinedora, Charades and Versus Productions, “Vermiglio” was...

Italy will send Maura Delpero’s World War 2 drama Vermiglio into the 2025 Oscar race for Best International Feature.

Vermiglio premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month, where it scooped up the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Sideshow and Janus Films acquired domestic rights for the movie shortly after its North American premiere in Toronto.

Set in 1944 in the eponymous village of Vermiglio, high in the Italian Alps, the film follows a local family whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a refugee soldier from the faraway conflict. As the world emerges from the tragedy and destruction of WW2, the family in Vermiglio faces its own crisis. The ensemble cast includes Tommaso Ragno, Giuseppe De Domenico, Roberta Rovelli, Martina Scrinzi, Orietta Notari, and Carlotta Gamba

A follow-up to Delpero’s well-received 2019 directorial debut Maternal, Vermiglio is loosely based on the director’s own family history. She produced the feature together with Carole Baraton,...

Italy has selected Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio as its entry for the best international feature Oscar.

Vermiglio won the Grand Jury Prize in Competition at Venice earlier this month. Set in 1944 in the Italian alpine village after which the film is named, it sees the arrival of a deserter soldier disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family, as the eldest daughter falls in love with him.

Producers on the film are Francesca Andreoli, Santiago Fondevila, Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli and Delpero, for Italy’s Cinedora with Rai Cinema, in co-production with France’s Charades...

Italy has selected Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio as its entry for the best international feature Oscar.

Vermiglio won the Grand Jury Prize in Competition at Venice earlier this month. Set in 1944 in the Italian alpine village after which the film is named, it sees the arrival of a deserter soldier disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family, as the eldest daughter falls in love with him.

Producers on the film are Francesca Andreoli, Santiago Fondevila, Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli and Delpero, for Italy’s Cinedora with Rai Cinema, in co-production with France’s Charades...

Maura Delpero’s intimate epic “Vermiglio,” which recently won the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, has been designated as Italy’s candidate for the best international feature film category of the 2025 Academy Awards.

The drama, which is set at the end of World War II in an Alpine village where the arrival of a soldier causes disruption in the dynamics between three sisters, had its North American premiere after Venice in the special presentations section at Toronto.

In her Variety review, critic Jessica Kiang called “Vermiglio” “quietly breathtaking,” going on to note that the film “unfolds from tiny tactile details of furnishings and fabrics and the hide of a dairy cow, into a momentous vision of everyday rural existence in the high Italian Alps.”

“Vermiglio” marks Delpero’s follow-up to her first feature “Maternal” that takes place in an Argentinian refuge for teenage mothers run by...

Italy has selected Vermiglio to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards.

The second feature from Maura Delpero, Vermiglio premiered in Competition at the Venice Film Festival, winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.

At the time of the win, Delpero said she hoped the prize would put her in the frame to represent Italy in the Oscars, and now her wish has come true.

The picture takes its title from a mountain village in the Italian Alps, which was home to the director’s family for generations.

The drama opens in the village in 1944. Largely cut off from the war across Europe, the arrival of a deserted soldier will disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family as the eldest daughter falls for him, leading to an unexpected turn of fate.

Related: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners Through The...

Though doubtless a crucial aspect of many of the most dramatic occurrences in human history, letter-writing is not the most cinematic of activities. And so it unfortunately proves once again in Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s “Sicilian Letters,” a heavily fictionalized riff on a real-life mafia tale, which sets up a battle of wits between a ruthless mob boss and the family friend working with the authorities to bring him down, but struggles to maintain any kind of momentum when the duel is merely a case of epistles-at-dawn.

Elio Germano plays Matteo, a character based on notorious Sicilian mafioso Matteo Messina Denaro who was the subject of a 30-year manhunt which only ended in 2023 when he was finally caught. Toni Servillo plays the more heavily fictionalized Catello Polumbo, whose 2004 correspondence with Matteo gets the authorities closer to his apprehension than ever before. As the film begins, Catello, a well-read,...

The Italian government will this week announce major changes to its film and TV tax credit system aimed at boosting local productions and producers and ensuring more Italian stories get told on screen. The changes come after a year of uncertainty that has left many productions in limbo.

Under the new rules, international co-productions will face an €18 million ($19.7 million) cap on tax credit payouts for projects where at least 30 percent of the production is made in Italy. Local productions will be capped at €9 million ($10 million). The overall fund for film and audiovisual investments in 2024 remains unchanged at approximately €700 million ($782 million).

The change is designed to boost Italian TV and movies and encourage visiting international productions to focus more on Italian stories, like Michael Mann’s Ferrari, about the life of the legendary car designer, starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, or...

On May 26, 2023, nearly a year after winning the 2022 national election to become Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni addressed a political rally in Catania, Sicily. The first woman to govern Italy, and the most far-right politician to do so since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, Meloni told her cheering supporters that despite her electoral success, victory was not yet complete. There was one last left-wing holdout in Italian society, she said: the cultural sector.

“I want to liberate Italian culture from a system that you can only work in if you are from a certain political camp,” she said. It was a clear signal of intent, a threatening shot in the country’s culture wars, and the promise of a right-wing counteroffensive to the supposed left-wing hegemony over Italy’s film, television and arts scenes.

Meloni has appeared to be true to her word. One of her first acts as prime...

Prime Video on Monday unveiled teaser footage, plot details and an Oct. 10 launch date for “Citadel: Diana,” the hotly anticipated spy show starring Matilda De Angelis (“The Undoing”) that is part of the “Citadel” franchise.

Details of “Citadel: Diana” – which marks the streamer’s most ambitious Italian original to date – were unveiled during a gala evening presentation of Prime Video’s Italian slate held in the palatial Villa Miani on a hill overlooking the Eternal City.

The six-episode series is set in a near-future Milan, in 2030, where eight years earlier the independent global spy agency Citadel was wiped out by Manticore, the powerful enemy syndicate that manipulates the world from the shadows. Since then, Diana Cavalieri (De Angelis) – who is an undercover Citadel agent – is alone, “trapped behind enemy lines as a mole in Manticore,” as the provided synopsis puts it.

When Diana finally sees a way out and the chance to disappear forever,...

France’s Les Films du Losange is taking international sales outside Italy on “Sicilian Letters” (“Iddu”), the hotly anticipated drama about Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro – who was dubbed “the last godfather” – directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (“Sicilian Ghost Story”).

“Sicilian Letters” pairs two top Italian actors — Elio Germano, who plays Messina (see first-look image above) and Toni Servillo (first-look image below) as his antagonist Catello, a shady secret services operative — working in tandem for the first time. The title refers to a surreptitious correspondence between them using “pizzini,” the small slips of paper that the Sicilian Mafia uses for high-level communications.

The film – which is expected to launch on the fall festival circuit – looks at a time during Denaro’s three decades as a fugitive from Italian justice, when he was at the peak of his nefarious powers. After being on the run for three decades,...

Italian state broadcaster Rai’s new world sales arm is gaining traction in Cannes — following its soft launch in Berlin — with four new titles on its slate, including veteran auteur Roberto Andò’s historical drama “The Blunder” starring Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”).

In “The Blunder,” which is currently shooting in Sicily, Servillo plays a Sicilian colonel at the head of a ragtag unit trying to outsmart the enemy during the 1860 battle led by Giuseppe Garibaldi that resulted in the unification of Italy.

“The Blunder,” which also stars popular Sicilian comic duo Salvatore Ficarra and Valentino Picone, is produced by Tramp Limited and Bibi Film with Rai Cinema and Medusa, in collaboration with Netflix.

Other titles added during Cannes on the Rai Cinema International Distribution slate include – as previously announced – “Of Dogs and Men,” the upcoming drama by Israeli director Dani Rosenberg (“The Death of Cinema and My Father Too...

Gary Oldman took the opportunity to clarify his comments about his acting in the “Harry Potter” franchise during the Cannes press conference for his new film, “Parthenope,” on Wednesday.

When asked about a prior comment in which he disses his performance as Sirius Black as “mediocre,” Oldman said he didn’t mean to “disparage anyone out there who are fans of ‘Harry Potter’ and the films and the character who I think is much beloved.”

“What I meant by that is, as any artist or any actor or painter, you are always hypercritical of your own work,” he continued. “If you’re not, and you’re satisfied with what you’re doing, that would be death to me. If I watched a performance of myself and thought, ‘My God, I’m fantastic in this,’ that would be a sad day.”

He continued, “There was such secrecy that was shrouded around the novels,...

Oscar winner Paolo Sorrentino ascended the red carpet here this evening for his latest Cannes competition entry, Parthenope, which was welcomed by a nine-minute standing ovation.

“This movie is a celebration of the journey of my life,” the humbled filmmaker told the crowd.

“The movie is a celebration of the journey of my life” : Paolo Sorrentino says in a speech after the ‘Parthenope’ premiere at #Cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/Z6PhssUcFL

— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) May 21, 2024

The movie follows Parthenope, a woman born in the sea of Naples in 1950 who searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters. Sorrentino shot the Italian-French co-production between Naples and Capri.

The pic’s breakout star Celeste Dalla Porta was enthralled by the audience reaction, welling up as they applauded.

The cast also includes Dario Aita, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi,...

Paolo Sorrentino embraced the stars of his latest film “Parthenope,” including Gary Oldman, Celeste Della Porta and Stefania Sandrelli, as the film received a 9.5-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night.

Tears streamed down the face of Della Porta, who plays the title character, and Sorrentino looked visibly moved as he addressed the crowd.

“For me, this movie is a celebration of the journey of my life,” he said. “I want to thank [Cannes general delegate] Thierry Fremaux for the beginning of my journey in cinema 20 years ago.”

His film “The Consequences of Love” premiered at Cannes two decades ago, and the Italian auteur has certainly made his mark on the festival since. He won the festival’s jury prize in 2008 for “Il Divo” and the prize of the ecumenical jury in 2011 for “This Must Be the Place.” Sorrentino has now had seven films compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or.

What a world Paolo Sorrentino creates. The Italian director called one of his movies – the one that won the Oscar for Best International Film – “The Great Beauty,” but that could have been the title of lots of them, definitely including “Parthenope,” which premiered on Tuesday in the Main Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival.

In this case, the great beauty could be the film’s title character, a stunning young woman named after a mythological siren inextricably linked with the city of Naples. It could also be the world she inhabits, a sun-drenched coastal city on the Tyrrhenian Sea in the Mediterranean. And it could just as well be the aura that Sorrentino’s movies create, languorous and exquisite and, much of the time, gloriously sad.

“Parthenope” isn’t a Sorrentino breakthrough by any means, but a recapitulation of many of his obsessions. His last film, 2021’s “The Hand of God,...

Paolo Sorrentino has done a wide range of films but until his most personal, The Hand of God two years ago (a prize winner in Venice), he had not returned to Naples, the land of his youth, except for the very first feature he made, 2001’s One Man Up. Since then though, he has been to Cannes with his films six times, and his impressive list of movies have included The Consequences of Love, Il Divo, Loro and his Oscar-winning The Great Beauty. There have been more mixed reactions for his starry English-language films like Youth and This Must Be the Place, but Italy seems to drive his creative mojo and may be closest to his heart in the current phase of his filmmaking career when he has found new inspiration by going back to his youth, first in Hand of God which closely reflected his own coming of age in Naples,...

Exclusive: Paolo Sorrentino’s anticipated new movie Parthenope has sold around the world for Pathé here in Cannes where the film is playing in Competition.

We broke news of the A24 domestic deal coming into the festival and now deals have closed this past week in UK (Picture House), Germany (Wildbunch – Alamode), Spain (Bteam), Cis (Pasatiempo Pictures), Latin America (Pasatiempo Pictures), Scandinavia (Triart) and South Korea (Aud).

The in-demand project is also heading to Poland (Monolith), Benelux (Cineart), Baltics (Aone Films), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), Czech Republic & Slovakia (Aero), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Portugal (Nos), Romania (Independenta), Hungary (Mozinet), Turkey (Bir Film) and Israel (Lev Cinemas).

Pathé will handle distribution in France and Switzerland. Piper Films will release in Italy. The movie debuts today in Cannes. Negotiations are ongoing in the handful of remaining territories.

Plot details have been kept under wraps but the production says the movie will be an “exploration of the relentless pursuit of freedom,...

A24 has acquired North American rights to Paolo Sorrentino’s Cannes Competition entry Parthenope.

Pathé handles international sales and will also distribute in France and Switzerland.

Inspired by the Greek myth of the siren who threw herself to her death in the sea after she failed to seduce Ulysses with her voice, Parthenope marks the Italian auteur’s seventh Competition selection after Youth most recently in 2015, and titles like eventual best foreign language Oscar winner The Great Beauty in 2013, and Il Divo in 2008.

The story centres on the titular character, born in the sea of Naples in 1950, who searches for...

Exclusive: A24 has acquired North American rights to Parthenope, the new film from Oscar winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, ahead of its world premiere at the 77th Festival de Cannes.

Parthenope is the seventh Sorrentino movie to play the Croisette following 2004’s The Consequences of Love, 2008’s Il Divo which won the Jury Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Prize, 2011’s This Must Be the Place starring Sean which also won the Ecumenical Jury Prize, 2013’s The Great Beauty and 2015’s Youth. The Great Beauty would go on to win the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2014.

Sorrentino’s previous directorial, The Hand of God, inspired by his youth, received a 2022 Oscar nomination for Best International Film and was released on Netflix stateside.

Pathe is handling foreign sales and is releasing the movie in France and Switzerland.

The movie follows Parthenope, who born in the sea of Naples in 1950, searches for happiness...

Acclaimed auteurs Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino and Andrea Arnold are among the filmmakers set to compete for the coveted Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

A total of 19 features were revealed today (April 11) that will play in Competition at the festival, set to run May 14-25.

Rarely a festival to veer far from familiar names, the Competition line-up is dominated by directors who have been selected multiple times for Cannes.

They include US filmmaker Coppola with sci-fi epic Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver and is set in a future version of New York City following a disaster.

Ali Abbasi’s Donald Trump drama The Apprentice, Anora, the latest from The Florida Project and Red Rocket director Sean Baker, and Andrea Arnold’s Bird, starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, are among the highlights of this year’s Cannes Film Festival competition.

Abbasi, the Iran-born, Sweden-based director, whose Holy Spider was a sensation of the 2022 Cannes festival, returns with his story of how a young Donald Trump and the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn built up Trump’s real estate business in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, Succession‘s Jeremy Strong plays Cohn and Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) is wife Ivana.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things follow-up Kinds of Kindness will also premiere in the Cannes competition. The film, featuring the Oscar-winning Poor Things star Emma Stone, will be high on every Cannes attendee’s must-see list. The Greek auteur has again...

Roll up, roll up for Part 2 of our Cannes Film Festival preview, this time with a focus on international, mainly non-English-language fare. If you didn’t catch Andreas’ English-language-focused Part 1, check it out.

As the fest basks in the warm glow of the Oscar wins for 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and Grand Jury Prize winner The Zone of Interest, delegate general Thierry Frémaux and his team are furiously tying up the 2024 Official Selection.

With less than four weeks to go until the bulk of the 77th edition (running May 14-25) is revealed at the press conference in Paris on April 11, we’ve rounded up a host of the titles ready and in the running for a splash in either Official Selection or the main parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.

The registration deadline was March 15, with March 22 the official cut-off for submissions to arrive...

Over the past few years Italian cinema has been making strides in the global arena and 2024 looks likely to bolster its international standing. New works by top auteurs Paolo Sorrentino and Luca Guadagnino will be launching from the festival circuit just as a fresh crop of directors comes to fore, starting with Margherita Vicario, whose first film “Gloria!” scored a Berlin competition slot.

Below is a compendium of new Italian movies set to hit this year’s fest circuit.

“Another End” – Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (“The Worse Person in the World”) star as lovers caught in an unusual bind in Italian director Piero Messina’s sci-fi film “Another End” which is competing in Berlin. This second feature by Messina – whose first feature, “The Wait,” launched with a splash in the 2015 Venice competition – is set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of...