In Berlin for a while, everyone talked about Caesar must die, a historical and literary reenactment filmed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani in superb documentary style--but it's a feature film documenting a jail bound theater production. The Tavianis (Padre Padrone, Kaos), who are now in their eighties, entered a high-security prison near Rome to film a production of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.” Mixing footage of the final production with

Halfway through the 62nd installment of the Berlin Film Festival, no single film has emerged to carry the fest’s top prizes. The international jury, this year’s headed by British director Mike Leigh, will have a difficult time distributing the Gold and Silver bears if the competition fare remains this lackluster. Benoît Jacquot’s French-Revolution drama, Les Adieux à la Reine was the firing shot in a festival year that is taking a hard look

The genial movie-lover from Rome is a multitasking kind of individual. He’s directed (The Caiman), worked as screenwriter (Habemus Papam) and produced extensively—read some early interviews of him and you’ll find out that he’s hedged his bets this way from the beginning of his career in cinema. And last night, Moretti landed the best job of all. But how will he make use of it? According to a journalist friend based in Rome, Moretti

Thierry Frémeaux (pictured) and Gilles Jacob, artistic director and festival […]

The 68th Venice Film Festival was a pandemonium of pushy, autograph-hounding journalists, hapless stargazers and underage fashionistas talking their way into exclusive parties. Walking along the beach, as the late-summer sun beat down on the Lido, it was easy to forget that this festival was about movies of differing shapes and sizes, where big Hollywood productions vied with quirky indies and inaccessible foreign productions.

The surprise winner of the 68th Venice Film Festival was […]

Marjane Satrapi’s “Poulet aux Prunes” (“Chicken with Plums”) is the French-Iranian filmmaker’s live-action adaptation of her namesake graphic novel. Co-directing once more with Vincent Paronnaud, who also worked on the 2007 film adaptation of “Persepolis,” Satrapi creates a fairly-tale 1950s Tehran as the backdrop for the story of Nasser Ali, a violinist (Satrapi’s uncle, or so she claims) who resolves to die

Costume dramas and fairy tales set the tone for the opening days of the 68th Venice Film Festival. David Cronenberg’s hotly-awaited A Dangerous Method details the collaboration and rivalry between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and set on the eve of World War One. “A Dangerous Method” arrived on day three of the festival and has been one of the stronger entries in the 22-film-strong main competition program.

Do you remember the documentary Protagonist (Jessica Yu, 2007) about […]

Basically, if the year overall has been stuffed to the gills with good movies then Cannes will have a great edition. But if the vintage is not a good one, it will show down on the riviera. On the other hand, Toronto and the Venice Film Festival (the "Mostra") have the perfect time slot. Because anything that's been done in the first half of the year will be scheduled for a Mostra or a Toronto premiere--once the large blockbusters have cleared the Summer pipeline, here come the indie and foreign heavy-hitters; but sales will go in a frenzy at Toronto, since the Mostra does not have a market.