Italian Journal 7: CINEMATIC ITALY

Italy as set, protagonist and muse of filmmaking, past and present.

Italian Journal 7: Cinematic Italy

 

FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE

Columns

Architectural Crossover: Q&A with Architect Franco Purini

/ Columns, Diario Rome-NY, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / /

by Ludovica Rossi PURINI

LUDOVICA ROSSI PURINI: In what way can we talk about the contribution of Italian architects to the culture of architecture in the United States?

FRANCO PURINI: Italian architecture has profoundly influenced the development of American architecture, whether it’s in a direct or an indirect way. It’s a testimony of the works of many of the great American architects of the past century. Only one example is really necessary: the strong analogy between the Guggenheim of New York, by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the stairs of the Vatican Museums, by Giuseppe Momo, who the American architect visited in 1939.

“It Lit” In Translation

/ Columns, Literature, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / /

by Laura GIACALONE

The perception of Italian culture abroad is mostly anchored to the country’s great artistic and literary heritage, to the extent that Italy is more clearly understood and celebrated for what it once was, than what it is now. If we restrict our field of observation to the book market, we can see how the authors translated and distributed abroad actually contribute to shaping the identity and perception of a given culture.

Fabiola Gianotti

/ Columns, Face File, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / /

by Tegan GEORGE

Italians who have impacted the world bring to mind either Renaissance masters, ancient statesmen or contemporary entertainers and designers, like Roberto Benigni, Sofia Loren, Giorgio Armani, or Guccio Gucci. We don’t, however, often think of physicists. This changed after December 19, 2012, when Milanese physicist Fabiola Gianotti was named runnerup for Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

Maps and the Heroic Age of explorers are in fashion

/ Amerigo America, Columnists and Contributors, Columns, Fashion, Volume 20. Number VIII. 2013 / /

Collections of 1a Classe Alviero Martini fall 2012, one of Italy’s top manufacturers of leather goods, accessories and women’s clothing are characterized by a “geographic map” motif (called the ‘Geo-Map’), an original design inspired by the era of legendary voyages, explorations and by the Belle Époque.

Ludovica Purini Recieves Venere Award for Music

/ Cinematic Italy, Columns, Notable, Volume 20. Number VII. 2012 /

On International Women’s Day 2012, the City of Rome bestowed the Venere Award on 20 leading women whose contributions across social, artistic and political spheres improve the City’s culture, health and wellness. Among them, Ludovica Rossi Purini, President of Compagnia per la Musica and frequent collaborator with the Italian Academy Foundation, received recognition for her dedication to music.

IAF Names Kim Brizzolara to Board of Directors

/ Cinematic Italy, Columns, Notable, Volume 20. Number VII. 2012 /

The Italian Academy Foundation announced that Kim Brizzolara has joined its board of directors. Ms. Brizzolara is a feature and documentary film producer and serves as an advisor to several non-profit organizations. She is executive vice chair of the Hamptons International Film Festival, serves on the Board of the We are Family Foundation, and Creative Visions, and is a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at the School of Government at Harvard.

Italian Video Art, A Review: The curator of the exhibit Electronic Body reports

/ Cinematic Italy, Columns, Contemporary Art, Volume 20. Number VII. 2012 / /

by Gianluca MARZIANI

The topic of which I write arrives in the nick of time (perhaps I should say in the “flick” of time in honor of the filmatic subject). What follows is a general exploration of Italian video art, the subject of a fortunate concomitance with the exhibition I have just curated for the Rocco Guglielmo Foundation. Entitled Electronic Body, the show gathers together 16 artists using the video medium exclusively to express a range of issues, approaches and visions.

Dressing the Part: 2012-2013 Italian collections have a vintage filmic quality

/ Cinematic Italy, Columns, Fashion, Volume 20. Number VII. 2012 / /

by Barbara ZORZOLI

When movies first began to be mass-marketed, right after the turn of the century, actors and actresses usually looked to their own closets for contemporary stories. For period pieces, of course, a wardrobe department was necessary, but it was not until 1916 that the first costume designer was credited on film, a certain Frenchman Louis J. Gasnier.

Director’s Backstory, Dark and Light

/ Cinematic Italy, Columns, Literature, Volume 20. Number VII. 2012 / /

by Laura GIACALONE

If a maverick is, by his own admission, “a filmmaker who finds a way with the system of making the films he has chosen to make”, Martin Scorsese is certainly one. From his early works, directly emanating from the ethnic melting pot of New York’s Lower East Side where he grew up, to his latest Oscar-winning celebration of the dream factory, Hugo (2011), Scorsese has worked his way up in the film industry within and outside the system, “above ground” and “underground”, in and out of Hollywood, putting onto film his deepest obsessions.

Roberto Benigni

/ Cinematic Italy, Columns, Face File, Volume 20. Number VII. 2012 / /

by Logan METZER

Among plebians and film-connoisseurs alike, Roberto Benigni is oft remembered for his flamboyant celebration at the 1998 Academy Awards. Clambering over chairs, reciting Dante’s Divina Commedia, and appearing in the sequel to Woody Allen’s acclaimed Midnight in Paris just tell a part of Benigni’s story and the extraordinary impact he has had on the Italian arts.

NYC Welcomes Natalia Quintavalle in the Consul General’s Office: An Interview with Italian Journal

/ Contemporary, Notable, Volume 20. Number VI. 2011 /

The first woman to be appointed as Italian Consul General in New York, Minister Plenipotentiary Natalia Quintavalle took her seat at the Park Avenue Consulate in September 2011. The prestigious assignment is only the last of a series of important achievements in her diplomatic career, which has seen her actively work in the defense of human rights and in the promotion of Italian culture and interests in the world.

Notes on New Italian Art

/ Columns, Contemporary, Contemporary Art, Volume 20. Number VI. 2011 / /

by Gianluca MARZIANI

Italian Contemporary Art: Three words suggesting such a tangle of opposing considerations, cultural and commercial developments and widespread interests that it is quite difficult to have a comprehensive picture of it. For historical reasons and recent twisted events, the Italian art world embodies an anomalous reality, both for its well-acknowledged qualities and its congenital faults. We have a great tradition of art that the world much appreciates – this goes without saying. From Giotto to Mario Schifano, enviable talents and universal geniuses have come one after the other, producing new expressive modes and groundbreaking innovations.

What Grows in War-Ravaged Soil

/ Columns, Contemporary, Literature, Volume 20. Number VI. 2011 / /

by Laura GIACALONE

Reading Twice Born is like taking a journey that, once started, has no turning back. It is something to be experienced, more than just read. It slowly sinks into your heart and, page by page, leaves you completely helpless, defenceless, as after a storm of mixed emotions. It is like being revealed the unspoken truth of human condition, with its eternal carousel of joy and sorrow, and turning it into a personal memory.

Riccardo Muti

/ Columns, Face File, Risorgimento Reflected, Volume 20. Number V. 2011 / /

by Nona TEPPER

On April 15th, at Carnegie Hall, the crowd listening to Othello shouted repeatedly, “Bravi!”, and Riccardo Muti took a deep bow. This certainly wasn’t the first time Muti, the current Musical Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has received a standing ovation, and surely it won’t be the last. Once this Naples-born conductor puts down his baton, listeners inevitably rise to their feet, moved by the emotional force of his music, clapping without inhibition for more.

The Stability of the Euro and the Role of Italy: Ambassador Giulio Terzi speaks on the European financial picture to the members of Gruppo Esponenti Italiani (G.E.I.)

/ Columns, Design Save Italy, Notable, Volume 20. Number IV. 2011 /

by Ambassador Giulio Terzi

I am delighted to be here with you again today and honored by your invitation, a most welcome sign of your great friendship. The last time I had the pleasure of being with you – as Permanent Representative to the United Nations – I talked about international security issues. Over the last year and a half, I have somehow changed my perspective – but not too much: in Washington, diplomatic work is at once global and bilateral too. Today I would like to address a topic which has both a global scope, as it relates to the world’s monetary system, and a “bilateral” one which refers to relations between the EU and the US: I am referring to the stability of the euro-zone.

The Superficial Truth: A controversial video-turned-book looks at the one-dimensional presentation of women in Italian television

/ Columns, Design Save Italy, Literature, Volume 20. Number IV. 2011 / /

by Laura GIACALONE

Please don’t retouch my wrinkles” – said the great Italian actress Anna Magnani, a muse for Neorealist maestro Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City, 1945), while instructing her make-up artist not to conceal the lines on her face – “Leave them all there, it took me so long to earn them.” Many years have passed since then, and women’s concerns and ambitions seem to have changed a lot.

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