Nanni Moretti is set to start shooting unconventional comedy “Il Sol Dell’Avvenire” in March. Pic will star French actor-director Mathieu Amalric and feature a cast comprising Polish multi-hyphenate Jerzy Stuhr.
Stuhr appeared in Moretti’s “We Have a Pope” and “The Caiman.” He will star in “Il Sol Dell’Avvenire” — which translates as “The Sun of the Future” — alongside Moretti regulars including Margherita Buy (“Three Floors”), Silvio Orlando (“The Caiman”) and Moretti himself.
Details of Moretti’s new film, revealed by the director in an interview with local trade publication Italian Cinema, have been confirmed by Fandango, which is producing in tandem with Moretti’s own Sacher shingle and Rai Cinema.
While the veteran auteur is keeping plot details under wraps, he has said that it’s a period piece set in Rome between the 1950s and the 1970s amid the city’s circus world, but will also involve the world of cinema.
Stuhr appeared in Moretti’s “We Have a Pope” and “The Caiman.” He will star in “Il Sol Dell’Avvenire” — which translates as “The Sun of the Future” — alongside Moretti regulars including Margherita Buy (“Three Floors”), Silvio Orlando (“The Caiman”) and Moretti himself.
Details of Moretti’s new film, revealed by the director in an interview with local trade publication Italian Cinema, have been confirmed by Fandango, which is producing in tandem with Moretti’s own Sacher shingle and Rai Cinema.
While the veteran auteur is keeping plot details under wraps, he has said that it’s a period piece set in Rome between the 1950s and the 1970s amid the city’s circus world, but will also involve the world of cinema.
- 2/13/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
If the first of Paolo Sorrentino’s twin films, Them 1 (Loro 1), was mainly a critique of the trashy vulgarity that permeates Italian society, its follow-up Them 2 (Loro 2) aims squarely at “Him,” Silvio Berlusconi himself. A well-paced satire with a sober ending, it is entertaining throughout but ultimately feels a bit toothless. Possibly out of libel and lawsuit considerations, the pic seems forced to tread cautiously around a subject clamoring for directness. The results are a lot like Nanni Moretti’s 2006 film-within-a-film The Caiman, which also got S.B. in its sights but was unable to shoot.
These days,...
These days,...
- 5/2/2018
- by Deborah Young
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If the first of Paolo Sorrentino’s twin films, <em>Them 1 </em>(<em>Loro 1</em>), was mainly a critique of the trashy vulgarity that permeates Italian society, its follow-up <em>Them 2 </em>(<em>Loro 2</em>) aims squarely at “Him,” Silvio Berlusconi himself. A well-paced satire with a sober ending, it is entertaining throughout but ultimately feels a bit toothless. Possibly out of libel and lawsuit considerations, the pic seems forced to tread cautiously around a subject clamoring for directness. The results are a lot like Nanni Moretti’s 2006 film-within-a-film <em>The Caiman</em>, which also got S.B. in its sights but was unable ...
Rome – Judges in the Milan sex and abuse-of-power trial against Silvio Berlusconi surprised almost everyone by sentencing the billionaire media mogul and three-time prime minister to an even harsher sentence than prosecutors asked for. But at least one person may not have been surprised: six-time Cannes Palme d’Or nominee Nanni Moretti, whose 2006 anti-Berlusconi political drama Il Caimano (The Caiman) ended with a fictional Berlusconi receiving a sentence of seven years in jail and a lifetime ban from politics -- the exact sentence handed down Monday in Milan. A clip of the film’s finale (in
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- 6/24/2013
- by Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film: We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam) (2011) Cast includes: Michel Piccoli (A Leap in the Dark), Nanni Moretti (The Son's Room), Margherita Buy (Days and Clouds) Director: Nanni Moretti (The Caiman) Genre: Light Drama | Comedy | Satire (102 minutes) Crowds gather in St. Peter's Square to pray and to wait. It's a sea of scarlet as 108 cardinals make their way to the Sistine Chapel for the conclave. Journalists struggle for scraps of information... a hopeless pursuit. Once they finally get the lights turned on in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals get down to the task of voting. When each has written a name on his ballot, he signals that he's finished by tapping his pen. As the votes are counted, most cardinals have a similar silent prayer... "Not me. Oh Lord, please not me." Although Cardinal Gregory gets the most votes in the first round, the vote isn't decisive. The smoke is black.
- 4/6/2012
- by Leslie Sisman
- Moviefone
We Have a Pope / Habemus Papam
Directed by Nanni Moretti
Written by Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli
Italy / France, 2011
We Have a Pope gets off to a colourful start, with the masses in Saint Peter’s Square feasting their eyes on a sea of red capes, white lace and ecclesiastical bling. On paper, Nanni Moretti’s film promises swinging satire and perhaps some searching questions about how the Roman Catholic Church chooses its leader. Unfortunately he’s bottled it – serving up a comedy so mild it should come with a Papal Seal of Approval.
Michel Piccoli stars as Cardinal Melville, chosen by his peers to be the new Pope after lengthy deliberations and much collective boredom. It turns out that no one really wanted the job (“Not me, Lord”), so Melville is just the poor schmuck who’s drawn the short straw. In a wonderfully anti-climactic moment he...
Directed by Nanni Moretti
Written by Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli
Italy / France, 2011
We Have a Pope gets off to a colourful start, with the masses in Saint Peter’s Square feasting their eyes on a sea of red capes, white lace and ecclesiastical bling. On paper, Nanni Moretti’s film promises swinging satire and perhaps some searching questions about how the Roman Catholic Church chooses its leader. Unfortunately he’s bottled it – serving up a comedy so mild it should come with a Papal Seal of Approval.
Michel Piccoli stars as Cardinal Melville, chosen by his peers to be the new Pope after lengthy deliberations and much collective boredom. It turns out that no one really wanted the job (“Not me, Lord”), so Melville is just the poor schmuck who’s drawn the short straw. In a wonderfully anti-climactic moment he...
- 4/5/2012
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
Deeply shrouded in mystery, the election of the Pope is a strange amalgam of modern democracy and ancient ritual. It is also a circumstance that seems ripe for farce. At least Nanni Moretti, perhaps Italy’s most revered contemporary filmmaker, seems to think so. His newest film, We Have a Pope, which premiered last year in Cannes as Habemus Papam, is an often funny, sneakily moving investigation of the Vatican’s less-than-infallible process of choosing the divine, and one man’s rejection of his supposedly divine calling. Starring Michel Piccoli as a would-be Pope who disappears after his election and Moretti himself as the psychoanalyst charged with helping the new Pope through his post-election panic, We Have a Pope finds the director, as he did in 2006′s veiled Berlusconi biopic Il Caimano, pondering the inner life of one of Italy’s most powerful, iconic men.
Since his 1976 feature debut, I...
Since his 1976 feature debut, I...
- 4/4/2012
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
With a career spanning almost four decades, it's about time we put the "Nanni Moretti is the Italian Woody Allen" descriptor to rest. Though ultimately a flattering praise, it doesn't exactly paint an accurate picture. Generally composing movies with a perfect blend of comedic and dramatic elements, most of the humor in a Moretti film comes from cleverly written lines delivered in sincere dryness unlike the self-deprecating rambling/witty quips that live in Allen's scripts. Aside from maybe the Italian director's two diary-form films "Caro Diario" & "Aprile," it's hard to see either's output as even remotely interchangeable. While they definitely write from a very personal place (well, Allen maybe not so often now), Moretti's films explore various feelings such as becoming a father ("Aprile"), contemporary politics ("The Caiman"), religion ("We Have a Pope"), and even his old favorite past-time, water polo ("Red Lob"). Similarities exist, but their voices are very much their own.
- 4/4/2012
- by Christopher Bell
- The Playlist
Hugo; The Deep Blue Sea; We Have a Pope
Despite the inherent redundancy of the format, each new wave of 3D cinema throws up at least one oddity which goes some way toward justifying this technical gimmick. Die-hard 3D apologists cite Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder as a rare triumph from the 1950s fad (although House of Wax is more fun) while Flesh For Frankenstein outshines all other stereoscopic offerings from the 70s and 80s in terms of sheer bloodcurdling camp. But while the blockbusting Avatar remains the commercial flagship for early 21st-century 3D, my money is on Martin Scorsese's Hugo (2011, Entertainment, U) being the movie which will be retrospectively regarded as the recent wave's most honourable outing.
Rather than toeing the baloney-on-toast "immersive experience" line trotted out by James Cameron et al, Scorsese's nostalgic homage to early cinema uses 3D as an archaic alienation device, reminding us that...
Despite the inherent redundancy of the format, each new wave of 3D cinema throws up at least one oddity which goes some way toward justifying this technical gimmick. Die-hard 3D apologists cite Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder as a rare triumph from the 1950s fad (although House of Wax is more fun) while Flesh For Frankenstein outshines all other stereoscopic offerings from the 70s and 80s in terms of sheer bloodcurdling camp. But while the blockbusting Avatar remains the commercial flagship for early 21st-century 3D, my money is on Martin Scorsese's Hugo (2011, Entertainment, U) being the movie which will be retrospectively regarded as the recent wave's most honourable outing.
Rather than toeing the baloney-on-toast "immersive experience" line trotted out by James Cameron et al, Scorsese's nostalgic homage to early cinema uses 3D as an archaic alienation device, reminding us that...
- 3/31/2012
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Nanni Moretti, "perhaps the leading cinematic satirist of our time," as Andrew Sarris once wrote, will preside over the Jury of the 65th Festival de Cannes just a few short weeks after We Have a Pope, which premiered in Competition at Cannes last year, opens in the Us on April 6. This Friday at 7 pm, the IFC Center in New York presents a sneak preview of Pope — and Moretti will be there.
This special event is part of La Vita e Cinema: The Films of Nanni Moretti, a complete retrospective running from today through Thursday, April 5. Moretti will also be present at the following screenings:
Friday, March 30
Ecce bombo (1978), 9:30 pm.
Saturday, March 31
Aprile (1998), 5:30 pm.
The Son's Room (2001), 7:30 pm.
Sunday, April 1
The Caiman (2006), 3:25 pm.
Caro Diario (1993), 5:45 pm.
The IFC Center is generously offering two pairs of tickets to each of these showings (they'd have loved to offer...
This special event is part of La Vita e Cinema: The Films of Nanni Moretti, a complete retrospective running from today through Thursday, April 5. Moretti will also be present at the following screenings:
Friday, March 30
Ecce bombo (1978), 9:30 pm.
Saturday, March 31
Aprile (1998), 5:30 pm.
The Son's Room (2001), 7:30 pm.
Sunday, April 1
The Caiman (2006), 3:25 pm.
Caro Diario (1993), 5:45 pm.
The IFC Center is generously offering two pairs of tickets to each of these showings (they'd have loved to offer...
- 3/28/2012
- MUBI
What would a biopic of Italy's former prime minister look like? Surely there's only one man who can play the lead
It had all the makings of the greatest film ever made; one part Citizen Kane to three parts Girls Gone Wild on Tour. That's right: the Silvio Berlusconi biopic. Needless to say, the Berlusconi story is dripping with blockbuster potential – there's money, power, sex, corruption, sex, cruise ship singing, more sex and a bit where our hero gets smacked around the head with a little metal church. In the right hands, a Berlusconi biopic could be a genuinely compelling watch.
Tragically, though, it may never happen. Depsite reports in the Italian and Us press that Berlusconi was planning to produce his own film, his spokesman has denied it to our man in Rome. But there's no way we can ignore the thought of what might materialise if Berlusconi did...
It had all the makings of the greatest film ever made; one part Citizen Kane to three parts Girls Gone Wild on Tour. That's right: the Silvio Berlusconi biopic. Needless to say, the Berlusconi story is dripping with blockbuster potential – there's money, power, sex, corruption, sex, cruise ship singing, more sex and a bit where our hero gets smacked around the head with a little metal church. In the right hands, a Berlusconi biopic could be a genuinely compelling watch.
Tragically, though, it may never happen. Depsite reports in the Italian and Us press that Berlusconi was planning to produce his own film, his spokesman has denied it to our man in Rome. But there's no way we can ignore the thought of what might materialise if Berlusconi did...
- 3/28/2012
- by Stuart Heritage
- The Guardian - Film News
"A billion people are waiting for you." IFC Films and Sundance Selects have unveiled an official trailer (via Deadline) for Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope, an Italian indie dramatic comedy that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year, as Moretti is a Palme d'Or winning director. The film, starring French actor Michel Piccoli and Nanni Moretti, is about an elderly cardinal elected to be the new Pope, but can't handle taking on the job, so they bring in a psychiatrist. It plays like a very lighthearted and amusing comedy about the extraordinary task of becoming the Pope. Looks like a good watch if this intrigues you, take a look below. Watch the official Us trailer for Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope, embedded from YouTube: In his latest comedy, We Have a Pope (aka Habemus Papam), Palme d'Or-winner Nanni Moretti (Aprile, The Son's Room, The Caiman...
- 3/2/2012
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
A comedy about a Pope on the run sounds like it should be a ’60s farce, preferably starring John Cleese. Actually it’s an Italian dramedy made by Nanni Moretti. And although he has a name like an old lady’s biscuit, he’s actually rather good.
‘The Son’s Room’ and ‘The Caiman’ did well on the festival circuit on their releases in 2001 and 2006, so the appearance of ‘We Have A Pope’ at Cannes had hopes high – but little came of it, and awards hopes fizzled out.
Why the disappointment? Because a concept ripe for some comedy and playful ribbing of an ancient institution struggling to keep up with modernity is shamefully squandered in what turns out to be a rather self-indulgent affair.
It all begins so well, as the Cardinals gather from all over the world to elect their new Pope. As the faithful watch on in silent vigil,...
A comedy about a Pope on the run sounds like it should be a ’60s farce, preferably starring John Cleese. Actually it’s an Italian dramedy made by Nanni Moretti. And although he has a name like an old lady’s biscuit, he’s actually rather good.
‘The Son’s Room’ and ‘The Caiman’ did well on the festival circuit on their releases in 2001 and 2006, so the appearance of ‘We Have A Pope’ at Cannes had hopes high – but little came of it, and awards hopes fizzled out.
Why the disappointment? Because a concept ripe for some comedy and playful ribbing of an ancient institution struggling to keep up with modernity is shamefully squandered in what turns out to be a rather self-indulgent affair.
It all begins so well, as the Cardinals gather from all over the world to elect their new Pope. As the faithful watch on in silent vigil,...
- 12/2/2011
- by Michael Edwards
- Obsessed with Film
★★★☆☆ We Have a Pope (Habemus Papam, 2011) is Italian director Nanni Moretti's follow up to 2006's The Caiman, his cinematic attack on former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Whilst a deeply satirical examination of the Catholic Church, We Have a Pope is also a warm and gentle comedy about human frailty and the misguided attempts we make to alter our own fate.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 12/1/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
We Have a Pope / Habemus Papam
Directed by Nanni Moretti
Written by Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli
Italy / France, 2011
We Have a Pope gets off to a colourful start, with the masses in Saint Peter’s Square feasting their eyes on a sea of red capes, white lace and ecclesiastical bling. On paper, Nanni Moretti’s film promises swinging satire and perhaps some searching questions about how the Roman Catholic Church chooses its leader. Unfortunately he’s bottled it – serving up a comedy so mild it should come with a Papal Seal of Approval.
Michel Piccoli stars as Cardinal Melville, chosen by his peers to be the new Pope after lengthy deliberations and much collective boredom. It turns out that no one really wanted the job (“Not me, Lord”), so Melville is just the poor schmuck who’s drawn the short straw. In a wonderfully anti-climactic moment he...
Directed by Nanni Moretti
Written by Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli
Italy / France, 2011
We Have a Pope gets off to a colourful start, with the masses in Saint Peter’s Square feasting their eyes on a sea of red capes, white lace and ecclesiastical bling. On paper, Nanni Moretti’s film promises swinging satire and perhaps some searching questions about how the Roman Catholic Church chooses its leader. Unfortunately he’s bottled it – serving up a comedy so mild it should come with a Papal Seal of Approval.
Michel Piccoli stars as Cardinal Melville, chosen by his peers to be the new Pope after lengthy deliberations and much collective boredom. It turns out that no one really wanted the job (“Not me, Lord”), so Melville is just the poor schmuck who’s drawn the short straw. In a wonderfully anti-climactic moment he...
- 10/15/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
Updated through 5/19.
Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which opened the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, already has its own entry, of course (and it's still being updated, too), but it's here that I'll collect all that's notably linkable related to the films in the Official Selection yet screening Out of Competition (excluding Special Screenings, which'll have their own upcoming roundup). We already have plenty on Jodie Foster's The Beaver here; and I'm sure Christophe Honoré's Beloved will warrant an entry of its own when it closes the Festival on May 22.
"Bursting with light and color, and a torrent of martial arts action both swift and savage (arguably the best that lead actor Donnie Yen has choreographed for years), Wu Xia is coherently developed and stylishly directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan to provide unashamedly pleasurable popular entertainment," writes Maggie Lee in the Hollywood Reporter, where Karen Chu interviews Chan.
Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which opened the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, already has its own entry, of course (and it's still being updated, too), but it's here that I'll collect all that's notably linkable related to the films in the Official Selection yet screening Out of Competition (excluding Special Screenings, which'll have their own upcoming roundup). We already have plenty on Jodie Foster's The Beaver here; and I'm sure Christophe Honoré's Beloved will warrant an entry of its own when it closes the Festival on May 22.
"Bursting with light and color, and a torrent of martial arts action both swift and savage (arguably the best that lead actor Donnie Yen has choreographed for years), Wu Xia is coherently developed and stylishly directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan to provide unashamedly pleasurable popular entertainment," writes Maggie Lee in the Hollywood Reporter, where Karen Chu interviews Chan.
- 5/19/2011
- MUBI
Updated through 5/18.
"Nanni Moretti's Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), the Italian filmmaker's sombre and lightly amusing reconstruction of life behind the closed doors of the Vatican after the election of a reluctant Pope, can't decide whether it's a drama or a comedy, a satire or an affectionate critique," finds Time Out London's Dave Calhoun. "It's gently funny at times and occasionally thoughtful, but overall it's too limp and non-committal to satisfy or be persuasive as any of the above. Luckily, veteran French actor Michel Piccoli as the Pontiff in meltdown is a pleasure to watch even when Moretti's script is unsure what to do with him."
"Piccoli plays the Cardinal who starts out composed and contemplative, but soon becomes a screaming Pope afflicted with performance anxiety," explains the Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu. "A psychoanalyst (Moretti) is brought in to help, but it’s difficult for the two to communicate...
"Nanni Moretti's Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), the Italian filmmaker's sombre and lightly amusing reconstruction of life behind the closed doors of the Vatican after the election of a reluctant Pope, can't decide whether it's a drama or a comedy, a satire or an affectionate critique," finds Time Out London's Dave Calhoun. "It's gently funny at times and occasionally thoughtful, but overall it's too limp and non-committal to satisfy or be persuasive as any of the above. Luckily, veteran French actor Michel Piccoli as the Pontiff in meltdown is a pleasure to watch even when Moretti's script is unsure what to do with him."
"Piccoli plays the Cardinal who starts out composed and contemplative, but soon becomes a screaming Pope afflicted with performance anxiety," explains the Telegraph's Sukhdev Sandhu. "A psychoanalyst (Moretti) is brought in to help, but it’s difficult for the two to communicate...
- 5/18/2011
- MUBI
Critics hoped Nanni Moretti's new film would be a fierce attack on the Catholic church – instead, it's an amiable farce. Has the scourge of the Italian establishment gone soft? Xan Brooks meets him in Cannes
Nanni Moretti's new film takes us behind the scenes at the Vatican, down darkened corridors and beyond closed doors. Look: there's an aged cardinal on his exercise bike, another dosing his water with Rescue Remedy, a third puffing ecstatically on a sly cigarette. At its Cannes screening, where Moretti is in contention for this year's Palme d'Or, I mentally urged the director to take us further, show us more. What I'm really after, I think, is the arrival of an altar boy.
But Moretti moves in mysterious ways. When it was announced that the puckish Italian film-maker was shooting a comedy about the Catholic church, the critics readied themselves for a major scandal,...
Nanni Moretti's new film takes us behind the scenes at the Vatican, down darkened corridors and beyond closed doors. Look: there's an aged cardinal on his exercise bike, another dosing his water with Rescue Remedy, a third puffing ecstatically on a sly cigarette. At its Cannes screening, where Moretti is in contention for this year's Palme d'Or, I mentally urged the director to take us further, show us more. What I'm really after, I think, is the arrival of an altar boy.
But Moretti moves in mysterious ways. When it was announced that the puckish Italian film-maker was shooting a comedy about the Catholic church, the critics readied themselves for a major scandal,...
- 5/15/2011
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Slightly disappointing (given his usual record), the latest from Nanni Moretti has turned out to be a relatively safe affair. Habemus Papam (for those who are not catholic or their Latin is rusty, We have a pope) is being sold as a comedy, rather than a light-as-air drama about the existential crisis of a newly elected pope. Moretti plays a shrink summoned to the Vatican to solve the pope’s issues. Given that Moretti is an atheist, and this follows his very acid political comedy Il Caimano, many were expecting a devastating expose on the hot button issues that the church is facing these days; it turns out to be a very gentle portrait of the pope as a very average man doubting if he will be up to the job somehow randomly assigned to him. Veteran actor Michel Piccoli delivers a very nice, subtle performance that will surely bring him some awards.
- 5/14/2011
- by Ed Lucatero
- SoundOnSight
Nanni Moretti deserves respect for keeping his hatchet away from this film about a troubled pope
Never one to shy away from controversy, Italian film-maker Nanni Moretti has followed The Caiman, his assault on Silvio Berlusconi, with a nervously anticipated examination of the holiest of holy cows, the papacy. Already released in Italy, Habemus Papam has provoked only the mildest tut-tutting from the Vatican, and it's not hard to see why: Moretti's conception of the Holy Father is a man weighed down by the immensity of his burden, who must reconcile human fears with spiritual responsibilities, and who is drawn equally to the life of the world and the life of the mind. To those, and to volleyball matches between fully-robed cardinals in the papal palace quadrangle.
Moretti's premise is enticing, almost brilliant. One pope dies, and the conclave to elect his successor settles on Cardinal Melville, played with perfect...
Never one to shy away from controversy, Italian film-maker Nanni Moretti has followed The Caiman, his assault on Silvio Berlusconi, with a nervously anticipated examination of the holiest of holy cows, the papacy. Already released in Italy, Habemus Papam has provoked only the mildest tut-tutting from the Vatican, and it's not hard to see why: Moretti's conception of the Holy Father is a man weighed down by the immensity of his burden, who must reconcile human fears with spiritual responsibilities, and who is drawn equally to the life of the world and the life of the mind. To those, and to volleyball matches between fully-robed cardinals in the papal palace quadrangle.
Moretti's premise is enticing, almost brilliant. One pope dies, and the conclave to elect his successor settles on Cardinal Melville, played with perfect...
- 5/13/2011
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Inspired by British satire In The Loop, first French film to tell story of a serving president breaks last taboo
It threatens to be so true to life that it's more like a documentary than a feature film. "I'm surrounded by cretins!" shouts a stack-heeled, would-be French president at his terrified advisers. "Remember, I'm a Ferrari. When you open the bonnet, you use white gloves."
When the Cannes film festival opens next week, it will break the last taboo in French film. La Conquête, a scathing portrait of Nicolas Sarkozy's rise to power - the first French feature film brave enough to tackle a serving president - will be shown on La Croisette after a row over whether officials wanted to sideline it to spare the Elysée's blushes.
Inspired by the merciless British satire In the Loop, and subtitled "The man who won the presidency, but lost a wife...
It threatens to be so true to life that it's more like a documentary than a feature film. "I'm surrounded by cretins!" shouts a stack-heeled, would-be French president at his terrified advisers. "Remember, I'm a Ferrari. When you open the bonnet, you use white gloves."
When the Cannes film festival opens next week, it will break the last taboo in French film. La Conquête, a scathing portrait of Nicolas Sarkozy's rise to power - the first French feature film brave enough to tackle a serving president - will be shown on La Croisette after a row over whether officials wanted to sideline it to spare the Elysée's blushes.
Inspired by the merciless British satire In the Loop, and subtitled "The man who won the presidency, but lost a wife...
- 5/10/2011
- by Angelique Chrisafis
- The Guardian - Film News
Updated through 4/20.
Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux announced that, out of 1715 submissions, 49 features from 33 countries have been selected in total for this year's Cannes Film Festival — four of them made by women, a record. 19 titles are lined up for the Competition so far, leaving room for surprise announcements from here on to the Opening Ceremony on May 11.
Competition
Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Inhabit. As noted yesterday, here's what Variety's Justin Chang had heard as of this past weekend: "In late March, it seemed that Almodóvar, a Cannes veteran who won prizes for All About My Mother and Volver, might skip the event altogether this year. Since 2004's Bad Education, the helmer has presented every one of his films in competition at the May fest, usually following a spring local release. The Sept 2 Spanish release date for The Skin That I Inhabit (which Sony Classics will release Stateside in...
Gilles Jacob and Thierry Frémaux announced that, out of 1715 submissions, 49 features from 33 countries have been selected in total for this year's Cannes Film Festival — four of them made by women, a record. 19 titles are lined up for the Competition so far, leaving room for surprise announcements from here on to the Opening Ceremony on May 11.
Competition
Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Inhabit. As noted yesterday, here's what Variety's Justin Chang had heard as of this past weekend: "In late March, it seemed that Almodóvar, a Cannes veteran who won prizes for All About My Mother and Volver, might skip the event altogether this year. Since 2004's Bad Education, the helmer has presented every one of his films in competition at the May fest, usually following a spring local release. The Sept 2 Spanish release date for The Skin That I Inhabit (which Sony Classics will release Stateside in...
- 4/21/2011
- MUBI
London -- Italian auteur Nanni Moretti has parted company with the Turin Film Festival after two years in the hot seat as the event's artistic director.
Organizers on Sunday said Moretti resigned and will be able to concentrate on his next movie project.
The Italian press was filled with speculation over Moretti's successor at the prominent Northern Italian festival with Gabriele Salvatores, Roberto Benigni and Giuseppe Tornatore all being talked about.
Moretti’s most recent feature in 2006, “The Caiman,” followed his 2001 Palme d’Or winner “The Son’s Room.”
"I can no longer guarantee Turin the same amount of attention and energy," Moretti said in a statement.
"I am leaving a unique festival which can still grow and continue to support good independent and auteur cinema," he added.
Moretti’s resignation comes a week after this year's shindig wrapped.
Moretti stepped in to the Turin role two years ago in...
Organizers on Sunday said Moretti resigned and will be able to concentrate on his next movie project.
The Italian press was filled with speculation over Moretti's successor at the prominent Northern Italian festival with Gabriele Salvatores, Roberto Benigni and Giuseppe Tornatore all being talked about.
Moretti’s most recent feature in 2006, “The Caiman,” followed his 2001 Palme d’Or winner “The Son’s Room.”
"I can no longer guarantee Turin the same amount of attention and energy," Moretti said in a statement.
"I am leaving a unique festival which can still grow and continue to support good independent and auteur cinema," he added.
Moretti’s resignation comes a week after this year's shindig wrapped.
Moretti stepped in to the Turin role two years ago in...
- 12/8/2008
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rome -- Italian auteur and festival director Nanni Moretti was presented with the 42nd Fiesole Master of Film prize Thursday.
Moretti, a five-time Cannes Palme d'Or nominee, has been on a break from directing films after 2006's anti-Silvio Berlusconi drama "Il Caimano" (The Cayman), but he took over the Turin Film festival last year.
The Fiesole prize, which Spike Lee won last year, has been presented in the past to Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Ingmar Bergman.
Moretti, a five-time Cannes Palme d'Or nominee, has been on a break from directing films after 2006's anti-Silvio Berlusconi drama "Il Caimano" (The Cayman), but he took over the Turin Film festival last year.
The Fiesole prize, which Spike Lee won last year, has been presented in the past to Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Ingmar Bergman.
- 7/10/2008
- by By Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Founded in 1988, the European Film Academy currently unites 1,700 European film professionals with the common aim of promoting Europe's film culture. Here are this year's noms.... European Film 2006 Breakfast On Pluto; Ireland/UK Directed by Neil Jordan Produced by Parallel Film Productions Ltd./Number 9 Films Grbavica; Austria/Bosnia-Herzegovina/Germany/Croatia Directed by Jasmila Zbanic Produced by Coop99 Filmproduktion Gmbh/Deblokada/Noirfilm/Jadran Film Das Leben Der Anderen (The Lives Of Others); Germany Directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck Produced by Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion/Bayerischer Rundfunk/Arte/Creado Film The Road To Guantanamo; UK Directed by Michael Winterbottom And Mat Whitecross Produced by Revolution Films Ltd. Volver; Spain Directed by Pedro Almodovar Produced by El Deseo D.A., S.L.U. The Wind That Shakes The Barley; UK/Ireland/Germany/Italy/Spain Directed By Ken Loach Produced By Sixteen Films/Matador Pictures/Regent Capital/UK Film Council/Bord Scannan Na
- 11/6/2006
- IONCINEMA.com
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled 25 North American premieres Tuesday, nearly all of which first bowed in Festival de Cannes, among them Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel. Toronto programmers said they booked the Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt starrer Babel for a special presentation after the Paramount Pictures title earned Inarritu (21 Grams) a best director award in Festival de Cannes. The festival's Masters sidebar -- which features work by established directors -- will screen Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, about Ireland's fight for independence in the 1920s, along with Italian director Nanni Moretti's Festival de Cannes Competition entry The Caiman, a biting portrait of Silvio Berlusconi's Italy.
- 6/27/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled 25 North American premieres Tuesday, nearly all of which first bowed in Festival de Cannes, among them Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Babel. Toronto programmers said they booked the Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt starrer Babel for a special presentation after the Paramount Pictures title earned Inarritu (21 Grams) a best director award in Festival de Cannes. The festival's Masters sidebar -- which features work by established directors -- will screen Ken Loach's Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, about Ireland's fight for independence in the 1920s, along with Italian director Nanni Moretti's Festival de Cannes Competition entry The Caiman, a biting portrait of Silvio Berlusconi's Italy.
- 6/27/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
An overly-ambitious mix of movie satire, political polemic and personal drama, The Caiman is strongest when it is least on its political soap box. Stripped of its thematic excesses, it's a bracing comedy about one desperate producer's attempt to revive his family life. Bolstered by an endearingly vulnerable performance by Silvio Orlando as the beleagured producer, the Competition film should be a strong contender for the Palme d'Or, and Orlando's endearing performance could notch a Best Actor award.
For the true movie buffs at this festival, Caiman recalls Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love, about a husband's tender and nutty struggles to reconcile his separation with the fact that he still loves his wife.
In this heady mix, Berlusconi is the MacGuffin: Namely, making a film about Berlusconi is the Quixotic grand quest which Bruno, our comical, capsizing producer latches on to. A producer of the sort one runs into at the Riviera -- he's churned out a lifetime's worth of schlock. Nevertheless, they are the sort of movies that his two boys, 9 and 7, think are terrific.
Remarkably, a project falls into his lap from a new writer, a severe young woman who wishes to distill and expose the entire media and political career of Berlusconi into a feature film. It's not a project for the faint-hearted, and Bruno is no social crusader; in fact, he considers Berlusconi's opponents on the Left to be hopeless sad-sacks. And action-adventure is his genre, not political films. Not surprisingly, a film about Berlusconi is not an idea that his countrymen latch onto readily: Some fear repercussions, while others dismiss making a film "about someone you already know everything about."
Swirling his story through a film-in-a-film orbit, filmmaker Nanni Moretti mixes political satire with the crazy movement of the film world: An actor wants to make Berlusconi more dashing and powerful; a set designer wants to make his world more noble and tasteful -- in essence, the focus is quickly shifted from the sour screenplay to a high-speech soap.
Unfortunately, the Berlusconi sections are a contradictory tonal swirl, movie satire meshed with equally superficial political editorializing. Yet, amid this high storyline, a much more powerful personal story emerges below the buzz-line radar: Bruno is magnificent with his young boys, a wise and doting father who nourishes them and inspires them with his storytelling antics. All the while, he is trying to win back the love of his life, his wife, a former actress who has moved on to other things. You truly root for Bruno, and care about his family. It's in these transitional family scenes between the Berlusconi yap that The Caiman is most touching and eloquent.
In essence, this movie could use some trimming and the courage to drop its self-delusional pose as a high-minded political tract, and embrace the fact that it is best as a small family drama.
Under Moretti's deft hand, the performances are consistently lively and credible. In addition to Silvio Orlando's heady performance, Margherita Buy is winningly sympathetic as his change-of-heart wife.
Technical contributions are distinguished by production designer Giancarlo Basili's keen eye for the telling character stitches in both Bruno's loving home and his ragtag office.
THE CAIMAN
Sacher Film, Bac Films, Stephan Films, France 3 Cinema with the collaboration of Wild Bunch, Canal +, Cinecinema in association with Sofica unietoile 3, Sofica comfimage 17.
Director: Nanni Moretti; Story: Nanni Moretti, Heidrun Schleef; Screenwriters: Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo, Federica Pontremoli; Producers: Angelo Barbagallo, Nanni Moretti; Director of photography: Arnaldo Catinari; Production designer: Giancarlo Basili; Costume designer: Lina Nerli Taviani; Editor: Esmeralda Calabria; Music: Franco Piersanti.
Cast. Bruno: Silvio Orlando; Paola: Margherita Buy; Andrea: Daniele Rampello; Giacomo: Giacomo Passarelli; Teresa: Jasmine Trinca; Luisa: Cecilia Dazzi; Margherita: Martina Lero.
No MPAA Rating, running time 112 minutes.
For the true movie buffs at this festival, Caiman recalls Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love, about a husband's tender and nutty struggles to reconcile his separation with the fact that he still loves his wife.
In this heady mix, Berlusconi is the MacGuffin: Namely, making a film about Berlusconi is the Quixotic grand quest which Bruno, our comical, capsizing producer latches on to. A producer of the sort one runs into at the Riviera -- he's churned out a lifetime's worth of schlock. Nevertheless, they are the sort of movies that his two boys, 9 and 7, think are terrific.
Remarkably, a project falls into his lap from a new writer, a severe young woman who wishes to distill and expose the entire media and political career of Berlusconi into a feature film. It's not a project for the faint-hearted, and Bruno is no social crusader; in fact, he considers Berlusconi's opponents on the Left to be hopeless sad-sacks. And action-adventure is his genre, not political films. Not surprisingly, a film about Berlusconi is not an idea that his countrymen latch onto readily: Some fear repercussions, while others dismiss making a film "about someone you already know everything about."
Swirling his story through a film-in-a-film orbit, filmmaker Nanni Moretti mixes political satire with the crazy movement of the film world: An actor wants to make Berlusconi more dashing and powerful; a set designer wants to make his world more noble and tasteful -- in essence, the focus is quickly shifted from the sour screenplay to a high-speech soap.
Unfortunately, the Berlusconi sections are a contradictory tonal swirl, movie satire meshed with equally superficial political editorializing. Yet, amid this high storyline, a much more powerful personal story emerges below the buzz-line radar: Bruno is magnificent with his young boys, a wise and doting father who nourishes them and inspires them with his storytelling antics. All the while, he is trying to win back the love of his life, his wife, a former actress who has moved on to other things. You truly root for Bruno, and care about his family. It's in these transitional family scenes between the Berlusconi yap that The Caiman is most touching and eloquent.
In essence, this movie could use some trimming and the courage to drop its self-delusional pose as a high-minded political tract, and embrace the fact that it is best as a small family drama.
Under Moretti's deft hand, the performances are consistently lively and credible. In addition to Silvio Orlando's heady performance, Margherita Buy is winningly sympathetic as his change-of-heart wife.
Technical contributions are distinguished by production designer Giancarlo Basili's keen eye for the telling character stitches in both Bruno's loving home and his ragtag office.
THE CAIMAN
Sacher Film, Bac Films, Stephan Films, France 3 Cinema with the collaboration of Wild Bunch, Canal +, Cinecinema in association with Sofica unietoile 3, Sofica comfimage 17.
Director: Nanni Moretti; Story: Nanni Moretti, Heidrun Schleef; Screenwriters: Nanni Moretti, Francesco Piccolo, Federica Pontremoli; Producers: Angelo Barbagallo, Nanni Moretti; Director of photography: Arnaldo Catinari; Production designer: Giancarlo Basili; Costume designer: Lina Nerli Taviani; Editor: Esmeralda Calabria; Music: Franco Piersanti.
Cast. Bruno: Silvio Orlando; Paola: Margherita Buy; Andrea: Daniele Rampello; Giacomo: Giacomo Passarelli; Teresa: Jasmine Trinca; Luisa: Cecilia Dazzi; Margherita: Martina Lero.
No MPAA Rating, running time 112 minutes.
- 5/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- Italian films, for years maligned even in their own country, are enjoying a renaissance, with boxoffice booming and critical accolades rolling in. According to Italian cinema monitoring company Cinetel, some 34% of Italian boxoffice receipts have come from Italian films over the first four months of this year, compared with 23% for all of 2005 and less than 15% in most years. Figures have been buoyed by such commercial successes as Carlo Verdone's Il Mio miglior nemico, Fausto Brizzi's Notte prima degli esami, Nanni Moretti's The Cayman, Michele Placido's Crime Novel, and Cristina Comencini's Don't Tell -- all of which have raked in more than 5 million ($6.4 million). Il Mio miglior nemico heads the pack, approaching 20 million ($25.7 million) in ticket sales.
- 5/16/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- With two films unspooling In Competition and screenings of classic Italian films and documentaries running in other categories, Italy's presence in Cannes is bigger than it has been in years. The lineup begins Friday with a screening of Roberto Rossellini's classic Rome, Open City, which won honors as the top film at the first Festival de Cannes in 1946. But the headline-grabbers are Nanni Moretti's The Caiman, which screens Monday, and Paolo Sorrentino's The Family Friend, which will be screened three days later -- both among the 20 films vying for the prestigious Palme d'Or.
- 5/16/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BRUSSELS -- A record 17 films supported by the European Union's Media Fund for filmmakers have made it into the final selection at the Festival de Cannes. "This is really a good harvest", EU Information Society and Media commissioner Viviane Reding said Thursday. Among the Media Fund-backed films at Cannes are Fast Food Nation by Richard Linklater, The Wind that Shakes the Barley by Ken Loach, Volver by Pedro Almodovar, Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo Del Toro, Lights in the Dusk by Aki Kaurismaki and The Caiman by Nanni Moretti. Last year, only 12 movies at Cannes were backed by Media Fund money. The previous high was in 2003, when 15 Media Fund-backed films made it into the selection.
ROME -- The 50th annual David di Donatello film awards ceremony was a tale of two films, with Nanni Moretti's anti-Silvio Berlusconi satire The Caiman and the gangster epic Crime Novel from Michele Placido taking home awards in 15 of the 17 categories in which they were eligible. Although Crime Novel won seven awards, compared with six for Caiman, it was the 52-year-old Moretti's blockbuster that dominated the evening, winning the prizes for picture, director and actor. The top award for Crime Novel was in the screenplay category. The films had each been nominated in 13 categories.
- 4/23/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes unveiled its lineup Thursday under what the organizers are saying is a sign of renewal. Of the 19 films In Competition, just one is from a director who has previously scooped the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, the organizers point out, noting that this is in marked contrast to a 2005 lineup that was dominated by the usual Croisette suspects and included four prior Palme winners. But there are still many familiar Cannes faces on the Competition list, including Nanni Moretti, who is represented by his political satire about outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Il Caimano (The Caiman). Moretti was awarded the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room.
- 4/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes unveiled its lineup Thursday under what the organizers are saying is a sign of renewal. Of the 19 films In Competition, just one is from a director who has previously scooped the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, the organizers point out, noting that this is in marked contrast to a 2005 lineup that was dominated by the usual Croisette suspects and included four prior Palme winners. But there are still many familiar Cannes faces on the Competition list, including Nanni Moretti, who is represented by his political satire about outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Il Caimano (The Caiman). Moretti was awarded the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room.
- 4/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- The 50th annual David di Donatello film awards ceremony was a tale of two films, with Nani Moretti's anti-Silvio Berlusconi satire The Cayman and the gangster epic Crime Novel from Michele Placido taking home awards in 15 of the 17 categories in which they were eligible. Although Crime Novel won seven awards, compared with six for Cayman, it was the 52-year-old Moretti's blockbuster that dominated the evening, winning the prizes for picture, director and actor. The top award for Crime Novel was in the screenplay category. The films had each been nominated in 13 categories.
- 4/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes unveiled its lineup Thursday under what the organizers are saying is a sign of renewal. Of the 19 films In Competition, just one is from a director who has previously scooped the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, the organizers point out, noting that this is in marked contrast to a 2005 lineup that was dominated by the usual Croisette suspects and included four prior Palme winners. But there are still many familiar Cannes faces on the Competition list, including Nanni Moretti, who is represented by his political satire about outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Il Caimano (The Caiman). Moretti was awarded the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room.
- 4/21/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes unveiled its lineup Thursday under what the organizers are saying is a sign of renewal. Of the 19 films In Competition, just one is from a director who has previously scooped the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, the organizers point out, noting that this is in marked contrast to a 2005 lineup that was dominated by the usual Croisette suspects and included four prior Palme winners. But there are still many familiar Cannes faces on the Competition list, including Nanni Moretti, who is represented by his political satire about outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Il Caimano (The Caiman). Moretti was awarded the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room.
- 4/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROME -- Nanni Moretti's The Caymen is headed into Friday night's David Di Donatello awards on an up note as it was announced Thursday as one of two Italian entrants for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Moretti's satire is nominated in 13 Donatello categories including best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best actress and best cinematography. Moretti himself is nominated for best supporting actor. The 52-year-old director, who won the best director award at Cannes in 1994 for the film Dear Diary, has attracted headlines in recent months because of his periodic jabs at Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who Moretti says the antagonist in The Caymen is based on.
- 4/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes unveiled its lineup Thursday under what the organizers are saying is a sign of renewal. Of the 19 films In Competition, just one is from a director who has previously scooped the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, the organizers point out, noting that this is in marked contrast to a 2005 lineup that was dominated by the usual Croisette suspects and included four prior Palme winners. But there are still many familiar Cannes faces on the Competition list, including Nanni Moretti, who is represented by his political satire about outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Il Caimano (The Caiman). Moretti was awarded the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room.
- 4/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARIS -- The 59th edition of the Festival de Cannes unveiled its lineup Thursday under what the organizers are saying is a sign of renewal. Of the 19 films In Competition, just one is from a director who has previously scooped the Palme d'Or, Cannes' top prize, the organizers point out, noting that this is in marked contrast to a 2005 lineup that was dominated by the usual Croisette suspects and included four prior Palme winners. But there are still many familiar Cannes faces on the Competition list, including Nanni Moretti, who is represented by his political satire about outgoing Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Il Caimano (The Caiman). Moretti was awarded the Palme d'Or in 2001 for The Son's Room.
- 4/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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