In sharp focus: Mario Martone checks out Pierfrancesco Favino on the mini monitor during the filming of Nostalgia in Naples Photo: Film Italia The inexorable sway of his home city Naples casts a long shadow over Neapolitan filmmaker Mario Martone who found himself back on his native turf recently to make Nostalgia, based on author Ermanno Rea’s novel, and for a documentary about the revered Italian icon Massimo Troisi.
Nostalgia was shot in the bustling Sanità area in the heart of the city which has a reputation for crime and poverty but also boasts stunning churches and baroque buildings.
It emerged as Italy’s contender in the race for the best foreign film Oscar but failed to make the final mix. Pairing the director and the material seemed like a perfect match.
Martone who’s also a stage director, was asked by his producer to adapt the novel. “Up...
Nostalgia was shot in the bustling Sanità area in the heart of the city which has a reputation for crime and poverty but also boasts stunning churches and baroque buildings.
It emerged as Italy’s contender in the race for the best foreign film Oscar but failed to make the final mix. Pairing the director and the material seemed like a perfect match.
Martone who’s also a stage director, was asked by his producer to adapt the novel. “Up...
- 2/16/2023
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Actor-director Marco D’Amore, who played the ruthless central character Ciro Di Marzio on the Italian mob show “Gomorrah,” is directing “Caracas” a Naples-set drama in which he stars opposite Toni Servillo.
“Caracas” is a co-production between Picomedia, Mad Entertainment and Vision Distribution, which will release the film in Italy.
Vision Distribution’s international unit, headed by veteran sales agent Catia Rossi, is launching sales on the film at Berlin’s upcoming European Film Market.
In “Caracas,” which is based on writer Ermanno Rea’s novel “Napoli Ferroviaria,” Servillo plays Giordano Fonte, a Neapolitan author of international fame who returns to his hometown after many years. There he intersects with a former acquaintance nicknamed Caracas, a man originally from Venezuela who, having been a Neo-fascist skinhead, is now in the process of converting to Islam.
The film is a journey into the multi-ethnic, crime-ridden port city, where Caracas rules over the area near Naples’ central station.
“Caracas” is a co-production between Picomedia, Mad Entertainment and Vision Distribution, which will release the film in Italy.
Vision Distribution’s international unit, headed by veteran sales agent Catia Rossi, is launching sales on the film at Berlin’s upcoming European Film Market.
In “Caracas,” which is based on writer Ermanno Rea’s novel “Napoli Ferroviaria,” Servillo plays Giordano Fonte, a Neapolitan author of international fame who returns to his hometown after many years. There he intersects with a former acquaintance nicknamed Caracas, a man originally from Venezuela who, having been a Neo-fascist skinhead, is now in the process of converting to Islam.
The film is a journey into the multi-ethnic, crime-ridden port city, where Caracas rules over the area near Naples’ central station.
- 2/13/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
You Can’t Go Home Again: Martone’s Latest Asserts the Past is a Dangerous Place
In yet another foray into the teeming possibilities of Naples, Mario Martone directs an adaptation of Ermanno Rea’s Nostalgia, published after the author’s death in 2016. Less than a year after premiering his The King of Laughter (2021), a biography of Neopolitan comedic theater notable Eduardo Scarpetta and his court case which solidified the legality of parodies, Martone is back in the present in this mournful tale of the past catching up with a man who’s been avoiding it for the past four decades.
Initially a gentle exploration of the intoxicating comfort in delving into the carefree days of youth, events take a sinister turn when an inevitable confrontation with the best friend he abandoned gets ugly.…...
In yet another foray into the teeming possibilities of Naples, Mario Martone directs an adaptation of Ermanno Rea’s Nostalgia, published after the author’s death in 2016. Less than a year after premiering his The King of Laughter (2021), a biography of Neopolitan comedic theater notable Eduardo Scarpetta and his court case which solidified the legality of parodies, Martone is back in the present in this mournful tale of the past catching up with a man who’s been avoiding it for the past four decades.
Initially a gentle exploration of the intoxicating comfort in delving into the carefree days of youth, events take a sinister turn when an inevitable confrontation with the best friend he abandoned gets ugly.…...
- 2/2/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: In October, Breaking Glass Pictures acquired Mario Martone’s Nostalgia, Italy’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar for North America, and today we have a first look at the official trailer (check it out above).
The drama kicked off its festival run in the Cannes competition last May, and will next play at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Breaking Glass will release in U.S. cinemas on January 20, 2023.
Based on the novel by Ermanno Rea, Nostalgia stars Pierfrancesco Favino (The Traitor), who received a Best European Actor nomination at the recent European Film Awards for his performance as Felice Lasco, a middle-aged Neapolitan who returns to his bustling hometown after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back in the city, Felice is caught up in a lifetime of loose ends as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him.
Martone directed and co-wrote the film...
The drama kicked off its festival run in the Cannes competition last May, and will next play at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Breaking Glass will release in U.S. cinemas on January 20, 2023.
Based on the novel by Ermanno Rea, Nostalgia stars Pierfrancesco Favino (The Traitor), who received a Best European Actor nomination at the recent European Film Awards for his performance as Felice Lasco, a middle-aged Neapolitan who returns to his bustling hometown after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back in the city, Felice is caught up in a lifetime of loose ends as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him.
Martone directed and co-wrote the film...
- 12/20/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Pierfrancesco Favino is best known internationally for strong male character roles such as mobster Tommaso Buscetta in The Traitor, disgraced politician Bettino Craxi in Hammamet and terrorist-targeted vice-police chief Alfonso Noce in Padrenostro, for which he won Venice’s Volpi Cup for Best Actor.
In Mario Martone’s drama Nostalgia, he plays the gentler, less defined figure of Felice, a man in his 50s who returns from 40 years in the Middle East to his mysterious, layered home neighborhood in Naples to reconnect with his elderly mother and confront a past wrong.
Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“What was interesting to me was this relationship with his mother and the tenderness of this man and how gentle he is. It’s quite rare to see a man’s masculinity portrayed in that way,” Favino told a Contenders International panel Saturday.
“I have to say he resembles me much more than The Traitor,...
In Mario Martone’s drama Nostalgia, he plays the gentler, less defined figure of Felice, a man in his 50s who returns from 40 years in the Middle East to his mysterious, layered home neighborhood in Naples to reconnect with his elderly mother and confront a past wrong.
Related: The Contenders International – Deadline’s Full Coverage
“What was interesting to me was this relationship with his mother and the tenderness of this man and how gentle he is. It’s quite rare to see a man’s masculinity portrayed in that way,” Favino told a Contenders International panel Saturday.
“I have to say he resembles me much more than The Traitor,...
- 12/3/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
They say home is where the heart is, but what happens when your home doesn’t feel the same way? That’s the very question that Mario Martone’s Nostalgia explores.
Based on Ermanno Rea’s novel of the same name, the Italian-French drama was recently selected by Italy to compete on its behalf for a Best International Feature Film nomination at the 95th Academy Awards. Co-written and directed by Martone, the film chronicles Felice Lasco’s (Pierfrancesco Favino) return home to Naples after 40 years away. Now a successful businessman in Egypt, Felice finds his mother, Teresa Lasco (Aurora Quattrocchi), living in near squalor as she’s lost her vision and ability to take care of herself. Also gone is Felice’s childhood home since his mother was bought out and moved to a glorified storage closet in the same building.
Felice does...
They say home is where the heart is, but what happens when your home doesn’t feel the same way? That’s the very question that Mario Martone’s Nostalgia explores.
Based on Ermanno Rea’s novel of the same name, the Italian-French drama was recently selected by Italy to compete on its behalf for a Best International Feature Film nomination at the 95th Academy Awards. Co-written and directed by Martone, the film chronicles Felice Lasco’s (Pierfrancesco Favino) return home to Naples after 40 years away. Now a successful businessman in Egypt, Felice finds his mother, Teresa Lasco (Aurora Quattrocchi), living in near squalor as she’s lost her vision and ability to take care of herself. Also gone is Felice’s childhood home since his mother was bought out and moved to a glorified storage closet in the same building.
Felice does...
- 11/15/2022
- by Brian Davids
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Italian director Mario Martone said that his latest film Nostalgia is very similar to his 1995 film L’amore molesto (Troubling Love).
During a panel discussion at Deadline’s Contenders Film: New York event, Martone explained the connection between adapting Elena Ferrante’s first novel L’amore molesto and Ermanno Rea’s book Nostalgia for the big screen.
Related: Contenders New York 2022: Deadline’s Complete Coverage
“In L’amore molesto we followed this woman,” Martone said. “We walk alongside her, and we enter into her past. In Nostalgia, something similar happens. You have a man, and we walk with him and we enter into his past.”
Nostalgia, which premiered this year at the Cannes Film Festival, follows Felice Lasco, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who, after living 40 years abroad, returns to Naples and rediscovers places and codes of the city, facing a past that eats him away. Last month Breaking, Glass Pictures...
During a panel discussion at Deadline’s Contenders Film: New York event, Martone explained the connection between adapting Elena Ferrante’s first novel L’amore molesto and Ermanno Rea’s book Nostalgia for the big screen.
Related: Contenders New York 2022: Deadline’s Complete Coverage
“In L’amore molesto we followed this woman,” Martone said. “We walk alongside her, and we enter into her past. In Nostalgia, something similar happens. You have a man, and we walk with him and we enter into his past.”
Nostalgia, which premiered this year at the Cannes Film Festival, follows Felice Lasco, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who, after living 40 years abroad, returns to Naples and rediscovers places and codes of the city, facing a past that eats him away. Last month Breaking, Glass Pictures...
- 11/5/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: In a deal with True Colours, Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to Mario Martone’s Nostalgia, Italy’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar. The drama debuted in the Cannes competition last May, and Breaking Glass will continue its festival run in the U.S. through the end of the year with theatrical rollout set for early 2023.
Based on the novel by Ermanno Rea, Nostalgia stars Pierfrancesco Favino (The Traitor) as the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to a bustling Naples after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he is caught up in memories of a distant life spent in his hometown, as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him. Alongside Favino, the film stars Francesco Di Leva, Tommaso Ragno, Aurora Quattrocchi and Sofia Essaidi.
In his review, Deadline’s Todd McCarthy wrote the film “has the fantastic advantage of a densely...
Based on the novel by Ermanno Rea, Nostalgia stars Pierfrancesco Favino (The Traitor) as the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to a bustling Naples after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he is caught up in memories of a distant life spent in his hometown, as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him. Alongside Favino, the film stars Francesco Di Leva, Tommaso Ragno, Aurora Quattrocchi and Sofia Essaidi.
In his review, Deadline’s Todd McCarthy wrote the film “has the fantastic advantage of a densely...
- 10/18/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione and Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Italy has picked Nostalgia, a Naples-set drama from director Mario Martone, as its best international feature Oscars submission.
The film, a modern-day adaptation of the Ermanno Rea novel, premiered to critical acclaim in Cannes this year. It stars Pierfrancesco Favino as Felice Lasco, who returns to his old neighborhood in Naples after 40 years of living in Egypt. But once back, his criminal youth begins to catch up with him. Francesco Di Leva co-stars as a local priest who helps Felice navigate the streets of modern-day Naples.
Nostalgia beat out a shortlist of Italian contenders including Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains, which won the jury prize in Cannes this year, and Emanuele Crialese’s Penelope Cruz-starrer L’Immensità, which premiered in Venice. Bones and All from Italian Oscar winner Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) is in English,...
Italy has picked Nostalgia, a Naples-set drama from director Mario Martone, as its best international feature Oscars submission.
The film, a modern-day adaptation of the Ermanno Rea novel, premiered to critical acclaim in Cannes this year. It stars Pierfrancesco Favino as Felice Lasco, who returns to his old neighborhood in Naples after 40 years of living in Egypt. But once back, his criminal youth begins to catch up with him. Francesco Di Leva co-stars as a local priest who helps Felice navigate the streets of modern-day Naples.
Nostalgia beat out a shortlist of Italian contenders including Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains, which won the jury prize in Cannes this year, and Emanuele Crialese’s Penelope Cruz-starrer L’Immensità, which premiered in Venice. Bones and All from Italian Oscar winner Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) is in English,...
- 9/26/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film is directed by Mario Martone and stars Pierfrancesco Favino.
Italy has selected Mario Martone’s Nostalgia as its entry for the best international feature film category at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Based on the novel by Ermanno Rea, Nostalgia is set in Martone’s hometown of Naples and stars Pierfrancesco Favino as a man who returns to his origins after four decades of being away.
The film premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes film festival. It is produced by Picomedia, Mad Enertainment and Medusa Film, with True Colours handling international sales.
The other 11 titles under consideration by the...
Italy has selected Mario Martone’s Nostalgia as its entry for the best international feature film category at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Based on the novel by Ermanno Rea, Nostalgia is set in Martone’s hometown of Naples and stars Pierfrancesco Favino as a man who returns to his origins after four decades of being away.
The film premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes film festival. It is produced by Picomedia, Mad Enertainment and Medusa Film, with True Colours handling international sales.
The other 11 titles under consideration by the...
- 9/26/2022
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Mario Martone’s Cannes competition title Nostalgia has been selected to represent Italy in the Best International Feature Film category at the Oscars.
Based on the book of the same name by Ermanno Rea and written by Martone with Ippolita Di Maio, the film follows Felice Lasco, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who, after living 40 years abroad, returns to Naples and discovers again places and codes of the city, facing a past that eats him away.
Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners
Additional cast includes Francesco Di Leva, Tommaso Ragno, and Aurora Quattrocchi. Picomedia, Mad Entertainment in association with Medusa Film. It’s a co-production with Rosebud Entertainment Pictures. The film was released in Italy via Medusa in May.
The film also marked Martone’s return to the Cannes competition section 27 years after his adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Troubling Love played on the Croisette in 1995. The Naples native also screened...
Based on the book of the same name by Ermanno Rea and written by Martone with Ippolita Di Maio, the film follows Felice Lasco, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who, after living 40 years abroad, returns to Naples and discovers again places and codes of the city, facing a past that eats him away.
Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners
Additional cast includes Francesco Di Leva, Tommaso Ragno, and Aurora Quattrocchi. Picomedia, Mad Entertainment in association with Medusa Film. It’s a co-production with Rosebud Entertainment Pictures. The film was released in Italy via Medusa in May.
The film also marked Martone’s return to the Cannes competition section 27 years after his adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Troubling Love played on the Croisette in 1995. The Naples native also screened...
- 9/26/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The impact of first love is incomparable, with even the tiniest details remaining rich and precise in memory even after decades have passed. Fleeting summer romances can become seismic events that shift the foundations of the self. Even after the heart has been hardened by a lifetime of disappointment, it can melt recalling those first joyful, intimate moments that stick in the mind as vivid and visceral as a recent trauma.
In ‘Nostalgia’, the first love is one that forms between two 15-year-old boys Felice and Oreste, getting into trouble on the streets of Naples, and while it is never shown to be sexual, it is deeply romantic and passionate. The two teenagers ride, arms wrapped around each other, on a moped, the Italian sunshine carefree and enraptured by each other’s presence. When Felice is beaten up by a rival gang it is Oreste that comes to his aid...
In ‘Nostalgia’, the first love is one that forms between two 15-year-old boys Felice and Oreste, getting into trouble on the streets of Naples, and while it is never shown to be sexual, it is deeply romantic and passionate. The two teenagers ride, arms wrapped around each other, on a moped, the Italian sunshine carefree and enraptured by each other’s presence. When Felice is beaten up by a rival gang it is Oreste that comes to his aid...
- 5/26/2022
- by Leila Latif
- Indiewire
Prolific Italian film and stage director Mario Martone, who is a Venice aficionado, is back in competition in Cannes 27 years after his Elena Ferrante adaptation “L’amore molesto” (“Troubling Love”) launched in competition from the Croisette in 1995. And there is a close connection between these two films that delve deep into the entrails of Martone’s native Naples.
In his well-received “Nostalgia”, praised by Variety as Martone’s “most rewarding film in years,” ace actor Pierfrancesco Favino plays the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he is caught up in memories of a distant life spent in his hometown, as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him.
Martone spoke to Variety about why he adapted Neapolitan author Ermanno Rea’s novel by the same title and the elements that make it “more universal than a mere Neapolitan tale.
In his well-received “Nostalgia”, praised by Variety as Martone’s “most rewarding film in years,” ace actor Pierfrancesco Favino plays the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he is caught up in memories of a distant life spent in his hometown, as his criminal youth slowly catches up with him.
Martone spoke to Variety about why he adapted Neapolitan author Ermanno Rea’s novel by the same title and the elements that make it “more universal than a mere Neapolitan tale.
- 5/25/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Deadline has your first look trailer at Cannes competition title Nostalgia, directed by Italian helmer Mario Martone.
The story follows Felice Lasco, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who returns to Naples after living for many years in Egypt to visit his elderly mother whom he had left suddenly when he was still a boy. It’s his first time back since he left the bustling port city for Egypt some 40 years ago. When it becomes clear that Naples represents for him a life that is now lost and that he should return home as soon as possible to where he came from, he is pinned down by the invincible force of nostalgia.
The film, which is being sold by Italy’s True Colours, sees Martone return to the Cannes competition section 27 years after his adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Troubling Love played on the Croisette in 1995. The Naples native also...
The story follows Felice Lasco, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, who returns to Naples after living for many years in Egypt to visit his elderly mother whom he had left suddenly when he was still a boy. It’s his first time back since he left the bustling port city for Egypt some 40 years ago. When it becomes clear that Naples represents for him a life that is now lost and that he should return home as soon as possible to where he came from, he is pinned down by the invincible force of nostalgia.
The film, which is being sold by Italy’s True Colours, sees Martone return to the Cannes competition section 27 years after his adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s Troubling Love played on the Croisette in 1995. The Naples native also...
- 5/16/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Italy’s True Colours has taken world sales on Italian director Mario Martone’s Cannes competition entry “Nostalgia,” starring Pierfrancesco Favino, who is known to Cannes audiences as the protagonist of Marco Bellocchio’s 2019 drama “The Traitor.”
Set in Martone’s native Naples, “Nostalgia” sees Favino play the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he drowns into the memories of a distant life he spent in his hometown.
Martone will be returning to a Cannes competition berth with “Nostalgia” 27 years after his Elena Ferrante adaptation “L’amore molesto” (“Troubling Love”) launched in competition from the Croisette in 1995. His “The Scent of Blood” was in Directors’ Fortnight in 2004.
But the Neapolitan film and stage director has mostly been a Venice aficionado, most recently with “The Mayor of Rione Sanità” in 2019 and “The King of Laughter” in 2021, both sold by True Colours.
Set in Martone’s native Naples, “Nostalgia” sees Favino play the middle-aged Felice Lasco, who returns to the bustling port city after having lived in Egypt for 40 years. Once back, he drowns into the memories of a distant life he spent in his hometown.
Martone will be returning to a Cannes competition berth with “Nostalgia” 27 years after his Elena Ferrante adaptation “L’amore molesto” (“Troubling Love”) launched in competition from the Croisette in 1995. His “The Scent of Blood” was in Directors’ Fortnight in 2004.
But the Neapolitan film and stage director has mostly been a Venice aficionado, most recently with “The Mayor of Rione Sanità” in 2019 and “The King of Laughter” in 2021, both sold by True Colours.
- 4/22/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.