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Brie Larson, Katie Holmes, Bo Derek, Harvey Keitel, Kate Beckinsale, John David Washington, Matt Bomer, and Colman Domingo are among the robust contingent of Hollywood stars set to disembark on the island of Sardinia for the upcoming seventh edition of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival.

The event, which kicks off Italy’s summer moviegoing season and combines film and TV, unspools June 20-23 in the Forte Village resort near Cagliari, capital of Sardegna (Sardinia in English). This year, the festival has upped its game making “a major effort to attract talents,” notes Tiziana Rocca, the marketing guru and former Taormina Film Festival chief who launched the Sardinia event seven years ago.

More than 70 international and italian titles comprising feature films, TV series, docs and shorts in a wide range of genres will be screening at the fest. Local premiers include Netflix’s Japanese anime film “The Imaginary” which will drop...

Prime Video has unveiled has unveiled its latest slate of Italian original shows and films at a Presents event in Rome, including a remake of No Activity.

The streamer’s glitzy event revealed three new original scripted shows, two unscripted series and six movies, along with a number of returning shows. Among the scripted series is Antonia, the comedy-drama from Groenlandia and Fidelio we told you about earlier this morning in Europe.

Joining Antonia is another Groenlandia series, Niente da Segnalare, which is based on the Australian drama format No Activity.

The six-episode series follows two criminals waiting for an important shipment, two cops on stakeout ready to trigger a raid and two dispatch operators ready to send reinforcements. When the shipment doesn’t arrive, everyone is forced into an exhausting wait.

Valerio Vestoso is the director and Laura Grimaldi,...

Psychological thriller acquired by Italian sales collective for world sales.

Italian sales collective Coccinelle Film Placement has taken on world sales of Austrian director Andrina Mracnikar’s psychological thriller Ma Folie.

The German-language feature stars Alice Dwyer and Sabin Tambrea as lovers Hanna and Yann whose relationship turns sour due to the insecurities of the latter.

Yann’s previously affectionate video love letters take on a menacing tone and Hanna wonders who she can trust, including herself.

It is the debut feature for Mracnikar, a former Berlinale Talent Campus alumni, after producing a number of shorts and documentaries.

Coccinelle will market premiere Ma Folie at the Efm. Austrian distributor Filmladen is due to release the film domestically in March.

Fledgling sales outfit Coccinelle was set up in 2013 by Rome-based industry veteran Francesca Breccia as a hub for freelance sales agents worldwide.

Breccia is at the Efm with Gaetano Maiorino and Jef Nuyts, who joined...

La Monaca (La Prigione di Bobbio)

Director: Marco Bellocchio

Writer: Marco Bellocchio

Producer: Simone Gattoni

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Ambra Angiolini, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Lidiya Liberman, Alberto Bellocchio

Bellocchio-ian themes of the church, the state and politics appear will likely all be sewn into a project that the Italian helmer has been trying to get off the ground for some time now and the reasoning for this is that after a glossed biopic-truth story of Bella addormentata, Marco Bellocchio is, according to Variety, working in “the free-flowing spirit” of Sorelle Mai (a rare experimental film in his filmography) and uses a mix of both professional and non-pro actors. In terms of incarcerated or held against their will female figures, look for La Monaca to be definitely be less-polished than Vincere.

Gist: Based on the true tale of a 17th century noblewoman forced to become a nun, but whose...

Along with the list of films playing in-competition, the Venice Film Festival has announced which films are playing out-of-competition this year. The movies include Ben Affleck’s The Town, Casey Affleck’s Joaquin Phoenix documentary I’m Still Here, Martin Scorsese’s Elia Kazan documentary A Letter to Elia, John Turturro’s Passione, Julie Taymor’s The Tempest as the closing night film, and Robert Rodriguez’ Machete as the opening night film. It’s an eclectic bunch of flicks and they’re just a small sampling of the movies playing out-of-competition. Hit the jump to check out the full list.

The 67th Venice Film Festival will run from September 1 – 11th.

Ben Affleck – The Town

USA, 120′

Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively

Casey Affleck – I’M Still Here

USA, 108′ (documentary)

Joaquin Phoenix

Marco Bellocchio – Sorelle Mai

Italy, 110′

Alba Rohrwacher, Donatella Finocchiaro, Elena Bellocchio, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio

Piergiorgio Gay...

ROME -- Two years after her Oscar nomination for "Don't Tell," Cristina Comencini has opted for humor rather than melodrama in examining modern problems in her native Italy. Black and White, her ninth film (and first since the death of her father, Luigi, a beacon of Italian cinema), is a social comedy being referred to as a kind of contemporary, Italian "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Italy is only now dealing with racial issues that have been present for decades in many other European countries (most notably, France and Great Britain) and beyond.

The film should strike a chord with self-declared progressives and liberals of all cultures, who should recognize that we have far to go in dismantling deeply rooted bigotry.

All married couple Elena (Ambra Angiolini) and Carlo (actor/writer/television personality Fabio Volo) have in common is the color of their skin (white) and their 6-year-old daughter. Elena comes from a wealthy family and is dedicated to her job at an African aid organization. Carlo comes from a more modest background and is a computer engineer sick and tired of campaigns against world hunger.

Then Carlo meets Nadine (Aissa Maiga of Bamako), the dissatisfied wife of one of Elena's colleagues (Eriq Ebouaney of Hitman). Their love at first sight wreaks havoc upon their marriages and, more importantly, brings to light a series of prejudices and cliches from the betrayed spouses. (Maiga and Ebouaney are originally from Senegal and Cameroon, respectively, and are respected actors in their adopted country, France.)

Defying political correctness, the film written by Comencini, Giulia Calenda and Maddalena Ravagli chooses not to focus on Italy's poorest (and most numerous) immigrants but on the underlying racism in wealthier, more progressive circles. Here the deepest cut comes not so much from betrayal but the color of one's rival -- in other words, not adultery but sexuality shared with the "other."

However, the writers don't seem to know where their characters' destinies are ultimately headed: Will tradition and cultural pressure win over desire? Thus, they have created a double ending that apparently was rewritten and re-shot several times. Although somewhat confused, the second ending drives home the point that disrupted lives can't be remade as easily as a hotel bed after a night of passion (a scene that serves as a spot-on metaphor in a film that otherwise relies too heavily on dialogue).

Rising screen star Angiolini (the singer-turned-actress of Saturno Contro) is given the most complex role in Elena, who, according to Nadine, feels a burden of guilt. Nadine presumes correctly: Elena grew up in a household with a black maid forced to wear a white apron. Yet Elena's legacy is that of an upper-class family to whom, as in the case of her womanizing father (Franco Branciaroli), loving Africa means collecting trophies, such as objects from endless safaris and in one instance a black lover.

The entire cast is strong and tight and the Italian spoken by French actors Maiga and Ebouaney is impressive indeed, yet it is Anna Bonaiuto who stands out for her temperament and comic timing. The veteran screen and stage star plays Elena's mother, Adua, herself a betrayed wife and a woman full of stereotypes. "They really do have rhythm in their blood," she says while watching Nadine's daughter dance.

And it would be nice to think that her name was no coincidence: the Battle of Adua in the 19th century was the harshest colonial defeat in Italian history.

BLACK AND WHITE

Cattleya, RAI Cinema

Credits:

Director: Cristina Comencini

Screenwriters: Cristina Comencini, Giulia Calenda, Maddalena Ravagli

Producers: Riccardo Tozzi, Giovanni Stabilini, Marco Chimenz

Director of photography: Fabio Cianchetti

Production designer: Paola Comencini

Costume designer: Antonella Berardi

Editor: Cecilia Zanuso

Cast:

Carlo: Fabio Volo

Elena: Ambra Angiolini

Nadine: Aissa Maiga

Bertrand: Eriq Ebouaney

Adua: Anna Bonaiuto

Alfonso: Franco Branciaroli

Olga: Katia Ricciarelli

Esmeralda: Teresa Saponangelo

Running time -- 102 minutes

No MPAA rating...

VENICE, Italy -- Emanuele Crialese's "Nuovomondo" was awarded the Diamanti al Cinema (Cinema Diamonds) for best film late Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, giving it the rare distinction of being honored in consecutive years at the fest.

The Diamanti al Cinema awards are voted on by moviegoers at more than 500 cinemas across Italy. More than 25,000 votes were collected this year, for which any film released for the 12-month period ending in March was eligible.

The honor for "Nuovomondo" came a year after it premiered in Venice and took home a special jury prize. Crialese, meanwhile, is back in Venice this year as a member of the main jury.

The most decorated film among the winners was Ferzan Ozpetek's "Saturno contro" (Saturn in Opposition). Ozpetek won the award for best director, and the film took home all the major acting awards: for best actor (Pierfrancesco Favino), actress (Margherita Buy), supporting actor (Luca Argentero) and supporting actress (Ambra Angiolini).

NEMI, Italy -- Italian actress Ambra Angiolini will host the opening night ceremony at the 64th annual Venice Film Festival, organizers said Friday.

Angiolini was one of the stars of Ferzan Ozepetek's "Saturno Contro" (Against Saturn), for which she won several local Italian awards for an actress in a non-leading role. The highlight of the opening night will be the world premiere of "Atonement" by Joe Wright.

The festival runs Aug. 29-Sept. 8.