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In 1983, Jim McBride attempted an English-language remake of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1959 cinema landmark, Breathless with Richard Gere. It broke one of Godard’s cardinal rules: It was in color. Although not as terrible an idea as Gus Van Sant’s disastrous shot-by-shot 1998 color remake of Hitchcock’s 1960 Psycho — which, like Godard’s forever-influential movie the year before, also broke all the rules of its genre — it is dismissed today with the original still finding new life with young audiences each generation, as France’s New Wave also continues to do.

With the truly wonderful Nouvelle Vague (New Wave), premiering today in Competition at Cannes (where else?), Richard Linklater smartly has not attempted a remake of Breathless but rather a certain regard and respect for the wildly creative cinematic period Godard and his contemporaries achieved with the French New Wave. A cinema revolutionary in spirit and deed himself — just watch his...

After releasing two films last year with Hit Man and the rather-overlooked God Save Texas: Hometown Prison, the ever-prolific Richard Linklater returns in 2025 with another pairing. Earlier this year he premiered Blue Moon at Berlinale. Ahead of that film’s October release, he’s at Cannes to premiere Nouvelle Vague, his tribute to the French New Wave and chronicle of the making of Breathless––all directed in the style of Jean-Luc Godard’s landmark debut. A first trailer has arrived for the feature (still seeking U.S. distribution) ahead of the premiere.

The cast includes Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard, Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Matthieu Penchinat as Raoul Coutard, Adrien Rouyard as François Truffaut, Antoine Besson as Claude Chabrol, Roxane Rivière as Agnès Varda, Jean-Jacques Le Vessier as Jean Cocteau, Côme Thieulin as Éric Rohmer, Laurent Mothe as Roberto Rossellini, Jonas Marmy as Jacques Rivette,...

Tarak Ben Ammar, the legendary producer and distributor, said his life may have turned out very differently if a Variety reporter named Hank Werba hadn’t written about his efforts to convince filmmakers to make their movies in Tunisia.

It was that decades-old article, in which Ben Ammar pitched the North African nation as “peaceful” and “inexpensive” place to make films, that caught the attention of George Lucas, who decided to shoot parts of “Star Wars” in the country.

“[Variety] believed in this young man that was selling nonsense and dreams,” Ben Ammar said, while accepting the International Achievement in Film Award at Variety‘s annual Welcome to Cannes Party, hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute.

Entertainment industry movers and shakers gathered at the Majestic Hotel, Salon Croisette to celebrate Ben Ammar’s many achievements and kick off the festival in style. Guests included Sony Pictures Classics...

Franco-Tunisian film and TV entrepreneur will be celebrated by Variety with its International Achievement in Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

An infallible dealmaker, resourceful problem-solver and filmmaker-friendly bon vivant, Ammar has played a pivotal, yet often behind-the-scenes role, in building cultural and cinematic bridges between Europe, the U.S. and the Arab world over the last 50 years.

Ammar, whose Eagle Pictures is currently Italy’s top independent film distributor and a growing production force, also owns France’s Studios de Paris, home of “Emily in Paris,” and is active in Saudi Arabia where he recently launched a film fund.

Ammar began his career in Italy and Tunisia in the late 1960s. He quickly became an ally to iconic filmmakers such as Roberto Rossellini, Georges Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Franco Zeffirelli. He opened the doors of Tunisia to the film world, helping build an industry there from scratch while...

An infallible dealmaker, resourceful problem-solver and filmmaker-friendly bon vivant, Tarak Ben Ammar has played a pivotal, yet often behind-the-scenes role, in building cultural and cinematic bridges between Europe, the U.S. and the Arab world in last 50 years.

The Franco-Tunisian producer and businessman, who runs Italy’s leading independent distribution company Eagle Pictures and one of the largest studios complexes in France, began as an outsider in the late 1960s. He quickly became an ally to iconic filmmakers such as Roberto Rossellini, Georges Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Franco Zeffirelli. He opened the doors of Tunisia to the film world, helping build an industry from scratch while facilitating the productions of such pics as “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Jesus of Nazareth” and “La Traviata,” among others.

As he ventured deeper into the entertainment industry, Ben Ammar became something of a “billionaire whisperer.” Some of the powerful (and sometimes divisive) figures he’s befriended,...

Pope Francis, who died at the age of 88 on Easter Monday, had a special relationship with cinema going back to his childhood in Buenos Aires.

“I owe my cinema culture above all to my parents who took us to the cinema a lot,” the pontiff said in a 2013 interview, a few months after his election as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the Argentinian capital in 1936 to parents with roots in northern Italy, Italian cinema figured highly in his early cinema-going.

In the same 2013 interview, Pope Francis named Federico Fellini’s 1954 Oscar-winning work La Strada, starring Giulietta Masina as fragile protagonist Gelsomina who is abused by brutish circus strongman Zampanò, played by Anthony Quinn, as the film he loved the most.

“I identify with that film, in which there is an implicit reference to Saint Francis,” said the pontiff referring to its themes of love...

Throughout its history, there has been a push-and-pull between the critical consensus on "Gilligan's Island" and its overwhelming popularity among audiences. Few step forward to defend the show's quality, with even its defenders agreeing that it is mostly childish, slapstick nonsense. Yet "Gilligan's Island" has remained popular for decades. It was a hit pretty early during its initial run in 1964, and was re-discovered time and again by several new generations, all thanks to years and years of reruns. 

The "Gilligan's Island" cast was startled by the popularity of the series, but seem to know why it was popular. In the mid-1960s, when America had just seen its president assassinated and a subsequent rise of civil rights battles, "Gilligan's Island" provided a frivolous, meaningless salve. On "Gilligan's Island," everything is silly, no one is hurt, and -- most importantly -- everyone gets along. 

It certainly didn't hurt that the cast were so appealing overall,...

Exclusive: Richard Linklater’s Cannes Competition-bound Nouvelle Vague, his homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s 1959 New Wave classic A Bout de Souffle (Breathless), has been boarded for international sales by Vincent Maraval’s Goodfellas.

The anticipated French-language film reconstructs the story behind Godard’s cinema classic and is a fitting addition this morning to the Cannes lineup.

Characters in the film are understood to include cinema legends Godard, Jean Cocteau, Robert Bresson, Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Pierre Melville, Eric Rohmer, Agnes Varda and Jacques Rivette.

French actor Guillaume Marbeck is portraying Jean-Luc Godard, Zoey Deutch plays Breathless star Jean Seberg and newcomer Aubry Dullin portrays Jean Paul Belmondo.

There are rumours the film is shot in black and white and in 4:3 ratio. Arp Selection produces and distributes in France. Screenwriters include Holly Gent, Vince Palmo, Michèle Halberstadt and Laetitia Masson.

Related: Cannes Competition: Aster, Trier, Dardennes, Reichardt, Ducournau & Wes Anderson Among Lineup...

After releasing two films last year with Hit Man and the rather-overlooked God Save Texas: Hometown Prison, the ever-prolific Richard Linklater returns in 2025 with two more features. Earlier this year he premiered Blue Moon at Berlinale. Now Sony Pictures Classics, in the official CinemaCon program guide, has confirmed a fall release window for the drama.

Described as “a funny Valentine to old Broadway,” here’s the synopsis: “On the evening of March 31, 1943, legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self-confidence in Sardi’s bar as his former collaborator Richard Rodgers celebrates the opening night of his ground-breaking hit musical Oklahoma!“

Meanwhile, Linklater looks to have locked his next feature Nouvelle Vague, his tribute to the French New Wave and chronicle of the making of Breathless, directed in the style of Jean-Luc Godard’s landmark debut. While it’s still seeking U.S. distribution, French distributor Arp Sélection has confirmed an...

Legendary actress Jacqueline Bisset, actor/director Jack Huston and songwriter Diane Warren, who is heading into the Oscars on March 2 as an Oscar nominee for the 16th time, will be guests of honor at the opening ceremony of the 20th Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Festival on Sunday, Feb. 23, fest organizers announced on Saturday.

The ceremony, which will take place at the Tcl Chinese Theatres in Hollywood, will also celebrate Sergio Castellitto, to whom the fest will also be dedicating a retrospective; Pupi Avati and Antonio Avati; and Marco Belardi. It will be followed by a special screening of Roberto Rossellini’s 1954 film Journey to Italy, starring Ingrid Bergman, in honor of Rossellini and Bergman’s daughter Isabella Rossellini, who, for her supporting performance in Conclave, is nominated for an Oscar for the first time.

The rest of the fest will include more than 120 screenings — among them 30 U.

The work of irreverent, boundary-breaking Romanian director Radu Jude has not traditionally lent itself to easy explanations. It might have been possible to describe his newest film, “Kontinental ‘25,” without making mention of his overt influence, Roberto Rossellini’s “Europe ’51,” until the poster appears in the background of an extended shot at a movie theater bar.

But since Jude insists on making the parallel explicit, it’s worth setting the stage with what the neorealist classic inspired in this story.

Continue reading ‘Kontinental ‘25’ Review: Romanian Iconoclast Radu Jude Sands Down His Edge [Berlin] at The Playlist.

A bailiff has an identity crisis after a tragedy in Radu Jude’s new film, a scornful polemic on 21st-century Europe set between hope and despair

Once again, Romanian film-maker Radu Jude has given us a garrulous, querulous movie of ideas – a scattershot fusillade of scorn. It is satirical, polemical, infuriated at the greedy and reactionary mediocrities in charge in his native land and wobbling on an unstable cusp between hope and despair. Like his previous film Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (whose lead actor Ilinca Manolache appears briefly in cameo here), Jude takes aim at bad faith and bad taste and takes us on what is almost a kind of architectural tour of Romanian malaise – this time in Cluj – in which he shows us the racism, nationalism, and a pointless obsession in the country’s governing classes with real estate and property development...

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." An early festival trailer has debuted for the new film from acclaimed, eccentric, provocative Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude which is titled Kontinental '25. The film is premiering tomorrow at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival (aka Berlinale) as part of the Main Competition section. The poster (also seen below) is a riff on the original poster for a film titled Europe '51 (aka Europa '51) directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman. Kontinental '25 is described as a "twisted take on Rosellini's Europe '51" - which was about a wealthy woman who becomes obsessed with humanitarianism when her young son dies from suicide. In Radu Jude's new take, Eszter Tompa stars as Orsolya, who is a a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day she must evict a homeless man who lives in the basement of a building.

Sales activity at the Berlin Film Festival and European Film Market revved up on Saturday as Sony Pictures Classics struck a deal for North American rights to Rebecca Zlotowski’s murder mystery “Vie Privée,” starring Jodie Foster.

Variety‘s Elsa Keslassy had the scoop on SPC’s deal for the film, which also covers key territories in Latin America. “Shot in Paris and Normandy, ‘Vie Privée’ is currently in post-production and will likely world premiere in the festival circuit,” Keslassy writes.

Foster, who speaks fluent French, stars in the film as renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, who mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients after she becomes convinced that there has been a murder. Foster last starred in a French-language film 20 years ago in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Oscar-nominated “A Very Long Engagement.” Zlotowski ranks as one of France’s top filmmakers. “Vie Privée” marks her first deal with Sony Pictures Classics.

Four years after winning the Golden Bear for his irreverent satire “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” Romanian auteur Radu Jude returns to the Berlinale with his latest feature, “Kontinental ’25,” which premieres Feb. 19 in the festival’s main competition.

The film follows a bailiff, Orsolya (Eszter Tompa), who’s plunged into a moral crisis after a homeless man she’s trying to evict commits suicide. Struggling with a profound sense of guilt, she looks for ways to ease her troubled conscience, even as she grows increasingly desperate for external reassurance and validation.

Easier said than done. As you might expect from one of world cinema’s leading provocateurs, Orsolya’s round-about search for redemption detours toward Jude’s larger concerns, taking in (but hardly limited to) moral relativism, post-socialist economics, nationalism and the Romanian housing crisis. Where these subjects converge — and how a simple Everywoman like Orsolya responds to...

The role that Italy has played in film history is significant with Neorealist greats such as Roberto Rossellini or stylized auteurs like Federico Fellini shaping a view on the world that is both fantastical and honest. In modern Italian cinema, the most significant voice that has the same priority of both style and substance is the underrated, yet internationally recognized Italian director, Paolo Sorrentino. His filmography, as diverse and far reaching as it is, remains one of the best modern cinematic styles in both visual and thematic terms. Visual feasts and introspective looks into loss, aging, and beauty in his spiritually grounded world of cinema make him a modern day film auteur worth looking into. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values...

Coming after a major 2024 with the U.S. release of his blistering satire Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (which nabbed a spot in our top 10) and the premiere of a pair of smaller-scale, experimental films, Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude is gearing up for quite a 2025. His forthcoming Dracula film will arrive before year’s end, but first Kontinental ’25 will make its world premiere in competition at the 2025 Berlinale. The film, debuting next Wednesday, starts with a sheriff’s bailey making a disastrous attempt to evict an old man from an abandoned building and follows her through an exploration of what it means to be both a Romanian and a European in 2025. Ahead of the premiere, we’re delighted to exclusively premiere the first poster.

Radu Jude tells us of the poster design, “We consider the poster to be a part of the mise-en-scene of the film,...

In 1986, one of cinema's most fiercely original auteurs released a film that scandalized the public. At the heart of his dark dissection of the American soul was a stunning performance by an Italian actress who would become an international icon. Isabella Rossellini bore the brunt of the backlash against David Lynch's Blue Velvet, but her Oscar nomination for Conclave is a long-overdue acknowledgment of her extraordinary abilities.

Isabella Rossellini is a true Renaissance woman. The scholarly farmer, filmmaker, and model is most famous for her genre-spanning acting career — which was nearly nipped in the bud by the movie for which she is best known today. Blue Velvet shocked contemporary audiences who were unprepared for its frank portrayal of sexual trauma, but today it is regarded as one of the great American independent masterworks, largely due to Isabella Rossellini's unapologetic creation of an unforgettable character.

Blue Velvet Was Reviled Upon Release,...

Isabella Rossellini has been a prominent actress, model, writer, and director for nearly 50 years. Recently, Rossellini earned her first Academy Award nomination for her supporting performance in the religious political thrillerConclave. The awards season buzz surrounding Rossellini has led to a renewed interest in her career. Rossellini was born from cinema royalty, the child of Italian neorealism pioneer Roberto Rossellini and iconic Swedish/Hollywood Golden Era star Ingrid Bergman.

In 1976, Rossellini appeared in her first motion picture with a supporting role opposite her mother in Vincente Minnelli's musical fantasy A Matter of Time. A few years later, Rossellini began modeling, appearing in high-profile magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. Rossellini eventually became the exclusive spokesmodel for the French perfume and cosmetics house Lancôme. Her big acting break came via David Lynch's highly controversial neo-noir Blue Velvet, which helped turn Rossellini into a major movie star.

Illustrations by Michelle Perez.The inner life of man is constituted by the fact that man relates himself to his species, to his mode of being. […] He can put himself in the place of another precisely because his species, his essential mode of being—not only his individuality—is an object of thought to him. —Ludwig FeuerbachThere are only individuals. —Friedrich NietzscheThe idea of the individual haunts much of the writing on Vittorio De Sica’s films. No other critic has played a greater role in shaping how we speak about them than André Bazin, who remarked that De Sica’s postwar masterpiece Bicycle Thieves (1948) allowed its actors “first of all to exist for their own sakes, freely … loving them in their singular individuality.”1 This line has cast a long shadow over the perception of De Sica’s neorealist work and the manner in which it is mythologized. Typically described,...

Playing a traumatized nightclub singer made her a star, but to finally win over the Academy, Isabella Rossellini had to play a nosy nun.

Rossellini received her first-ever Oscar nomination on Thursday, scoring a nomination in the best supporting actress category for her role as Sister Agnes in Edward Berger’s Vatican-set thriller Conclave. Her competition includes Ariana Grande for Wicked, Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez.

Both of Rossellini’s parents were Oscar nominees — her mother Ingrid Bergman was nominated an astounding 7 times, winning best actress 3 times, while father Roberto Rossellini received a screenwriting nom in 1950 — but it took this nepo-baby nearly 40 years to translate her overnight success into Academy acclaim.

Rossellini’s iconic role as tortured crooner Dorothy Vallens in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) won her an Independent Spirit Award for best female lead but the...

The 2025 Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday and while some vets like Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) and Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) have been around the block before, many others heard their names called for the very first time.

Among those Oscar newbies is Best Actress contender Demi Moore (The Substance), whose career spans more than 40 years but who, as she noted in her Golden Globe acceptance speech, was dismissed as a “popcorn actress” by a producer. It’s surprising that Guy Pearce (The Brutalist) never earned an Oscar nom before now; his past roles include Oscar-winning films like L.A. Confidential (1997), The Hurt Locker (2009), and The King’s Speech (2010), but he finally got on the board in this year’s Best Supporting Actor race. Hollywood royalty Isabella Rossellini (Conclave), the daughter of Oscar nominee Roberto Rossellini and Oscar winner Ingrid Bergman, finally scored a nom of her own in Best Supporting Actress.

After a four-decade career in films, Isabella Rossellini scored her first Oscar nomination on Thursday for her supporting role as a Vatican nun in “Conclave.”

The nomination places Rossellini in the Academy history books. She is the daughter of three-time Oscar-winning actress Ingrid Bergman. Her father, the Italian neorealist filmmaking legend Roberto Rossellini was also nominated once, in 1950 for his screenplay for “Paisan.”

Swedish acting legend Bergman is often cited as one of the greatest screen icons of all time, famed for her roles in “Casablanca,” “The Bells of St. Marys” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious.” She was a seven-time nominee who won three Oscars: two for Best Actress (“Gaslight” and “Anastasia”) and one for Best Supporting Actress (“Murder on the Orient Express”).

Rossellini’s nomination this year, in fact, comes on the 50th anniversary of her mother’s win for “Orient Express,” an all-star mystery film in which Bergman...

Many in Hollywood have been critical of AI-created work, but “Raging Bull” and “Taxi Driver” screenwriter Paul Schrader is not on that list. The screenwriter and director took to Facebook to praise the technology, specifically ChatGPT.

“I’M Stunned,” Schrader wrote last Friday. During his post, he noted he asked ChatGPT for “an idea for Paul Schrader film.” He then repeated the request for Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Harmony Korine, Ingmar Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Fritz Lang, Martin Scorsese, F.W. Murnau, Frank Capra, John Ford, Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.

“Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out,” Schrader wrote. “Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”

The “American Gigolo” director’s post was met with criticism on his Facebook account. “You should try not using ai. Might work out for you,...

Paris-based Luxbox has acquired Romanian writer-director Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25,about a woman’s attempts tosootheher conscience when a homeless man she was attempting to evict commits suicide.

It will world premiere in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival next month.

The film, whose title is inspired by Roberto Rossellini’s Europe ’51, isproduced by Romania’s Saga Film with Brazil’s Rt Features, Switzerland’s Bord Cadre films, the UK’s Sovereign Films, and Luxembourg’s Paul Thiltges Distributions.

Luxbox, fresh off a strong festival and awards season run for Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light,...

Isabella Rossellini, who appeared in two of David Lynch's feature films and was romantically involved with the filmmaker for about five years, posted a tribute to Lynch on her Instagram account. The Conclave actress posted a photo of herself with Lynch with the simple caption, "I loved him so much. Thanks for all your kind messages."

Rossellini only had a handful of credits to her name before being cast in Blue Velvet, Lynch's 1986 nightmare of small town America. Rossellini plays Dorothy Vallens, a nightclub singer under the violent and sexually perverse sway of a local criminal (Dennis Hopper). The role was a difficult one to play for any actor, but Rossellini handled it beautifully and made a name for herself in Hollywood.

The story goes, when Lynch first met Rossellini while in pre-production for the film, he commented that she could be Ingrid Bergman's daughter, unaware that she...

Isabella Rossellini has paid tribute to David Lynch — whose death was announced yesterday — with a post on Instagram.

Rossellini shared an image of the pair embracing. The caption read: “I loved him so much. Thanks for all your kind messages.”

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A post shared by Isabella Rossellini (@isabellarossellini)

Rossellini, the daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, got her start as a performer in Lynch’s 1986 thriller Blue Velvet. After Blue Velvet, Rossellini and Lynch briefly entered into a relationship, and in 2019, the actress presented Lynch with his honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards alongside Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern.

Lynch’s family posted news of his death on social media yesterday. The filmmaker was 78. Lynch had been diagnosed with emphysema. Sources told Deadline that he was forced to relocate from his house due to the Sunset Fire and then took a turn for the worse.

A photo of an Oscar statue that appeared to be burned in the Los Angeles fires went viral on social media this past week, but it was actually generated by AI.

Conclave actress Isabella Rossellini shared the image on her Instagram account this weekend.

She wrote, “In my previous post listing all my nominations for film Conclave I couldn’t find any things to say that seemed appropriate. Of course I am super grateful and proud but anything to do with Hollywood and Los Angeles brings only tears to my eyes thinking of all friends and colleagues who are living the tragic fires. I spoke to my brother Roberto about it and he sent me this heartbreaking photo he found.”

Isabella‘s mother Ingrid Bergman was a three-time Oscar-winning actress and her father Roberto Rossellini was an Oscar-nominated filmmaker.

Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that the image was made by Google AI.

There are a few films that have spotlighted women's contributions during World War II, the largest and most storied armed conflict in history. The mid-20th century had some notable movies placing women at the center of the chaos that fed their dramas, including Roberto Rossellini's landmark picture Rome, Open City, which starred Anna Magnani as Pina, a resistance revolutionary woman whose violent death was felt around the world. Edward Buzzell’s Keep Your Powder Dry, headlined by the glamorous Lana Turner in 1945, improves this representation with its three female leads, who turn up to fight for their country in the Women's Army Corps. Though it's Tyler Perry's latest picture, The Six Triple Eight, that betters Buzzell's film, by not only exploring the story of the Women's Army Corps but also gracing the big screen with a forgotten page of voluminous nonfiction World War II tales. The film features an enviable ensemble cast,...

At a spry 72 years young, Isabella Rossellini is having a moment. And an impressive one considering her remarkable life so far. The daughter of famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini and legendary actress Ingrid Bergman, the Italian-born artist was at one time a news reporter, a model for some of the greatest fashion photographers of the 20th Century, and an actress starring in unforgettable films such as David Lynch’s “Wild at Heart,” Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her,” the 90s classic “Big Night,” and Peter Weir’s “Fearless.” Now, she may be on the verge of her first Oscar nomination for her role as Sister Agnes in Edward Berger’s “Conclave.”

Read More: Ralph Fiennes isn’t distracted by Oscar Buzz for ‘Conclave,’ just doing “Good Work”

The most prominent nun during a somewhat tense papal election, Sister Agnes may often be quiet among the boisterous cardinals, but as she notes,...

Indiana Production plans to bring the fascinating life of Italian cinema legend Anna Magnani to the big screen, promising a candid look at one of the twentieth century’s most pioneering actresses.

The new film, “Anna,” will focus on Magnani’s revolutionary career in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It is directed by Alessio Cremonini and co-written by Cremonini and Magnani’s granddaughter, Olivia Magnani. The project seeks to convey the essence of an artist who transformed female representation in film.

Magnani’s cinematic voyage was memorable. She became international prominence with memorable parts in Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City.” She later won an Oscar for “The Rose Tattoo.” Her work with director Pier Paolo Pasolini on “Mamma Roma” solidified her image as a bold actor.

“Anna Magnani was not just an actress but a force of nature who rewrote the rules of cinema,” she said. He intends...

Exclusive: A biopic devoted to legendary Italian Rome, Open City and The Rose Tattoo actress Anna Magnani is in development at Indiana Production, the Milan and Rome-based company behind Netflix’s upcoming period drama The Leopard.

Entitled Anna, the production will be directed by Alessio Cremonini (On My Skin), who is also co-writing the screenplay with actress Olivia Magnani, grand-daughter of the late actress and daughter of her only son Luca Magnani.

The feature will focus on Magnani in a pivotal period of her life between the late 1950s and early 1960s, when the actress’s son was coming of age and she was embracing a new role as a mother in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1962 drama Mamma Roma.

Filming for Anna is scheduled to begin in 2025, with casting in the early stages for the role of Magnani and the many other famous figures from Italy’s film and artistic...

“I’ve been here before, but I’m really happy to be back,” said French actress Isabelle Huppert as she basked in the glow of all the neatly stacked cinema surrounding her.

A frequent visitor to the Criterion Closet, Huppert wasted no time in making her selections, starting with Barbara Loden’s “Wanda,” which tells the story of a female Rust Belt wanderer turned bank robber trying to survive the aimlessness put upon her by the world she inhabits.

“Here is ‘Wanda.’ A good friend of mine,” Huppert said, kissing the character on the cover. “I like this woman. She’s great. Barbara Loden.I like the way she comes to the court with bigoudis.”

For those non-Francophiles, translation: curlers. Huppert followed this choice with a set of films from Italian neo-realist Roberto Rossellini that includes “Stromboli,” “Europe ’51,” and “Journey to Italy.” In reflecting on Rossellini’s relationship to wife and collaborator Ingrid Bergman,...

Model, actor and animal behaviorist Isabella Rossellini has no regrets. At the golden age of 72, the child of actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini has learned her fair share of lessons during her five decades-long career. Now, in Edward Berger’s papal whodunnit Conclave, Rossellini transfers that resilience to Sister Agnes, a primarily silent yet intimidating nun tasked with caring for the cardinals as they meet to elect a new Pope after the former one dies under mysterious circumstances. As the candidates, marshaled by Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), backstab and clandestinely strategize, Sister Agnes holds crucial information.

Deadline: You’ve had so many varied roles in your long career. What made you want to be a part of this one?

Isabella Rossellini: The script was a page-turner. I read it several times, especially the ending. It is a very surprising ending that I found very moving because...

In her nearly 50-year film career, Isabella Rossellini has played everything from a tortured nightclub singer to Beethoven’s lover to a mysteriously young 71-year-old doctor. Most recently, Rossellini received acclaim for her role as a nun in “Conclave,” and so it’s the perfect time to take a look back at her life and eclectic film career. Scroll through our photo gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see the 10 best Isabella Rossellini movies, ranked.

Rossellini and her twin sister Isotta were born in Rome on June 18, 1952, to Golden Era legend Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. As a child, Rossellini underwent 18 months of grueling procedures to correct scoliosis. In 1976, she made her film debut with a small role as a nun caring for a dying countess played by her mother in the Vincente Minnelli fantasy film “A Matter of Time.” However, it was a few...

Despite a career with varying celebrated roles, Isabella Rossellini has never received an Academy Award nomination. This year, fans and critics alike are hoping that changes with her latest film, “Conclave.”

At the Middleburg Film Festival, the iconic actress graced the grounds of the Salamander Resort to promote “Conclave,” directed by Edward Berger. Interviewed there for the Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Rossellini gave astounding insights into her iconic career, discussed her latest role, and reflected on the intricate dance between artistic expression and the commercial pressures that define the film industry. Listen below.

In “Conclave,” Rossellini plays Sister Agnes, a nun who subtly navigates the power dynamics within the Catholic Church while selecting a new Pope. The role allowed Rossellini to embody subservience and authority through a reserved yet respectful demeanor. She described infusing Sister Agnes with “authority through silence and modesty,” capturing the tension between reverence and influence many women experience within patriarchal institutions.

The Vatican-set mystery “Conclave” opened in theaters today, but one single shot has been the talk of moviegoers all season on the film festival circuit. Late in the film, we see dozens of Catholic cardinals, all dressed in white and red, filmed from overhead and at a distance, marching forward in the rain. Their faces are obscured underneath stark white umbrellas, which bob along in the frame.

No plot spoilers here, except to say that the shot is emblematic of the high drama and arch formality in the film, which is essential to understanding the story. Based on a novel by Robert Harris (“The Ghost Writer”), the film is about a weary cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) organizing the election of a new pope. It marks the follow-up project for director Edward Berger, an Oscar-winner for 2022’s “All Quiet on the Western Front.”

And according to the cinematographer of “Conclave,” this particular...

Readers who regularly follow Gold Derby’s Oscar predictions may have noticed a movie quietly working its way up the ranks in various categories. That movie is “Conclave,” an adaptation of Robert Harris‘s best-selling 2016 novel, which was released nationwide by Focus Features on Friday, October 25. So now seems like a good time to look at which categories “Conclave” can thrive in.

Directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front“), the movie follows Ralph Fiennes‘s Cardinal Lawrence, who has taken on the less than envious task of running the elections to select a new pope after the previous pontiff dies suddenly. Many cardinals are in the running, and some even want Lawrence to take on that lofty role, until someone lurking in the shadows begins revealing dirt on the candidates.

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The great actress Isabella Rossellini was the face of Lancôme beauty for more than a decade beginning in the early 1980s, but strangely, if you look back, rarely is she the lead in any of her iconic films.

Sometimes a shadow, sometimes on the periphery, a Rossellini character is nonetheless always knowing, from tragic lounge singer Dorothy Vallens in her then-partner David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” to ethereal beauty whisperer Lisle Von Rhuman in Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her” and a wealthy Italian widow who dates below her station in David O. Russell’s “Joy.”

In Edward Berger’s papal potboiler “Conclave,” Rossellini has fewer lines than ever — and probably they could fit on one page — as Sister Agnes. Here is a glowering nun who has seen some shit. In the case of Berger’s English-language follow-up to Oscar-winning heavy-hitter “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Agnes is the eyes...

Anastasia.François Truffaut saved his most pointed barb for last. Ending a short review in 1957 with a kiss-off, the notoriously venomous critic urges: “Anatole Litvak despises you; despise him back.”1 He was writing about Anastasia (1956), “a most mediocre film which has for its theme a historical enigma, one of the stupidest and emptiest subjects in a category that never fails to fill the theaters.” Anastasia certainly filled the Jolly Cinema in Bologna this June, the opening night film in Il Cinema Ritrovato’s centerpiece retrospective on the Ukrainian filmmaker, himself something of a historical enigma.The selection made for a curious introduction to the first major showcase for a director billed in the festival’s program preview as “an unjustly overlooked master…[who] made some of the most riveting and innovative films in the history of cinema.” It’s on such approbative epistles that flights are hastily booked, festival passes acquired,...

A present-tense record of nation-splitting turmoil, Patricio Guzmán’s monumental documentary The Battle of Chile remains a landmark of activist cinema. Chronicling the events leading to the overthrow of Salvador Allende’s democratically elected socialist regime by a conservative military coup, it offers a staggering blend of history and narrative.

“The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie,” the first of the film’s three parts, opens in the excitement of the 1970 election and closes in terror, as the street clashes between workers, students, and soldiers yield to bullets. Violence intensifies in the second part (“The Coup d’Etat”) as Allende’s government is besieged by business-controlled strikes and finally taken down by the Nixon/Kissinger-backed 1973 junta that placed Augusto Pinochet in power.

Edited from bits of often risky coverage taken during the period, the first two parts have the force of an early Roberto Rossellini picture. Attuned to the active political engagement of the Chilean people,...

Yang Suiyi’s Karst won best film in the Fei Mu Awards for up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival, while Swiss director Ramon Zurcher’s The Sparrow In The Chimney won best film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards for emerging international directors.

The Fei Mu jury praised Karst, about a woman reconnecting with her childhood in Guizhou Province, for “the great fullness, simplicity, subtlety and portrait of a region and a woman.” The award came with a $143,000 (RMB1m) cash prize, half of which is given to the film’s director to develop their next film, and half to the film’s Chinese distributor. Chinese actor Duan Yihong partly sponsored the award.

Also in the Fei Mu awards, Tang Yongkang won best director for Stars And The Moon, while Xu Lei’s Green Wave won the Jury Award and best actor for Xu Chaoying. Best...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Between the Temples (Nathan Silver)

In a state of arrested development after his wife unexpectedly died from a freak accident, Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is suicidal, pleading to a truck to just run him over and begging that he be fired from his job as cantor at the local Jewish temple in upstate New York. While this set-up may not scream comedy, Between the Temples is in fact hilarious, packed with endless jokes and adoration for physical gags while we witness Ben find new meaning in life through an unexpected acquaintance. Above all, Nathan Silver’s feature, from a script he co-wrote with C. Mason Wells,is a thrillingly alive, nimble piece of filmmaking: shot on 16mm by Sean Price Williams with...

Isabella Rossellini will be honoured during the upcoming European Film Awards with a career award celebrating her body of work as an actor and filmmaker.

The Italian model and movie star, who is the daughter of Swedish actor Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, made her acting debut in 1979 in the Taviani brothers’ film “Il Prato” before breaking out internationally in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” in 1986, followed by prominent roles in films such as Taylor Hackford’s “White Nights,” Robert Zemeckis’s “Death Becomes Her,” and Peter Weir’s “Fearless,” to name a few.

Rossellini, who is 72, has more recently resurfaced as a standout character actress, with meaty parts in Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” alongside Josh O’ Connor, “Spaceman” with Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan, and Edward Berger’s soon-to-be-released “Conclave” in which she plays a scene-stealing nun.

A longtime resident of Long Island, where she lives on a farm,...

Italian actress Isabella Rossellini will receive the European Achievement in World Cinema award, a lifetime achievement honor, at this year’s European Film Awards.

The Italian-American star, daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, was a successful fashion model — famously for French cosmetics brand Lancôme — before shifting into acting. Her first leading role came in the Taviani brothers’ drama The Meadow (1979), but her international breakout was David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) in which she played the mysterious and tortured nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens. The performance, in which Rossellini also sang the film’s titular tune, won her the Independent Spirit Award for best female lead.

Over the next four decades, Rossellini carved out a unique career in cinema, moving between big-budget features — Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her (1992), Peter Weir’s Fearless (1993) — and independent auteur films, working with Peter Greenaway (2003’s The Tulse Luper Suitcases), Guy...

Establishing her position in Hollywood as the reigning queen of the dark, following her appearance in the Wednesday TV series, Jenna Ortega became one of the most defining faces in Hollywood. Thereafter, appearing in the Scream franchise and even making her way into Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Ortega catapulted her stardom among the younger generation.

Jenna Ortega in Wednesday (2022) | image: Netflix

However, in a surprising twist, despite Jenna Ortega’s success in the realm of horror and thriller, which has defined her career graph, the actress revealed a surprising choice for her dream role. After carving a distinct niche for herself with captivating performances in contemporary television and film, Ortega expressed her desire to embody the historical figure that echoed the career trajectory of the legendary Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman.

Jenna Ortega Aspires to Portray the Complex Historical Figure, Joan of Arc

Known for her compelling portrayal of Wednesday...

The 2024 Venice Film Festival is a good time for a discussion of hot entertainment industry topics between sector players and experts with THR Roma.

So, the Venice festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera, Eagle Pictures owner Tarak Ben Ammar and Lucky Red founder Andrea Occhipinti sat down with me to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence, the predominance of Netflix and the prospects of a lengthy crisis for Hollywood.

“It is quite clear that AI will change the rules of film production,” argued Barbera. “It is an extremely innovative tool, and it could be very useful to improve the way we write, shoot and post-produce a film, but there are a lot of concerns. The screenwriters are worried, the actors are worried about being replaced by AI, and I think that their concerns are valid.”

Ben Ammar said that writers and directors will remain invaluable and cannot be easily replaced.

Italy’s Leone Film Group is taking the legacy of its founder, spaghetti Western master Sergio Leone, to the next level.

As the Rome-based company run by the maestro’s children, Raffaella and Andrea, celebrates its 35th anniversary, it continues to consolidate its standing as the preeminent supplier of U.S. indie product to Italy. The Leone’s film and TV production side has been recently growing with a robust slate of high-end content for the international market.

Having become the top distribution partner in Italy for U.S. indies such as Lionsgate, STX Entertainment, Voltage and Black Bear, the Leone Film Group is now focused on what Raffaella Leone calls the “more difficult task” of “laying the groundwork for our production side in the international arena.”

The group’s Lotus Production label, which is now run directly by Raffaella, has a slew of projects in various stages, with new films by James Gray,...

In the history of American movies, and, arguably, of movies in general, there has never been a partnership between a husband and wife as consequential as that of director John Cassavetes and actress Gena Rowlands.

Not only did the two make several masterpieces together, among them Faces, A Woman Under the Influence and Opening Night. They managed to create a whole body of deeply personal features — shot completely outside of the studio system and often inside their own family home in the Hollywood Hills — that would usher in the era of what we now call “independent film.”

Surely, there had been some memorable director-actress duos before them, mostly in Europe: Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina, Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina, Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti. But in those cases, which definitely yielded their share of masterpieces as well, the director was the auteur and the actress his muse.

The Spaghetti Western genre arose in Italy during the 1960s, exploring moral complexities and featuring European directors. The term "Spaghetti Western" stemmed from the fact that most of these low-budget, gritty, and violent Westerns were produced in Italy. Spaghetti Westerns, marked by antiheroes and graphic violence, became a dominant film style in Italy and around the globe, influencing modern filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino.

Regarding film, genres don't come much more versatile than the Western. Sure, it's not quite as popular as it once was in its heyday, but the genre has captivated millions of fans with stories of cowboys, outlaws, and all-around renegades trying to survive the American frontier. So much so that most filmgoers and movie fans have heard the phrase "Spaghetti Western" before, even if they don't exactly know what it means.

The 1960s saw the rise of what became known as the Spaghetti Western. Carrying on the...