Photo: Fabio Lovino/HBO She became an international overnight sensation for her role in the HBO hit series “The White Lotus,” but she’s no stranger to Italian moviegoers. Born in Naples in 1994, Simona Tabasco started acting when she was just 8 years old. Her craft is second nature to her now, but acting didn’t always come easily. In an interview with Forbes, she explained, “The spark that started my acting career didn’t happen right away when I started acting, but it broke out during the last 10 years.” Her first feature film role came around that time in Edoardo De Angelis’ 2014 cri ..read more

A recently recovered film treasure will make its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival next week.  “Pier Paolo Pasolini – Agnès Varda – New York – 1967” is a short documentary shot with 16 mm color film by the French director Agnès Varda in New York City. The two were in town for the 4th edition of the New York Film Festival. The footage shows Pasolini walking around Times Square narrated by a Q&A voiceover between the two discussing filmmaking, Christianity and life.    The clarity is stunning for a film made more than 50 years ago. The footage was discove ..read more

Calabrese actor and musician Fortunato Verduci has a new project; an enchanting music video celebrating the land he loves so much. Set at the Castle of Santo Niceto, an 11th-century Byzantine castle situated on a hilltop in Motta San Giovanni in the province of Reggio Calabria, Verduci and model Maryame Jafire recite a tale of love to the organetto-inspired song, “l'amuri effectu.” Directed by photographer and video editor Vincenzo Sanci, the song is performed by musicians Giuseppe Lucà, who is also a manufacturer of traditional Calabrian instruments, and Antonio Nicolò, a renowned expert in ..read more

Tommaso Ragno in a scene from "Nostalgia" A seasoned character actor, his performances reflect the diversity and intensity of his stage training as well as his knack for comic timing. Born in 1967 in the region of Puglia, Tommaso Ragno grew up in the north of Italy and studied acting at the Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Arts in Milan. In 1988, he appeared in his first stage production, which was directed by Mario Martone, a filmmaker who would have a huge impact on his work.    Ragno continued perfecting his craft, building a distinguished career as a theater actor for a d ..read more

With a passion for telling stories about women, and a talent for creating compelling dramas, she has created unique works that resonate with audiences worldwide. Born in 1981 in Rome, Elisa Amoruso studied Performing Arts at the city’s La Sapienza University, and went on to further her studies in screenwriting at Rome’s famed Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.   She began her filmmaking career with short narratives and documentaries that were met with much success and prestigious awards including the David Donatello and Nastro d’Argento from the Italian Journalists Association.  ..read more

Lincoln Center described Pietro Marcello as “quietly redefining contemporary Italian cinema.” While the filmmaker says that the neorealist masterpieces of Vittorio De Sica have moved him to tears, he has charted a dramatically different course while drawing deeply from those cinematic roots. Born in 1976 in Caserta, Italy, Marcello attended Naples’ renowned Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied painting. Finding himself drawn to storytelling, he launched the radio program “Il tempo dei Magliari” and began experimenting with documentaries. “Carta” and “Scampia” were among his first short fil ..read more

One of Italy’s most adored comedy actresses, she is best known for her doomed love affairs in Lina Wertmüller’s 1970s films on social class and politics. Mariangela Melato was born in Milan in 1941 to a Milanese mother and a German father who emigrated to Italy from Nazi Germany. When she was a teenager, she studied acting under Esperia Sperani, a fellow Milanese who rose to fame during the silent film era.   Melato began her acting career with small parts in television and film, but her breakout role came in Wertmüller’s 1972 “The Seduction of Mimi.” The story of a Sicilian worker curse ..read more

Photo by Georges Biard The daughter of two cinema icons, she’s led an extraordinary life as a model, actress, voice-over artist, writer, director and now organic farmer. Isabella Rossellini was born in 1952 to Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. She has a twin sister named after her mother and an older brother, Robertino Ingmar, whom she often joins in retrospectives celebrating their legendary parents.  When she talks about her childhood, she does so with a wistful nostalgia. She fondly recalls time spent with them while acknowledging the ..read more

I recently attended a symposium on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s stunning exhibit – Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color. The speakers, presentations, and history discussed made the symposium so captivating. Then seeing the works up close really completed the whole experience. The exhibit featured reconstructions of ancient sculptures painted in vibrant colors as they were created 2,000+ years ago. Although sculptures created during the Renaissance were monochromatic and true to how we see them today, it’s important to keep in mind when walking through a museum browsing ancient sculptures t ..read more

Whether she’s playing a devoted mother, a biblical figure or a tough but kind hotel manager, Sabrina Impacciatore escapes into the lives and minds of her characters so completely that she often believes she has become them. Impacciatore had wanted to be an actor since she was just 4 years old, but she grew up insecure about her looks and abilities so she pursued a degree in marketing and advertising instead. Unable to shake her childhood dream, she took up acting as a hobby, which led her to write for television. When she presented one of her scripts, she was asked to audition for it. Setting ..read more