Marina Cicogna, a film producer and one of the first women to establish herself in the traditionally male cinema environment in Italy, died Saturday in Rome. She was 89.
Cicogna produced several important Italian films, including Metti, una Sera a Cena by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) by Elio Petri, with the latter winning the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1971. The New York Times called her “one of the most powerful women in European cinema.”
Her extraordinary experience and career were recounted in 2021 in the documentary film Marina Cicogna. Life and Everything Else by Andrea Bettinetti and in her autobiography, Ancora Spero, released this year by Marsilio Publishing.
Cicogna died with Benedetta Gardona, her companion of more than 30 years, by her side.
Ahead of receiving the 2023 David Award for Lifetime Achievement this year, Cicogna...
Cicogna produced several important Italian films, including Metti, una Sera a Cena by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) by Elio Petri, with the latter winning the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1971. The New York Times called her “one of the most powerful women in European cinema.”
Her extraordinary experience and career were recounted in 2021 in the documentary film Marina Cicogna. Life and Everything Else by Andrea Bettinetti and in her autobiography, Ancora Spero, released this year by Marsilio Publishing.
Cicogna died with Benedetta Gardona, her companion of more than 30 years, by her side.
Ahead of receiving the 2023 David Award for Lifetime Achievement this year, Cicogna...
- 11/6/2023
- by Livia Paccariè
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Taylor is both hammy and subtle as a woman on the verge of a breakdown in this preposterous but watchable 1974 drama that features an extraordinary cameo from Andy Warhol
It’s peak 70s Liz Taylor in this arrestingly bizarre movie which is being released in the UK for the first time; it was directed by Italian film-maker Giuseppe Patroni Griffi in 1974, which he co-adapted from the 1970 novella by Muriel Spark and was issued under the title Identikit in Italy. With her big sunglasses and permanently dishevelled jet-black hair, Taylor gives an intense and more-than-slightly alarming performance in a preposterous, slightly dated yet very watchable psycho-existential mystery, a cousin to the era’s paranoid thrillers. It was shot by Vittorio Storaro, who repeatedly directs light sources into the camera so that the figures often move like shadows behind a disconcerting glow, which is part of the film’s distinctive puzzle.
Taylor plays Lise,...
It’s peak 70s Liz Taylor in this arrestingly bizarre movie which is being released in the UK for the first time; it was directed by Italian film-maker Giuseppe Patroni Griffi in 1974, which he co-adapted from the 1970 novella by Muriel Spark and was issued under the title Identikit in Italy. With her big sunglasses and permanently dishevelled jet-black hair, Taylor gives an intense and more-than-slightly alarming performance in a preposterous, slightly dated yet very watchable psycho-existential mystery, a cousin to the era’s paranoid thrillers. It was shot by Vittorio Storaro, who repeatedly directs light sources into the camera so that the figures often move like shadows behind a disconcerting glow, which is part of the film’s distinctive puzzle.
Taylor plays Lise,...
- 6/21/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Severin’s October offerings include this investigation of Euro-weirdness curated with academic purpose and clarity by Kier-La Janisse, evoking the name of her book from 2012. The thesis is the representation of women in filmic horror — except that in these strange experiences, hysteria transforms into a liberating form of empowerment: Identikit, I Like Bats, Footsteps and The Other Side of the Underneath. Elizabeth Tayor and Florinda Bolkan are the top stars in the collection, two of which bear the cinematography of Vittorio Storaro. The final film is a totally different, experimental experience. Ms. Janisse’s introductions connect the dots for these filmworks that envigorate and disturb.
House of Psychotic Women
Blu-ray
Severin Films
1972 – 1986 / Color / 1:85 + 1:66 + 1:85 + 1:33 / 102 + 81 + 96 + 111 min. / Street Date October 25, 2022 / Available from Severin Films / 104.95
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor; Katarzyna Walter; Florinda Bolkan; Sheila Allen, Ann Lynn, Penny Slinger, Jane Arden .
Directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi; Grzegorz Warchol; Luigi Bazzoni; Jane...
House of Psychotic Women
Blu-ray
Severin Films
1972 – 1986 / Color / 1:85 + 1:66 + 1:85 + 1:33 / 102 + 81 + 96 + 111 min. / Street Date October 25, 2022 / Available from Severin Films / 104.95
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor; Katarzyna Walter; Florinda Bolkan; Sheila Allen, Ann Lynn, Penny Slinger, Jane Arden .
Directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi; Grzegorz Warchol; Luigi Bazzoni; Jane...
- 10/11/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“If you scroll through all the movies I’ve worked on, you can understand how I was a specialist in westerns, love stories, political movies, action thrillers, horror movies and so on,” said Ennio Morricone. “So in other words, I’m no specialist, because I’ve done everything. I’m a specialist in music.”
The specialist and legendary maestro has passed away at the age of 91, leaving behind an incredibly prolific body of work that included over 400 scores made for movies and television as well as classic work and many journeys across the world performing his music. While it’s impossible to encapsulate such a towering career––considering he began writing his first compositions at the age of six––if you’re looking to revisit or discover some of his finest scores in remembrance, we’ve gathered our twenty favorites below.
The round-up includes some of his most iconic scores,...
The specialist and legendary maestro has passed away at the age of 91, leaving behind an incredibly prolific body of work that included over 400 scores made for movies and television as well as classic work and many journeys across the world performing his music. While it’s impossible to encapsulate such a towering career––considering he began writing his first compositions at the age of six––if you’re looking to revisit or discover some of his finest scores in remembrance, we’ve gathered our twenty favorites below.
The round-up includes some of his most iconic scores,...
- 7/6/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The strangest Italian portmanteau picture of the sixties features glorious Silvana Mangano in dozens of costume changes, directed by big names (Visconti, De Sica, Pasolini) and paired with a woefully miscast Clint Eastwood. The other major attraction is a delightful music score by Piero Piccioni, with an assist from Ennio Morricone.
The Witches
Special Edition Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1967 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120 (?) 111 105 min. / Le streghe / Street Date January 30, 2018 / 34.95
Starring: Silvana Mangano, Clint Eastwood, Annie Girardot, Francisco Rabal, Massimo Girotti, Véronique Vendell, Elsa Albani, Clara Calamai, Marilù Tolo, Nora Ricci, Dino Mele Dino Mele, Helmut Berger, Bruno Filippini, Leslie French, Alberto Sordi, Totò, Ciancicato Miao, Ninetto Davoli, Laura Betti, Luigi Leoni, Valentino Macchi, Corinne Fontaine, Armando Bottin, Gianni Gori, Paolo Gozlino, Franco Moruzzi, Angelo Santi, Pietro Torrisi.
Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editors: Nino Baragli, Adriana Novelli, Mario Serandrei, Giorgio Serrallonga
Original Music: Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni
Written by Mauro Bolognini, Fabio Carpi,...
The Witches
Special Edition Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
1967 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 120 (?) 111 105 min. / Le streghe / Street Date January 30, 2018 / 34.95
Starring: Silvana Mangano, Clint Eastwood, Annie Girardot, Francisco Rabal, Massimo Girotti, Véronique Vendell, Elsa Albani, Clara Calamai, Marilù Tolo, Nora Ricci, Dino Mele Dino Mele, Helmut Berger, Bruno Filippini, Leslie French, Alberto Sordi, Totò, Ciancicato Miao, Ninetto Davoli, Laura Betti, Luigi Leoni, Valentino Macchi, Corinne Fontaine, Armando Bottin, Gianni Gori, Paolo Gozlino, Franco Moruzzi, Angelo Santi, Pietro Torrisi.
Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno
Film Editors: Nino Baragli, Adriana Novelli, Mario Serandrei, Giorgio Serrallonga
Original Music: Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni
Written by Mauro Bolognini, Fabio Carpi,...
- 2/13/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
MoreHorror.com
Orgy of the Damned, directed by Creep Creepersin, is a fun and romantic, yet dark and erotic take on vampires with a unique visual style that pays homage to the classic European exploitation films.
Check out the interview by Dawna Lee Heising with actor Domiziano Arcangeli, who plays a 300 year old vampire in the film, below the official details.
From The Press Release:
Orgy of The Damned is beautiful to look at and enjoyable to watch, this new movie is sure to make a name for itself and quickly become a cult classic. It has many key motives that make it a compelling choice for every cult movie lover. From its dark and brooding tale of vampires to its usage of today’s Hollywood club scene, the film uniquely portrays a quite unusual and incestuous family of vamps and how they spend their time. They are existentially bored,...
Orgy of the Damned, directed by Creep Creepersin, is a fun and romantic, yet dark and erotic take on vampires with a unique visual style that pays homage to the classic European exploitation films.
Check out the interview by Dawna Lee Heising with actor Domiziano Arcangeli, who plays a 300 year old vampire in the film, below the official details.
From The Press Release:
Orgy of The Damned is beautiful to look at and enjoyable to watch, this new movie is sure to make a name for itself and quickly become a cult classic. It has many key motives that make it a compelling choice for every cult movie lover. From its dark and brooding tale of vampires to its usage of today’s Hollywood club scene, the film uniquely portrays a quite unusual and incestuous family of vamps and how they spend their time. They are existentially bored,...
- 10/31/2015
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Above: Larry Rivers’ poster for the first New York Film Festival.
With the New York Film Festival celebrating its 50th edition next week I thought I’d look back on the very first festival, 49 years ago, in 1963. Whereas this year’s festival has a main slate of 33 films (as well as abundant sidebars) the inaugural event, programmed by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel, had only 21 features and a selection of shorts. The festival opened—on a Tuesday evening, September 10th, 1963—with a now-classic but then ill-received Buñuel, The Extermining Angel, and closed with a film and a director that have been all but forgotten: Dragées au poivre (Sweet and Sour), a French-Italian comedy with an all-star cast, directed by one Jacques Baratier.
Of the 21 selections—handpicked by Roud and Vogel as the year’s best—only six (masterpieces by Buñuel, Ozu, Olmi, Kobayashi, Polanski and Resnais) are currently available on DVD in the Us,...
With the New York Film Festival celebrating its 50th edition next week I thought I’d look back on the very first festival, 49 years ago, in 1963. Whereas this year’s festival has a main slate of 33 films (as well as abundant sidebars) the inaugural event, programmed by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel, had only 21 features and a selection of shorts. The festival opened—on a Tuesday evening, September 10th, 1963—with a now-classic but then ill-received Buñuel, The Extermining Angel, and closed with a film and a director that have been all but forgotten: Dragées au poivre (Sweet and Sour), a French-Italian comedy with an all-star cast, directed by one Jacques Baratier.
Of the 21 selections—handpicked by Roud and Vogel as the year’s best—only six (masterpieces by Buñuel, Ozu, Olmi, Kobayashi, Polanski and Resnais) are currently available on DVD in the Us,...
- 9/21/2012
- MUBI
Giuseppe Patroni Griffi deserves attention. His chic revenger's tragedy 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1971) is one possible way in: you get Charlotte Rampling, an Ennio Morricone score that's just a Jacobean riff on his spaghetti western stylings, lashings of sex and gore, and a design sensibility which pays some kind of lip service to period while being deliriously seventies at all times, so that it would not be too surprising if Oliver Tobias donned a set of sixteenth century tinted shades, or a tie-dyed doublet.
An alternative entry point is Identikit (1974), Aka The Driver's Seat, from the novel of that name by Muriel Spark. It's the tale of a mysterious woman wandering through a nameless city, hoping to rendezvous with "a friend" whom she's apparently never met. In a parallel plot thread, apparently taking place a day or two later, the police are interrogating everyone she's come into contact with.
An alternative entry point is Identikit (1974), Aka The Driver's Seat, from the novel of that name by Muriel Spark. It's the tale of a mysterious woman wandering through a nameless city, hoping to rendezvous with "a friend" whom she's apparently never met. In a parallel plot thread, apparently taking place a day or two later, the police are interrogating everyone she's come into contact with.
- 5/3/2012
- MUBI
Giovanni Minerba (above), director of the Torino Glbt Film Festival, and his staff have been busy selecting entries for the 24th edition of Turin’s annual gay & lesbian film event, which will take place April 23-30. In addition to competition and out-of-competition screenings, the festival will feature homages, retrospectives, and assorted sidebars, including a tribute to Spanish director Ventura Pons, best known internationally for the touching Food of Love; a screening of the films of author-filmmaker Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, whose best-known directorial effort is probably ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore; and a sidebar featuring several entries handpicked by filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek and another showcasing campy sword-and-sandal epics of the early ’60s. Festival director Minerba has kindly agreed to answer a few questions (via e-mail) for the Alternative Film Guide. See below. (And I’d also like to thank Federico Mancini for his assistance.) Minerba Photo: Courtesy of Giovanni Minerba...
- 4/16/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Filipino filmmaker Auraeus Solito, best known for his 2006 Teddy Award-winning The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, will be at the Turin Glbt Film Festival, which runs April 23-30, as a member of the international jury and to present the world premiere of his new feature, Boy, recently banned in Singapore. In Boy, a young poet sells his comic books to afford a one-night stand with a macho rent-boy on New Year’s Eve. However, their relationship will not end that night as the boy in question will learn to accept his sexuality. Tuli (2005) and Philippine Science (2007); the latter follows eight students at the elite Philippine Science High School during the tumultuous 1980s. In addition to the competition sections (features, shorts, documentaries), the 24th Torino Glbt Film Festival will also offer the following: a retrospective of Italian director Giuseppe Patroni Griffi; Italian director Ferzan [...]...
- 4/8/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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