Bringing the best of Italian cinema to US theaters.
LA, Italia Film Fest: Jacqueline Bisset, Jack Huston and Diane Warren Set for Opening Night Honors
Isabella Rossellini and others will also be celebrated later in the festival.
The Beauty and Transcendence of Paolo Sorrentino- The Maestro of Modern Italian Cinema
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.
Francesca Archibugi to Direct Sex Trafficking Drama ‘Illusion’ Toplining ‘La Storia’ Star Jasmine Trinca (EXCLUSIVE)
Italian director Francesca Archibugi (“La Storia,” “The Hummingbird”) will direct sex-trafficking drama “Illusion” toplining Jasmine Trinca (“La Storia,” “Supersex”) as an intrepid magistrate investigating a prostitution ring with links to the European parliament and Michele Riondino (“Young Montalbano”) as a psychologist.
Isabel Coixet to Direct Drama ‘Tre Ciotole,’ Starring Italy’s Alba Rohrwacher and Elio Germano (EXCLUSIVE)
Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet (“The Secret Life of Words”) will next direct “Tre Ciotole,” a drama starring Italian A-listers Alba Rohrwacher and Elio Germano. The film is based on the bestselling book of the same name by late Italian writer Michela Murgia.
Paolo Sorrentino’s ‘Parthenope’ Gives Us One of the Great Modern Heroines — a
First for the Italian Filmmaker
The Oscar-winning director and the film’s star Celeste Dalla Porta tell IndieWire how their A24 film marks an unusual, female-forward step in Sorrentino’s filmography.
‘Parthenope’ Is Already the Horniest Movie of 2025
Even by Italian Filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino’s over-the-top standards, this ode to a beautiful young woman is dying of thirst
Review: A master sensualist returns with an alluring star and not much else in ‘Parthenope’
A softer Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty”) is still a fertile imagemaker. That means a willing viewer can coast through much of the Italian writer-director’s new film, “Parthenope,” on an enigmatic bliss-out of Neapolitan beauty (both people and places) and languid charm. The rest of the time, though, things are pretty but unfocused, like dreams that are half-remembered, not tangible enough to incur real meaning.
Roger Erbert Review
Born in the waters off the coast of Naples, the 18-year-old Parthenope is first seen as she emerges dripping from the sea, smoking a cigarette, leaving a male suitor entranced. Named for a siren of Greek myth and the ancient name of her birthplace, this clearly statuesque and intellectually insatiable young woman (Celeste Dalla Porta, ambrosial in her first film role) has recently grown aware of the “disruption” her beauty causes, as one character puts it, but knows not yet how to harness its power for her own purposes—nor what those greater ambitions even are.
How Celeste Dalla Porta went from film school to starring in Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope with Gary Oldman
“I was literally shaking,” the actress says of meeting Sorrentino, adding that getting the part was “the most emotional moment of my entire life.”
Parthenope Review: I Was Completely Entranced By Paolo Sorrentino’s Strange Yet Fascinating Coming-Of-Age Drama
Parthenope is not a film for everyone. Nor is it trying to be. It’s quietly reflective and also a bit weird and vague. Written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, Parthenope is an Italian coming-of-age story that sees its titular character at different stages in her life. Sometimes she’s aimlessly wandering through her life, unable to settle on any particular decision. At other points, Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta) is thrown into situations and forced to deal with the consequences. And yet, she floats, indecisive and curious, observant and filled with sorrow.