Bringing the best of Italian cinema to US theaters.
A Conversation About ‘The Kidnapping of Arabella,’ An Italian Road Movie from Writer-Director Carolina Cavalli
The new movie features two misfits and Chris Pine speaking in Italian.
Il Paradiso Italiano di Julian Schnabel
At his pink palazzo, in the West Village, the artist packs up paintings for a Pace exhibit and discusses his new movie, about Dante—produced by, and guest-starring, Martin Scorsese.
Giovanni Veronesi’s ‘Dio Ride’ To Close Venice Film Festival
Dio ride, written and directed by Giovanni Veronesi (The King’s Musketeers), will close this year’s Venice Film Festival.
The film will screen out of competition. The synopsis provided by the festival reads: “Set in the mid-1600s and loosely based on true events, the movie resonates strongly with the present time through a story that centers on freedom, the power of the truth, and the relationship between people and power, with its shadows and contradictions. With his profound humanity, the friar Frate Leopoldo will change the lives of the people he encounters.”
Giovanni Veronesi’s ‘Dio Ride’ to Close Venice Film Festival
“Dio Ride,” written and directed by Giovanni Veronesi, will close the 83rd Venice Intl. Film Festival, which runs Sept. 2-12. The film will play in the out-of-competition section.
Venice Film Fest to Close With Giovanni Veronesi’s ‘Dio Ride’
A synopsis for the film, loosely based on real events in the mid-1600s, reads: “While the Church preaches in Latin, Fra Leopoldo recounts the Gospel with contagious joy.”
Four Must-See Titles from Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026
Now in its 40th edition, Il Cinema Ritrovato has swollen to become a true labyrinth of cinema, a Borgesian garden of forking paths that one goes to get lost in. The festival takes place over nine days across 10-or-so theaters and comes replete with a 500-page catalog that weighs you down like a rock as you shuffle through the porticoed streets of Bologna between movies. It’s a cinephile’s dream, and it’s hard to describe how magical it feels to watch hundred-year-old silent films or experimental Armenian movies amongst thousands of people seated in the Piazza Maggiore next to a gorgeous 500-year-old Italian cathedral.
Carolina Cavalli on What Becomes a Runaway Success in “The Kidnapping of Arabella”
The director discusses hitting the road with “Amanda” star Benedetta Porcoroli as a woman who believes she’s literally reconnected with her inner child.
Roger Erbert: The Kidnapping of Arabella Review
The liveliest gag of Carolina Cavalli’s sweet-natured yet increasingly serious “The Kidnapping of Arabella” arrives at its beginning. Unhappy that she has to endure a dull night amongst adults, the young, precocious Arabella (a wonderful Lucrezia Guglielmino) throws a mighty tantrum in order to not attend the celebration thrown in honor of her famous author dad, Orest D. After all, what kid wants to sit nicely at a table for several hours and get served boring food when they can go to Taco King, Arabella’s favorite restaurant? Defeated when her cries go nowhere, young Arabella joins her father begrudgingly. But that doesn’t stop her from hackling the event with frequent outbursts, hilariously yelling things like “Jonathan Franzen” and “Taco King” at random. The former is the author the cheeky kid knows her dad is most jealous of, a running joke that’s successful enough throughout the film to give us a few decent chuckles. The latter, well, where Arabella would rather be.
‘The Kidnapping of Arabella’ Review: Chris Pine Speaks Fluent Italian in a Quirky Road Movie That Offers Equally Unexpected Surprises at Every Turn
Carolina Cavalli’s “The Kidnapping of Arabella” opens with one of the single most surprising things I’ve seen and/or heard in a movie this year: Chris Pine, swagged out in a skin-tight suit that makes him look like a yassified Nick Cave, seething with jealousy over Jonathan Franzen in seemingly perfect Italian.
LETTERBOXD Watchlist This!: Our July 2026 picks of the best new bubbling-under films
Our picks of under-the-radar gems from this month’s new releases. This edition includes uproarious summer comedies, achingly personal documentaries and coming-of-age stories by visionary female filmmakers.