In her 2023 documentary “We Are Art Through the Eyes of Annalaura,” Naples-based multimedia artist and filmmaker Annalaura di Luggo embarks on a creative journey to construct an interactive multimedia art installation in the shape of a giant eye.

Di Luggo’s project is not just about art; it also tells the stories of four young individuals who have overcome personal challenges. These young people have found a path out of darkness, reclaimed their self-esteem, and discovered new value in life.

She explains that the name of the multimedia installation — Occulus-Spei — was inspired by the Latin words “Colloquium,” which means dialogue, and “Oculi,” which translates to eyes. “So it’s like a dialogue through eyes,” she said.

Shot on location, the documentary features sweeping shots of the Bay of Naples and various locations throughout the city’s unique neighborhoods tied to art and di Luggo’s project. She takes the viewer through the process of choosing the four young adults to participate in the installation and their personal stories of overcoming difficult periods in the lives when they faced bullying, discrimination, substance abuse, and crime.

The documentary shows the process of putting together an exhibit, from the idea to the opening night reception. The installation, crafted from recycled aluminum, symbolizes environmental rebirth and recycling. The goal is to inspire and provoke thought about the environment and personal transformation.

To stream the documentary on Amazon, click here.

Directed by the Italian filmmaking duo Massimo D’Anolfi and Martina Parenti, “Bestiaries, Herbaria, Lapidaries” is an encyclopedic documentary that features non-human protagonists, offering reflections on humanity.

The film is divided into three segments, each approximately 40 minutes long, focusing on a single subject: animals, plants, and stones. In this tripartite format, each segment pays homage to a specific genre of documentary filmmaking.

The first volume, “Bestiaries: Cinema Invents New Cages,” is a found-footage exploration of animals and their representation throughout cinema’s history.

The second segment, “Herbaria: The Cure,” is an observational documentary about the world’s oldest botanical garden, founded in Padua in 1545. It serves as a tribute to the restorative beauty of plants.

The third volume, “Lapidaries: The Fossils of the Future,” examines the role of stones in war, destruction and memorialization.

The film premiered last year Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival and made its North American debut in February at the Museum of Modern Art’s Doc Fortnight 2025: MoMA’s Festival of International Nonfiction Film and Media. MoMA described the film as “a breathtaking inquiry into humanity’s relationship with the natural world.”

Keep an eye out for this documentary at upcoming festivals this year. We’ll keep you posted on its streaming availability.

Chosen as Italy’s Official Selection for the 2025 Academy Awards, Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio” is a heartfelt story of one family’s experience during the final days of World War II.

Awarded the Silver Lion at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, the film is set in the picturesque mountain village of Vermiglio during the final days of World War II.

The film follows a large family as they navigate a series of impactful events following the arrival of a reserved Sicilian soldier (Giuseppe De Domenico) who has deserted the army and is seeking refuge in the town. As the soldier forms a romance with the family’s eldest daughter, Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the narrative unfolds to illustrate the lives of a provincial family caught in the traditions of an era that is slowly fading.

Shotting amid the captivating beauty of the Alps, cinematographer Mikhail Krichman beautifully captured the natural light transitioning from harsh winter to hopeful spring, serving as both the physical and emotional backdrop for the film.

Enjoying a theatrical release in America in December, “Vermiglio” was shown at numerous international film festivals in 2024 and was presented at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival in January.

In addition to the Silver Lion, “Vermiglio won the Gold Hugo for Best Feature at the Chicago International Film Festival and was a nominee for Best International Film at the Gotham Awards and Best Film at the London Film Festival.

It was released in select theaters across the U.S. in December. We’ll keep you posted when it becomes available to stream.

To view the trailer while you’re waiting, click here.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York, in collaboration with Cinecittà in Rome, hosted a film retrospective in December dedicated to the work of the late, great Marcello Mastroianni and his daughter, actress Chiara Mastroianni.

The retrospective, “Marcello and Chiara Mastroianni, A Family Affair,” celebrated the iconic actor’s legacy in the year of the centennial of his birth while highlighting his daughter’s achievements.

An accomplished actress with more than 30 years of experience in French and international cinema, Chiara helped curate the lineup and was in attendance to introduce the films, beginning with opening night’s restoration of Luchino Visconti’s 1957 “Le notti bianche” (White Nights).

Among the films in the lineup were Golden Age classics like Vittorio De Sica’s 1964 “Marriage, Italian Style,” starring Mastroianni and Sophia Loren; Federico Fellini’s 1960 “La Dolce Vita”; and Mauro Bolognini’s 1960 “Handsome Antonio,” starring Mastroianni and Claudia Cardinale, to name a few.

The retrospective also served as the North American premiere of “Marcello Mio,” starring Chiara. Directed by Christophe Honoré, the 2024 film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May to coincide with the Mastroianni centennial. The film explores the relationship between Chiara Mastroianni and her famous mother, Catherine Deneuve, focusing on the daughter’s quest for independence from her parents, two icons of world cinema.

“Marcello Mio” was released on January 30. We’ll keep you posted on when it becomes available to stream.

To mark MoMA’s December retrospective, “Marcello and Chiara Mastroianni, A Family Affair,” we are highlighting contemporary films made by director Christophe Honoré and Chiara Mastroianni. Together, they have given voice to the plight of Generation X through their films, displaying a chemistry not unlike what her father shared with Federico Fellini.

Mastroianni shines in the title role of Honoré’s 2010 film “Non ma fille, tu n’iras pas danser” (Making Plans for Léna). Driven by profound unhappiness and inner turmoil, Léna leaves her husband, escaping with her children to the family’s country home. The weekend goes sideways when her husband shows up, setting in motion a gripping family drama. All the performances are outstanding: intense yet subtle. It’s a thought-provoking portrait of the toll stress can take on one’s mental health. Honoré manages to show the point-of-view of each generation of the family.

Catherine Deneuve and Mastroianni play mother and daughter in Honoré’s devastating 2011 “Les bien-aimés” (Beloved), which takes place over three decades. The pair converge at the start of the film in a tender encounter during which they sing about the travails of love and then walk across a Paris bridge into the night. What begins as a rom-com-style musical becomes a deeply moving drama observing life after loss. Mastroianni gives a heartfelt, intense performance as Véra, a woman struggling through an impossible love affair with an ex-pat musician from New York. There is a storyline about the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, done delicately and tastefully, taking us back to that day’s surreal atmosphere. The film is two hours long, and by the end of it, you really feel like you just spent three decades with these people. This is a film that will stay with you long after it ends.

Honoré and Mastroianni’s 2020 “Chambre 212″ (On a Magical Night) is a fantastical tale of the consequences of infidelity. Mastroianni is brilliant: funny yet reflective as her character, Maria, a law professor, moves into the hotel across the street after revealing to her husband that she’s been having an affair with one of her students. She talked about her character during a live Q&A hosted by Lincoln Center. “It was wonderful to play such a character because she’s so free. I don’t feel like that at all. Not for conventional reasons, but just the idea of freedom, of doing something you want to do, and I think that’s what makes her really cool because she could have been a character that is unbearable. So for me, it was wonderful to have the energy of that character,” she explained.

Their latest collaboration, “Marcello Mio,” which made its North American premiere at MoMA, features Chiara impersonating her father. The resemblance is uncanny in a whimsical yet sentimental tribute to her father. We’ll keep you updated on when the film will be distributed nationwide.

All of the aforementioned films are available on Amazon. Click the titles for direct links to stream them.

To view “Making Plans for Lena” click here.

To view “Beloved,” click here.

To view “On a Magical Night,” click here.

For more on the MoMa retrospective, click here.

In a classic tale of good guys vs. bad guys, “Elf Me” is an enchanting-but-sometimes-creepy tale of one of Santa’s elves, who finds himself trapped in the mountain village of San Nicola al Monte during the week of Christmas, where the town’s two toy sellers are battling it out during the holiday rush.

Trip, hilariously played by beloved comedian Lillo Petrolo, has the power to bring toys to life for his boss, Santa Claus. One day, while strolling the misfit warehouse, looking through the toys that were sent back to the North Pole by the children who received them, one of the toys takes revenge and sends Trip across the world to fall down a chimney as a toy himself.

He lands in the living room of a single mother (Anna Foglietta) and her son, Elia Federico Ielapi). When Elia discovers Trip in the middle of the night, she is shaken and orders Trip to leave. However, the only way that Trip can get back to the North Pole is if Elia writes a letter and sends the “toy” back.

When Elia discovers Trip’s magical powers of bringing toys to life, he says that he will write the letter only if Trip does an overhaul on his mother’s toy shop and saves her failing business just in time for Christmas. Trip agrees, and the two end up forming a bond. When the mother’s competition, an unscrupulous salesman (Claudio Santamaria), receives numerous calls from people canceling their orders of the season’s hottest toy, he grows suspicious and vows to find out the reason behind her sudden success.

Co-produced and co-written by Gabriele Mainetti, the writer and director of the international hit thriller, “Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot” (“They Call Me Jeeg Robot”), the film has his signature fairytale elements and, as always, features his real-life best friend, Santamaria. In a 2016 interview with Fra Noi, Mainetti told us that an essential component of his screenwriting is having his characters go through a transformation. “The power of change is a theme that really interests me. The truth is that it’s very difficult to change. So, when you look at my short films and my movie, you see that change is possible,” he said.

That transformation was evident in all of the main characters of the film, especially in Trip and Elia. The two do not get off to a smooth start, but they develop a close bond over the course of the film and care deeply for each other. Also apparent is the influence of American cinema on Mainetti, which he mentioned in our 2016 interview when he talked about the impact the series “Breaking Bad” had on his storytelling. In “Elf Me,” there are two scenes in which there are homages to Steven Spielberg’s 1982 “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and Joe Dante’s 1984 thriller, “Gremlins.” Those films clearly inspire both scenes but have Mainetti’s signature Italian touch, which echoes commedia all’italiana and the self-deprecating hero.

“Elf Me” is a good choice if you’re looking for an unusual Christmas tale during the holiday season. To view on Amazon Prime, click here.

Alain Delon, the renowned French actor who rose to fame in the 1960s with iconic European films like “Purple Noon” (1960) and “The Leopard “(1963), passed away in August at 88.

Known for his striking good looks and rebellious, aloof characters, Delon is considered one of French cinema’s most enigmatic figures. His characters had a lasting impact on international cinema during a career that spanned half a century.

Delon was sought after by some of the most prolific Italian auteurs, including Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni and Valerio Zurlini. The film that launched his Italian career was undoubtedly Visconti’s 1960 drama “Rocco e i suoi fratelli” (“Rocco and His Brothers”). Visconti’s follow-up, the legendary “Il gattopardo” (The Leopard), solidified Delon’s place in 1960s Italian cinema.

As relevant today as it was when it was made nearly 65 years ago, “Rocco and His Brothers” follows a family’s plight as they navigate the rough waters of immigration and the challenges of assimilating into a culture that discriminates against the very land they came from. Inspired by the stories of Milanese writer/playwright Giovanni Testori, Visconti’s film tells the harsh tale of the Parondi family members who left their homeland in the region of Basilicata in search of opportunities in Milan. A brief exchange between the family’s new neighbors reveals the prejudice towards Southerners immigrating to the North.

“Did you see those hicks?”

“Where are they from?”

“Lucania.”

“Odd name! Where’s that?”

“Never heard of it.”

“Down south.”

“I see, the land of deadbeats!”

The film recounts the family’s misery and difficulty as Rosa, the matriarch and mother of four boys, tries to hold her family together, ensuring the best future possible for them. However, the cold reality of life makes that dream seem unattainable. The few moments of joy the family experiences together are spent around the kitchen table. When Rosa breaks bread for her four children, she is reminding them not to break the traditions and roots they have in their warm land of Lucania.

Delon plays the title role, one of two brothers that falls for the same girl. The pent-up anger and passionate scenes between Simone (Renato Salvatori) and Rocco are palpable as the stress of immigrant life and daily struggles takes a toll.

About 10 years ago, the film underwent a massive restoration project, resulting in a glorious 4K release. A collaboration between the Gucci Film Foundation and Martin Scorsese, the project was supervised by Giuseppe Rotunno, the film’s original director of photography and one of the great maestros of cinematography.

The restored version includes several shots that were censored and cut from the original version after the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1960. The restoration was completed in 2015 and shown that year at the Cannes Film Festival with much of the cast in attendance, including Claudia Cardinale and Delon. For a video in which Martin Scorsese talks about the restoration, click here.

“Rocco and His Brothers” is a testament to the legend of Delon and encompasses the intensity and grandeur he brought to his roles. The film is available on several streaming platforms. To view the film, click here.

The 81st Venice International Film Festival took place on the Lido di Venezia from Aug. 28 to Sept. 7. As always, films from around the world were presented by a diverse lineup of filmmakers.

One lesser-known program of the festival, but one very important to young filmmakers, is the Settimana Internazionale della Critica, which showcases both genre and art-house cinema made by emerging directors experimenting with their unique filmmaking styles. An important feature of the program is the presence of short films, both in and out of competition. Having that opportunity opens the door for young Italian filmmakers looking to launch their careers.

This year, the program features nine feature films from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America, with two out-of-competition feature films and ten short films also with two out-of-competition. The films were selected from nearly 700 submissions.

The short Italian cinema program, also known as SIC, is organized in collaboration with Cinecittà. To see the complete lineup of films in the Settimana Internazionale della Critica program, click here.

The world lost a legendary actor in June when Donald Sutherland passed away at the age of 88. The New York Times called him “a Chameleon of a Movie Star” and mentioned many of the iconic characters he portrayed in an extraordinary career that spanned seven decades.

Among them were a few unforgettable roles in films directed by Italians or made in Italy. In 1976, Sutherland appeared in two films by equally legendary filmmakers Federico Fellini and Bernardo Bertolucci.

He portrayed the title role in “Fellini’s Casanova,” taking on the larger-than-life character Giacomo Casanova, described as “a man who never speaks ill of women but does not wish to understand them for fear of falling in love with them and suffering at their hands. One of Casanova’s love interests in the film was Sandra Allen, the Chicago-born woman noted in the Guinness World Records as the tallest woman in the world.

The elaborate costumes and decadent set design amplified the mystery and presence of the character. With his natural mystique and physical stature, Sutherland brought Casanova to life, making the movie the classic it is today.

That same year, Sutherland had a role in Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic “1900,” featuring an international cast that includes Robert DeNiro, Gérard Depardieu and Burt Lancaster. According to IMBD, Bertolucci stated in an interview that he filmed the movie scenes based on the four seasons. The boys at the center of the film meet in the summer and are reunited in the fall. The Fascist takeover happens in the winter and the end of World War II signifies spring.

Sutherland portrays the fascist leader Attila, a character so disturbing that Sutherland himself reportedly could not watch his performance in the film for years after making it. The character is cold, calculating and murderous with no regard whatsoever for life. Attila adds a very chilling dimension to the film and some of his scenes are indeed difficult to watch.

Fast-forward to 2018, when Sutherland played the role of American billionaire John Paul Getty in the FX series “Donald Sutherland.” Based on the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, the film was shot largeluy on location in Italy, including scenes with Sutherland. He deftly plays the role of a detached, materialistic and stingy man, all traits the character was known to possess during his life.

All three films are available to stream on numerous online platforms.

Known for her striking resemblance to Anna Magnani, Neapolitan actress Lucianna De Falco has ignited the imagination of modern Italian filmmakers who have played on the similarities, allowing her to interpret the style of a cinema icon. “The physical resemblance to Anna Magnani has been a constant, especially at the beginning of my career, and I was scared of it,” said De Falco in a 2019 interview with Fra Noi. “Then I started working, and about 10 years ago, I finally played her in a short film where Magnani and Bette Davis meet, titled “The Big Lie.” I won several awards for my interpretation.”

In 2014, director Paolo Sorrentino cast De Falco as a famous actress channeling Magnani in his enchanting short film, “The Dream.” The acclaimed director was asked to make the film for the Italian luxury brand Bulgari.

Set in the company’s flagship store on Via Condotti in Rome, the story follows a group of lost souls stuck in purgatory as they spend their evenings in the shop. The star, played by Valeria Golino, happens to be walking by and spots her parents, who passed away when she was a child. She follows them into the store and has a run-in with this mysterious famous actress who resembles Magnani. It was a fun and poignant role for De Falco because she actually wore Magnani’s fur and jewelry.

To view the film, click here.