Oscar nominated and Cannes winning
director Julian Schnabel said at the closing gala of this year's
La Italia Film Fest Saturday night that his new film In The Hand
Of Dante was a tribute to Italian art.
New York-born Schnabel, 73, whose 2007 film The Diving Bell And
The Butterfly won best director at Cannes as well as getting
four Oscar nods, said as he received the LA Italia Marina
Cicogna Award at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood from Franco
Nero, who has a cameo in the Dante pic:
"Italy is the country that has contributed most to my growth and
artistic maturation and my film In the Hand of Dante is in some
way my thanks to the artists of the Peninsula who have been
instrumental in my existence".
Schnabel, whose 200 film Before Night Falls earned Javier Bardem
a best actor Oscar nomination, went on:
"Italy is the country in the world that respects art and artists
the most. In Milan in the 70s they gave me free pizza just
because I had paint on my clothes!"
"Making the film about Dante around the peninsula (Sicily,
Campania, Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia, Veneto - ed.) gave me the
opportunity to discover many parts of a country that enjoys
incredible history, culture and art.
"Elements that enrich my existence and give me the energy to
continue with my work", continued the veteran director, who is
also an author and painter. "The great Italian cinema of the
past, as well as some contemporary authors, are food for my
creativity and I truly hope that my latest production effort
will be welcomed as a sincere tribute to the history of Italian
art", concluded Schnabel, showing the film's slogan on his
sweatshirt ("There is only... the eternal present") that will
soon invade international communication.
After Schnabel, the film The Last Supper by Mauro Borrelli
closed the Italian gala on the eve of the Oscars.
The Venetian auteur said he made "this important work"
exclusively with American means.
The film will soon be in American theaters with 1,400 copies.
"I dedicate my film to Pope Francis in the hope that he too will
be able to see it as soon as possible. His judgment on my work
would be worth more to me than any international award," said
Borrelli from the Hollywood stage.
The festival was promoted by the Capri nel Mondo Institute with
the Ministry of Culture and Intesa Sanpaolo in collaboration
with Enit, Scabec, Riflessi, Givova and Adamantis Europe LTd.
In the Hand of Dante is an upcoming drama film directed by
Schnabel and written by Schnabel and Louise Kugelberg, based on
the 2002 novel by Nick Tosches.
It stars Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot,
with Sabrina Impacciatore, Franco Nero, John Malkovich, and Al
Pacino in supporting roles. Martin Scorsese serves as an
executive producer.
The story, which had been bought by Johhny Depp, interweaves two
separate stories, one set in the 14th century in Italy and
Sicily and featuring Dante Alighieri, and another set in the
autumn of 2001 and featuring a fictionalized version of Tosches
as the protagonist.
The historical and modern stories alternate as Dante tries to
finish writing his magnum opus and goes on a journey for
mystical knowledge in Sicily.
Meanwhile, Tosches, as something of a Dante expert, is called in
by black market traders to attest to the authenticity of a
manuscript of The Divine Comedy supposedly written by Dante
himself.
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