Sicilian Culture: The News & Views: Italy's Golden Moment

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Italy's Golden Moment
By Donna Przecha

All of Italy applauded the recent news that its beloved director, Nanni Moretti, had won the coveted Palme d¹Or award at the 54th Cannes film festival. Cannes' 10-person jury, led by actress and director Liv Ullman confirmed Moretti¹s ranking as one of Italy¹s contemporary filmmakers when they chose The Son¹s Room, a sensitive tale about a family devastated by the death of a son. Moretti¹s winning film was a labour of love for the filmmaker who also wrote and starred in the movie. It was the latest and perhaps most important accolade the director has received to date about his emotional drama which has already received three Italian Oscars (David di Donatello) following its release in Italy.
Well-known for his Dear Diary (1994), Moretti has been critized in the past for often marring his softly humorous films with narcissistic voyeurism. Nominated for the top prize three times before, the auteur this time around pushed the right buttons when he created a film that was a restrained, sensitive movie of loss.
"I'm very happy when I'm told that this film is very hard and very gentle at the same time," Moretti told a media conference after the prize ceremony. He added that he had been at his home in Rome when he received a call last Friday to come to Cannes for the closing ceremony but he hadn't dared believe it was to receive the Palme d¹Or. "Often in Cannes, there is no relation between the reaction by audiences and the jury's decision," Moretti said.
Moretti beat Austrian director Michael Haneke¹s controversial film about voyeurism and masochism, The Piano Teacher, which picked up three prizes, including best actress for Isabelle Huppert.
While newspaper critics had lauded Moretti and tipped him to win, the director, never thought he would win. "Often there is no causal relationship between what the public likes and what the jury likes, so the fact that people said I was a favorite didn¹t reassure me in the least," he told reporters after the victory ceremony.
It is no wonder all of Italy is applauding the director¹s magnificent feat it is the first time the country has won the coveted prize in 23 years. Moretti¹s film, which received a six-minute standing ovation at the festival,was immediately praised in newspapers all over Italy. "Nanni Moretti has won, Italian cinema has won," declared a front-page editorial in Rome daily La Repubblica. "It is a victory for all those in Italy who share Moretti's love for culture, intelligence, zeal and intellectual honesty."
"Long live Moretti," announced Milan's Corriere della Sera. "Simplicity and profundity, sincerity and artistic maturity are what have made The Son¹s Room a point of reference in modern cinematography," wrote one of Italy's foremost film critics Tullio Kezich on the front page of Corriere. "This is resounding confirmation that the big screen can be a mirror on life ... touching everyone's conscience."
"La Stanza del Figlio (The Son's Room) is a beautiful, serious, moving and admired film," wrote La Stampa, adding that it perfectly reflected the intellect of the man who made it.
From: www.tandemnews.com/italy.html

MORETTI HONORED IN HOLLYWOOD DESPITE RECENT CRITICISMS
Film director Nanni Moretti was visibly move during an interview in Los Angeles. The interview was conducted before the start of the first ever retrospective to be shown in the United States of his work.
The event, organized by Cinecitta' Holding, was not only emotional for the Italian director, but also for critics who had to hold back tears after a special preview of Mr. Moretti's new film, The Son's Room, recent winner of the Donatello Award and the Golden Palm at Cannes.
Mr. Moretti, in response to questions made about past comments, denied that he is antipathetic toward Hollywood-produced movies. "It's not true that I have a confrontational relationship with American films," Mr. Moretti said.

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