ORNELLA MUTI comes back to the Giffoni Festival in great style. The international diva, who has fans all over the world, was the much loved Guest of honour in 1988 for the 18th edition. This year, Sunday 27 July she is set to host the closing ceremony of the 44th edition and will receive the 2014 Giffoni Award.
Ornella Muti has had an amazing career starring in over 100 films, therefore it is definitely not easy to write about her in just a few lines. She made her debut at 14 when she was by Damiano Damiani, she starred in The Most Beautiful Wife. She was then chosen by Mario Monicelli for his Come Home and Meet my Wife. She then went on to work with Vittorio Gassman and Ugo Tognazzi and was directed by Dino Risi and Scola. She was the main character in I Nuovi Mostri, Academy Award nominee for best foreign film.
She subsequently played L’Ultima Donna with Gerard Depardieu. Flash Gordon by Mike Hodges, in which she played wicked princess Aura was a huge hit. She then appeared in comedies such as Il Bisbetico Domato and Madly in Love with Adriano Celentano and The Girl from Trieste with Ben Gazzara. in 1984 she co-starred in Swann in Love with Jeremy Irons and Alain Delon. It is also worth mentioning her roles in Chonicle of a Death Foretold by Francesco Rosi, Codice Privato by Citto Maselli, 'The King of Naples' by Luigi Magni, Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa by Ettore Scola. She also co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in Oscar- un Fidanzato per Due Figlie. In 1994 she was elected as the “Most beautiful woman in the world" by American magazine "Class". Ornella Muti also starred in Woody Allen's To Rome with Love in 2012. In 1976 she was awarded a Special David award and two Silver Ribbons for Me and My Sister and Codice Privato.
Sunday 20 July Giffoni will be graced by ISABELLA FERRARI. ISABELLA FERRARI has had a successful career spanning from TV, cinema and stage acting.
The 90s were extremely prolific for her and she worked with the best and most interesting Italian directors who cast her for complex and at the same time attractive characters in films such as Cronaca Di Un Amore Violato (1994) by Giacomo Battiato, Romanzo Di Un Giovane Povero (1995) by Ettore Scola - for which she was awarded the Coppa Volpi - and in the same year Hotel Paura (1995) by Renato De Maria, director she will get married to in 2002 who directed her in 2004 in Amatemi. In 1999 she stars in La Lingua Del Santo by Carlo Mazzacurati. at the end of '90s she stars in several Tv Series for fictional Rai. In 2000 she played police officer Giovanna Scalise in Distretto Di Polizia, Tv series on Canale 5 . In 2005 she goes back to the big screen with2 Arrivederci Amore Ciao by Michele Soavi, followed by Saturno Contro and Un Giorno Perfetto by Ferzan Özpetek. in 2007 she starred in controversial Caos Calmo by Antonello Grimaldi, with Nanni Moretti, then in Seme Della Discordia by Pappi Corsicato.
After a cameo in Woody Allen's flick To Rome With Love, she was awarded best actress prize at the Rome Film Festival for E La Chiamano Estate (2011) by Paolo Franchi. She also starred in Paolo Sorrentino's Academy Award best foreign film winning flick "The Great Beauty". She has recently played a role "the head hunter" in Il Venditore di Medicine, by Antonio Morabito.
Monday 21 July Giffoni Experience welcomes CLAUDIA GERINI, versatile cinema, TV and stage actress.
She was born in Rome and started dancing while she was very young. After starring in some commercials she made her cinema debut and worked with several huge actors and directors such as Banfi, Castellitto, Tornatore, Mel Gibson, who cast her in "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004.
She made her cinematic break thanks to Carlo Verdone who directed her in his witty comedy “Viaggi di Nozze”. She is also a much appreciated stage actress and amongst her roles is her performance in Angelo e Beatrice.
Recently directed by maestro Ferzan Özpetek FRANCESCO ARCA, is at GFF Tuesday 22 July. After taking part is some reality shows, he started acting in 2007 in TV Shows, however he made his big screen debut in 2010 in Federico Moccia's comedy Scusa ma Ti Voglio Sposare. He then went on to play in 5 (Cinque) by Francesco Dominedò. He landed his first main role with great success in 2014, with Il Commissario Rex. This is the year that has seen him make the big break on the silver screen thanks to Ferzan Özpetek's Allacciate le Cinture/Fasten your Seatbelts, in which he plays Antonio, a rude, childish, womanizer and homophobic mechanic, who falls in love with Elena (Kasia Smutniak), a bit of a snob for him.
Maestro FERZAN ÖZPETEK will grace Giffoni Friday 25 July.
Il bagno turco/ "Hamam" (The Turkish Bath)(1997) marked his debut as a director. The film was presented in Cannes and became an international success. In 1999 he produced his second film "Harem Suare" about the fall of the Ottoman Empire."The Ignorant Fairies" 2001, in which Magrherita Buy and Stefano Accorsi are in love with the same man, in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, a box office hit in Italy and won four Silver Ribbon and three Golden Globe awards, as well as the award for Best Film at the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
In 2003 "La finestra di fronte/Facing Windows" was a huge success(2003) both in Italy and abroad and won a David di Donatello award and three Italian Golden Globes. He also won three awards at the Karlovi Vary International Film Festival and two awards at the Seattle Film Festival. Saturno contro (2007 was also a big hit and was shown at the Karlovi Vary Festival. With Loose Cannons in 2010 he won the Tribecca Film Festival Awards: Special Jury prize. He has also recently directed the opera Aida, In 2012, he directed la Traviata, opening of the 2012/2013 opera season at Teatro San Carlo a Napoli. On 5 November 2013 he makes his debut with his first novel "Rosso Istanbul" an autobiographic story focusing on his relationship with his mother.
In March 2014 his tenth feature hits the screens "Allacciate le cinture./Fasten Your Seat-belts The film starring Kasia Smutniak, Francesco Arca and Filippo Scicchitano. did well at the box office and has been nominated for 11 David di Donatello awards and six Silver Ribbon awards.
25 July will also be graced by Hungarian actress ANDREA OSVART. She has starred in Casanova with Heath Ledger, Spy Game, with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, Duplicity with Clive Owen: The Hungarian actress has proven her versatility in many roles including La fine è Il Mio Inizio about Tiziana Terzani's life with Elio Germano. She has also starred on TV in Lo Scandalo della Banca Romana, Pompei, Le Ragazze dello Swing and La Donna della Domenica. In 2012 Andrea Osvart won the Biraghia Taormina award and the European Golden Globe awarded to her by accredited foreign press in Italy for her performance in Maternity Blues. She also starred in Aftershock by Nicolas Lopez, produced by Brian Oliver and was the main character in the French-Canadian Transporter: The Series.
GIULIA MICHELINI will also be in Giffoni on 25 July.
Giulia Michelini is undoubtedly one of the most popular and best Italian actresses of the last generation with a bright and promising career to look forward to. She is currently on the set with Raoul Bova for 'Torno indietro e cambio la mia vita'. She has recently starred in Ferzan Ozpetek's much appreciated flick 'Allacciate le cinture/Fasten your Seatbelts'. Besides the big screen she has also played roles in very popular Italian TV series such as 'Distretto di Polizia', and 'Squadra Antimafia'. She is bound to be the main character in the oncoming season of 'Il Bosco'.
Last but not least LUCA ARGENTERO. He was cast by Ferzan Özpetek in Saturno Contro in 2007. in 2006, Francesca Comencini cast him for A Casa Nostra but his first leading player role was in mini TV series La Baronessa di Carini by Umberto Marino. In 2010 he played a role in the international flick Eat Pray and Love, with Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem. In 2012 was a very prolific year for the Italian talent. he was in Il Cecchino by Michele Placido, la Chiamano Estate by Paolo Franchi, Pazze di me by Fausto Brizzi and in Bianca Come il Latte, Rossa Come il Sangue.
In 2013 he was cast for the leading role in Marco Risi's thriller Cha ChaCha and in Luca Miniero's comedy Un Boss in Salotto. In 2014 he will star in Fratelli Unici by Alessio Maria federici which opens in October in Italy.
Argentero is due to present “MegatubeCreators” at the GFF. It is the first portal made up of videos of great quality. 34.200.000 visualizations, 157 million minutes spent on the videos just two months after its official launch: These are just some of the figures of the first Multi Channel Network by Youtube in Italy, promoted by Inside Productions and Luca Argentero its Artistic Director. On 8th May 2014 Megatu.be was launched. It is an original project in Italy aimed at trying to exploit the huge potential of video webbing and giving users the chance to choose amongst films in streaming, anime, music but first and foremost opening up, even more, to web-series, the most relevant media phenomenon of recent years to develop on the web.