Two prominent Italian figures to attend Fiff36
The 36th Fajr International Film Festival (Fiff36) will host prominent Italian figures including Italian composer Nicola Piovani and Italian actor Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero.
Piovani, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the movie ‘Life Is Beautiful’, and has collaborated with prominent filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, Tavianis Brothers and Marco Bellocchio, is a special guest at the Fiff36, fajriff.com reported.
He also will perform a concert at the Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on April 25.
Piovani is an Italian light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1998 Best Original Score Oscar for the Roberto Benigni film ‘La Vita è Bella’, better known to Englishspeaking audiences as ‘Life Is Beautiful’.
After high school, Piovani enrolled at the Sapienza University of Rome, receiving a degree in piano from the Verdi Conservatory in Milan in 1967, and later studied orchestration under the Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis.
Among his more popular works is the score for the Fellini film ‘Intervista’, his second of three collaborations with the famous director, the others being ‘Ginger e Fred’ (‘Ginger and Fred’ in English) and ‘La Voce Della Luna’ (The Voice of the Moon). Years later, he composed a ballet titled ‘Balletto Fellini’.
In 2000 his Academy Award-winning score for ‘Life Is Beautiful’ was further nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media category. In light of his recent work with French directors, notably Danièle Thompson, Philippe Lioret, and Éric-emmanuel Schmitt, the French culture minister gave him the title of Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres on May 21, 2008 at the Cannes Film Festival.
To date, Piovani has over 130 film scores to his credit, including films such as ‘Slap the Monster on Page One’ (1972), ‘The Perfume of the Lady in Black’ (1974), ‘Flavia the Heretic’ (1974), ‘Le Orme’ (1975), ‘A Leap in the Dark’ (1980), ‘The Night of the Shooting Stars’ (1982) and ‘Kaos’ (1984). The music for the latter is considered by many as one of the best film scores ever done. However, he is reported to believe: “Too many film scores make a composer a hack, but in the theatre music is above all craftsmanship.”
Italian actor Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero, better known by his stage name Franco Nero who is famous for his role in Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 iconic ‘Spaghetti Western’ will also going participate in Fajr International Film Festival as a special guest.
The Italian legend Nero is best known for his breakthrough role as the title character in Django, a role that he reprised in Nello Rossati’s ‘Django Strikes Again’ (1987). Since then, he has performed over 200 leading and supporting roles in a wide variety of films and television programs in both Italy and abroad, in genres ranging from poliziotteschi, to action, to drama, to war, and musicals.
These include ‘The Bible: In the Beginning’ (1966), ‘Camelot’ (1967), ‘The Day of the Owl’ (1968), as well as ‘Die Hard 2’ (1990), ‘Letters to Juliet’ (2010) and ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ (2017), among many others.
Nero’s first film role was a small part in ‘Pelle Viva’ (1962). In 1966 from Django he went on to appear in eight more films released that year including ‘Texas, Adios’ (1966) and ‘Massacre Time’. In 1967, he appeared in ‘Camelot as Lancelot’, where he met his longtime romantic partner, and later on in life he appeared in the mafia film ‘Il Giorno Della Civetta’ opposite Claudia Cardinale released in 1968.
In 2009, he played an eccentric author called Mario Puzzo in ‘Mord Ist Mein Geschäft, Liebling’ (Murder Is My Trade, Darling, Italian title Tesoro, Sono un Killer). German critics found his performance was the best part of the film.
“Having Franco Nero playing in this film is really a great joy — it is only regrettable that after his appearances there is still so much film left.”
In 2010, Nero appeared in the film ‘Letters to Juliet with Redgrave’. In 2011, he appeared as a guest star on the season 13 premiere episode of ‘Law and Order SVU’. His character, although Italian, was based on Dominique Strauss-kahn.
In the same year, he received a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2012, Nero made a cameo appearance in the film ‘Django Unchained’ in one scene alongside Jamie Foxx, who stars as Django Freeman in the film. In 2016-2017, he has interpreted Gabriele Tinti’s poetry giving voice to the masterpieces in the National Roman Museum.
Presided over by Iranian film writer and director Reza Mirkarimi, the Fiff36 will be held in Tehran from April 19-27 at Tehran’s Charsou Cineplex.