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Variety Distribution
Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company. It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward. History Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film production and distribution business worldwide since 1945. The company manages the rights for all types of exploitation, including on digital platforms, of an extensive library of titles in a variety of genres, while also dealing with restoration and long-term digital preservation of audiovisual products in partnership with an international network of companies and professionals specializing in the film, audiovisual and multimedia industries. Activities The company participates in major film festivals and markets, including MIPTV, MIPCOM and the Cannes Film Festival, EFM European Film Market during the Berlin International Film Festival, DISCOP in Budapest. At the Cannes Film Festival 2022, it participated by premiering the film "Back ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: ** Germany begins Operation Bodenplatte, an attempt by the ''Luftwaffe'' to cripple Allied air forces in the Low Countries. ** Chenogne massacre: German prisoners are allegedly killed by American forces near the village of Chenogne, Belgium. * January 6 – WWII: A German offensive recaptures Esztergom, Hungary from the Russians. * January 12 – WWII: The Soviet Union begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive in Eastern Europe, against the German Army. * January 13 – WWII: The Soviet Union begins the East Prussian Offensive, to eliminate German forces in East Prussia. * January 16 – WWII: Adolf Hitler takes residence in the ''Führerbunker'' in Berlin. * January 17 ** WWII: The Soviet Union occupies Warsaw, Pola ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giuliano Montaldo
Giuliano Montaldo (born 22 February 1930) is an Italian film director. Biography While he was still a young student, Montaldo was recruited by the director Carlo Lizzani for the role of leading actor in the film ''Achtung! Banditi!'' (1951). Following this experience he began an apprenticeship as an assistant director of Lizzani and Gillo Pontecorvo, as well as appearing in the 1955 ''Gli Sbandati''. In 1960 he made his debut as a director with ''Tiro al piccione'', a film about the partisan resistance, which entered for a competition in Venice Film Festival in 1961. In 1965 he wrote and directed '' Una bella grinta'', a cynical representation of the economic boom of Italy, winning the Special Prize of the Jury at 15th Berlin International Film Festival. He then directed the production ''Grand Slam'' ( 1967) which starred an international cast including Edward G. Robinson, Klaus Kinski, and Janet Leigh. His cinema career continued with ''Gott mit uns'' (1969), ''Sacco and V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antropophagus
''Antropophagus'' (also known as ''Anthropophagus: The Beast'', ''The Savage Island'', and ''The Grim Reaper'') is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Joe D'Amato and co-written by D'Amato and George Eastman, who starred in the film as a cannibal. The film also starred Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini, and Mark Bodin. ''Antropophagus'' has been described as having "a noted place in the annals of the escalation of gore". The film has gained cult status - if only "amongst fringe horror video audiences". It has been argued that the reason for its cult status lies in its theme of cannibalism, hence "consumption of humans", which lends itself to cult reception. The scene in which the titular man eater strangles a pregnant woman, tears out the fetus from her womb and bites into it, made it become one of the infamous "video nasties" that were prosecuted in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s, and the "controversy greatly aided its cult re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe D'Amato
Aristide Massaccesi (15 December 1936 – 23 January 1999), known professionally as Joe D'Amato, was an Italian film director, producer, cinematographer, and screenwriter who worked in many genres (westerns, decamerotici, peplum, war films, swashbuckler, comedy, fantasy, postapocalyptic film, and erotic thriller) but is best known for his horror, erotic and adult films. D'Amato worked in the 1950s as electric and set photographer, in the 1960s as camera operator, and from 1969 onwards as cinematographer. Starting in 1972, he directed and co-directed around 200 films under numerous pseudonyms, regularly acting as cinematographer as well. Starting in the early 1980s, D'Amato produced many of his own and other directors' genre films through the companies he founded or co-founded, the best known being Filmirage. From 1979 to 1982 and from 1993 to 1999, D'Amato also produced and directed about 120 adult films. Among his best known erotic films are his five entries into the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totò
Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata'' ("the Prince of laughter"), was an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, dramatist, poet, singer and lyricist. He was commonly referred to as one of the most popular Italian performers of all time. He is best known for his funny and sometimes cynical character as a comedian in theatre and then in many successful films shot from the 1940s to the 1960s, but he also worked with many iconic Italian film directors in dramatic/poetic roles. Early life Totò was born Antonio Vincenzo Stefano Clemente on 15 February 1898 in the Rione Sanità, a poor district of Naples, the illegitimate son of Anna Clemente (1881–1947), a Sicilian woman, and the Neapolitan marquis Giuseppe de Curtis (1873–1944). His father did not legally recognize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ugo Tognazzi
Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. Early life Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a travelling clerk for an insurance company. After his return to his native city in 1936, he worked in a cured meats production plant where he achieved the position of accountant. During World War II, he was inducted into the Army and returned home after the Armistice of 8 September 1943, and joined the Brigate Nere for a while. His passion for theater and acting dates from his early years, and also during the conflict he organized shows for his fellow soldiers. In 1945, he moved to Milan, where he was enrolled in the theatrical company led by Wanda Osiris. A few years later, he formed his own successful musical revue company. Career In 1950, Tognazzi made his cinematic debut in ''I cadetti di Guascogna'' directed by Mario Mattoli. The following year, he me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, voice actor, singer, comedian, director and screenwriter. Early life Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician and the last of five children, Sordi was named in honour of an older sibling, who died several days after his birth. Sordi enrolled in Milan's dramatic arts academy but was kicked out because of his thick Roman accent. In the meantime, he studied to be a bass opera singer. His vocal distinctiveness would become his trademark. Career Cinema and television In a career that spanned seven decades, Sordi established himself as an icon of Italian cinema with his representative skills at both comedy and light drama. His movie career began in the late 1930s with bit parts and secondary characters in wartime movies. Early roles included Fellini's'' The White Sheik'' in 1952, Fellini's ''I vitelloni ''(1953), a movie about young slackers, in which he plays a weak immature loafer and a starring role ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marcello Mastroianni
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian film actor, regarded as one of his country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top directors in a career spanning 147 films between 1939 and 1997, and garnered many international honors including 2 BAFTA Awards, 2 Best Actor awards at the Venice and Cannes film festivals, 2 Golden Globes, and 3 Academy Award nominations. Born in the province of Frosinone and raised in Turin and Rome, Mastroianni made his film debut in 1939 at the age of 14, but did not seriously pursue acting until the 1950s, when he made his critical and commercial breakthrough in the caper comedy ''Big Deal on Madonna Street'' (1959). He became an international celebrity through his collaborations with director Federico Fellini, first as a disillusioned tabloid columnist in ''La Dolce Vita'' (1960), then as a creatively-stifled filmmaker in ''8½'' (1963 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gina Lollobrigida
Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As of 2022, Lollobrigida is among the last living, high-profile international actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. As her film career slowed, Lollobrigida established a second career as a photojournalist. In the 1970s, she achieved a scoop by gaining access to Fidel Castro for an exclusive interview. Lollobrigida has continued as an active supporter of Italian and Italian American causes, particularly the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). In 2008, she received the NIAF Lifetime Achievement Award at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala. In 2013, she sold her jewelry collection, and donated the nearly $5 million from the sale to benefit stem-cell therapy research. Youth Born Luigia Lollobrigida in Subiaco, she was the daugh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions as well as dozens of ''divertissements''. Biography Early life Gassmann was born in Genoa to a German father, Heinrich Gassmann (an engineer from Karlsruhe), and a Jewish mother, Luisa Ambron, born in Pisa. While still very young, he moved to Rome, where he studied at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Gassman suffered from bipolar disorder. Career Gassman's debut was in Milan, in 1942, with Alda Borelli in Niccodemi's ''La Nemica'' (theatre). He then moved to Rome and acted at the ''Teatro Eliseo'' joining Tino Carraro and Ernesto Calindri in a team that remained famous for some time; with them he acted in a range of plays from bourgeois comedy to sophisticated intellectual theatre. In 1946, he made his film debut i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aldo Fabrizi
Aldo Fabrizi (; born Aldo Fabbrizi; 1 November 1905 – 2 April 1990) was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and comedian, best known for the role of the heroic priest in Roberto Rossellini's ''Rome, Open City'' and as partner of Totò in a number of successful comedies. Life and career Born in Rome into a humble family, Fabrizi debuted on stage in a suburban theater in 1931. He soon got local success thanks to his comical sketches and '' macchiette'' (i.e. comical monologues caricaturing stock characters), and became a star of the Roman revue and ''avanspettacolo''. He made his film debut during the war, in 1942, and in a short time established himself as one of the most talented actors of the time, spacing from comedy to drama. After a number of successful comedies, in 1945 he played the iconic Don Pietro in the neo-realist drama ''Rome, Open City'', and following the critical and commercial success of the film he had a number of leading roles in other neo-realist films. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christian De Sica
Christian De Sica (; born 5 January 1951) is an Italian actor and film director. Life De Sica was born in Rome the second son of Italian director Vittorio De Sica and Spanish actress María Mercader. His first cousin once removed was Ramón Mercader, the murderer of Leon Trotsky. After attending Liceo classico in Rome, where he had Carlo Verdone as his deskmate, De Sica worked in a hotel in Venezuela, where he began his career as an artist. He enrolled in Lettere (Literature and Arts) at La Sapienza university (1970) but did not graduate. He was attracted to music, and participated in the Sanremo Festival singing "Mondo mio" ("My World") (1973). However, the results convinced him to follow in his father's footsteps and devote himself to acting. De Sica developed his own style of comedy and entertainment also in Rai television shows, such as ''Bambole, non c'è una lira'', which gave him a large success in 1978. Acting career With his father's help, he was able to take his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
