‘Noble Earth:’ a movie set in Florence criticizing Florentine high society

‘Noble Earth:’ a movie set in Florence criticizing Florentine high society

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Emma meets Tancredi in Florence, embarking on a love affair with the intoxicating cosmos he represents: endless days in the gauzy Florentine hills or the sun-blanched beaches in Maremma. They become engaged. Soon, however, Emma becomes caught in family politics, learning what is expected of a woman in Florentine high society. The same beauty that overwhelmed Emma reveals itself as superficial and suffocates her. Noble Earth is a study of ennui and female repression within a world rarely seen onscreen — Italy’s hermetic nobility. On the occasion of the screening of Noble Earth at the Berlin Visionär Film Festival 2018 past spring, I had the opportunity to briefly interview Ursula Grisham, director of the film, which was shot mostly in Florence.

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Palazzo Medici-Riccardi presents Picasso portrayed by Edward Quinn

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi presents Picasso portrayed by Edward Quinn

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Until March 1, the exhibition ‘Picasso. The other half of the sky. Photographs by Edward Quinn’ at Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence proposes an approach to discover the Spanish artist and his relationship with the female world through the photos of one of the most notable photographers of the twentieth century: Edward Quinn. The show is the result of the unusual friendship that linked Picasso with Edward Quinn. Quinn became one of the few photographers who were allowed to photograph him at work, and he was embraced in his private life too. Consisting of eighty photos, the exhibition shows the intimate and private Picasso.…

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Farewell to Bernardo Bertolucci, director of «Stealing Beauty,» a postcard movie shot in Tuscany

Farewell to Bernardo Bertolucci, director of «Stealing Beauty,» a postcard movie shot in Tuscany

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Presented at the 49th iteration of the Cannes Film Festival and shot in Tuscany, the feature film Stealing Beauty (1996) shows the beautiful and cheerful wild face of Tuscany. Siena, Gaiole in Chianti, Castello di Brolio, Scorgiano, the photogenic Tuscan hills, the country houses, the olive trees meadows, the parties in luxury villas, summer, love, sex and interpersonal relationships are the ingredients of this arthouse movie. The film shows wonderful places located in the surroundings of Siena through its 19-year old protagonist interpreted by Liv Tyler. This postcard movie, with its eclectic and outstanding soundtrack  (Portishead, Billie Holiday, Steve Wonder, Liz Phair…), has been key in my romance with Tuscany and Florence. I was 19-year old as well when I saw Stealing Beauty in a cinema theatre in the summer of 1996, in Tenerife. Its romance was very important for me and blossomed my love for this land and this region. Master of the Novecento, poet, documentarist, filmmaker, producer, polemicist, Italian cinema auteur par excellence, Bertolucci died today (November 26, 2018) at his home in Trastevere, Rome, after a long illness.

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