Hasta La Gadget!

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Manufacturers can make their devices Tango compatible simply by equipping them with Qualcomm’s new and upcoming Snapdragon 800 and 600 SoCs. According to Ars Technica, the chipmaker has been working with Google for the past year-and-a-half to make it…

Venice has just unveiled the official poster by artist Simone Massi for the 73rd edition of the first and oldest film festival in the world. Yes, even older than Cannes. There, I’ve said it.

The Venice International Film Festival, which will take place on the Lido from August 31st to September 10th, has also announced its opening film, La La Land, directed by Whiplash filmmaker Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and of course, J.K. Simmons. Head of the Competition jury this year will be filmmaker Sam Mendes.

The Biennale di Venezia recently sent out a press release confirming Alberto Barbera as their cinema section director, who will continue to serve for another four-year term. Personally, this last bit of news makes me very happy as Mr. Barbera possesses that rare combination of culture, knowledge and a finger on the pulse of what is hot today. This means that while he doesn’t shy away from classic Italian cinema, he’s also aware of the power of social media, all the while constructing a plan for world cinema to flourish — in and because of Venice.

When I use that word “flourish” I think of so much. Friendships flourish with understanding, admiration, relationships flourish through mutual respect and films, their filmmakers flourish with support. That’s where an organization like Istituto Luce Cinecittà comes in, operating for as long as cinema has existed, in some form or another as supporters and promoters of Italian movies around the world. Do Italian filmmakers today need their help? Oh yes, they do, because while great films continue to be made in and about our peninsula, they are few and far apart. Gone are the days of Fellini and De Sica, replaced instead by some “cinepanettoni” and their likes. Think of these as movies made for the whole family, to be viewed around the holiday — our own version of Bollywood. Hardly the Visconti or Pier Paolo Pasolini of modern times…

Yet the Istituto Luce Cinecittà, combining the archival vaults of Luce with their promotional power of the classics and modern Italian cinema, along with the resources and proud legacy of Cinecittà, is creating renewed interest in Italian cinema. Films are our culture, our heritage, and should represent our own currency of excellence to the world.

The powers that be behind this great organization have already lent a hand for such gems as the documentary The Family Whistle on the Coppola family which played in the Cannes Classics this year, as well as L’ultima Spiaggia in the Critics’ Week there. And of course there is personal favorite Fuocoammare by Gianfranco Rosi which won the Golden Bear at Berlinale earlier this year.

Following is a list of upcoming projects I’ve picked out from their database of finished films, or those in post-production — gems that I’d love to watch in Venice this year. Some may be wishful thinking of course, but a girl can dream, right?

Naples ’44

This documentary narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch is based on the book by British journalist and travel writer Norman Lewis which was once called, “one of the great first-hand accounts of the Second World War.” Directed by Neapolitan filmmaker Francesco Patierno and utilizing footage from Italian neorealist films, Naples ’44 feels like one of the most anticipated titles that could be coming up in Venice. I guarantee if picked there will be a grand parade of Cumberbatch fans lining up to hear the actor give life to Lewis’ personal war tales during the Allied occupation of my own beloved maternal town. Personally, I look forward to this title with bated breath, to finally hear someone else’s stories of the war… Not just my own Neapolitan family’s retelling.

Julian Schnabel

Another documentary, this one on beloved artist-slash-filmmaker-slash-ex-bad-boy Julian Schnabel. When I met the artist years ago, then promoting his latest film Miral, he gently yet swiftly made me feel at ease in his presence. And as Maya Angelou said, “people will never forget how you made them feel.” Unforgettable as Schnabel is to me — his autographed book featuring artwork and scripts to his films sits on a bookcase I see every day and I pick it up whenever I need a shot of his genius — his life remains a bit of a mystery. So watching a film, this one by Pappi Corsicato, about the master of reinvention in the art world would be a wonderful treat.

Indro. L’Uomo che scriveva sull’acqua

Indro Montanelli is a wondrous literary figure for Italians. He was a journalist, a historian and even wrote scripts for films like Roberto Rossellini’s General della Rovere, starring Vittorio De Sica. Yet the man behind the legend was even more interesting and led a life more complicated than any of his writing could betray. Bipolar since an early age, captured and condemned to death by the Germans in 1944, then chief editor of a few prominent Italian newspapers like such as Corriere della Sera and il Giornale, Montanelli even survived an attack on his life by the Red Brigades, a terrorist organization operating in Italy throughout the 70s. Fellow Tuscan Samuele Rossi’s film — the title translates to “Indro, the man who wrote on water” — promises to show the various facets of Montanelli’s personality and talent, while also highlighting a need for more real, truthful voices like his to emerge from today’s media cacophony.

Strane Straniere

Strane Straniere (“Strange Strangers”) tells the stories of five women who arrive to Italy for different reasons, from five countries, and all interweave in one day. From Tunisia, Bulgaria, Serbia, China and Croazia, what these women have in common is the idea that upon their arrival, they’ll switch their old lives with new ones, hopeful and in search of their own identities. The thread weaving this documentary by Elisa Amoruso together combines my love for faraway cultures, with the emotional depth needed for a film to work. And lets not forget the actuality of its subject in this immigration dense moment of our history. It sounds beautiful and the fact that it’s directed by a woman is just icing on the cake for me!

Chiamami col tuo nome

Ever since I started watching films by Luca Guadagnino, I’ve been his fan. I’m hooked by his personal style, something that breaks away so far and so wide from what we expect of an Italian film, and filmmaker, that critics in this nation are simply left baffled. Guadagnino’s latest, “Call Me by Your Name” is co-written with James Ivory, among others, drawn from the novel by Andre Aciman, boasts Sayombhu Mukdeeprom as DP and stars Armie Hammer, who’s been Instagramming teasingly stunning images from the set. This is that one film that is too-late-going-into-post-production-to-make-it-but-a-girl-can-dream shot, yet one never knows with a filmmaker like Guadagnino — so here’s to fingers crossed!

7 Minuti

This instead is the perfect case of a film being undersold. The simple synopsis of 7 Minuti (“7 Minutes”) reads “the story of a group of factory workers who, in order to save others from being fired, offer to each give up seven minutes of their lunch break.” Well, being Italian, I do know how important breaks are here, but honestly, I immagine that the film, a directorial effort by Italian movie star Michele Placido, holds a lot more promise. Drawn from a theater play by Stefano Massini, 7 Minuti will be high on my list of must-watch, if it does make it onto Venice’s line up and I don’t see why it wouldn’t since it boasts in its cast a who’s-who of Italian talents, including Placido’s daughter Violante, Ottavia Piccolo and singer Fiorella Mannoia. What a red carpet that would make!

Monte

Iranian-born filmmaker Amir Naderi is a talent without borders. He started his career in his native Iran culminating in such arthouse hits as The Runner, only to then branch out to NYC (Marathon and Manhattan by Numbers), Sin City (Vegas: Based on a True Story) and even Japan, with Cut. He’s written many of his films, and recently co-wrote one of my favorite films of the 21st century so far, Ramin Bahrani’s 99 Homes. This time around, he’s switched landscapes with Monte (“Mountain”) and ended up in the northern-most part of Italy, telling a fable-like story that takes place in the past, played out by Italian actors.

In guerra per amore

Perfrancesco Diliberto, best known as Pif, is an Italian television personality, sometime actor and video journalist. He’s at once funny and poignant in his interviews and his first try as a filmmaker was the fairly successful The Mafia Kills Only in Summer, a personal journey into the culture of Sicilian mafia through the eyes of a private citizen, played by Pif. Once again, in his latest film In guerra per amore (“At War for Love”) Pif casts himself as the leading man, and this time, he’s Arturo, a man in love with the wrong girl during the Second World War. There are hints that the movie draws inspiration from old films and archival images of the Allied forces landing in Italy, but to me the love story and Pif are enough of a sell. The only thing working against it is that he’s made it known he’s not much of a festival man…

The official selection for the Venice Film Festival will be announced on July 28th, 2016, at a press conference in Rome.

Poster courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia, movie stills courtesy of the filmmakers, all used with permission.

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday during a short-notice visit to Brussels that Scotland was intent on remaining in the European Union, despite last week’s British vote to quit the bloc.

After meeting European Parliament President Martin Schulz, the pro-independence leader told reporters: “Scotland is determined to stay in the EU.”

Schulz said he had “listened and learned”.

The European Commission rolled out the red carpet for Sturgeon on Wednesday, hours after outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron told an EU summit his country would be leaving the European Union following last week’s referendum.

A spokeswoman for the EU executive said Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker would meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the late afternoon after Britain’s 27 partners meet without the UK to discuss how to respond to a Brexit.

They are expected to launch a period of reflection, culminating in a set of EU reform proposals to be unveiled by March of next year, the 60th anniversary of the founding Rome Treaty. Leaders have said the focus will be on getting a grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth.

“It’s important to have this meeting of 27 because it will show the unity of the 27,” said Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, describing the British vote as a wake-up call for Europe.

Sturgeon has said Scotland, where more than 60 percent of voters said they wanted to stay in the EU, does not want to be forced out of Europe by England, the most populous component of the United Kingdom, which voted to leave.

She has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block exit legislation, and alternatively holding a new referendum on independence.

The Scottish Nationalist premier was to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz first in Brussels to discuss the way forward. But the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who chairs EU summits, turned down her request for a meeting, his spokesman said.

Diplomats said there was a risk that the high-profile welcome for Sturgeon, a day after Cameron’s last EU summit, could be seen in London as an encouragement to secession, although EU officials denied any such intention.

Cameron told European Union leaders on Tuesday that Britain’s future relations with the bloc could hinge on the EU’s willingness to rethink free movement of workers, which he blamed for the referendum “no”.

Juncker rebuffed that explanation for the vote, saying that successive British leaders had participated in “Brussels bashing” and should not be surprised if their citizens believed them.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel doused any hopes that Britain might yet reverse its decision, warning against “wishful thinking”. While she persuaded fellow leaders to give London more time to hand in its formal notice to quit, Merkel said Britain could not drag out the process endlessly and made clear that a new government would not be allowed to “cherry-pick” the parts of EU membership benefits that it liked.

“Some think that Britain needs more time. I hear this, yes, but I think it strange. It’s a type of surrealism,” said Belgium’s Michel.

Cameron, who announced his intention to resign after losing the referendum partly due to concerns about immigration, told his last summit he hoped his country would maintain as tight an economic and political relationship as possible with the EU.

“Britain will be leaving the European Union but we will not be turning our back on Europe,” he told a late night news conference after a dinner at which he said many European partners voiced regret and friendship for Britain.

EU officials and diplomats said the mood was coolly polite.

The Conservative leader said he had reported with sadness on the outcome of the referendum, saying: “People recognized the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about movement of people and that was coupled with concern about issues of sovereignty. I think we need to think about that, Europe needs to think about that.”

In a veiled rebuke to Leave campaign leaders such as Boris Johnson, who is vying to succeed him, Cameron said Britons would have to understand they could not keep all the benefits of EU membership without the costs.

“If you want the full benefits of the single market, you’ll have to be part of every part of it,” he said.

Driving home that message, French President Francois Hollande said continued access to the EU’s prized single market was dependent on accepting the so-called four freedoms of movement of goods, capital, workers and services.

“If they don’t want free movement, they won’t have access to the single market,” he said, adding that the City of London would no longer be able to act as a clearing house in euros.

The European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on Tuesday demanding that London activate the EU treaty’s voluntary exit clause as fast as possible. That would launch negotiations on withdrawal terms with a two-year countdown to departure.

“Waiting for several months, as has been announced by you, Prime Minister Cameron, and taking the destiny of our entire continent hostage purely for internal party political reasons would be totally unacceptable,” European Parliament President Martin Schulz told the British leader in the summit.

“That would not mean stability – on the contrary it would mean prolonged uncertainty,” the German Social Democrat said, summing up the fears of many EU partners.

(Reporting by Svebor Kranjc;Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Paul Taylor; Editing by Noah Barkin and Philip Blenkinsop)

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Until that day in the future when smartphones are safely powered by nuclear energy or whatnot, charging mobile devices will always be a fact of life. Various technologies and products, like wireless charging, are being put in place to at least make that as painless as possible. Fancy and ideal as that might sound, wireless charging is still fragmented and … Continue reading