Paolo and Vittorio Taviani are perhaps best known for their movie, "The Night of the Shooting Stars," and are among the most famous film directors in Italy’s cinematic history. This documentary, “Passion and Utopia” tells, in their words and in the words of actors, photographers, and producers who worked with them, the story of their long partnership during which they made dozens of films. It also features clips from their movies, and behind-the-scenes footage during the filming of their movies.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Saverio Marconi talks about the job of an actor. Nanni Moretti tells of an embarrassing moment on the set of a movie he was making with the Taviani brothers. Vittorio and Paolo Taviani talk about why they shot Caesar Must Die in black and white.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The Taviani brothers, at around eighty years of age, feel like they have gone back to their more reckless early days, with Caesar Must Die.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Nanni Moretti tells about how he got to see Caesar Must Die before it was released. The composer, Giuliano Taviani talks about how he became interested in writing music for film, and how budget limits actually inspired him in writing the music for this movie.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Music plays an essential role in the films of the Taviani brothers. It's like having another actor. Composer Nicola Piovani knows something about this having worked with them on some of their movies. He also composed the soundtrack for the movie La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful) with Roberto Benigni.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
Music and sound have major roles in the movies of the Taviani brothers. Notably, the tarantella from Allonsanfàn, written by Ennio Morricone, was also used by Tarantino in one of his movies, and that's when it became famous.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
We learn about the ideas behind the movies, Father and Master and The Night of the Shooting Stars, and how music played a major role in both movies.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The Taviani brothers were adolescents during World War II, and talk about how tense it was growing up with the Germans and fascists so close by. A woman at a bar gives them directions to find one of the locations for filming The Night of the Shooting Stars.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
The Taviani brothers reveal some tricks used during the filming of The Night of San Lorenzo and tell us how they managed to combine a particular sequence of the film with the cornerstone of Greek literature, The Iliad.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
It's not often that two people, let alone brothers, can work together in perfect harmony. But artists who have worked with the Taviani brothers say they came very close. Paolo and Vittoio knew what they wanted and they knew how they wanted to obtain it, down to the letter.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
Italy
This is the final installment of the documentary dedicated to the Taviani brothers. It concludes as they do some location scouting in the marvelous old city of Montepulciano for Maraviglioso Boccaccio (Wondrous Boccaccio), a 2015 film. Vittorio Taviani died in 2015 at the age of 88, and Paolo is 89 and still making films.
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