Life is Beautiful – Italian-American Heritage Month – 20 in a series

Life is Beautiful - Italian-American Heritage Month - 20 in a series

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When an open-minded Jewish librarian and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor, and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.


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Cinema Paradiso – Italian-American Heritage Month – 19 in a series

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A CELEBRATION OF YOUTH, FRIENDSHIP, AND THE EVERLASTING MAGIC OF THE MOVIES

A winner of awards across the world including Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, five BAFTA Awards including Best Actor, Original Screenplay and Score, the Grand Prize of the Jury at the Cannes Film Festival and many more.

Giuseppe Tornatore s loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood. Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the high and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier.


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Il Postino/The Postman – Italian-American Heritage Month – 18 in a series

Il Postino/The Postman - Italian-American Heritage Month - 18 in a series

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Cheered by critics and audiences everywhere, IL POSTINO (THE POSTMAN) is the record-breaking Academy Award(R)-winning (Best Dramatic Score, 1995) romantic comedy that delivers heartfelt laughs! Mario is a bumbling mailman who’s madly in love with the most beautiful woman in town … and who’s too shy to tell her how he feels. But when a world-famous poet — Pablo Neruda — moves into town, Mario is inspired. With Neruda’s help, he finds the right words to win the woman’s heart! This unforgettably funny comedy proves that passion … with some artful deception … can win the most improbable love!


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My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels) by Elena Ferrante – Italian-American Heritage Month – 17 in a series

My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels) by by Elena Ferrante - Italian-American Heritage Month - 17 in a series

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Soon to be an HBO series, My Brilliant Friend, first in the New York Times bestselling Neapolitan quartet about two friends growing up in post-war Italy is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted family epic by Italy’s most beloved and acclaimed writer, Elena Ferrante, “one of the great novelists of our time.” (Roxana Robinson, The New York Times)


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Obama reflects on Italy’s influence on American democracy at state dinner – Italian-American Heritage Month – 16 in a series

Obama reflects on Italy's influence on American democracy at state dinner - Italian-American Heritage Month - 16 in a series

President Obama mention Filippo Mazzei in his remarks – Click to Watch The Video

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His loyalty lasted a lifetime… Surgeon, merchant, vintner, and writer Filippo Mazzei influenced American business, politics, and philosophy. Befriending Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Mazzei was a strong liaison for others in Europe. Mazzei was Jefferson’s inspiration for the most famous line in the Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal.” Clearly, Mazzei had a gift of language and often used his words to share his ideas about religious freedom. Mazzei encouraged other Italians still living overseas to join him in a country rich with opportunity and promise. Often, when returning from Italy, he booked passages on ships for people who desired to travel to America and employed them on his estate—just to ensure a better, more fruitful life for everyone. During those travels, Mazzei found himself at the center of many fights for freedom. He was truly a friend to freedom around the world.


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New Journal of Screenwriting Arrives With Lots of Information!

New Journal of Screenwriting Arrives With Lots of Information!

Jos new zealand

It’s always fun when a new issue of the Journal of Screenwriting arrives in my mailbox, but this one’s pleasing on several fronts.

First, in my capacity as Book Reviews Editor, I’m able to publish several of my now-graduated students, often for the first time. 

In this issue I am also the co-author of an article extolling the marvelously successful conference held at Otago University in 2017.  

Also, two of the articles come from that conference – one by  my friend Carmen Sofia Brenes (Chairperson, full professor of poetics and screenwriting at the School of Communication of Universidad de los Andes) is about the 2016 film Jackie, about the life of American icon Jackie Kennedy, written by an American, Noah Oppenheim, and directed by Chilean Pablo Lorrain.

The second article is (not so jokingly) “10 Ways to f#ck up Your Female Characters” by two New Zealand female producers, Fiona Samuel and Kathryn Burnett. I’ve already talked about that one with many an MFA student. 

Ask your local university library to carry a subscription to the Journal of Screenwriting so you can read all the issues when they come out quarterly!

Marconi and His Muses: A Novel Based on the Life of Guglielmo Marconi By Pamela Winfrey – Italian-American Heritage Month – 15 in a series

Marconi and His Muses: A Novel Based on the Life of Guglielmo Marconi By Pamela Winfrey - Italian-American Heritage Month - 15 in a series

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Born with an inquisitive imagination…

Brilliant inventor, electrical engineer, and wise entrepreneur, Guglielmo Marconi was best known for inventing long-distance radio transmissions and the telegraph system.  

But his success wasn’t solely a product of his curious mind. Marconi attributed his prosperity to the people in his life who encouraged him to achieve his goals. Fostering his relationships with his mother, his wives, and other female friends allowed Marconi to grow and explore as an inventor without the fear of isolation, political disassociation, and covert racism hindering his dreams.  

Although he spent most of his time spanning the globe and using the entire planet as his creative palette, the people he chose to associate himself with were critical to his well-being, his inventive nature, and his general physical and mental health. Without his close-knit relationships, long-distance transmission may have never come to fruition.  


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The Soul of a Child: A Novel Based on the Life of Maria Montessori By Kate Fuglei – Italian-American Heritage Month – 14 in a series

The Soul of a Child: A Novel Based on the Life of Maria Montessori By Kate Fuglei - Italian-American Heritage Month - 14 in a series

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The Soul of a Child: A Novel Based on the Life of Maria Montessori places the brilliant educator and reformer in the context of her time. It examines the relationships, inner struggles, and inspirations of Maria Montessori, a woman with heart, empathy, and resilience. As a strong woman who lived through two world wars, the rise of Fascism in Spain and Italy, and the dawn of the nuclear age, she remained undeterred in her faith in the possibility of positive change through education. Her life spanned both the joys of innovation and the horrors of destruction of the twentieth century. Her influence on education and humanism remains resonant and enduring. This is her story. 


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Grace Notes: A Novel Based on the Life of Henry Mancini By Stacia Raymond – Italian-American Heritage Month – 13 in a series

Grace Notes: A Novel Based on the Life of Henry Mancini By Stacia Raymond - Italian-American Heritage Month - 13 in a series

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Celebrating a giant of American popular music… 

With a legacy that resonates today in the work of contemporary film composers, the magnanimous Henry Mancini left an indelible mark on the culture. Over the course of a life cut short, Mancini helped liberate a concentration camp at the end of WWII, created some of the most iconic film and television themes ever written, and unseated the Beatles from the number one spot at the apex of rock and roll. 

Resurrected through dialogue portraying pivotal scenes from his life, readers will get to know Mancini like never before—and come to appreciate this national treasure who fought for equality while bringing out the beauty of the world through his artistry.


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A.P. Giannini, The People’s Banker By Francesca Valente – Italian-American Heritage Month – 12 in a series

A.P. Giannini, The People's Banker By Francesca Valente - Italian-American Heritage Month - 12 in a series

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The story of a dreamer…

Envisioning a socio-economic utopia, A. P. Giannini was not a typical banking tycoon. With a socially enlightened heart, he made the American dream a reality, not just for himself, but for society as a whole.

In spite of devastating personal obstacles, such as the death of his father, Giannini became the world’s leading banker of the twentieth century. Raised by hardworking peasant immigrants in what was considered a backwater area of California, Giannini received his economic education in an unconventional way, paving the way for his rise to prosperity.  

Founding the Bank of Italy for poor immigrant families, he wanted to overcome the barriers put in place by the conservative current banking elite to fulfill the dreams of “little guys.”  

Soon, the Bank of Italy became the Bank of America and the poor Italian was now in a position to help dreamers such as Walt Disney achieve their own dreams. Giannini also shaped the San Francisco skyline by financing the bold Golden Gate Bridge. His influences and hard work can be seen all over the country, simply because he believed in “a more general distribution of wealth and happiness.” 


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