Gomorrah and Il Divo “born of the same womb”
Matteo Garrone (40) won the Grand Jury Prize for his sixth feature film (and first in official competition at Cannes), Gomorrah [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Domenico Procacci
interview: Jean Labadie
interview: Matteo Garrone
film profile]. The adapatation was a true challenge, given the wealth and complexity of the eponymous bestseller on the Camorra by Roberto Saviano (who also co-wrote the screenplay).
Garrone’s first film, Terra di mezzo, won the Special Jury Prize in Turin in 1996. He followed that up with Guests (1998); Estate romana (2000); The Embalmer, which in 2002 screened in the Directors’ Fortnight and was his best film until Gomorrah; and First Love, in competition at the 2004 Berlinale.
Paolo Sorrentino, the 38-year-old director from Naples, has twice before been in the running for the Palme d’Or: in 2004 with The Consequences of Love and in 2006 with The Family Friend. Today his talent was recognized at Cannes with the Jury Prize for Il Divo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicola Giuliano
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
interview: Philippe Desandre
film profile] .
The Italian member of the jury, actor-director Sergio Castellitto, at the end of the awards ceremony spoke of "two twin films, born of the same womb. Both are on what lies hidden behind not a dictatorship or tyranny, but a democracy in the heart of Europe".
(Translated from Italian)
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