History’s first female Best Director Oscar nominee doesn’t believe in success, or failure. Sam Fragoso reviews the filmmaker’s passion for Fandor in “Lina Wertmüller Stays In Style”.
Throughout eighty-eight years of life, Lina Wertmüller has spent most of her days doing what she loves: writing and directing films. It’s as much a passion as it is a profession. Now, in a bit of serendipitous timing and coordinated programming, the legendary Italian auteur is having a Moment in America.
At the newly reopened Quad Cinema, Wertmüller’s iconic work—often a staggering blend of piercing satire and sociopolitical commentary—is being presented in a series titled “Female Trouble.” Supported by New York staples like Martin Scorsese, Amy Heckerling, and Louis C.K., the Quad has created an expansive retrospective for audiences to re-discover, or discover, the potent mastery of Wertmüller.
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Lina Wertmüller is an Italian screenwriter and film director. She was the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for Directing Seven Beauties. She is also known for her films The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy and Swept Away.
After graduating from school, her first job was touring Europe in a puppet show. For the next ten years she worked as an actress, director and playwright in legitimate theatre. During this period she met Giancarlo Giannini, who later starred in many of her films.
Through her acquaintance with Marcello Mastroianni, she met Federico Fellini and, in 1962, Fellini offered her the assistant director position on 8½. Read more on Wikipedia.
