Rovere to get Filmmaker of Year at LA, Italia fest

(ANSA) - Los Angeles, January 28 - Roman director Matteo Rovere will receive the Filmmaker of the Year award on February 21 at the awards ceremony of the Los Angeles, Italia film festival at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, for his ancient Rome epic "The First King".
    American director Adam McKay will also receive the award, for his film "Vice", about former US Vice President Dick Cheney, which has been nominated for eight Oscar awards.
    Rovere, 37, has already won acclaim as a director for various films, including the 2016 film "Veloce Come Il Vento" starring Stefano Accorsi.
    As a producer, Rovere worked with Domenico Procaccio on the 2014 comedy "I Can Quit Whenever I Want" (Smetto Quando Voglio) directed by Sydney Sibilia.
    Rovere will also bring his most recent work as a producer, "Croce e Delizia", directed by Simone Godano and starring Alessandro Gassman, Fabrizio Bentivoglio and Jasmine Trinca, to the festival.
    Director Adam McKay, 50, rose to fame with his 2015 film "The Big Short", starring Christian Bale and co-produced by Brad Pitt.
    McKay repeated the winning formula with "Vice", which stars Christian Bale as the former US vice president and was co-produced by Pitt.
    The Los Angeles, Italia film festival will kick off on Sunday, February 17 with the film "Piranhas" (La Paranza dei Bambini), directed by Claudio Giovannesi and based on the 2016 novel by Roberto Saviano.
    This year's festival will be dedicated to Italian-American director Francis Ford Coppola and the town of his grandparents, Matera, which is a 2019 European Capital of Culture.
    The festival will be overseen by TV producer Hayma Washington, former CEO and chairman of the Emmys; Italian animation "king" Iginio Straffi; and Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta.
    The festival is sponsored by the Capri Institute with the support of the Italian Culture Ministry and Foreign Ministry and the participation of the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE) and the Italian Trade Agency (ICE) together with Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, Ambi Media Group, Tatatu, Rainbow Group, RAI Com, Medusa and Isaia.