Martin Scorsese Celebrates U.S. Immigrants at Taormina: ‘With the Exception of Native Americans, We're All Either Immigrants, Children of Immigrants or Descendants of Immigrants'
Martin Scorsese played up his Sicilian roots and the impact of waves of immigration on the United States as he received a lifetime achievement award Thursday evening at the Taormina Film Festival.
'With the exception of Native Americans, we're all either immigrants, children of immigrants or descendants of immigrants,' Scorsese said from the stage of Taormina's Ancient Greek Theatre on a balmy evening with Sicily's Mt. Etna volcano in the backdrop.
More from Variety
Martin Scorsese in Taormina on His Sicilian Heritage: Growing up 'I Was Really Living in a Sicilian Village. It Just Happened to Be Downtown Manhattan'
Martin Scorsese's 'The Saints' Gets Second Season at Fox Nation
Michael Douglas Feted by Taormina as Fest Kicks Off: 'I Am Touched Now When I Realize That Between My Father and I, We Made Over 150 Movies in the Span of 80 Years'
'The country is very young. It's 250 years old, which is nothing in terms of world history. We're learning. We're just crawling. We haven't begun yet to walk or talk.'
In an emotional speech, Scorsese recalled being a 5-year-old with his family as they watched Roberto Rossellini's 'Paisá' and for the first time hearing from the TV screen the same Sicilian dialect his immigrant grandparents and parents spoke in New York. He recalled his family gathering to watch the film and talking directly to the people that were on the screen.
'It was there in that room, that night, that I had a calling to make movies, and to touch people in the same way that this film touched us that night. So it is Sicily that helped draw me to cinema and cinema drew me to Sicily,' he said.
In presenting the award, Taormina artistic director Tiziana Rocca praised Scorsese for being 'the heart of cinema for 50 years' and underlined his work in preserving and popularizing cinema.
In his speech Scorsese, 82, also paid tribute to another Hollywood director with Sicilian roots, Frank Capra, citing Capra's description of filmmaking as an addiction to which the cure is only to make more films.
Earlier in the day, the Oscar-winning director spoke to Variety about several projects which have brought him to Sicily, including a documentary about marine archeology based on the work of underwater archaeologist Lisa Briggs off the Sicilian coast. Scorsese's family trace their roots back to Ciminna and Polizzi Generosa, small Sicilian villages which he visited last October. Scorsese, citing Capra's prolificness, also hinted at another work for which he has started scouting locations in Sicily which he intends to shoot once the filming of the documentary is complete.
'I wonder, where I would be without Italian cinema,' Scorsese said, concluding his speech.
'The debt I owe to Italian cinema and the people that made it and are continuing to make it, is really incalculable. I'll never stop talking about it, to the entire world, wherever I go and I thank you for this wonderful honor to be here tonight.'
'Thank you for bringing me back home.'
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Upturn
4 hours ago
- Business Upturn
Is The Pitt season 2 releasing in June 2025? Everything we know so far
By Aman Shukla Published on June 14, 2025, 17:30 IST Last updated June 14, 2025, 11:32 IST The Pitt , Max's gripping medical drama starring Noah Wyle, has captivated audiences with its intense real-time storytelling and realistic portrayal of emergency room challenges. After a successful first season, fans are eager to know: Is The Pitt Season 2 releasing in June 2025? Here's everything we know so far. The Pitt Season 2 Release Date: Is June 2025 Possible? Despite some speculation, The Pitt Season 2 is not releasing in June 2025. Multiple reports, including Variety and TVLine, confirm that the second season is slated to premiere in January 2026. Max CEO Casey Bloys emphasized the show's annual release model, noting that Season 2 will debut exactly one year after Season 1's January 2025 premiere. This aligns with the production timeline, as filming began in June 2025, following a similar six-month post-production schedule as Season 1. The January 2026 release date allows Max to maintain a consistent schedule, avoiding the long gaps common in streaming series like House of the Dragon or The Last of Us . While a June 2025 release would have been exciting for fans, it's not feasible given the current production stage. What to Expect from The Pitt Season 2 Plot Season 2 of The Pitt will continue its unique real-time format, covering a single 15-hour shift over 15 episodes. Set approximately 10 months after Season 1, the new season will take place during the Fourth of July weekend, a notoriously chaotic time for emergency rooms due to fireworks accidents, heat-related illnesses, and alcohol-related injuries. Showrunner R. Scott Gemmill revealed that this time jump allows for fresh storylines while catching up with the characters' development. A key focus will be on Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), who was mandated to attend a 30-day rehab program in Season 1 after stealing medication. Season 2 will likely begin on Langdon's first day back at work, exploring his journey to regain trust, particularly with his mentor, Dr. Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch (Noah Wyle). Gemmill hinted at addressing broader healthcare issues, including disparities in care for people of color with diabetes, suggesting a socially relevant narrative. How to Watch The Pitt Season 2 The Pitt Season 2 will stream exclusively on Max, with episodes likely releasing weekly on Thursdays, following the Season 1 schedule. All 15 episodes of Season 1 are currently available on Max, allowing fans to catch up before the new season. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Odd Taxi's' Baku Kinoshita on His Melancholic Feature Debut ‘The Last Blossom,' Premiering in Annecy
There's a deep melancholy emanating from 'The Last Blossom,' Baku Kinoshita's anime feature, playing in competition at this year's Annecy Animation Festival. Kinoshita's directorial debut tells the story of Minoru Akutsu, a former yakuza dying in a solitary prison cell after a life sentence. His only company is a potted balsam flower. The filmmaker puts a whimsical twist on a rather dark tale by having that flower converse with Akutsu, who tells it the story of his life before imprisonment. The flower is animated with expressivity and liveliness, speaking to Akutsu and questioning why he didn't take certain paths, as if his own conscience were talking back to him. More from Variety Sentient Acorns, Badass Grandmas and Underwater Knights Feature Among MIFA's 2025 Feature Pitches Key Latin America Animation Titles to Come Under the Spotlight at Annecy-MIFA's La Liga Focus 'Edmond and Lucy' Returns With Season 2 From MIAM! Animation: Feature Adaptation in Development Variety spoke to Kinoshita about the adjustments of making a first feature following the film's screening at the festival. When 'Odd Taxi' came out, many people compared it to Martin Scorsese's work. I wondered what character dramas you had in mind for 'The Last Blossom.' A friend told me it reminded them of Takeshi Kitano. Exactly that. I love Scorsese and Takeshi Kitano has been a big, big influence on me, and so I guess with this, yeah, I was influenced by [Kitano]'s worldview and the way he structures his stories, the way the shots are pieced together. With Takeshi Kitano's films, you might have a blue sky and lovely sunny sky and some beautiful greenery, and then behind the bushes someone's being murdered, 'cause it doesn't matter what the weather's like or if someone's being murdered. It gives you a sense of truth or reality. It's quite a sorrowful story. Why did you want to tell it? I like this idea of finding release from something restraining you psychologically. It was the same in 'Odd Taxi' and in 'The Last Blossom,' and I got to share that with the screenwriter [Kazuya Konomoto] as well. So, while this film is about a yakuza, the heart of the story is showing the life of someone who's kind of gone off the rails in society. So yes, his job is being a yakuza, but I wanted to focus on his life and, you know, the space that he lives in, how he talks to his family, what his interests are. The animation is very reserved; in much of the film, there's a lot of stillness, but here you have this character of a very animated balsam flower. Since the rest of the film is more realistic in tone, I wanted to ask what inspired you to have this kind of character. I wanted the flower to be the opposite character to Akutsu. I thought it would be an attractive contrast if I made this huge gap between their characters. Well, maybe it's obvious, but Akutsu doesn't change shape or take different forms; he's very quiet, whereas the flower is funny and flexible and has a lot of freedom, very animated, as you say. I thought the freer I made the flower, the bigger the contrast with Akutsu, and the more his particular characteristics would stand out, which in turn makes the characteristics of the flower more obvious. And so for me, it was very important to create the atmosphere of the film by making the flower very elastic. Speaking of that atmosphere, I remember in your work-in-progress session from last year you spoke about the film being about 'stillness, movement and stillness' in its rhythm, and I wanted to ask your thoughts on the most important way of creating that rhythm. I think – and this is sort of instinctive – but you'll see that after there's a really still scene, sometimes I'd put in a burst of action without anything in between. So just quiet, quiet, and then action. I've done that on a few occasions throughout the film, to stop the audience getting… bored? That's intentional, and it's also kind of instinctive, but it's very important, I think, for the rhythm of the film. Zooming out a little bit, were there any major adjustments from directing a series to directing a feature? A film is just much shorter, and that means that you can focus much more on every single shot, which makes it feel like you're doing something worth doing, because you can put so much energy into the quality that you're creating. Was there a moment during the 'The Last Blossom' production that made you realize that? Well, with this film, I checked every single frame. All the background art, all the character movement, every inch of every frame I checked myself. So it was just a different level of detail in the checking that I did, a different quality and a different quantity. 'The Last Blossom' is grounded and original. In animation, it's often difficult to get an original drama, let alone one this understated, off the ground. Well, I do feel that I was very, very lucky to get the opportunity to make an original animation like this. I've always wanted to make animation that doesn't exist in Japan or hasn't existed in Japan in the past. I also thought that I had a chance with this and that there was probably someone out there who wanted to see this film. Going back to the process of making the film, you spoke before about referring to anime from the '80s in terms of the tone of the sequences set in the past. Could you discuss how you went about that? For example, with the background arts, I used vivid, close-to-primary colors. I wanted to rely as little as possible on filming effects, so with the background colors I referenced films like – well, it wasn't from that long ago – but 'Lilo and Stitch' and its use of strong color. A lot of this process sounds like you wanted to be quite restrained in the techniques you're using, you wanted to be economical and straightforward. I can imagine that there's the temptation to keep adding elements. It's tricky for me. Trying a whole bunch of different things is quite risky. My philosophy is to try not to overreach, to make the most beautiful thing I can within my abilities. I did get told off quite a bit from the team for changing things partway, though. For example, after I'd drawn Akutsu's face quite a bit, it gradually got more refined, and I quite liked the way it changed, so then I went back to the beginning and said we had to change him from the beginning. Because this film runs on a theme that's so personal to you, what were you hoping an audience would take away from it? This idea of being released from something that's holding you in. I think, to put it another way, quite simply, it's change, and I see value in people changing. For example, if you have a boy at school who's really shy, really inward-looking, and then the next day he manages to say 'hello.' There's change. It's the same idea that I'm getting at – the opportunity for huge richness, which applies to everybody. No matter how small the change is. However small the change, I think it's beautiful and worthwhile. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is This The Absolute Best Vogue Spain Could've Done with Kaia Gerber?
The industry continues to endorse Kaia Gerber like there's no tomorrow. Since her modelling debut as the face of Versace kids in 2012, the daughter of Cindy Crawford has walked a staggering amount of blue chip runway shows, became the face of mega brands like Chanel, Valentino, Celine and graced multiple editions of Vogue worldwide (including British, American, French, Italian, Chinese and Japanese). Therefore, it should come as no surprise to see Kaia Gerber take to the cover of Vogue Spain. Inés Lorenzo, who has served as head of editorial content since 2021, welcomes Gerber as the title's cover girl for June 2025. The model-turned-actress poses before the lens of Amy Troost for the occasion, and is styled by Max Ortega. Gerber gazes down Troost's lens wearing a top from Spanish high-street retailer Mango and a necklace from Sophie Buhai. 'It's good!' declared WAVES upon first look. 'Really?' replied forum member RMDV in a state of shock. 'On the very rare occasion… this cover needed more text. It feels lazy just slapping Kaia's name on the cover and calling it a day. No thought, no effort, no nothing. Always been a Kaia Gerber fan but I'm struggling to defend this. She looks vapid, lifeless, and completely devoid of energy,' voiced vogue28. Also majorly underwhelmed was Zorka. 'Aside from the cheap/amateurish set design and basic photography style, the whole wet hair look just ruins the whole thing for me. This is NOT Vogue cover material,' they declared. 'What a waste of Kaia Gerber. Ugh!' sighed prylvi. 'What do u expect?' asked Xone. 'Max Ortega is involved. He is terrible. Vogue Spain did much better covers with local talent.' See more of Kaia Gerber from the Vogue Spain June 2025 cover shoot and join the conversation, here. The post Is This The Absolute Best Vogue Spain Could've Done with Kaia Gerber? appeared first on theFashionSpot.
