PAOLO SORRENTINO

Long before The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino’s second feature was a hyper-stylized existential drama — a demanding yet deeply rewarding gem. Featuring a dazzling performance by Toni Servillo as a man who seems to have been stripped of every trace of life. — A well-groomed middle-aged man from southern Italy has spent the past eight years living in an anonymous hotel in a nameless Swiss city, with no apparent occupation. Years of silence and countless cigarettes unfold in the hotel lobby, where he sits elegantly dressed yet denies himself any luxury. What are the unspoken secrets he carries? — Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2004

A film that won the Jury Prize at Cannes and earned Toni Servillo the European Best Actor Award in 2008. In what many consider his finest work, Paolo Sorrentino draws inspiration from a controversial political figure to craft a dazzling and sardonic political satire. — The story of Giulio Andreotti, seven-time prime minister and the most powerful politician in postwar Italy, spanning from 1946 to 1993. — Jury Prize | Cannes Film Festival | 2008 Nominated for Best Achievement in Makeup | Oscars | 2010 Best European Actor (Toni Servillo) | European Film Awards | 2008

Paolo Sorrentino won the Oscar fair and square for his Felliniesque tribute to the Eternal City, a dionysian cinematic ride concealing grief and emptiness behind its gorgeous imagery, transforming existential pain into a never-ending party. — Rome in the summer. Tourists flock to Janiculum Hill. A charming -despite first signs of aging- man, enjoys the city’s social life. He attends dinners and parties, where his dazzling presence is always welcomed. As a young journalist, he wrote a novel that procured him a literary prize and the reputation of a repressed artist. He throws a roof party at his apartment, which has a view of the Colosseum, where "The Human System" (his novel’s title), is exposed and an empty farce is taking place. — Oscar Best Foreign Language Film | Oscars | 2014

Paolo Sorrentino’s English-language debut is less a tale of revenge and more a coming-of-age journey, featuring a spunky Sean Penn, made up in the likeness of Cure's Robert Smith. — A veteran rock star, long retired in Dublin and living off the royalties of past recordings, returns to New York to track down the Nazi who tortured his father during World War II. — Prize of the Ecumenical Jury | Cannes Film Festival | 2011

In Paolo Sorrentino’s most tender film, pop meets classical music, Paloma Faith crosses paths with Maradona, and Michael Caine delivers one of his final great performances. — A renowned British conductor, now retired and whiling away his days at an Alpine resort, is urged by Queen Elizabeth to return to the stage for Prince Philip’s birthday celebration. — Nomination for Best Original Song | Oscars | 2016 Official Selection | Cannes Film Festival | 2015 Best European Film | European Film Awards | 2015 Best European Director | European Film Awards | 2015 Best European Actor (Michael Caine) | European Film Awards | 2015 Audience Award | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | 2015 Nomination for Best Foreign Film | César Awards | 2015