Woody Allen and 'To Rome, With Love' to Open LA Film Festival
Film Independent has announced that Woody Allen's new film "To Rome, With Love" will open the L.A. Film Festival this year after premiering in Italy last week.
The film is made up of four adventures and misadventures and sees numerous A-list actors such as Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Judy Davis, Roberto Benigni, and Ellen Page, among others.
Ahead of the screening of the film during its premiere Friday, Allen expressed his positive outlook of the film's setting, Italy, during a news conference.
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"[Americans] have an enormously affectionate feeling about Italy," he declared. They think of Italy as a country that is enormously warm … It's a very strange place to live, a place that enjoys life and that stands for everything positive about life."
Headquartered at downtown's L.A. Live, the film festival will run from June 14-24. More than 200 feature films, shorts, and music videos will be presented from over 30 countries during the event.
Following Friday's premiere of the film in the Eternal City, Italian critics voiced objections and deemed "To Rome, With Love" as being "superficial," reported the Associated Press.
Despite its predicted success, Allen was forced to defend his new movie- calling it a tribute to old Italian films and not a means to foster old-fashioned Italian stereotypes. The acclaimed director responded to the critics by explaining his simple desire to entertain audiences with Rome as the film's setting.
"When I come to a place to make a move, I give you my own impression of it," said the legendary director. "The things that strike me as dramatic or comic, that would be fun to see. I have no great insights at all into Italian politics, Italian culture."
The Letty Aronson and Stepehn Tenenbaum-produced film opens in U.S. theaters everywhere on June 22 via Sony Pictures Classics.
Earlier this year, Allen coveted an Academy Award for original screenplay with his hit film "Midnight in Paris."
