The American musical legend Lionel Richie lit up the Eternal City on a quiet winter’s night when he was presented with the 2019 ‘Capri Person of the Year Award’ from Italian music icon Tony Renis, honorary president of Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival, and the Italian Oscar-winners Alessandro Bertolazzi (2016 Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling for “Suicide Squad) and Gianni Quaranta (1985 Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for “A Room with a View”) at a gala event here at the Hotel De Russie. The event kicked off the 2019 festival which moves to the Isle of Capri on December 27^th.The annual cinematic event that will run through January 2, 2020 has become an important stop for films on the road to year-end awards and accolades.

Aside from recognizing Richie’s amazing career as a singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, he was also singled out for his ongoing humanitarian efforts especially his support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He is a multi-Grammy Award-winner, as well as a Golden Globe and Academy Award-winner for “Say You, Say Me” from the film “White Nights (1986) and in 2016 Richie received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honor – the Johnny Mercer Award.

Highlight of the evening was Richie’s surprising the audience by unexpectedly singing several of his greatest hits, “All Night Long”, “Hello”, “Amo t’amo ti amo” and “We Are The World,” the 1985 charity single which he co-wrote. In addressing the audience, he said: “Italy is one of my favorite destinations. I am extremely touched by the warmth and affection you have always shown me, and I am proud and thankful to join prior recipients of the ‘Capri Person of the Year Award, especially Luciano Pavarotti who received the prize in 1996. Luciano had a unique voice and I treasure our duet at ‘Pavarotti and Friends’ as one of the most exciting moments of my whole career.”

In thanking festival founder and producer Pascal Vicedomini for the making the evening possible, he jokingly recounted a story about his efforts to sing in Italian under Tony Renis’s strict supervision and professed his admiration for two persons whom he considers the ‘ambassadors’ of Italian culture to the world – Pavarotti and Sophia Loren.

Richie, who recently met Pope Francis after recording the Vatican Christmas concert which will soon air on Canale 5, spent time at the festival event with director Paolo Genovese, flutist Andrea Griminelli, and the aforementioned Alessandro Bertolazzi and Gianni Quaranta, as well as with the noted filmmaker Enrico Vanzina and his wife Federica, and the Italian fashion designer Gianluca Isaia.

 Organized by the Capri in the World Institute, this year’s edition of Capri, Hollywood - The International Film Festival will be dedicated to the Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo on the 100th anniversary of his birth. It is presented with the support of Mibact-Dg Cinema and Italy’s Campania Region in collaboration with numerous private sponsors.