Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, one of the most controversial filmmakers on the international cinema scene, has won the “Capri Cult Award 2007 by Fiuggi”, a special prize for “the high quality of his films”, which will be presented to him by his colleague Lina Wertmuller during the “12th Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival 2007” scheduled to start on 27 December on the “Blue Island”.
The announcement was made by Ms. Wertmuller herself on the occasion of the conference of the Region of Campania at the World Travel Market in London, during which Tourism and Cultural Heritage Commissioner Marco di Lello presented the Capri event and all the other major events planned to be held in Campania in 2008.
Now 69 years old and the mastermind behind a number of international movies that have already become part of film history – “Basic Instinct", "Robocop", "Total Recall" – Paul Verhoeven is returning to Italy after his experience as a member of the Jury at the Venice Film Festival and the success of the recent "Black Book" (nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film), a film that has cast light on a heretofore unknown chapter1 of Nazism in Holland. In Capri, the Dutch artist will talk about his upcoming film: "Azazel", starring the beautiful (and new mother) Milla Jovovich and Dan Stevens, adapted from the novel by Boris Akunin and set in 19th-century Russia.
Together with Verhoeven, other guests at Capri-Hollywood will include directors Joel Schumacher, who will receive a prize for his career, Denmark’s Bille August, India’s Shekhar Kapur, Americans Mike Figgis and Terry Gilliam, and Britain’s Michael Radford. A special prize will go to Giuseppe Tornatore’s film “La Sconosciuta (The Unknown)”, nominated by the 2008 Italian Oscar commission as a candidate for Best Foreign Film. Alongside Lina Wertmuller, the event’s management committee will be composed of U.S. producer Mark Canton (“300”), this year’s chairman, Marina Cicogna, Tony Renis, and Franco Nero.
The programme of Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival, rich with premieres, film series open to the public and cultural symposiums, has aroused a great deal of interest at the London WTM, attended by around 50,000 operators representing 202 countries.
Capri, Hollywood – The International Film Festival, the winter season’s major international film festival, is produced with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage (General Directorate of Cinema) and the Region of Campania – Office of the Commissioner for Tourism and Cultural Heritage - in collaboration with the Kimbo coffee and Fiuggi mineral water companies and the Venice Casino, and the contribution of the Naples Chamber of Commerce and Cinecittà Holding group.