November 28, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000

                         lunger@oscars.org

Beverly Hills, CA - Two classic silent Italian films starring two leading divas of the period will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday, December 12, at 7:30 p.m., in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. "Assunta Spina" and "Malombra" will be screened with live musical accompaniment and live translation of the original Italian inter-titles. The program, "Dive e Divine: Silent Divas of the Italian Cinema," is presented in association with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Heritage Culture Foundation.

The Italian divas of the teens and 1920s radiated on the screen, startling audiences with their glamorous and mysterious beauty paired with an unequivocal passion and strength. Direct descendents of theatrical and operatic primadonnas, the Italian divas of the screen represented a mixture of the femme fatale and the "new" woman of the modern age. The characters they played resided in the escapist and lavish worlds of grand hotels, mansions and holiday resorts, but ended their lives tragically, punished for being cruel, sinful or rebellious.

"Assunta Spina" (1915) stars diva Francesca Bertini as Assunta, a lower class, poorly-educated Neopolitan woman. After arousing the insane jealousy of her fiancé Michele, causing him to murder a man, Assunta prostitutes herself to save him from a life in prison.

"Malombra" (1917) stars diva Lyda Borelli as a woman who uncovers a family secret about her mother's death, falls in love with a writer and rebels against the suitors approved by her uncle. Haunted by her past and anxious about her present, Marina di Malombra kills her uncle and the writer.

The two films are part of a larger series that screened at Lincoln Center and the Pacific Film Archive earlier this fall. The films in the series, including the two the Academy will screen, were recently restored by the Cineteca di Bologna, the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique, the Netherlands Filmmuseum, and the George Eastman House Film Department.

Tickets for "Dive e Divine: Silent Divas of the Italian Cinema" are $5 for the general public, $3 for Academy members and students with valid identification. They may be purchased in advance at the Academy during regular business hours, by mail, or on the night of the event when the doors open at 6:30 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call 310-247-3600.