Bold and multifaceted roles in an outstanding acting career both in Hollywood and in European cinema, a benchmark icon in the world of fashion, an everlasting symbol of beauty and charm. Thessaloniki International Film Festival is delighted to welcome the stunning Monica Bellucci, one of the most dazzling and influential stars of cinema, who will be awarded with the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander and attend two of the 64th TIFF’s screenings.
Unforgettable Malèna (2000) by Giuseppe Tornatore, a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a mosaic of a painful historical period at once, where Monica Bellucci delivers an impeccable performance of a multilayered female character, will be screened on Thursday November 9th, at Olympion. Within the framework’s event, Monica Bellucci will be awarded with the Festival’s honorary Golden Alexander for her contribution to the art of cinema.
In 2019, Monica Bellucci made her theater debut in the play Maria Callas: Letters and Memoirs, where she delivers a monologue featuring extracts from Maria Callas’ letters and her unfinished memoirs. The screening of the hybrid titular film by Tom Volf and Yannis Dimolitsas, on Wednesday November 8th, at Olympion, takes us to the unseen backstage of the creative encounter between cinema, theater and the opera, while immersing us into a “dialogue” between two iconic figures in the world of art. The screening is part of the celebration for the Maria Callas Year, on the account of the 100th anniversary since the great soprano’s birth.
Monica Bellucci made the transition from modeling to cinema in the early 90s and gained worldwide fame through the memorable French comedy The Apartment (1996), earning a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising Actress. Two years later, she won the Globe d’Oro for Best Actress for her performance in the drama-comedy Kaputt Mundi (1998) by Marco Risi, while in the early 00s her career skyrocketed thanks to her brave performances in the films Malèna (2000) by Giuseppe Tornatore and Irréversible (2002) by Gaspar Noé and her taking part in the Matrix sequels. Monica Bellucci, who has worked alongside many more acclaimed directors, such as Sam Mendes, Emir Kusturica, Bertrand Blier, Mel Gibson and Alice Rohrwacher, has also excelled in television, both in the third season of Mozart in the Jungle and her delightful guest appearances in Call My Agent and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return.
