The Academy is honoring Lina Wertmüller at the Governors Awards on October 27 — and Genoma Films is gearing up for the ceremony. The film company has organized retrospectives and celebrations for the Italian director ahead of her Honorary Oscar acceptance and her Hollywood Walk of Fame event on October 28.
Genoma Films helped fund the restoration of “Seven Beauties,” for which Wertmüller became the first woman nominated for a directing Oscar.
Wertmüller retrospectives, including screenings of “The Seduction of Mimi,” “Love & Anarchy,” “Swept Away,” and “Seven Beauties,” will take place October 20 and 25 at American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Wertmüller herself will introduce the 7:30 p.m. screening of “Seven Beauties” on October 25.
On October 24, there will be a private screening of Valerio Ruiz’s Wertmüller documentary, “Behind the White Glasses.” Wertmüller will receive the Italian Culture Institute’s Los Angeles Creative Award, “an acknowledgment of the Italian excellency in the world in every creative sector,” at the event.
“I would like to thank Genoma Films and its President Paolo Rossi Pisu, as well as the Cineteca Nazionale, who helped restore the film ‘Seven Beauties,’ which screened earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, and will now have a special screening at the Aero Theater in Los Angeles,” Wertmüller said. “I can’t wait for fans of the film to have the opportunity to see it fully restored and on the big screen later this month. I am so grateful to be receiving an honorary Oscar and to everyone who has put together these wonderful celebrations in my honor, and I am looking forward to all of the festivities.”
Wertmüller also received an Oscar nomination for penning “Seven Beauties.” “The Basilisks,” “All Screwed Up,” and “A Night Full of Rain” are among her other films. Most recently, she directed and co-wrote 2014 short doc “Roma, Napoli, Venezia… in un crescendo rossiniano.”
In total, just five women have ever been recognized in the Oscars’ directing category: Wertmüller, Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), and Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”). Bigelow is the sole woman to take home the prize.
For tickets and more information about the Wertmüller retrospectives, visit American Cinematheque’s website.