How Italy made strides in global entertainment in 2022 with 'Lehman Trilogy', 'Bones and All' and Måneskin

In 2022, Italy reached several milestones in the international entertainment arena: one piece Italian, "The Lehman Trilogy," won five Tony Awards, an award the country had never won; Roman rock band Måneskin earned a Grammy nomination; and even as the domestic box office plunged this year , Italian film exports have exploded.

Massini's five-hour play, which follows the three Lehman brothers from their arrival from Germany to New York in 1844 until the 2008 bankruptcy of their global financial services company prompted Sam Mendes to stage an English adaptation, which ultimately triumphed at the Tonys. Now, a high-end TV series based on his play is being developed by producers Domenico Procacci and Lorenzo Mieli with Florian Zeller ("The Father, "The Son") attached to direct. em>Variety, praised Massini for managing "to tell so effectively a story that has no Italian element, since most of it takes place in the United States."

The same can be said of Luca Guadagnino's cannibalistic novelist "Bones and All", starring Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell as "eaters" who become lovers on a road trip through 1980s America. Guadagnino's American debut, which won two awards at Venice before making a splash elsewhere in the world, was hailed by Venetian chef Alberto Barbera for being "a film about America that manages to say things about the United States that even American directors haven't been able to say."

"International" becomes the mantra of the Italian film industry. Even though ticket sales at local cinemas, estimated at 45 million admissions in 2022, are down more than 50% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019 – when they hit the 100 mark million – Italian film association chief Francesco Rutelli recently trumpeted figures showing that Cinema Italiano's exports have more than doubled in recent years. While Italy only exported 52 films in 2017, the number of Italian titles distributed globally more than doubled to 118 titles in 2021 and that number continues to rise, he said. Italian films hitting US theaters soon include Emanuele Crialese's 'L'Immensità' starring Penelope Cruz and the men's drama 'The Eight Mountains' - the latter truly reflecting the country's international mood. Although directed by Belgian duo Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, "Eight Mountains" is an entirely Italian-language film produced by Italian Wildside. Both titles will be released in the United States in January from Sundance.

But when it comes to Italian artists making inroads in the United States, nobody in 2022 never came close to Måneskin.

Since winning the Eurovision trophy 18 months ago, the four rockers Romans have taken the world by storm with their raw talent, swagger and unfiltered sexiness. In 2022, they became the first Italian band to win Best Alternative Video at the MTV Video Music Awards and also won an American Music Award for Favorite Rock Song for their cover of "Beggin'", originally recorded by the Four Seasons. Måneskin also opened for the Rolling Stones in Las Vegas before embarking on their first North American tour, reached 25 million Spotify users, and landed a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, to name a few. just a few of their other career milestones this year.

And for those who think Måneskin is just a glam rock band dressed in Gucci, don't forget they defended Ukraine by writing "We're Gonna Dance on Gasoline", which opened their first Coachella set, with frontman Damiano David shouting "Fuck Putin!" on the Mojave stage in the middle of the new song.

At the end of September, when Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers from Italy left, who has neo-fascist roots , who came out on top in the country's national elections, Damiano commented in an Instagram post, "Today is a sad day for my country."

Coincidentally, around the same time Meloni took over as country leader, the cameras went started filming in the renovated Cinecittà studios on the Sky TV drama "M", which chronicles the rise to power of Benito Mussolini, directed by Briton Joe Wright.

"Joe fell in love with...