Legendary actress Jacqueline Bisset, actor/director Jack Huston and songwriter Diane Warren, who is heading into the Oscars on March 2 as an Oscar nominee for the 16th time, will be guests of honor at the opening ceremony of the 20th Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Festival on Sunday, Feb. 23, fest organizers announced on Saturday.
The ceremony, which will take place at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood, will also celebrate Sergio Castellitto, to whom the fest will also be dedicating a retrospective; Pupi Avati and Antonio Avati; and Marco Belardi. It will be followed by a special screening of Roberto Rossellini’s 1954 film Journey to Italy, starring Ingrid Bergman, in honor of Rossellini and Bergman’s daughter Isabella Rossellini, who, for her supporting performance in Conclave, is nominated for an Oscar for the first time.
The rest of the fest will include more than 120 screenings — among them 30 U.S. premieres — both in Hollywood and on the platform eventi.org. Also, on Monday, Feb. 24, Castellitto and Conclave director Edward Berger will receive special honors. And two of this year’s Italian Oscar nominees, Rossellini and set decorator Cynthia Sleiter, will be feted on Friday, Feb. 28, at the Italian Cultural Institute, in a special tribute coordinated by Consul General Raffaella Valentini.
This edition of LA, Italia will be chaired by producer Raffaella De Laurentiis and actor Franco Nero, and, as always, will be produced by Pascal Vicedomini.