Woody Allen sends message to Florence: “Strange that everybody speaks well of me”

By Claudia Niemann

Documentary film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival

“Woody Allen: a Documentary” by Robert Weide celebrated its Italian premier at Florentine Odeon Cinema on June 12th. The event was part of the Tribeca Film Festival that recently took place for the first time in Italy. Prior to the premier, Allen left a special note to the organizers arousing even more curiosity about the new documentary film.

In his message, Allen stated that for the first time he had allowed his life and creative process to be documented on camera, wondering at the same time that all the interviewees speak well of him, including his ex-fiancee Diane Keaton, as he remembers constant quarrels at his sets.

The documentary however shows that Woody Allen arouses wide admiration among his colleagues and fans as an iconic writer, director, actor, comedian and musician. Filmmaker Robert Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year to chronicle Allen's career from teen writer to stand-up comedian, to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years.

In explaining why he has not approved a biographical documentary earlier, Allen comically claims to have had some spare time before the next Knicks game.

Meant as an homage to Italy, Woody Allen's newest project “To Rome with Love,” starring Roberto Benigni, is now shown in cinemas which demonstrates once again the expertise of one of the most talented contemporary filmmakers.

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