© Pascal Bovey

A CONVERSATION.... WITH SHARON STONE

Sharon Stone has conquered the big screen with her irresistible charm, great human depth and acting versatility. She delivered an iconic performance as the femme fatale in the 1992 movie BASIC INSTINCT, but refused to be typecast as a man-eating vamp and established herself as a highly versatile character actress. She won an Oscar Nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Leading Actress for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s CASINO. The Golden Icon recipient chats about her career and her commitment to equal rights for women in Hollywood during her ZFF Masters session.

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ZFF MASTERS: TODD HAYNES

Todd Haynes is one of the most exciting cineastes of American independent cinema. Born in Los Angeles in 1961, the screenwriter and director is considered a vanguard of the 1990s New Queer Cinema movement. Todd Haynes’ uncompromising and often sublimely erotic movies expertly subvert traditional narrative structures. His multi award-winning body of work includes the Bob Dylan biopic I’M NOT THERE and the romantic drama CAROL. He discusses his successful career and chats about his documentary film debut THE VELVET UNDERGROUND at the ZFF.

© Ottavia Bosello

ZFF MASTERS: PAOLO SORRENTINO

Paolo Sorrentino’s work ignites a firework of aesthetic imagery that captures the spirit of Italy with an anthropological eye. Over the approximately 20 years of his career, the Naples-born director has created movies that delight both audiences and critics alike, and give testimony to his great artistic range. The critically acclaimed LA GRANDE BELLEZZA won him an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Sorrentino offers an insight into his cinematic work and discusses his new, autobiographic film È STATA LA MANO DI DIO during his ZFF Masters session.

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ZFF MASTERS: PAUL SCHRADER

Widely regarded as an icon of New Hollywood, the American director and screenwriter Paul Schrader wrote himself into cinema history, when he penned the screenplays for Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER and RAGING BULL. His own directorial works, such as AMERICAN GIGOLO, have also garnered him much attention. His other works include such movies as the horror movie CAT PEOPLE and the drama FIRST REFORMED, which won an Oscar Nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award uses his ZFF Masters Session to talk about his impressive body of work.