Mike Stoller and Corky Hale to Host Italia Film Festival

Legendary songwriter Mike Stoller and his wife, musician-singer Corky Hale, will chair the 12th edition of the Los Angeles Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, which runs Feb. 19-25 at the Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Blvd., opening with Gianfranco Rossi's Oscar-nominated documentary "Sea of Fire." The festival puts Italian cinema in the spotlight through a series of premieres, screening retrospectives and exhibitions, and Rossi will be presented with a special L.A. Italia Award as "Master of Documentary".

Stoller and Hale will also attend the special showing of the feature-length documentary "Andrea Doria: Are the Passengers Saved?", along with its director Lucia Guardabascio. Stoller composed the score for the film, in which he also appears as one of the ship disaster's survivors. 46 people perished in the notorious 1956 accident, in which the ocean liners Andrea Doria and Stockholm collided off the coast of Nantucket. After surviving the sinking of the Andrea Doria, Stoller went on to write some of the greatest rock and roll hits of all time, which were featured in the long-running Broadway hit "Smokey Joe's Café".

The two films will be part of a new section entitled "Togetherness," dedicated to Italian documentaries and their outlook and impact on the world. Other films in this category will include a tribute to Marcello Mastroianni entitled "Mi ricordo, si, mi ricordo by Annamaria Tato; a tribute to the late Vogue Italia director Franca Sozzani entitled "Franca, Chaos and Creation," directed by her son Francesco Carrazzini; "Papa Francesco, Cuba e Fidel" about the visit of the Pope to Cuba, directed by Gianni Mina; "Obsessione Vezzoli" by Alessandra Galletta; and Alexandre Valenti's "Maestro," about Italian pianist Francesco Lotoro, who created a CD collection of music composed in concentration camps during World War II.

In addition to his new score for the Andrea Doria film, Stoller and late partner Jerry Leiber wrote such top hits as "Kansas City," Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Love Me" "Loving You," and "King Creole," "There Goes My Baby," "Stand By Me," "Charlie Brown," "Love Potion No. 9," "Yakety Yak," and Peggy Lee's "I'm a Woman" and "Is That All There Is?". They were inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Corky Hale is one of the most acclaimed jazz harpists, pianists and singers of the past several decades and has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe with such greats as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett, James Brown, Liberace, and George Michael, to name just a few.

L.A. Italia 2017 is presented by the Capri in the World Institute with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (DG Cinema) in collaboration with ANICA, ICE, AMBI Group, and ISAIA. It is also sponsored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Consulate of Los Angeles.