La Felicita Non Costa Niente (aka Le Bonheur ne coute rien, Happiness Doesn't Cost Anything or Happiness is Free) made its debut in the states at the 46th SF International Film Festival in April, and it was on the June 6th film schedule at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in NYC. This fourth picture by Mimmo Calopresti, co-produced by Luc Besson, is a daring moral tale that investigates the very essence of happiness, and the emptiness of an existence doomed by materialistic values. It opened with much praise in Italy this past January and will premiere in France on September 3. Here's an excerpt from a SF review: "Happiness—the search for it, the loss of it and the struggle to hold onto it—is at the crux of this thoughtful, richly layered picture from one of Italy’s most modernist directors. The successful architect Sergio (Calopresti) seems to have it all, but a sudden, sharp malaise strikes him at the height of his career. He suddenly changes everything about his life, and starts criticizing everyone else’s. His very pronounced search for happiness—and the indelicate manner in which he goes about it—takes a toll on his wife, his son, his friends (Perez & Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and even his job, and soon Sergio finds himself further away from happiness—and far closer to despair—than when he began. Mimmo Calopresti gives a refreshing, determined honesty to Sergio, growing more and more sympathetic as he turns more and more pathetic." Critics call it "one of the most ambitious and original films recently made in Italy."

If anyone is interested in purchasing the video or DVD of Le Libertin, it's now available at Amazon.ca. It has Region 1 encoding for US and Canada, but it is in French with NO subtitles. However, the plot isn't difficult to follow and it's a delightful romp. Check out this review by Jeremy Macey of The Russia Journal. He comments that, "Much of the time the audience laughed out loud well before they read the subtitles."

Vincent was one of the stars last month to participate in a fundraiser for Reporters Without Borders. Disposable cameras loaded with stars' mystery photos raised $76,730 to help journalists imprisoned around the world for speaking out against repressive governments. Hundreds of bidders packed a gala auction at a luxury hotel in Paris in the hope of landing something special. Although the successful bidders can develop the films, they are contractually bound never to publish or sell the photographs. Vincent's camera sold for $473. Guess we'll never know what his mystery photos were; however, since he's a skilled photographer, we can be assured his photos were interesting. RSF (Reporters Sans Frontieres) is working to free 127 journalists imprisoned in countries like Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran and Nepal.