Bender or Bendery, also known as Tighina, is a city within the internationally recognized borders of Moldova under de facto control of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (Transnistria) (PMR) since 1992. It is located on the western bank of the river Dniester in the Romanian historical region of Bessarabia.
Valeria Golino is an Italian actress and film director. She is best known to English-language audiences for her roles in Rain Man, Big Top Pee-wee, and both films in the Hot Shots! franchise. In addition to David di Donatello, Nastro d'Argento, Ciak d'oro and Globo d'oro awards, she is one of four actresses to have twice won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival.
The Golden Lion is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a second Golden Lion was introduced; this is an honorary award for people who have made an important contribution to cinema.
Niccolò Ammaniti is an Italian writer, winner of the Premio Strega in 2007 for As God Commands. He became noted in 2001 with the publication of I'm Not Scared, a novel which was later made into a movie directed by Gabriele Salvatores.
Diego Abatantuono is an Italian cinema and theatre actor, comedian and screenwriter, three-time winner of the Nastro d'Argento.
Gabriele Salvatores is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.
Mauro Pagani is an Italian musician and singer.
Fabrizio Bentivoglio is an Italian cinema and theatre actor and screenwriter.
Eleanor May Tomlinson is an English actress. She has appeared in films including Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), Jack the Giant Slayer (2013), Colette (2018) and Love Wedding Repeat (2020). She also starred in the BBC One series The White Queen (2013), Poldark (2015–2019), The Outlaws (2021) and War of the Worlds (2019).
Nikolai Yurievich Verzhbitsky, known as Nicolai Lilin, is an Italian-Moldovan writer and tattoo artist from Transnistria. His first novel, Siberian Education, was published in 2009 and was adapted into a 2013 film starring John Malkovich. The novel, which Lilin claimed was based on his experiences living among Siberian criminal gangs in his native Bender, became a bestseller in Italy, but was labeled a fake memoir by some journalists and historians. Similar criticisms would be leveled at its sequel, Free Fall, which narrates the author's alleged experiences during the Second Chechen war.
Sara Serraiocco is an Italian actress, best known for playing Baldwin in the TV series Counterpart.
Massimiliano Gallo is an Italian actor and singer.
The history of Polish people in Transnistria goes back centuries when the communities along the lower Dniester river were part of Podolia in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and later the Russian Empire.
Federico De Robertis is an Italian musician, composer and record producer. De Robertis was born in Lucca, Tuscany. He composed the soundtrack for many movies by the Italian director Gabriele Salvatores, Puerto Escondido (1992), Nirvana (1995) and Siberian Education (2013), also for the Vanzina's Brothers.
The Interval is a 2012 Italian-Swiss crime-drama film co-written and directed by Leonardo Di Costanzo.
Thou Shalt Not Hate is a 2020 Italian-Polish drama film co-written and directed by Mauro Mancini, at his feature film debut.
There Is a Light is a 2017 Italian drama film co-written and directed by Fabio Mollo.
Biografilm Festival is an international film festival held in Bologna, Italy, dedicated to biographies, documentaries, and life stories.
