Lina Wertmuller

Under the padronage of
Leonardo Recalcati
Valerio Ruiz
present
A film by
Valerio Ruiz
Lina Wertmuller
BEHIND THE
WHITE GLASSES
www.behindthewhiteglasses.it
Production
PressKit_LinaWertmuller_eng.indd 1
In Association With
Thanks
Media Partner
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present
Lina Wertmuller
BEHIND THE
WHITE GLASSES
Written and directed by Valerio
Ruiz
Cast
Giancarlo Giannini
Rutger Hauer
Harvey Keitel
Nastassja Kinski
Sophia Loren
Martin Scorsese
John Simon
Produced by RECALCATI MULTIMEDIA
with WHITE GLASSES FILM
Length 104’
Coming out in September
2015
The documentary will be broadcast on a TV premiere soon on
Studio Universal (Mediaset Premium – DTT)
NBC Universal Press Office
Global Networks Italia
Francesca Ginocchi
E-mail: [email protected]
ph. +39 06 852091 – mob. +39 3356116803
Simona Pedroli
E-mail: [email protected]
ph. +39 06 852091 – mob. +39 3336076773
PressKit_LinaWertmuller_eng.indd 2
Press office and Communication
Francesca Romana Massaro
E-mail: [email protected]
mob. +39 3395824040
Press kit avaiable also on:
http://www.behindthewhiteglasses.it/
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
CAST
Lina Wertmüller
Whit interviews by
Marina Cicogna
Caterina D’Amico
Masolino D’Amico
Isa Danieli
Domenico De Masi
Piera Degli Esposti
Laura Delli Colli
Giancarlo Giannini
Rutger Hauer
Roberto Herlitzka
Harvey Keitel
Nastassja Kinski
Raffaele La Capria
Pierluigi Leonardi
Muzzi Loffredo
Sophia Loren
Rita Pavone
Martin Scorsese
John Simon
Piero Tosi
Massimo Wertmüller
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
TECHNICAL
Director
Scriptwriter
Director of Photography
Editing
Art Director
Musical score
Line Producer
Executive producer
Sound designer
Live recording
Assistant cameraman
Data Manager
Grip
Gaffer
Script supervisor
Color correction and finishing
Graphic Design
Transportation
Produced by
Una produzione
Valerio Ruiz
Valerio Ruiz
Giuseppe Pignone
Pierluigi Leonardi
Virginia Vianello
Lucio Gregoretti
Valentina Negri
Leonardo Recalcati for Recalcati Multimedia
Stefano Di Fiore
Michele Antonio Parisi
Lorenzo Catenacci
Elisabetta Giri
David Lisi
Diego Lombroni
Cecilia Triestino
Andrea Bonanni
Sergio Pappalettera Studio Prodesign
Claudio Vinci
Leonardo Recalcati
Valerio Ruiz
Recalcati Multimedia S.r.l.
White Glasses Film S.r.l
Distributers for Italy Recalcati Multimedia with
Nbc Universal Global
Networks Italia Srl
Canale Studio Universal
Sales agent world wide House Of Film, Llc
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
SYNOPSIS
Behind the White Glasses is the story about Lina Wertmüller’s
life and career. First woman in the world to receive a nomination for the
Academy Award as best director for her masterpiece Seven beauty
(Pasqualino Settebellezze, 1975).
From the unpublished pictures taken in Cinecittà when she was Federico
Fellini’s assistant director for in 8 ½ , the documentary takes us to the places were
her most famous films were set , revealing the artistic and human universe
of a woman who with her unfailing irony and taste for the grotesque, has left her
mark in all fields entertainment in which she worked: cinema, drama, television,
music. The journey is accompanied by many exclusive interviews with the
artists who witnessed her intense and constantly evolving career.
Among them Giancarlo Giannini, Marina Cicogna, Sophia Loren and
many foreign talents like Martin Scorsese, Harvey Keitel, Nastassja
Kinski and film critic John Simon. The film features a long series of unreleased
videos, images and songs written by Lina Wertmüller. “Behind the white glasses”
is a personal poetic portrait by Valerio Ruiz, who was her assistant director and
very close collaborator.
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
FACT SHEET OF THE DOCU - FILM
Valerio Ruiz and Leonardo Recalcati present:
Behind the white glasses, a docu-film. A portrait on film of the icon of
Italian cinema in the world: Lina Wertmüller.
The author of the film is Lina Wertmüller’s assistant director and right-hand
man, Valerio Ruiz who, with this work, pays tribute to quality film-making.
Lina Wertmüller started out in the film industry as assistant director working
with great film-makers. For instance she worked on the set of Federico Fellini
‘s 8 ½. The film focuses not only on the director’s career but it also presents the
actors and artists who bore witness to a dream life. Among them are Giancarlo
Giannini, Marina Cicogna, Sophia Loren and several foreign talents
like Martin Scorsese, Harvey Keithel, Nastassja Kinski and John
Simon.
The producers are Valerio Ruiz, the head of White Glasses Film, and
Leonardo Recalcati on behalf of Recalcati Multimedia, as well
as NBC Universal Global Networks Italia – editor of the Studio
Universal television network (Mediaset Premium DT). The
docu-film received the patronage of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Cinecittà Studios became partner in the production of “Behind the white
glasses”. The film is available in two formats, 52’ and 104’, and holds a long series
of unpublished materials including videos, images and songs, some of which
written by Lina Wertmüller herself, as well as famous interviews. The film includes
backstage pictures that belong to the private and hitherto unpublished archive of
the artist (e.g. 7’ of Lina Wertmüller filming Fellini on the set as he directs 8 ½)
accompanied by her comments.
An exclusive TV premiere of the documentary will be shown soon on
Studio Universal. In the United States the House of Film will be in charge
of distributing the film and it will also take care of international sales that will be
promoted at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
VALERIO RUIZ
(Director and coproducer form)
Valerio Ruiz, scriptwriter and director of the film about Lina Wertmüller’s life
and career, Behind the White Glasses, he is also the producer of the film
through his company White Glasses Film together with Recalcati Multimedia.
Born in Rome in 1986, Valerio Ruiz has been working with director Lina Wertmüller
for some years now. He is scriptwriter and assistant director of the documentary
directed by Lina Wertmüller Roma, Napoli, Venezia ... in un crescendo
rossiniano (2014), first film in 4k produced by RAI, Technological Strategies
Department.
He started working with Lina Wertmüller almost ten years ago as assistant
in organizing the film section of the 2006 Ravello Festival and then went on to
cooperate in the staging of two plays: Il Giornalino di Gianburrasca (2010)
and Un’allegra fin de siècle (2013) and has continued through to the present
day as assistant director of the TV-movie Mannaggia alla miseria (2009)
In 2012 he contributed to the drafting of Lina Wertmüller’s autobiography Tutto
a posto e niente in ordine (Mondadori) he contributed also in several master
classes of acting such as the one held at Taormina Arte (2009) dedicated to the
writer Vitaliano Brancati.
In 2011 Valerio wrote, produced and directed his first short film Piazza Fellini,
a tribute to Federico Fellini interpreted by Sandra Milo who was both actress and
muse for some of the masterpieces of the maestro. The short won the 2011 Capri
Short Cut Award at the Capri Hollywood International Film Festival and third
prize at the XI Villammare Film Festival. The short was then presented at the Los
Angeles Italian Film Fashion and Art Fest and in other Italian festivals.
In 2012, Ruiz enriched his experience in the theatre by working with other directors.
He was Assistant Director for the Transiti di Venere play, written and directed
by Raffaele Curi, produced by the Alda Fendi- Esperimenti Foundation. In that
same year he was assistant director for As you Like it, by W. Shakespeare,
directed by Marco Carniti and produced by the Silvano Toti Globe Theatre of
Rome.
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
After studying in Rome and Paris, Valerio graduated in Communication Sciences
from the University of Roma La Sapienza with a theses entitled Lo schermo
lirico. Percorso nel genere cinematografico del filmopera (The
lyric filter: a review of the film-opera genre) discussed with Prof Roberto Faenza.
To further his studies the subject , he directors with maestro Rosi the Francesco
Rosi documentary-interview: A Carmen in real life.
In 2010 for the 20th anniversary of the Italy-Albania development cooperation he
was art director of the film festival Italian eyes, promoted by the Ministry for
Foreign Affairs.
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COPRODUCER AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
Recalcati Multimedia is an independent film production and distribution
company based in Milan and run by Leonardo Recalcati. Since 2014 it has
been dealing with the acquisition of rights of original contents developed by leading
authors and directors among whom Fabio & Fabio, Angelo Licata and Luca Elmi.
Recalcati Multimedia is engaged in the production of works of
international standing that are to be distributed around the world. Among
these is Behind the white glasses by Valerio Ruiz, namely the
portrait of an icon of Italian filmmaking in the world: Lina Wertmüller.
The work, selected for the “Venice classics” section of the 72nd edition of the
Venice International Film Festival marks the debut of this production
company. Made in association with Credito Valtellinese and filmed in only
24 days in Rome, New York and Geneva, the film received the patronage
of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs as tribute to a work that offers a
portrait of an outstanding Italian personality. The film is distributed in Italy by
Recalcati Multimedia with NBC Universal Global Networks, while
at the international level it is distributed by House of Film (USA – Los Angeles).
Leonardo Recalcati declares that: “Behind the white glasses
is my way of concluding a journey I started many years ago with Enrico
Job, when for the first time I approached the filmmaking world. Lina
was a great personality on the Italian scene in the 20th century and it
is exciting to give lasting life to her thoughts, memories and intuitions.
My heartfelt thanks go to Lina and Valerio for all I received from them, for the
extraordinary opportunity of a mind opening experience, for their expressions of
confidence, support and for their unfailing personal affection”.
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CINEMA TV BY FILMMAKERS
Studio Universal, cinema in TV by filmmakers, is the TV channel created in
1998 by Universal Studios, the US colossal filmmaker backed by over 100 years
of activity experience part of the NBCUniversal group. The channel has been
available since 8 May 2009 on the Mediaset Premium digital terrestrial television
platform. An international trademark for a l totally Italian channel: programming,
creativity and marketing are entirely provided by Italian professionals who have
thorough knowledge and expertise of the national market.
Studio Universal is the channel of great American classics covering all genres.
11 different films are broadcasted every day and 150 different films every month
without reruns on the same day. The channel offers the best of films produced
by NBCUniversal and by the other great American Majors with a single common
denominator: “only great films”. From thrillers action movies , to comedy and
romance, from horror to science fiction, all genres find a place that is often set
and coded in the schedule. From one film to the next, the film world is thoroughly
explored with interviews, games, behind the scenes, specials, shorts and
documentaries.
Universal International Networks
Studio Universal brings new life into the big screen, creating more than one
reason to watch a film or watch it again within the framework of themes, seasons,
celebrations, anniversaries and special guests who present the programmes with
constantly different and unexpected approaches.
Studio Universal is also an internet website of Universal International Networks:
www.studiouniversal.it.
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UNIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS
Universal International Networks, the international division of NBC
Universal’s television channels, is one of the major entertainment networks in
the world thanks to high quality contents and appealing brands that reach out
to over 176 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. The
portfolio of Universal International Networks includes the following channels:
Universal Channel, Syfy, 13th Street Universal, Studio Universal, E! Entertainment
Television, The Style Network, Diva Universal and Golf Channel.
These channels offer a full range of entertainment experiences to worldwide
viewers. Universal International Networks manages also Movies 24 and holds
a majority share in the KidsCo joint venture. NBCUniversal News Group is one
of the most influential and highly esteemed on-air and digital news groups in
the world. It owns CNBC and NBC News. Universal International Networks is
part of NBCUniversal, one of the leading media and entertainment companies
in the world for the development and production of entertainment products, for
news and information addressed to a global viewership. NBCUniversal holds and
manages a precious network of news and entertainment television channels, a
filmmaking major, prominent television productions and theme parks all around
the world. NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast Corporation.
For further information:
Press Office NBC Universal Global Networks Italia
Francesca Ginocchi
ph. 06 852091 – mob. 335 6116803
e-mail: [email protected]
Simona Pedroli
ph. 06 852091 – mob. 333 6076773
e-mail: [email protected]
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
LINA WERTMÜLLER
Biography of a versatile artist
Lina Wertmüller started her artistic journey by attending the Accademia
Teatrale run by Pietro Scharoff. After completing her education at the
Academy she started working with directors in the theaters among whom
Salvini, De Lullo and Garinei & Giovannini. She worked both for radio
and television as author and director of the first edition of the TV show
Canzonissima and as author for Studio Uno.
In 1963 Lina Wertmüller started her career in the filmmaking world as assistant
director and co-scriptwriter for Fellini on the set of Otto e mezzo. That
same year marked her debut with I basilischi, a film that she conceived
and directed and for which she wrote the script; and she also dubbed eight
secondary characters. This was a delicate analysis of the youth of small towns
in the South of Italy that she portrayed with an ironic and grotesque spirit.
The film was immediately appreciated abroad and it received the Silver Sail
award at the Locarno International Film Festival and other awards
at the Vienna, London and Taormina film festivals.
In 1964 works together with RAI for Il Giornalino di Gianburrasca,
the first Italian musical-comedy. This was the first time that a television
production uses great theatre actors like Tofano, Valeri, Valori and high
quality collaborators like Piero Tosi as set design and costumes and Nino
Rota for music orchestrated by Bacalov, the winner of 3 Academy Awards.
In 1965 she filmed Questa volta parliamo di uomini, her second
movie which stared Nino Manfredi and who was awarded the Maschera
d’Argento. Then, using the pseudonym George H. Brown, she directed
two musical commedies produced by Titanus, Rita la zanzara and Non
stuzzicate la zanzara with Rita Pavone and Giancarlo Giannini as
debut - Giulietta Masina, Turi Ferro, Paolo Panelli and Bice Valori.
She also directed a Western: The Bell Star Story – il mio corpo per un
poker (1967) featuring Elsa Martinelli.
After working as scriptwriter for some time for Cayatte, Sollima and
Festa Campanile, Lina Wertmüller returned to film directing: Mimì
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
metallurgico ferito nell’onore (1972) starting the golden age of her
carreer. With this film she brought a new couple to the attention of Italian
audiences: Giancarlo Giannini – Mariangela Melato, a perfect match
for portraying Italian stereotypes. Lina Wertmüller used extremely original
settings with painstaking attention to detail, especially once she started to
work with Enrico Job brilliant set designer and costumes designer .They
become couple both at work and in private that lasted more than forty years.
There is a somewhat elaborate style in the ironic and typically lengthy titles
of Lina Wertmüller’s films. Examples are Film d’amore e d’anarchia,
ovvero stamattina in Via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza
(1973) featuring the Giannini-Melato couple; Tutto a posto e niente in
ordine (1974); Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare di
agosto (1974), this too featuring Giannini and Melato.
With Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare di agosto and Seven
beauty (Pasqualino Settebellezze) she attained international recognition .
She become known to the American market and was the very first woman to
obtain four nominations for the Academy Award.
In the 80’s she directs several movies with international cast: in 1985 she
directs Harvey Keitel and Angela Molina in Un complicato intrigo
di donne, vicoli e delitti, then with her film In una notte di chiaro di
luna (1989) featuring Peter O’Toole, Faye Dunaway, Rutger Hauer
and Nastassja Kinski, she proved to be a forerunner in dealing with the
AIDS issue.
For the theatre she wrote Due più due non fa più quattro (1968),
directed by her friend Franco Zeffirelli. Then she directed La cucina by
A. Wesker (1969), Amore e magia nella cucina di mamma (1979),
L’esibizionista (1994), Gianni, Ginetta e gli altri (1995), Storia
d’amore e d’anarchia (2002), Lasciami andare madre (2004)
and Molto rumore (senza) rispetto per nulla (2005), La vedova
scaltra (2007),more recent productions Il giornalino di Gianburrasca
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
(2010) featuring Elio and Un’allegra fin de siècle (2013).
In 1986, she made her debut in the opera world at the San Carlo Theatre of
Naples and at the Stat Opera of Munich with Bizet’s Carmen and then at the
Opera House in Athens with La Boheme. In 2007 Le nozze di Figaro for
Tuscia Opera Festival.
With Raffaele La Capria she adapted for the tv the show Sabato,
domenica e lunedì featuring Luca De Filippo, Pupella Maggio,
Luciano De Crescenzo and Sophia Loren whom she had directed
in Fatto di sangue fra due uomini per causa di una vedova...
si sospettano moventi politici (1978). Then came Io speriamo che
me la cavo, in 1992, with Paolo Villaggio. She made a comeback to the
cinema with Ninfa Plebea, a film based on the novel by Domenico Rea
and Metalmeccanico e parrucchiera in un turbine di sesso e di
politica (1996), a film in which Lina Wertmüller flaunts her unmsitakeable
grotesque spirit in dealing with class struggle issues. In Fernando e
Carolina (1999) she tells the story of King Ferdinand of Bourbon and his
marriage with Caroline, daughter of Marie Therese of Austria.
During her carreer she directed several documentaries, also for RAI, among
which Una domenica sera di novembre (1982). For l’Enciclopedie
Visuelle francaise, Vivaldi (1992). For Russia 90, The Russian Soul
(1993). For television she directed Il decimo clandestino (1989), based
on a story by Guareschi, with Piera degli Esposti and Dominique
Sandà. Francesca e Nunziata (2001) based on the novel by Maria
Orsini Natale starring Sophia Loren, Giancarlo Giannini, Raoul
Bova and Claudia Gerini, and Mannaggia alla miseria (2009). Her
most recent work is a documentary entitled: Roma, Napoli, Venezia... in
un crescendo rossiniano (2014) first 4k project produced by RAI, Dept.
Tech Strategies.
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Valerio Ruiz
Behind the white glasses came about in a special circumstance that
personally touched me: As a result of working together with Lina for these
past ten years in different fields of entertainment, I have been able to get a
deep insight into her artistic and human universe.
The film is a journey in search of the places in Italy that Lina Wertmüller
portrays with so much passion, emphasizing the differences, contradictions,
dialects, beauty, in her films.
Behind the white glasses is conceived as a narrative film and not exclusively
as a documentary film both from the standpoint of the story that is narrated
and that of the production structure. In several points there is a “set” , which
however does not diminish the spontaneity of the memories and recollections
of the protagonist. The idea behind this choice is the will of bringing Lina
Wertmüller’s story as close as possible to the story told through a film so as
to suggest the idea that the cinema and filmmaking are life itself for a director
like the passionate and relentless Lina Wertmüller and that it is impossible to
separate one from the other. Therefore it is not only a document, but a narrative
that goes beyond the concreteness of the albeit rich and unparalleled facts
that are presented and that speaks to people’s emotions and introduces then
to the human aspects of this artist.
Together with my personal knowledge of the director, the witnesses have the
task of capturing the many facets of the world of Lina Wertmüller. The people
interviewed are enshrouded in darkness, lit only by the colours of the Tiffany
lamps that decorate Lina Wertmüller’s house and that provide the backdrop
to the figures. The witnesses therefore come from an abstract places that at
the same time evoke an intimate place of the protagonist.
The interviews reveal the most precious aspects of Lina Wertmüller’s artistic
world: her way of working, her personal use of filmmaking and editing
techniques, her writing, the direction of the actors.
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BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
By providing many different points of view, the interviews capture Lina
Wertmüller’s talent in its entirety.
After an in-depth and lengthy exploration of her work as director, I think
it would be impossible – and perhaps even misguiding – to portray her
brilliance by looking for a definition and for logical explanations about the
reasons of her artistic choices. The genius of an artist is ultimately his or her
greatest mystery. Seeking to reveal it would be diminishing and belittling of
the artist.The film therefore seeks to build inroads into the universe of the
Roman director to gain knowledge about her with the aim of displaying her
multifarious talent: watching Lina as she interprets a song is perhaps the most
untainted way of transmitting her artistic genius to the audience without the
need for academic critiques or explainations.
There were moments in the career of this acclaimed and acknowledged
director - unmistakably characterized by her inseparable white glasses - in
which she experienced failure, harsh criticism and even an unsuccessful
film. The documentary also reflects these moments. The wisdom displayed
by Lina Wertmüller as she recalls these difficult moments in her career is
uplifting and moving. The intention of this film, therefore, is to portray Lina
Wertmüller. Not only t the grotesque spirit that informs her films and plays,
that nevertheless are given ample space in the documentarty, but also her
humane side, and disclose aspects of her personality that at times are hidden
behind the image-mask of her white glasses. The narrative device is that of
the portrait that offers a personal, poetic and unfettered point of view.
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For a brilliant friend
Out of the many virtues that have contributed to Lina Wertmüller’s
unconditional success in the United States, her love for Italy and for the
Italian spirit were a determining factor. Indeed her films and the entirety
of her artistic production are the result of an authentic passion for all the
typical things that make up the soul of her Country; with her imagination
she transfigured the values and defects of an entire emotional epic poem.
Endowed with all forms of creativity she exercised them equally with
tenacity and with phenomenal success: from music to theatre, to television
and filmmaking, with human character being a perpetual and endless stage
on which everything could be enhanced or dampened in accordance with
her creative streak and her lyrical feelings.
Within the great tradition of “Italian theatre”, musicals and plays are likewise
pervaded by her words, Lina Wertmuller depicted characters with essential
strokes that perfectly match the literary universe shaped by her great
classical educational background. Recognizable, as is true of all great
authors, Lina Wertmuller is among the very few Italians who have depicted
us with joy and enthusiasm and not at all with a pitiable eye and she does
not dwell on wretchedness. Heroic in mockery and in making jests because
she is in love with each one of her characters. She is a master in offering
quintessential images. Through her white-framed glasses frame she has
looked at a world that is perhaps the world she carried in her heart and
whose inhabitants have been admired and recognized by the whole world as
being the authentic, true and perfect representations of the Italian people.
For this reason she deserves to be acknowledged as an outstanding Italian
woman. An unfailingly loyal friend who has always been capable of showing
true affection.
Carla Fendi
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Info:
“Behind the white glasses”
Press office NBC Universal Global Networks Italia
Francesca Ginocchi
E-mail: [email protected]
ph. 06 852091 – mob. 3356116803
Simona Pedroli
E-mail: [email protected]
ph. 06 852091 – mob. 3336076773
Film Press Office and Communication
Francesca Romana Massaro
E-mail: [email protected]
mob. +39 339 5824040
http://www.behindthewhiteglasses.it/
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