Venice 2023: six Italian films in competition. De Angelis opens instead of Guadagnino
Six Italian films will compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival scheduled to take place from 30 August to 9 September 2023. The prestigious event, directed by Alberto Barbera, will not be opened by Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as previously announced, following decisions made by the production. Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante will screen instead on 30th August. All the other films will be present, making the impact of the ongoing strike in the United States rather modest. This Festival is focused on the future, guarantees Roberto Cicutto, President of the Venice Biennale. Festival godmother is Caterina Murino.
Edoardo De Angelis’ ‘Comandante’ to open the Venice International Film Festival
The 2023 Festival, characterized by the Hollywood actor and screenwriter strike, will open with Comandante directed by Edoardo De Angelis which stars Pierfrancesco Favino. Shot in Taranto and Rome, the film is produced by Indigo Film, O' Groove, Tramp Limited, VGroove, Wise, Beside Productions, Rai Cinema. The story focuses on Commander (Comandante) Salvatore Todaro, a legendary hero of the seas during WWII. The main setting of the film is the “Cappellini” submarine which belonged to the Regia Marina in 1940. This was rebuilt in incredible detail, using plans and material (mostly photographic) found in the Navy’s archive. Its construction, in collaboration with Cinecittà, required over 100 professional engineers, builders and artisans. Work began on 23 May 2022 and lasted 8 months, ending in late October 2022 when it was launched in the dock at the Naval Arsenal.
Backstage: Comandante
‘Io Capitano’ directed by Matteo Garrone tells the Odyssey of two young people trying to reach Marsala
Io Capitano directed by Matteo Garrone tells of the difficult journey of young Seydou and Moussa as they leave Dakar to try to reach Europe. A contemporary Odyssey that covers danger in the desert, the horrors of Libyan detention centres and risks at sea.
The film is an Archimede production with Rai Cinema and Tarantula, with Pathé, Logical Content Ventures and support from the Ministry of Culture, with the participation of Canal+, Ciné+ in coproduction with RTBF (Belgian Television), Voo-Be TV and Proximus. The cast features Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall, Ibrahima Gueye. Shot in Senegal and Morocco, the only outdoor Italian location was Marsala.
The heyday of Cinecittà and “Hollywood on the Tiber” in Saverio Costanzo’s ‘Finalmente l’alba’
Finalmente l’alba, directed by Saverio Costanzo and produced by Wildside, Fremantle, Cinecittà, FilmNation Entertainment and Rai Cinema, is set in the 1950s during the heyday of the so-called “Hollywood on the Tiber”. It tells the story of an aspiring actress (Rebecca Antonaci) who spends a memorable night in the studios that will fast-forward her maturity. The young Italian actress Rebecca Antonaci is flanked by an international cast including:Lily James as Josephine, a neurotic Hollywood star, at a delicate moment in her career; Joe Keery as an up-and-coming actor; Willem Dafoe as an American gallery owner; and Rachel Sennott as an Egyptian queen.
Most of the film was shot at Cinecittà Studios, where various exterior sets were created, in addition to several scenes in the centre of Rome, in piazza di Spagna and Villa dei Quintili.
Chasing the legend of ‘Enea’ in Rome, Pietro Castellitto’s second film
Enea, directed by Pietro Castellitto and produced by The Apartment, Frenesy, Vision Distribution, is the story of a man who is chasing the legend he bears in his name – Enea – to feel alive in a dying, decadent moment in time. He does so with Valentino, a newly-fledged pilot. In addition to dealing drugs and partying, the pair share their youth. Friends forever, victims and key players in a corrupt world, they are animated by an incorruptible vitality. Rome is the timeless setting for this story whose cast includes the director, Giorgio Quarzo Guarascio, Benedetta Porcaroli, Chiara Noschese, Giorgio Montanini, Adamo Dionisi, Matteo Branciamore, Cesare Castellitto, Sergio Castellitto.
Giorgio Diritti’s ‘Lubo’ in a Piedmont and Alto Adige that could be Switzerland
Lubo, directed by Giorgio Diritti and produced by Indiana Production, Aranciafilm, Hugofilm Productions, Proxima Milano, Rai Cinema, is an Italian-Swiss production whose cast includes the German actor Franz Rogowski, the Swiss actor Christophe Sermet and Italy’s Valentina Bellè.
Lubo is a Yenish traveller and street artist who is called up by the Swiss army in 1939 to defend the borders against the risk of a Nazi invasion. Soon after, he finds out that his wife has died while attempting to stop their three small children being taken by the gendarmes as part of the national policy for re-educating street children. He will not have peace until he has found his children and obtained justice.
The production shot for three weeks in Val Pusteria (Alto Adige) in freezing Malga Fane in Valles, which served as the Swiss village where the main character (played by Franz Rogowski) does his military service: an Alpine village with a gathering of mountain huts, haybarns, a small church and three shelters, set in an atmospheric mountain landscape. Various places in Trentino provided locations, including Rovereto (corso Bettini),
The production also shot in Piedmont, mostly in Aqui Terme, Arona, Ameno, Baveno, Cannero Riviera, Cannobio, Domodossola, Miasino, Orta San Giulio, Stresa and Verbania.
Stefano Sollima returns to criminal Rome with ‘Adagio’
Adagio, directed by Stefano Sollima, was shot in Rome with a cast that includes Pierfrancesco Favino, Toni Servillo, Valerio Mastandrea, Adriano Giannini, Marzio El Moety, Gianmarco Franchini, Francesco Di Leva, Lorenzo Adorni, and Silvia Salvatori. Produced by The Apartment and AlterEgo, it tells the story of 16-year-old Manuel who tries to enjoy his life as much as possible while taking care of his elderly father. When he is blackmailed, he goes to a party to take pictures of a mysterious individual but, feeling pressured, escapes. Followed by the blackmailers, who prove to be extremely dangerous and determined to eliminate what they consider to be an inconvenient witness, Manuel realizes that he is in over his head and is forced to ask for protection from two of his fathers’ old friends, former criminals.