The list of successful applicants for cofinancing of audiovisual production in Sicily, part of the region’s Programma Sensi Contemporanei Cinema, has been published online.
The 34 grantees (from 70 applications) include 20 feature length films, 9 documentaries and 5 short films, for a total of 1,525,000 euro in funding. Alessandro Rais, director of the Sicilia Film Commission, expects direct spending in the region to be approximately five times the funding amount as a result of this investment in audiovisual production, as previous years have already demonstrated.
The feature-length film category includes familiar names like Emma Dante whose film Il Charleston is based on the play Le sorelle Macaluso; Daniele Luchetti who was shooting Momenti di trascurabile felicità, adapted from the novel by Francesco Piccolo, recently in Palermo: Sergio Castellito who will star in Lacrime di Sale, a TV film inspired by the account of medic Pietro Bartolo’s work on Lampedusa; and Isabella Ragonese who will play Agnese Ciulla in Tutto il giorno davanti which tells of the challenges overcome by the municipal councillor of Palermo during her career.
Two adaptations of work by Andrea Camilleri will be shot in Sicily: the film Il Casellante directed by Rocco Mortelliti and the 17th season of the TV series Inspector Montalbano. Another TV series, Cacciatore – The Hunter starring Francesco Montanari, whose debut season was selected for competition at Canneséries - Cannes International Series Festival, has been confirmed for a second season.
The documentaries include many Sicilian stories newly brought to light, such as that of the “wizard” Atanus, a tired, elderly local television star in the film Katharmoi by Leandro Picarella, the isolation of the hermit artist Isravele on the Capo Gallo promontory in Bartolomeo Pampaloni’s Verrà il tempo and the tradition of the Sicilian “cuntisti” (raconteurs of oral tradition) and their stories in Cuntami Sicilia by Giovanna Taviani.