Venezia 81 – the Italian locations in the festival titles
In competition
Five Italian films have been selected for competition at the 81st Venice Film Festival scheduled to take place from 28 August to 7 September 2024.
Campo di Battaglia by Gianni Amelio, a Kavac and Rai Cinema production with Alessandro Borghi, Gabriel Montesi and Federica Rosellini, set in a field hospital during WWI, focuses on the problematic relationship between two doctors treating the injured soldiers from the front. It is due for theatrical release on 5 September (01 distribution).
Filming began in October 2023 in the Trentino municipality of Rovereto and continued in Udine, Venzone, Tolmezzo, Codroipo (Villa Manin), Cormons and Gorizia, then Tuscany, in the provinces of Siena (Montalcino) and Arezzo.
Maura Delpero’s second film Vermiglio, with Tommaso Ragno, is a Cinedora production with Rai Cinema, in co-production with Charades production (France) and Versus production (Belgium), shot in Trentino-Alto Adige. The film follows the lives of three sisters, Lucia, Ada and Flavia, in the last year of WWII (1944 – 45): no longer children, not yet women, a single shot marks the end of their innocence.
Queer by Luca Guadagnino starring Daniel Craig is an Italy-US co-production, produced by The Apartment, Frenesy, Fremantle North America. Set in the 1940s, it is the semi-autobiographical story of Lee who flees New Orleans for Mexico City to avoid a drug sentence. She becomes infatuated with Allerton, a former US Navy serviceman and drug addict who, initially indifferent to her advances eventually relents enough to make Lee's sexual desires even more obsessive. They set off together on a journey to South America in search of a drug called "Yage", which Lee believes will make him psychic. The film was shot in Cinecittà (Rome) and various locations in Sicily.
Iddu by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza with Toni Servillo and Elio Germano, an Indigo Film and Les Films du Losange (France) production, is freely inspired by a period in the life of Matteo Messina Denaro. It was shot almost entirely in Sicily.
Diva Futura, second film by Giulia Steigerwalt, produced by Groenlandia, with Pietro Castellitto, Barbara Ronchi, Denise Capezza is set in the 1980/90s. It tells the story of "Diva Futura", the casting and production agency founded in 1983 by Riccardo Schicchi and Ilona Staller. It was shot entirely in Rome.
Also in competition is the international co-production Maria by Pablo Larraín with Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher. The film focuses on the last days in the life of Maria Callas in 1970s Paris. It is produced by Komplizen Film (Germany) The Apartment (Italy), Fabula (USA). It was shot in various European locations, including Milan’s Teatro della Scala.
Out of competition
Closing the festival - out of competition - is Pupi Avati’s L'orto americano with Filippo Scotti, the British actress Rita Tushingham, Armando De Ceccon, Roberto De Francesco, Chiara Caselli, Romano Reggiani Cesare Cremonini and Andrea Roncato. Filmed in Rome, Cinecittà and the Po Delta, it is a Minerva Pictures, DueA Film, Rai Cinema production.
In 1940s Bologna, a mentally problematic young man with literary aspirations falls madly in love with a girl dressed in American army auxiliary uniform. A year later, by chance, he finds himself in the American Midwest, with an elderly neighbour who is desperate to find her daughter: after the war, she had written saying that she was getting married to an Italian man, but there has been no news since. Convinced the daughter in question is the girl he fell in love with, the young man begins to search for her.
Il tempo che ci vuole by Francesca Comencini with Fabrizio Gifuni, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Anna Mangiocavallo, is an Italian-French co-production produced by Kavac, IBC Movie, Les films du Worso, Rai Cinema. An autobiographical film about a father and his daughter, the “years of lead” and the "lost generation", it was shot mostly in Rome.
Venice will also be the stage for the presentation of the 8-episode TV series M. Il figlio del secolo, directed by Joe Wright and produced by Sky Studios and The Apartment Pictures, part of the Fremantle group, in collaboration with Pathé. The series traces the history of the foundation of the Fasci Italiani in 1919 through to 1925 and Mussolini's infamous speech in parliament after the murder of socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti. Filming took place in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Cinecittà (Rome).
Orizzonti
Nonostante, Valerio Mastandrea’s second film, will open the Orizzonti section: it stars Mastandrea, Dolores Fonzi, Lino Musella, and is a HT Film, Damocle, Tenderstories, Rai Cinema production.
A man peacefully spends his days in hospital without too many worries. He has been hospitalized for a while but he seems to find the condition the best way to live, sheltered from everything and everyone, with no responsibilities nor problems. Then a new patient is admitted to the ward. She is a restless, angry companion, who accepts nothing about her condition, especially the unwritten rules. The film was shot mostly in Rome.
Diciannove by Giovanni Tortorici, is produced by Frenesy, Lotus Production - Leone Film Group. It tells the story of a nineteen-year-old from Palermo who leaves London where he is studying economics, to move to Siena and start at the faculty of literature. An introspective journey through his memories demonstrates his growing maturity as he searches for his place in the world.
Familia, second work by Francesco Costabile, with Francesco Gheghi, Barbara Ronchi, Francesco Di Leva, is produced by Tramp Limited and tells the story of twenty-year-old Luigi Celeste, who lives with his mother and brother to whom he is deeply attached. Franco, the partner and father who darkened the boys’ childhood and Licia's youth with fear and abuse, returns after a 10 year absence to claim his family. The film was shot in Rome: locations included the Tufello neighbourhood.
Settimana della Critica
Representing Italy at the Settimana della Critica is Anywhere Anytime by Milad Tangshir. Filmed in Turin, it focuses on Issa, a young illegal immigrant, who, fired by his employer, is helped by a friend to start work as a rider. When his newly purchased bicycle is stolen during a delivery, Issa embarks on a desperate odyssey through the streets of the city to find it. The film is produced by Vivo Film, Young Films, Rai Cinema.
Giornate degli Autori
In competition at the Giornate degli Autori, Taxi Monamour by Ciro De Caro, a Kimerafilm, MFF, Adler Entertainment, Rai Cinema production, tells the story of the meeting between two women: Anna, in conflict with herself and her family, is facing her illness alone; Cristi is fleeing from a war that keeps her away from home. Everyone advises Anna to follow her partner on a business trip and Cristi to stay safe in Italy. Their meeting, although short, will be a dive into freedom. Filmed in Rome.
Out of competition, Basileia by Isabella Torre with Angela Fontana will close the programme. This Italian- Swedish-Danish co-production was produced by Stayblack, Snowglobe, Film i Vast, Rai Cinema. Amidst the thick fog and wild nature of Aspromonte, an archaeologist and his assistants are searching for an ancient treasure. Their excavations uncover mysterious and mythical creatures that will forever change the lives of the inhabitants of a remote mountain village.
Special events
Special Events include Coppia Aperta, Quasi spalancata by Federica Di Giacomo with Chiara Francini, Alessandro Federico, produced by Nemesis, Ballandi, Rai Cinema. Filmed mainly in Rome, it follows the evolution of Antonia (character created by Franca Rame) whose husband wants to open their relationship to other people, imposing a new code. Antonia agrees because she doesn’t want to lose him. But everything changes the moment she begins to listen to herself and look beyond her immediate surroundings.