News

Max has set revered Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio’s TV series “Portobello” as its first Italian scripted original. The show tells the story of Italian TV host Enzo Tortora, who was a victim of one of Italy’s most clamorous travesties of justice, and will debut on the platform in 2026.

Max is now available in some 25 countries in Europe, spanning Spain, France, Benelux, the Nordics and Central and Eastern Europe. It’s now clear that the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamer will also be operational in Italy by 2026.

In 1985, Tortora was accused by several alleged ex-mobsters turned informants and state witnesses of being part of a Neapolitan crime syndicate dedicated to drug trafficking. After enduring a lengthy trial, being sentenced to 10 years in prison and spending some time behind bars, Tortora’s conviction was eventually fully overturned by Italy’s Supreme Court in 1987 amid widespread belief that the TV host...

Max has announced its first Italian scripted original production, Portobello, from Marco Bellocchio, which will debut on the platform in 2026.

Filming began in Rome last September and is currently ongoing, with additional locations in Sardinia, Campania, and Lombardy.

Photo courtesy of Max

The six-episode series tells the story of Enzo Tortora, the famous host of the real-life television show Portobello – which aired in 1977 for seven seasons – who was accused by justice collaborators of being part of a criminal organization involved in drug trafficking.

Tortora was imprisoned and tried for years before being definitively acquitted of all charges. The cast includes Fabrizio Gifuni as Enzo Tortora, Lino Musella, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Barbora Bobulova, Alessandro Preziosi, and Fausto Russo Alesi.

Photo courtesy of Max

Portobello is written by Marco Bellocchio, Stefano Bises, Giordana Mari, and Peppe Fiore. The cinematography is by Francesco Di Giacomo, the set design is by Andrea Castorina, the costume designs by Daria Calvelli,...

Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell, Lukas Gage, Tracy Letts, Elena Anaya and Pamela Anderson have joined ‘Rosebush Pruning’ from filmmaker Karim Aїnouz.

They join the previously announced Elle Fanning on the cast. Keough and Turner come on board to replace Kristen Stewart and Josh O’Connor.

Aïnouz is directing from a script by Efthimis Filippou. Viola Fügen and Michael Weber are producing for The Match Factory, which is also handling worldwide sales for the film.

Commenting on his upcoming feature, Aïnouz said: “I’m so excited to bring this audacious and delicious script to life, which challenges our notions of the traditional family and the patriarchy, with this brilliant ensemble of actors who I have long admired.”

Also in news – Matthias Schoenaerts set for villain role in ‘Supergirl’

The adaptation rights have been acquired from Kavac Film and Simone Gattoni of Kavac Film is producing. Annamaria Morelli produces for The Apartment...

An array of big name talent has joined Elle Fanning in “Rosebush Pruning” from “Motel Destino” and “Firebrand” director Karim Aïnouz for Mubi, The Match Factory and Fremantle company The Apartment.

Callum Turner (“Masters of the Air,” “The Boys in the Boat”), Riley Keough (“Daisy Jones & The Six,” “Zola”), Jamie Bell (“All of Us Strangers, Rocketman”), Lukas Gage (“The White Lotus,” “Euphoria”), Tracy Letts (“Lady Bird,” “Ford vs Ferrari”), Elena Anaya (“The Skin I Live In,” “MotherFatherSon”) and Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl,” the forthcoming “The Naked Gun”) are set to start in the film, which was first announced last year and is now shooting in Spain. Kristen Stewart and Josh O’Connor were originally attached to the project in lead roles alongside Fanning, but have been replaced by Keough and Turner, respectively.

Aïnouz is directing from a script written by Efthimis Filippou (“Kinds of Kindness,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,...

Callum Turner and Riley Keough have joined the cast of Karim Aïnouz’s Rosebush Pruning, replacing Kristen Stewart and Josh O’Connor who were originally announced on the project during Cannes alongside Elle Fanning.

Fanning remains on board alongside Masters of the Air star Turner and Daisy Jones & The Six actress Keough, whose involvement was unveiled as filming is underway in Spain.

The swap-out is believed to be for scheduling reasons with Stewart currently immersed in post-production on her long gestated passion project The Chronology of Water.

In further newly-announced cast additions, Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers), Lukas Gage, Tracy Letts, Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In) and Pamela Anderson, who is enjoying a buzzy big screen comeback with The Last Showgirl, have also joined the production.

Originally announced with the title format Rosebushpruning, the movie, for Mubi, The Match Factory...

Revered Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio is back behind the camera producing and shooting “Portobello,” a TV series reconstructing one of Italy’s most clamorous travesties of justice.

The show marks the first project out of the gate hailing from Our Films, the new shingle headed by prominent producer duo Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli best known for shepherding “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.”

The “Portobello” series is lead-produced by Our Films with Bellocchio’s Kavac Film headed by producer Simone Gattoni. It is an Arte France co-production also in collaboration with Fremantle’s The Apartment Pictures. “Portobello” is written by Marco Bellocchio with Stefano Bises (“Gomorrah”), Giordana Mari (“My Love”) and Peppe Fiore (“The King”).

The six-episode Bellocchio series will delve into the true story of popular Italian TV host Enzo Tortora who, among other programs, conducted a primetime game show titled “Portobello” that aired on Italian state...

Charades has taken international sales rights to “Il tempo che ci vuole” (The Time It Takes), directed by Francesca Comencini. The film will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the out of competition section.

“The Time It Takes” will be released in Italian theaters on Sept. 26 through 01 Distribution.

The film centers on a devoted father working in the film industry, who shares a deep bond with his young daughter. Together, they discover the magical world of childhood through the daughter’s eyes and the “Pinocchio” set he’s working on, “where chaos meets fantasy.”

The child becomes a young woman, and the state of enchanted limbo between father and daughter vanishes. She realizes that her childhood is slipping away, giving way to adolescence. The young woman starts taking drugs while hiding the truth from her father. Refusing to ignore the situation, the father confronts his daughter and decides to...

Marco Bellocchio’s “Se posso permettermi Capitolo II” (May I Say? Chapter Two), which has its world premiere Sunday in the Out of Competition section of the Venice Film Festival, has debuted a first clip (below). Rai Cinema is handling world sales.

The 30-minute film is the sequel to the short of the same name made in 2019 as part of the Fare Cinema (Making Cinema) training program.

The synopsis reads as follows: “Over the course of one day, Fausto, invincible in his inertia, watches a paradoxical procession of visitors pass by: the mellifluous village parish priest; a mysterious man with his absurd idea of a ghost-themed business; the captain of the Carabinieri who proposes a shotgun wedding with his daughter, who’s carrying the child of a stranger.

“Finally, late at night, a pair of thieves, in cahoots with Barbara, break into the house. Fausto surprises them, as always impassive and bored,...

When renowned Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio called up his friend, fellow Italian auteur Marco Tullio Giordana (“Best of Youth”), about a project years in the making, the director promptly jumped on board. The resulting film is “The Life Apart,” premiering out of competition at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, where Giordana will also receive a Lifetime Achievement Pardo.

Adapted from Mariapia Veladiano’s acclaimed eponymous novel, “The Life Apart” is set in the Italian city of Vicenza between the 1980s and 2000s, where a young girl is shunned by her mother due to a large facial birthmark. Rebecca, played by Sara Ciocca as a child and Beatrice Barison as a young woman, finds solace in the piano, a talent she discovers with the help of her aunt and patron Erminia (Sonia Bergamasco).

“[Bellocchio] asked me to read the screenplay and I just loved it. Then I read the novel and...

Fremantle’s Rome-based company The Apartment has boarded Karim Aïnouz’s next feature Rosebushpruning in partnership with The Match Factory, Mubi, Kavac Film and Rai Cinema.

It marks the first big film announcement for The Apartment since the arrival of Annamaria Morelli as its CEO in February, following the departure of founder Lorenzo Mieli.

As announced in Cannes this week, Kristen Stewart, Josh O’Connor, and Elle Fanning are signed to co-star in Rosebushpruning, which shoots later this year.

Aïnouz is directing from a script written by Efthimis Filippou, adapted from Marco Bellocchio’s debut feature Fists in the Pocket, a satirical drama about a dysfunctional family.

Viola Fügen and Michael Weber are producing Rosebushpruning for The Match Factory, which is also handling worldwide sales for the film.

The adaptation rights have been acquired from Kavac Film also attached at the production team with Simone Gattoni.

Fremantle’s The Apartment will partner with The Match Factory, Mubi, Kavac Film and Rai Cinema to produce Karim Aïnouz’s next feature film “Rosebushpruning.”

Directed by Aïnouz, the film’s lead cast includes Kristen Stewart (“Love Lies Bleeding,” “Spencer”), Josh O’Connor (“Challengers,” “God’s Own Country”) and Elle Fanning (“Teen Spirit,” “The Great”). Aïnouz is directing from a script written by Efthimis Filippou (Kinds of Kindness, Dogtooth, The Lobster), which is an adaptation from Marco Bellocchio’s debut feature Fists in the Pocket.

Viola Fügen and Michael Weber are producing “Rosebushpruning” for The Match Factory, who are also handling worldwide sales for the film. The adaptation rights have been acquired from Kavac Film also attached at the production team with Simone Gattoni. The Apartment, a Fremantle Company, is co-producing, with Annamaria Morelli as executive producer. Rachel Dargavel for Crybaby Films is co-producing in the UK. Mubi is financing production alongside...

Fremantle’s The Apartment boarded Karim Aïnouz’s next feature Rosebushpruning, as co-producer, with The Match Factory, Mubi, Kavac Film and Rai Cinema.

The cast for the film, first announced last year, includes Kristen Stewart, Josh O’Connor and Elle Fanning.

Brazilian director Aïnouz is in Cometition at Cannes with Motel Destino, having last year premiered Firebrand in Compeition. Aïnouz is directing from a script by Kinds Of Kindness and Dogtooth writer Efthimis Filippou who has adapted Marco Bellocchio’s debut feature Fists In The Pocket.

Viola Fügen and Michael Weber are producing Rosebushpruning for The Match Factory, who are also...

Italian actress and screenwriter Paola Cortellesi’s directorial feature debut, There’s Still Tomorrow (C’è Ancora Domani), and Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano lead nominations at this year’s David Di Donatello Awards.

There’s Still Tomorrow nabbed 19 noms, including best film while Io Capitano landed 15, including best director for Garrone. Trailing the leading two is Alice Rohrwacher’s latest film, La Chimera, starring Josh O’Connor. Other leading films are Rapito (11), Comandante (10), Il Sol Dell’avvenire (7), and Adagio (5).

The 69th David di Donatello Awards take place May 3. The live show will be broadcast on Rai 1 in Italy. This year’s hosts include Carlo Conti and Alessia Marcuzzi. The ceremony will take place at the legendary Cinecittà studios.

Check out the full list of nominees below:

Best Film

C’È Ancora DOMANIprodotto da Mario Gianani e Lorenzo Gangarossa per Wildside società del gruppo Fremantle; Vision Distribution società del gruppo Sky; in collaborazione...

Exclusive: Cohen Media Group’s well-received Cannes, TIFF and NYFF 2023 drama Kidnapped: The Abduction Of Edgardo Mortara is set to be released stateside on May 24.

The latest from respected Italian filmmaker Belloccio debuted in Competition at Cannes. It reconstructs the true story of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped by the Papal state and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th-Century Italy.

The Mortara case was an Italian cause cèlèbre that captured the attention of much of Europe and North America in the 1850s and 1860s.

The movie has made $2M at the Italian box office and was nominated for a César in France and won an Italian Golden Globe award.

Deadline’s critic Stephanie Bunbury said of the feature: “The sense of the spectacular infuses the whole film, not just the grand interiors and rituals of the church services. Even in the Mortaras’ apartment, the director...

Italy’s Fandango Sales has taken international distribution rights to quirky comedy “Volare” about the fear of flying that marks the directorial debut of actor Margherita Buy.

Buy is known internationally for frequent roles in Nanni Moretti movies, most recently in “A Brighter Tomorrow” that launched from Cannes.

Her smart concept movie is being lead-produced by Simone Gattoni for Kavac Film, the company founded by veteran auteur Marco Bellocchio.

Buy – who in “Tomorrow” played Paola, partner and producer of Moretti’s self-centered alter ego Giovanni – also stars in “Volare” as a talented actress named AnnaBì who lands a role in a movie by a hot Korean helmer that would allow her to break out internationally. She is forced to turn it down owing to her aerophobia, as extreme fear of flying in an airplane is known.

AnnaBì subsequently has to face the same problem when her daughter gets into a U.

The Match Factory has posted fresh deals of for veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or contender Kidnapped about the true story of the kidnapping of a young Jewish boy.

It has sold to the UK and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Japan (Fine Films), Latin America (Cine Video y TV), Spain (Vertigo Films), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Agora Films), Poland (Best Film), Portugal (Alambique), Greece and Cyprus (Rosebud.21), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Israel (United King Video), Ukraine (Traffic Films), Taiwan (Light Year Images) and Indonesia (Falcon Pictures).

As previously announced, Cohen Media acquired North American rights earlier this month.

Kidnapped is inspired by the true story of six-year-old Edgardo Mortara who in 1857 was stolen from his Jewish family to be raised in a Catholic seminary. Read the Deadline review here.

The Match Factory handles international sales.

Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped has secured multiple international sales since world premiering in Competition at Cannes, including a deal to Curzon for the UK and Ireland.

Earlier this month, sales company The Match Factory announced it had sold film to Cohen Media for North American.

The Match Factory has since secured deals in: United Kingdom and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Japan (Fine Films), Latin America (Cine Video y TV), Spain (Vertigo Films), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Agora Films), Poland (Best Film), Portugal (Alambique), Greece and Cyprus (Rosebud.21), Czech Republic and...

Following the announcement of the North American acquisition by Cohen Media, The Match Factory has revealed further sales in key territories for Marco Bellocchio’s Cannes Competition title “Kidnapped.”

The film adapts the true story of the kidnapping of the young Jewish boy Edgardo Mortara, starring Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Enea Sala and Leonardo Maltese.

The film has its release secured in the following territories: U.K. and Ireland (Curzon), Australia and New Zealand (Palace Entertainment), Japan (Fine Films), Latin America (Cine Video y TV), Spain (Vertigo Films), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Agora Films), Poland (Best Film), Portugal (Alambique), Greece and Cyprus (Rosebud.21), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Bulgaria (Art Fest), Israel (United King Video), Ukraine (Traffic Films), Taiwan (Light Year Images) and Indonesia (Falcon Pictures). Further territories are in negotiation.

The film is a production by Ibc Movie...

“Kidnapped,” the new feature film from Marco Bellocchio, has been acquired for domestic distribution by Cohen Media Group, TheWrap has confirmed.

The drama, which played in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, concerns a young Jewish boy who, after being secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, is abducted and raised Christian in 19th Century Italy.

The picture debuted to mostly positive reviews (76% fresh and an average critic rating of 7/10 on Rotten Tomatoes), with TheWrap’s Ben Croll noting that the film “doesn’t so much pit one faith against another, casting oppressors against oppressed; instead, the film sets individuals against larger institutions.” It has earned $1.14 million in Italy since opening there in late May.

Marco Bellocchio, along with his contemporaries Bernardo Bertolucci and Pier Paolo Pasolini, helped redefine Italian and world cinema in the 1960s and beyond. He created the landmark films “Fists in the Pocket,...

Cohen Media Group has scooped rights to “Kidnapped,” the latest movie by revered Italian master Marco Bellocchio, which world premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The drama reconstructs the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th-century Italy.

Described by Variety as a “handsomely mounted period drama,” “Kidnapped” opens in 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, where the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education.

Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. The Mortaras are supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, but the Church and the...

Italian auteur Marco Tullio Giordana, best known internationally for sweeping terrorism-themed epic “The Best of Youth” (2003) is set to soon return behind the camera on “La Vita Accanto” a psychological drama about a talented young woman contending with profound rejection due to her looks.

Shooting is set to start on June 5 in Vicenza, Northern Italy, on “Vita Accanto,” (the title can be translated as “the life beside”) which is co-written and produced by Marco Bellocchio – the Italian master who is currently competing for a Cannes Palm d’Or with “Kidnapped.”

Italy’s Intramovies has started launching pre-sales on “Vita Accanto” in Cannes.

Giordana’s new project is based on an eponymous prizewinning novel by Italian writer Mariapia Veladiano about a girl named Rebecca who from the very moment of birth becomes ostracized by her family and the world around her “because she does not conform to aesthetic canons [of beauty],” Giordana told Variety.

Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains and veteran Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night topped the 68th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening.

The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.

Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.

The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.

It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.

The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Marco Bellocchio’s “Kidnapped” (Rapito), which has its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film starts in 1858 in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, when the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education.

Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly takes a political dimension. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power.

The film stars Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Enea Sala (as the...

European Film Academy will honor Italian director March Bellocchio for his mini-series Exterior Night at its 35th European Film Awards ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik.

The veteran filmmaker will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the drama, exploring the case of the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades in 1978.

The academy introduced the Innovative Storytelling category in 2020 to reflect the changes in the cinematic landscape.

Exterior Night was produced by Lorenzo Mieli at Fremantle company The Apartment Pictures with Simone Gattoni at Kavac Film, in co-production with Rai Fiction and Arte France.

The academy has also unveiled the nominees in the comedy, animated feature and short film categories.

In the comedy feature category, they comprise Hannes Þór Halldórsson’s Cop Secret (Iceland), Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss (Spain) and Catherine Corsini’s The...

Gianni Amelio’s “Lord of the Ants,” a biopic of Italian poet and playwright Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law, has reached the top spot at Italy’s box office following its launch from the Venice Film Festival.

“Ants” on Monday reached the numero uno position at the local box office roster with a €483,474 intake from more than 300 screens following its September 8 release. While far from stellar in normal times, this result is being hailed as an encouraging sign for the country’s still sagging post-pandemic theatrical sector.

Amelio’s film is now ahead of Japanese anime pic “Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo,” which was released as an event on Monday for a three day run, and “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” which is at the end of its run, following it’s Aug. 18 Italian outing.

“After being excellently received at the Venice Film Festival,...

Veteran Italian auteur Gianni Amelio rose to prominence with Oscar-nominated “Open Doors” (1990) and also “Stolen Children,” which won the 1992 Cannes Grand Prix. He won the Venice Golden Lion in 1998 with period drama “The Way We Laughed” and competed again in Venice with “A Lonely Hero” in 2013. Amelio’s more recent work comprises “Hammamet,” a portrait of disgraced late Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi’s final years in Tunisia.

Amelio is back in Venice with “Lord of the Ants” a biopic of Italian poet, playwright and director Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968, after a four-year trial due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law. Pic, which is produced by Simone Gattoni and Marco Bellocchio, stars Luigi Lo Cascio (“The Ties”) as Braibanti, who was convicted after a complaint from his younger partner’s father, who later forced his son to be treated with electroconvulsive therapy in an ill-conceived attempt to rid him of his homosexuality.

Prominent arthouse sales company The Match Factory has closed multiple sales on Italian auteur Gianni Amelio’s Venice competition title “Lord of the Ants” ahead of its Venice premiere on Tuesday.

The Match Factory has sealed deals on Amelio’s latest work – which is a biopic of Italian poet, playwright and director Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law – that will ensure the film’s theatrical release in Australia/New Zealand (Palace Films); Japan (Zazie Films); Spain (Surtsey Films); Sweden (TriArt Film) and Greece (Ama Films). Further deals are in negotiation, the company said.

Braibanti was convicted after a complaint from his partner’s father, who later forced his son to be treated with electroconvulsive therapy in an ill-conceived attempt to rid him of his homosexuality. The Fascist-era law that punished Braibanti, which made it a crime to lead innocent or unwary people “morally” astray,...

Shooting has begun in Roccabianca in the province of Parma, Italy, on Marco Bellocchio’s new film, “La Conversione” (The Conversion), inspired by the story of Edgardo Mortara, the Jewish child who in 1858 was removed from his family to be raised as a Catholic in the custody of Pope Pius IX. Bellocchio is pictured, above, on set in Roccabianca this week.

“La Conversione” stars Paolo Pierobon, Barbara Ronchi, Fausto Russo Alesi, Filippo Timi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Enea Sala, playing Mortara as a child, and Leonardo Maltese, playing Mortara as an older boy.

The film is an IBCmovie and Kavac Film production with Rai Cinema, with the support of the Emilia Romagna region and its film commission, in co-production with Ad Vitam Production in France, and Match Factory Productions in Germany. It is produced by Beppe Caschetto and Simone Gattoni.

The screenplay is by Bellocchio and Susanna Nicchiarelli, with the collaboration of Edoardo Albinati and Daniela Ceselli,...

Marco Bellocchio, who is in Cannes with TV series “Esterno Notte” about the kidnapping and assassination of former Italian premier Aldo Moro by Red Brigades terrorists, is set to return behind camera in late June.

The veteran Italian auteur and Cannes aficionado will reconstruct the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th century Italy.

Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.

It’s a story that Steven Spielberg had his eye on, having announced in 2016 that he would make a...

The Festival de Cannes has just revealed its Competition, Un Certain Regard and Premiere titles. Congratulations to all Ace producers on their films screening on the Croisette!

‘Close’ by Lukas Dhont

Competition

Close by Lukas Dhont

Co-produced by Laurette Schillings (Ace The Netherlands) and Frans van Gestel (Ace The Netherlands) Topkapi Films. Isa: The Match Factory

Triangle of Sadness by Ruben Östlund

Produced by Erik Hemmendorff (Ace Sweden)

Co-produced by Giorgos Karnavas (Ace Greece) and Per Damgaard Hansen (Ace Denmark). Isa: Coproduction Office

Vicky Krieps as Sisi, Empress of Austria in ‘Corsage’ by Marie Kreutzer

Un Certain Regard

Corsage by Marie Kreutzer

Co-produced by Jonas Dornbach (Ace Germany), Janine Jackowski (Ace Germany), Bernard Michaux (Ace Luxembourg), Jean-Christophe Reymond (Ace France) Komplizen Film Kazak Productions. Isa: MK2

Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach, Komplizen Film of ‘Corsage’

Godland by Hlynur Palmason

Produced by Eva Jakobsen (Ace Denmark) Snowglobe Film. Isa: New Films Europe

Kurak Günler(Burning Days) by Emin Alper

Produced by Nadir Operli (Ace Turkey)

Co-produced by Yorgos’ Tsourgiannis (Ace Greece). Isa: The Match Factory

‘Sick of Myself’ by Kristoffer Borgli

Sick of Myself by Kristoffer Borgli

Produced by Dyveke Graver (Ace Norway). Isa: Memento

Cannes Premiere

Esterno Notte (Nightfall) by Marco Bellocchio

Produced by Simone Gattoni (Ace Italy)...

Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to “Marx Can Wait” by Italian film master Marco Bellocchio, who received the honorary Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Represented in international markets by The Match Factory, “Marx Can Wait” is a moving and personal family tale exploring how the suicide of his twin brother Camillo shaped Bellocchio’s life and body of work. The documentary played at New York Film Festival and is eligible for this year’s Academy Awards.

In “Marx Can Wait,” Bellocchio tackles the trauma of Camillo’s death and invites family members to present their memories of his twin brother. The narrative and observational documentary shows how this loss has loomed over Bellocchio’s work like an unexpressed taboo marked by guilt, remorse and longing.

“We’re so thrilled to be partnering once again with The Match Factory and with Bellocchio on this beautiful,...

Italian auteur Gianni Amelio (“Open Doors”) will shoot a biopic of Italian poet, playwright and director Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law. The Match Factory has boarded the pic and is launching international sales in Cannes.

Amelio is best-known for the Oscar-nominated “Open Doors” (1990) and also “Stolen Children,” which won the 1992 Cannes Grand Prix, as well as “Hammamet,” a portrait of disgraced late Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi’s final years in Tunisia.

Braibanti was convicted after a complaint from his partner’s father, who later forced his son to be treated with electroconvulsive therapy in an ill-conceived attempt to rid him of his homosexuality. The Fascist-era law that punished Braibanti, which made it a crime to lead innocent or unwary people “morally” astray, was repealed in 1981.

Amelio’s new film, titled “Il signore delle formiche,” which translates as “The Ants Man,” features an...

Prolific Italian director Francesca Comencini is set to make a personal feature film that will pay homage to her father Luigi Comencini, the Italian master who made Oscar-nominated Cinema Italiano classic “Bread, Love and Dreams,” with Gina Lollobrigida and Vittorio De Sica.

Francesca’s film, with the working title “First Life, Then Cinema,” is being developed by Kavac Film, the Rome-based shingle of veteran Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio. Bellocchio is being honored in Cannes with a Lifetime Achievement honorary Palme d’Or on July 17.

Bellocchio’s partner in Kavac, producer Simone Gattoni, will be shopping the Comencini project in Cannes.

Best-known for a slew of post-war Commedia all’Italiana hit comedies — including 1972’s “Lo Scopone Scientifico” in which Bette Davis plays an aging millionaire opposite Alberto Sordi — Luigi also ventured into neorealism with, among other titles, “Misunderstood,” which screened in the 1967 Cannes competition, one of the director’s many films concerning the plight of children.

Written when the Italian legend was at the height of his powers, the screenplay for Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Technically Sweet,” which he planned to shoot between “Zabriskie Point” and “The Passenger,” looks set to be finally brought to the big screen.

Set in Sardinia and the Amazon jungle, “Technically Sweet” is set up at Brazil’s Gullane, the shingle behind Netflix’s upcoming “Senna” series, and Italy’s Similar, headed by Match Factory founder Michael Weber and Simone Gattoni and Laura Buffoni.

Antonioni finally gave up on shooting “Technically Sweet” in the 1980s, entrusting it to his A.D., Jirges Ristum, who died at an early age before shooting the film. It will be now be directed by Ristum’s son André Ristum. Enrica Antonioni, the director’s widow, will serve as associate producer.

Antonioni spent two years between 1970’s “Zabriskie Point” and 1975’s “The Passenger” trying to make “Technically Sweet.

Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio (“The Traitor”) is set to reconstruct the true-life drama of Edgardo Mortara, a Jewish boy kidnapped and converted to Catholicism in 1858. It’s a story that Steven Spielberg was in advanced stages to bring to the screen a few years ago.

Mortara was a young Jewish boy living in Bologna, Italy, who in 1858, after being secretly baptized, was forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents’ struggle to free their son became part of a larger political battle that pitted the papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Mortara went on to become a priest in the Augustinian order.

Unlike Spielberg — who announced his Mortara drama in 2014 based on a book by U.S. academic David Kertzer — Bellocchio is basing his pic, titled “La conversione” (“The Conversion”), on first-hand documents. Spielberg’s project reportedly lost steam after he was unable...

Italy is putting forward Gianfranco Rosi’s latest documentary Notturno as its candidate for the 2021 International Oscar race.

Anica, the country’s national film body, oversaw the selection process with the jury consisting of Nicola Borrelli, Simone Gattoni, Paolo Genovese, Carlo Poggioli, Cristina Priarone, Gloria Satta and Baba Richerme.

The pic premiered at Venice in Competition and picked up a handful of prizes. It it an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle East.

The deadline for submissions to the Oscar race is December 1, with the 2021 ceremony scheduled to take place April 25. The shortlist for the International Oscar will be unveiled February 9 and nominations will be announced March 15.

Italy is the most successful nation in the International / Best Foreign Film Oscar category with a total of 11 wins (plus three “honorary” wins in the early days of the awards). It last triumphed in 2013 with Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty.

Sardinia, a longtime a magnet for international productions spanning from James Bond classic “The Spy Who Loved Me” to George Clooney-directed TV series “Catch-22,” is ready for its close up again.

Following a hiatus due to the coronavirus crisis, the Italian island known for its emerald coast and ancient monuments is now hosting shoots for food and travel TV shows while scouting is under way for prospective big productions, including several from global streaming giants.

“We are doing lots of location scouting with Netflix, Amazon and Disney,” says Nevina Satta, head of the Sardinia Film Commission, who has long been a champion of eco-friendly best practices on set.

She has been busy training local executive producers in Covid-19 safety protocols alongside previous “green set” directives that the film commission had in place. Incidentally, during the pandemic, Sardinia had the lowest rates of coronavirus infection in Italy.

“Covid can actually...

Greece, where the death rate due to the coronavirus outbreak has been among among the lowest in Europe, is looking to lure more international productions by raising its cash rebates from 35% to 40% just as cameras are already rolling there on what is being touted as the first post-pandemic European co-production to start up.

“Greece is quite a success story in these particularly difficult times because of (anti-coronavirus) measures that were taken early on,” said Venia Vergou, director of the Hellenic Film Commission during a virtual Cannes Market panel.

The country was on lockdown between March 3 and May 4, and just one week later shooting had already resumed on hit Greek TV series “Wild Bees,” a period piece about three farmer sisters who live in a small, fictional village in the Thessalian flatland in the late 1950s, which was the first Greek production that started filming after the pandemic.

The scheduled production output of “Wild Bees,...

Exclusive: Here’s a positive one for the Euro film industry – shooting has resumed on Tochter (English translation Daughter), a co-production between significant producers from Germany, Greece and Italy.

The project is being heralded as the first post-covid international co-pro to get back underway in Europe, a fact confirmed by two major bodies Eave (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) and Ace (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes).

Pic is based on German author Lucy Fricke’s best-selling novel of the same title and is being directed by Nana Neul (To Faro). Producers include Bettina Brokemper of Heimatfilm, whose credits span Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built and Eran Riklis’ Dancing Arabs. Warner Bros Germany is a co-producer and will handle the local release.

Also onboard are Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis of Greek outfit Heretic, who won the European Film Academy prize for co-production in 2018 and have produced pics including festival hit Son Of Sofia.

Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio, recently the big winner at Italy’s David di Donatello awards with elegant mob drama “The Traitor,” is busy with a trio of projects involving personal and also national history, all shepherded by his now regular producer Simone Gattoni.

Gattoni, partner with Bellocchio in Rome’s Kavac Film, and among Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch last year, is riding high after the Davids — “The Traitor” having won six statuettes including best picture and director — and ramping up a robust slate of film and TV projects in various stages, to be directed by a mix of veteran names such as Bellocchio and Gianni Amelio (“Open Doors”), as well as younger, emerging Italian helmers. Most of these projects are being mounted by Kavac in tandem with other prominent Italian and European producers.

The most advanced project on the Kavac slate is Bellocchio’s “L’Urlo” (“The Scream”), a very...

With Italy gradually lifting some lockdown restrictions, local film and TV producers are busy drafting safety protocols to start shooting again, with June targeted as the start of the industry’s road map to recovery.

With close to 30,000 deaths, Italy has the second deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe, behind the U.K., but is now flattening the curve. On May 4, it entered its so-called “phase two” with some workplaces reopening.

The same day, the central Lazio region, which is the Italian industry’s main hub comprising Rome and Cinecittà Studios, announced that productions could start up again, prompting some premature trumpeting in local media that physical production of films and TV series has already restarted. However, the reality of reviving production is a far more complicated picture.

“Production activity as a whole can indeed restart, but there are many aspects to this, including preparation and opening offices again,” says Francesca Cima,...

The Traitor director Marco Bellocchio on Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese: “Unlike the great tradition of American Mafia movies and their use of imagery, here all characters are true characters and events that actually happened that we then manipulated or re-elaborated.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor (Il Traditore), co-written with Valia Santella, Ludovica Rampoldi, Francesco Piccolo, and Francesco La Licata, produced by Simone Gattoni and Giuseppe Caschetto, and starring Pierfrancesco Favino as Tommaso Buscetta, received four European Film Award nominations. Best Film, Best Director (won by Yorgos Lanthimos), Best Screenwriter (won by Céline Sciamma for Portrait Of A Lady On Fire), and Best Actor (won by Antonio Banderas in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain And Glory).

Alba Rohrwacher (in Dormant Beauty) on Marco Bellocchio: “I can say he is one of my masters. He taught me a lot.”

Before The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher retrospective...

The European Film Academy has unveiled its nominations for the 32nd European Film Awards with the ceremony to be held December 7 in Berlin. Among the titles to figure in the races, three are tied with four mentions each including Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy, Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory and Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor. The latter two are also the Oscar representatives from their respective Spain and Italy and give Sony Pictures Classics a combined eight nods at the EFAs.

While Polanski remains a controversial figure, there has been a divide between U.S. and Euro perspectives in the #MeToo era. His Dreyfus Affair drama, An Officer And A Spy, which also has Efa nominations for Director, Actor and Screenwriter, was one of the most contested titles at the Venice Film Festival where it debuted earlier this year. It went on to win the Grand Jury Prize there.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the North American, Latin American, Scandinavian, Australian and New Zealand rights to Marco Bellocchio’s mob drama “The Traitor,” or “Il traditore,” following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.

Bellocchio also wrote the script with Ludovica Rampoldi, Valia Santela, and Francesco Piccolo. “The Traitor” is produced by Beppe Caschetto, Michael Weber, Viola Fugen, Simone Gattoni, Caio Gullane, Fabiano Gullane and Alexandra Henochsberg, while Paula Cosenza and Thiago Mascarenhas are serving as executive producers.

The drama follows the real life of Tommaso Buscetta, a Sicilian Mafia boss who became an informant for authorities in Sicily during the 1980s. Pierfrancesco Favino, Maria Fernanda Candido and Luigi Lo Cascio star.

Also Read: 'The Traitor' Film Review: Sturdy Mafia Biopic Loses Something in Translation

“The Traitor” is a co-production between Ibc Movie, Rai Cinema, Kavac Film, Gullane Productions, Ad Vitam Production, and Match Factory Productions.

The Match Factory announces territory sales on The Traitor.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up worldwide rights excluding France and German-speaking Europe to Michael Angelo Covino’s comedy and Un Certain Regard selection The Climb.

The distributor additionally confirmed on Friday (24) that it had acquired Marco Bellocchio’s Competition entry The Traitor from Match Factory, which announced a string of territory sales.

Covino and Kyle Marvin wrote The Climb based on their own experiences. The story tells of best friends and cycling enthusiasts whose close bond is strained when one sleeps with the other’s girlfriend. Covino and Marvin star alongside Gayle Rankin,...

Cannes–Variety honored its 10 Producers to Watch for 2019 at a brunch on Monday morning at Cannes’ Plage des Palmes.

Launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998, the annual event fetes 10 producers from the U.S. and the international film community who share a common commitment to bold, original, provocative storytelling.

The films produced by this year’s honorees have premiered on the Croisette and made waves in Sundance and Berlin, tackling challenging themes while offering a platform for diverse cinematic voices. Collectively they represent a dynamic community that is going to “regenerate, rejuvenate, revitalize cinema moving forward,” said Variety’s executive VP of content Steven Gaydos.

Katriel Schory, who is stepping down from the Israel Film Fund, was also honored with Variety’s Creative Impact Award. Under Schory’s stewardship of the fund, more than 300 feature-length films were produced in Israel, while the domestic audience grew from 100,000 to 1.5 million admissions per year.

The Traitor

Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio, whose radical early works were a seminal part of 1960s and 1970s Italian cinema, embarks on his latest feature The Traitor, a biopic of Cosa Nostra member Tommaso Buscetta, the first high ranking official of the mafia organization to break their code of silence. Pierfrancesco Favino stars as Buscetta, joined by Brazilian actress Maria Fernando Candido, Luigi Lo Cascio, Fabrizio Ferracane and Fausto Russo Alesi. Oscar winning composer Nicola Piovani of 1998’s Life is Beautiful is writing the score and Vladan Radovic will serve as Dp. The feature is a four-country co-pro financed through Italy’s Ibc Movie, Kavac Film and Rai Cinema, while France’s Ad Vitam, Arte France Cinema and Canal Plus are also joined by Brazil’s Gullane and Germany’s Match Factory.…...

Producer body set to relocate to Amsterdam from Paris in early 2017.

Former CineMart and Rotterdam Lab manager Jacobine van der Vloed has been hired as director of the producers body Ateliers du Cinéma Européen (Ace).

Her appointment is a consequence of the body’s imminent move from its current home of Paris to Amsterdam in the spring and will take effect from Jan 1, 2017.

Board memberMarleenSlot of Amsterdam-based Viking Film said the move had been prompted partly by rising costs in Paris and the offer of additional funding from the Netherlands Film Fund (Nff).

Ace president Simon Perry has been busy over the last 12 months looking for new sources of income and a new location.

The move comes at a time when the Netherlands is becoming an increasingly important player on the international co-production scene following the introduction of a 30% tax rebate scheme in May 2014.

Slot noted Nff director Doreen Boonekamp had played a key role in the...

Exclusive: New Alba Rohrwacher drama among trio.

Indie sales powerhouse The Match Factory has struck a three-film deal with Cannes regular Marco Bellocchio, which includes the acclaimed director’s next two films and his directorial debut Fists in the Pocket (I Pugni in Tasca).

Alba Rohrwacher, star of Hungry Hearts and The Wonders, is set to reteam with the Dormant Beauty director on Blood of my Blood (Sangue Del Mio Sangue).

The actress stars alongside Filippo Timi (Vincere), Roberto Herlitzka (The Great Beauty), Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and Lidyia Liberman in the film currently near completion which Bellocchio describes as a story about “love for the past and the need to make a clean break with it”.

The film is a co-production between Simone Gattoni of Kavac Film, Beppe Caschetto of Ibc Movie, Tiziana Soudani of Amka Films Production, Fabio Conversi of Barbary Films and Rai Cinema.

The deal will also include Sweet Dreams (Fai Bei Sogni) - announced...

La Monaca (La Prigione di Bobbio)

Director: Marco Bellocchio

Writer: Marco Bellocchio

Producer: Simone Gattoni

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Ambra Angiolini, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Lidiya Liberman, Alberto Bellocchio

Bellocchio-ian themes of the church, the state and politics appear will likely all be sewn into a project that the Italian helmer has been trying to get off the ground for some time now and the reasoning for this is that after a glossed biopic-truth story of Bella addormentata, Marco Bellocchio is, according to Variety, working in “the free-flowing spirit” of Sorelle Mai (a rare experimental film in his filmography) and uses a mix of both professional and non-pro actors. In terms of incarcerated or held against their will female figures, look for La Monaca to be definitely be less-polished than Vincere.

Gist: Based on the true tale of a 17th century noblewoman forced to become a nun, but whose...