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Io sto bene, Luxembourg's 2022 Oscar Submission for Best International Film, is set to finally premiere on streaming Sept. 15, and writer/director Donato Rotunnolone) couldn’t be happier. The movie was a labor of love for the filmmaker in that his own life experiences influenced the story audiences experience here.

“I was born in Italy, and due to the migration background of my parents in the '60s, we moved from south of Italy to Central Europe, in Luxembourg, specifically. So, questioning about having roots somewhere else, then being a part of a country as a Luxembourg citizen is something that I carry in me,” Rotunno shared, adding:

It's a very important question as a human being, as a father, as a producer, as a director. I have a chance to explore these questions in this movie. So, I took time, wrote the script for the actors, and tried to...

There’s a sense throughout “Io sto bene” that writer-director Donato Rotunno knows his characters deeply. Unfortunately, that impression doesn’t translate to three-dimensional portraits that might let viewers understand them as more than fleeting figures in a fragmented memory piece. The trifurcated tale of an elderly man who, while grieving his recently deceased wife, looks back on their marriage at the same time that he befriends a young woman, this Luxembourg production — the country’s Oscar submission — is

In Luxembourg, long-time Italian expat Antonio (Renato Carpentieri) is preparing for the unwelcome next phase of his life, accepting retirement awards, putting his house on the market and checking out nursing homes in the aftermath of his spouse’s death. Via a chance encounter, he strikes up a friendship with DJ Leo (Sara Serraiocco), whose own situation is hardly a bed of roses: She’s struggling to pay the rent on...