Categorie notizie: Archivio News Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes 2021 edition Press Release Rai Com put together the hottest releases on the Italian market for this summerish Marché du Film edition Rome, June 15th, 2021 This July Rai Com presents in Cannes a line-up of the most awaited films on the Italian market, including recent releases Comedians and The Bad Poet. Films – Lineup In Comedians (2021) Academy-Award winner director Gabriele Salvatores follows the life of six stand-up artists getting ready for their first performance. The story is adapted from a successful theatre play by English dramatist Trevor Griffiths, already brought to the stage by Salvatores back in 1985. The movie was released on Italian movie theaters on June 10th. Prominent actor Sergio Castellitto plays the role of XX century Italian poet and political agitator Gabriele D’Annunzio in The Bad Poet (Il Cattivo Poeta, 2020) by Gianluca Jodice. The film is a photography of decisive moment in history of the country, in 1936, right before the beginning of the tragic events of World War II. The movie was released on Italian movie theaters on May 25th. My Body Will Bury You (Il Mio Corpo Vi Seppellirà, 2021) is a costume-drama set in 1860. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, while Garibaldi’s troops are invading this lawless territory, four female bandits nicknamed the “Drudes” are looking for their own personal revenge. In Romantic Guide to Lost Places (Guida Romantica a Posti Perduti, 2020) by Giorgia Farina, British actor Clive Owen is a fifty-something TV anchorman who deals with his addiction to alcohol who leaves for an unusual road trip through Italy with Allegra (Jasmine Trinca), a travel blogger in her thirties who struggles with her fears. Alessandro Grande debut’s feature is a coming of age drama. The film portraits Regina (2020): a 15 years old who dreams to become a singer. Her father Luigi supports her, expecially after the death of her mother. The two gets caught in a crescendo of anxiety and guilty feelings. Hidden Away (Volevo Nascondermi, 2020) by Giorgio Diritti is a real gem. After the huge success in Berlin, which worth a Silver Bear for Best Actor to Elio Germano for his unique performance of artist Antonio Ligabue (1899-1965), the movie scooped 7 David di Donatello out of 15 nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Elio Germano), Best Set Design, Cinematography, Hair Design and Sound. With If Only (Magari, 2019) first-time director Ginevra Elkann put together a sentimental comedy a sentimental comedy about three kids of divorced parents. While living in Paris with their bourgeois Russian-Orthodox mother, they are suddenly packed off and sent to spend time with their unconventional and broke Italian father, Carlo. In Divorce in Las Vegas (Divorzio a Las Vegas, 2020) Giampaolo Morelli (best known for his role as Inspector Coliandro), reunites with his wife, whom he married during a nine-hour romantic love story in Las Vegas. The Right to Happiness (Il Diritto alla Felicità, 2021) is the story a friendship beyond generations and nationalities. Essien, a kid who comes from far away, meets Libero, an old man who wants to make a free man out of him. COMEDIANS (new) By Gabriele Salvatores Produced by: Indiana Production, Rai Cinema supported by Ministero della Cultura with the support of Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission Italian Distribution: 01 Distribution World Sales: Rai Com Six aspiring comedians tired of the mediocrity of their lives are about to perform for the first time in a club. An examiner is attending the event, he will choose one of them to perform in a TV Show. For some of them this is the first real opportunity they have to change their lives, for others is the very last one. The performance begins. The comedians have a huge dilemma: should they listen their teacher who prefers a smart comedy or should they please the unrefined examiner? Or even should they choose a totally personal and original approach? Following the stories of six characters, Comedians is a reflection on the very meaning of comedy in our time. THE BAD POET By Gianluca Jodice Produced by: Ascent Film, Bathysphere, Rai Cinema supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of Regione Lazio Italian Distribution: 01 Distribution World Sales: Rai Com Writer, poet, playwright, journalist, trooper, patriot. Gabriele D’Annunzio has been a towering observer and narrator of the Italian nation, and predicted its future with such foresight and critical thinking which brought him the title of Vate – the sacred poet, the prophet. Now D’Annunzio is living his last years as a recluse in his mansion, the Vittoriale, fighting against the oppression, determined not to give up his freedom,and never to join the Fascist Party. Although D’Annunzio accepts his honors and appointments, Mussolini fears him, and knows he needs to keep him under control. That’s why he sends Giovanni Comini, the youngest Federal in Italy, to watch the Evil Poet. MY BODY WILL BURY YOU – IL MIO CORPO VI SEPPELLIRÀ By Giovanni La Pàrola Produced by: Cinemaundici, Ascent Film, Rai Cinema with the support of Regione Lazio, Apulia Film Commission World Sales: Rai Com 1860, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. While Garibaldi’s troops are invading this lawless territory, four female bandits nicknamed the “Drudes” are looking for their own personal revenge. ROMANTIC GUIDE TO LOST PLACES – GUIDA ROMANTICA A POSTI PERDUTI / Comedy by Giorgia Farina Produced by: Oplon Film, Rai Cinema, Lucky Red, IBC Movie Italian distribution: Lucky Red World Sales: Rai Com Romantic Guide to Lost Places is an unusual road movie that ranges across Europe looking for forgotten places, during which two strangers, both trapped in lives of deceit, come to terms with their own pasts. Benno and Allegra: he’s over fifty, English, and drinks like a fish; she’s twenty years younger, a travel blogger with lots of imagination. They both live off their lies and have no intention of stopping now. Next-door neighbors who had never met until the day he wound up on the wrong landing, and nothing would ever be the same. Sheer chance leads this odd couple on a flight towards lost or forgotten places, where their mutual support makes for self discovery. REGINA Drama by Alessandro Grande Produced by: Bianca Film, Rai Cinema, supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of Fondazione Calabria Film Commission Italian distribution: Adler Entertainment Italia World Sales: Rai Com Regina is 15 and dreams of being a singer. Her father Luigi supports her since she lost her mother years ago. Theirs is a very strong bond, at least until when, one day, an unforeseeable event will change their lives. HIDDEN AWAY – VOLEVO NASCONDERMI By Giorgio Diritti Produced by: Palomar, Rai Cinema, supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of Regione Emilia Romagna, in association with Coop Alleanza 3.0., Demetra Formazione, Finregg Italian distribution: 01 Distribution World Sales: Rai Com Toni, the son of an emigrant Italian mother, deported back to Italy from Switzerland where he spent his childhood, lived for years in a shack by the river without ever succumbing to loneliness, the cold or hunger. Meeting the sculptor Renato Marino Mazzacurati was his chance to return to painting, the beginning of a redemption story in which he feels art is the only way to form his identity, a real opportunity to make his name known and loved by the world. “El Tudesc,” as people called him, was a lonely, scrawny, ugly and often mocked and humiliated man. He became an imaginative artist who painted a fantasy world of tigers, gorillas and jaguars on the banks of the Po. Ligabue’s art is a “fairy tale” from which a wealth of diversity emerges and his work over time has proved to be a gift to collective humanity. The movie was released on Italian movie theaters on February 5th, 2020. IF ONLY – MAGARI By Ginevra Elkann Produced by: Wildside, Tribus P Films, Iconoclast, Rai Cinema Italian distribution: BIM World Sales: Rai Com Magari is a sentimental comedy, the story of three tight-knit siblings, Alma, Jean and Sebastiano who live in Paris, in the safe, albeit bizarre, bourgeois world of their Russian-Orthodox mother. One day they are suddenly packed and sent off into the arms of their absent, unconventional and completely broke Italian father Carlo, who has no idea how to look after himself, let alone his kids. During a Christmas holiday spent at a beach house with Carlo and his writing partner Benedetta, a moment in which their true lives are momentarily suspended, family tensions bubble to the surface. Carlo uncovers a dark side to his former wife and proves to his children that he is indeed an unreliable father, but also an incredibly charismatic one. And, despite the daily challenges and tensions, young Alma still firmly believes that one day – OH, IF ONLY! – her family will be united again, just like it used to be. DIVORCE IN LAS VEGAS – DIVORZIO A LAS VEGAS Comedy by Umberto Riccioni Carteni Produced by: Rodeo Drive, Rai Cinema, with the support of Regione Lazio Italian distribution: 01 Distribution World Sales: Rai Com At 18, Lorenzo (Gian Paolo Morelli) and Elena (Andrea Delogu) meet during a summer school vacation in the United States. She’s the hottie of the group, he’s the boring geek. During their last day of vacation, under the influence of lysergic substances, they dare to get married in Las Vegas to then eventually lose contact for the next 20 years. In the present day, Elena is a businesswoman meanwhile Lorenzo is an across the board ghostwriter: he writes speeches for politicians of any political spectrum. Lorenzo and Elena would have never met again if it weren’t for Elena’s upcoming marriage with one of the wealthiest men in Italy, Gian Andrea Bertolini (Gian Marco Tognazzi). Although, to be able to marry him she has to sneak back to Vegas with Lorenzo to get divorced. A bureaucratic hassle, which will actually turn into an odyssey of twists and turns, and emotions. THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS – IL DIRITTO ALLA FELICITÀ By Claudio Rossi Massimi Produced by: Imago Film, Associazione Culturale Imago World Sales: Rai Com Libero is a passionate book seller, Essien is an immigrant young boy. The friendship between the two passes through the books that Libero lends to Essien. The complicity between the two grows together with the emotion of reading these novels. Essien meets the West through his literature. Libero, whose name means freedom, fulfills the meaning of his name by trying to make Essien a free man. Life, with his commandments, will bring a melancholy ending, but nothing is lost. FREAKS OUT Action by Gabriele Mainetti Produced by: Goon Films, Lucky Red, in collaboration with Rai Cinema Italian distribution: 01Distribution World Sales: Rai Com Matilde, Cencio, Fulvio and Mario are family when the 2nd world war hits Rome. 1943, in the turmoil of the conflict and the eternal city is home to the circus in which they work. Israel, the owner and putative father, disappears in the attempt to find a getaway overseas for them all. THE WALKING LIBERTY Animation By Alessandro Rak Produced by: MAD Entertainment, Rai Cinema, Mibact World Sales: Rai Com A tale partly inspired by the optimistic spirit reflected in the eponymous silver half dollar issued by the Unites States Mint from 1916 to 1947. IT WAS SPRING OUTSIDE – FUORI ERA PRIMAVERA Docu-Feature by Gabriele Salvatores Produced by: Indiana Production, Rai Cinema Italian distribution: 01 Distribution World Sales: Rai Com It was spring outside is an intimate report of Italians in lockdown: from the wonderful empty Italian squares, to the heroes on the front lines in the hospital wards, to the balconies in celebration, to home shooting. A collective testimony filtered through the direction and vision of a great artist who, with a real documentary film, gives to our future memory an authentic and complete photograph of Italy today. FELLINI. I’M A CLOWN : FELLINI. IO SONO UN CLOWN Documentary / Biography (50’) By Marco Spagnoli Produced by Francesco Scardamaglia, Federico Scardamaglia, Compagnia Leone Cinematografica World Sales: Rai Com Synopsis: the documentary tells, through the backstage of «Director’s Block Notes» and «The Clowns», Fellini’s relationship with cinema and television. Peter Goldfarb, the Block Notes producer, talks about his relationship with Fellini and lesser-known anecdotes. The music marks the unedited scenes and Fellini is told not only as a director but also as a character: thoughtful, skillful but also uncertain. Uncertainty that Mastroianni perceives when he does not feel the trust of the director, his guide. The same uncertainty about the transition from cinema to television emerges, through the director’s own words, initially seen as an opportunity to speak to a different audience, and then disappointed. The carefully selected images manage to convey Fellini’s path and his «vision» emerges through the expressive faces of the actors and their specimens in a mosaic of strange characters, sets and unpublished claps. The relationship with the circus and clowns is striking: Fellini himself speaks of his passion for the circus since childhood and of «grotesque clowns as delusional drunken ambassadors of a vocation with no escape»: cinema. BOSNIA EXPRESS Documentary / History (52’/70’) By Massimo D’Orzi Production Il Gigante, Istituto Luce Cinecittà, Loups Garoux with the support of Media Creative Europe, Mibact and FVG Film Commission Italian Distribution: Istituto Luce Cinecittà World Sales: Rai Com Through the eyes and thoughts of the author, the documentary brings the viewer to the travel through some stages of a fascinating journey, inspired by the stops of the old Express 451. This is the train that connected Sarajevo and Belgrade in the time of Tito’s Yugoslavia, and created brotherhood among the people who lived along this railway. Nowadays, in these death rails our journey runs through the cities and landmarks of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that are crossed from one side by humanity that is moving to design a new profile of the country, and from the other by a theater of horrors that never ceases to remind the world the tragedy that has shaken this land with the war in the early nineties. Market – Screenings REGINA June 22nd 6:00 PM / June 23rd 5:30 PM MY BODY WILL BURY YOU June 23rd 4:00 PM / June 24th 9:00 AM THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS June 23rd 8:00 PM / June 25th 6:00 PM HIDDEN AWAY June 24th 3:00 PM / June 25th 10:30 AM ROMANTIC GUIDE TO LOST PLACES June 24th 4:30 PM / June 25th 4:00 PM New title – COMEDIANS June 24th 6:00 PM / June 25th 12:00 PM Documentaries – Lineup Gabriele Salvatores also created the collective documentary It was spring outside (Fuori era Primavera, 75’) a unique report of Italy during the lockdown. The breathtaking empty Italian squares, the healthcare workers seen as real-life heroes, the mise-en-scène on the balconies: tons of home-made videos and mobile footage are put together. The result is an emotional documentary, with the unmatchable realism of the collective reportage filtered through the direction and vision of a great artist. Director and Movie Critic Marco Spagnoli brings to the screen a documentary portrait of Federico Fellini in Fellini. I’m a Clown (Fellini. Io sono un clown, 50’). With unseen materials of the behind the scenes of the mockumentary “Director’s Block Notes” and “The Clown”, the documentary explores the artist in his new relationship with the Television emerging as a mass media at that time – and the importance of the image of clowns, that according to Fellini are “delusional drunken ambassadors of a vocation with no escape”: cinema. The documentary Bosnia Express (52’/70’) takes the viewer to a trip through the history that crossed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The documentary follows the railroad of the old Express 451, a train connecting Sarajevo to Belgrade at the time of Tito’s Yugoslavia. A journey that lasts until today, when a new profile of the country is still shaping off. Films – Upcoming Rai Com is also presenting in Cannes two movies from prominent Italian authors: Freaks out is an historical-fantasy drama directed by Gabriele Mainetti. The story is set a Circus, the place where a group of unique characters live and work. The movies is due to be released in Italy on October 2021. The Walking Liberty is the third and most awaited feature by Italian animation director Alessandro Rak, known for Cinderella the Cat, who is now bringing to the screen a new inspiring tale. Set in a post-apocalyptic world taken over by a tropical vegetation, The Walking Liberty takes its name from the silver half-dollar issued from the United States Mint from 1916 to 1947. Buyers can screen contents anytime by requesting access to the branded digital library at https://www.videolibrary.raicom.rai.it/. Rai Com’s sales team is available to schedule online appointments https://www.raicomvl.rai.it/contacts Rai Com and Amazon Prime Video Rai Com, the sales branch of the Italian pubcaster RAI, is implementing its UK offer with the Amazon Prime Video service Rai Com is now offering the opportunity for the Great Britain streaming audiences, including an estimated community of 700,000 Italians, to discover a series of feature films across the spectrum of its video library available on the UK Amazon Prime Video service. Rai Com executive David Bogi commented “UK is an extremely accomplished and sophisticated market when it comes to international offer, the titles made available on the UK Amazon Prime Video service are a rose of quality content from our video library which includes feature films, tv series and movies, documentaries and performing arts”. Titles Live: Io Che Amo Solo Te (My One And Only Love) by Marco Ponti L’Estate Addosso (Summertime) by Gabriele Muccino Brutti E Cattivi (Ugly Nasty People) by Cosimo Gomez selected at the 74th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section Ammore E Malavita (Love And Bullets) by Manetti Bros. winner of five prizes « David di Donatello» (italian Oscar) Fiore by Claudio Genovesi selected at the 2016 Cannes Quinzaine des Réalisateurs In Guerra Per Amore (At War For Love) by Pif Tutto Quello Che Vuoi (Friends By Chance) by Francesco Bruni Non E’ Un Paese Per Giovani (Not For The Young) by Giovanni Veronesi Tutte Le Vogliono (All The Girls Want Him) by Alessio Maria Federici La Tenerezza (Tenerezza) by Gianni Amelio The Start Up (Start Up) by Alesssandro D’Alatri Chi M’Ha Visto (My Own Kidnapping) by Alessandro Ponti Una Storia Senza Nome (The Stolen Caravaggio) by Roberto Ando’ selected at the 74th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section Poli Opposti (Opposites Attract) by Max Croci Pericle Il Nero (Pericle The Black) by Stefano Mordini in Official Selection Un Certain Regard Festival de Cannes Lasciati Andare (Let Yourself Go!) by Francesco Amato Questione Di Karma (It’s All About Karma) by Edoardo Falcone Ci Vuole Un Fisico (Young, Fit… And Almost Good Looking) by Alessandro Tamburin Saremo Giovani E Bellissimi (We’ll Be Young And Beautiful) by Letizia Lamartire selected at the 74th Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section Soon available: La Felicità E’ Un Sistema Complesso (The Complexity of Happiness) by Gianni Zanasi Leonardo Opera Omnia Exhibition in Algiers The new stage of the itinerant exhibition on Leonardo was inaugurated in Algiers. The “Leonardo Opera Omnia” exhibition will be on show at the Palace of Culture Moufdi Zakaria in Algiers until October 18, 2019. After Tbilisi, Addis Ababa, Beijing (in only one month almost 100,000 visitors were recorded), Warsaw, Canton, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Tirana, the exhibition will continue to Yangon, Kampala, Lyon, Jakarta and Dakar. At the same time, in South America, the journey of the exhibition Opera Omnia dedicated to Giotto, Botticelli and Piero della Francesca continues, currently open to visitors in Pachuca de Soto in the state of Hidalgo in Mexico. LINK: Leonardo’s paintings in the itinerant exhibition The Exhibition in Algiers The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Rai Com – Cultural Heritage Selected international press review for IF ONLY/ MAGARI – by Ginevra Elkann Locarno International Film Festival 2019 – August 8, 2019 Locarno opens with a Franco-Italian film starring Alba Rohrwacher and Riccardo Scamarcio. Rai Com distributes internationally this year’s opening film at Locarno, If Only (Magari in Italian) by Director Ginevra Elkann. For any information, please contact Rai Com International Sales Executive cristina.cavaliere@rai.it. International press review Variety, August 7, 2019 https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/if-only-magari-review-1203295040/ Accomplished producer and first-time feature director Ginevra Elkann draws on her own childhood for a loose, likable dysfunctional family portrait. Ginevra Elkann’s sweetly ruminative debut feature, though the more blandly whimsical “If Only” has been chosen as its English moniker, which is neither wrong nor quite right. Yet that elusiveness is apt enough in the case of Elkann’s semi-autobiographical film, which presents family tensions and divisions that are at once universally recognizable and firmly rooted in her Franco-Italian upbringing: Following a splintered family’s reconciliation over the course of one shambolic Christmas vacation, it’s a gentle, cool breeze of a memory piece made pleasurable by its richly and specifically accented telling. That might not translate into major global distribution, but this year’s Locarno opener will win friends on the festival circuit. Elkann has already established herself on the European arthouse scene as an intrepid producer of bold, border-crossing projects, including Noaz Deshe’s “White Shadow” and Babak Jalali’s “Frontier Blues.” Her first feature as a writer-director — coming 14 years after the first short — is perhaps less formally adventurous than her production résumé might suggest, though it’s clearly a work of intimate personal investment, likely to inspire comparisons to Mia Hansen-Løve’s early films in its talky, wistful quality and flirtation with memoir. There are no grand revelations here, just comforting, cumulatively moving observations we can all recognize: that our parents are rarely either the heroes or monsters we make them out to be at critical points in our childhoods, and that no amount of “magari” thinking can change the families we’re given or the shape they take. Elkann handles a charismatic, freewheeling ensemble — including her trio of non-pro child performers — with apparent ease, while her filmmaking is no less casually assured. Desideria Rayner’s intuitive editing lends proceedings a spiky, diary-like rhythm, while d.p. Vladan Radovic, shooting on film, conjures a grainy, tactile aesthetic without straying into Instagram-filter kitsch. Indeed, much of the film exudes the milky, sun-faded sheen of old family photographs — perfect for these 30-year-old memories, whether they all belong to the director or not. Screendaily, August 7, 2019 https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/if-only-locarno-review/5141702.article Family agonies play out in elegantly sketched, if hardly unfamiliar fashion, in If Only, the debut feature by Italian writer-director Ginevra Elkann, better known as a producer and distributor (respectively, at Italian companies Asmara Films and Good Films). This year’s opening film at Locarno, If Only is essentially a coming-of-age story bolstered by prestigious adult presences, notably Riccardo Scamarcio and Alba Rohrwacher, alongside French stawart Céline Sallette.This tender, highly personal-seeming work never transcends the conventions of approachable Italian art cinema, but works engagingly in its own terms. The film’s main appeal lies in a trio of terrific, adroitly directed performances from young newcomers, notably Oro de Commarque as eight year-old Alma, whose fresh, candid turn contributes charm that sustains the film even when other aspects are a little conventional. Domestic, festival and online prospects are assured, wider theatrical distribution less so. Variety, August 6, 2019 – Interview with GE https://variety.com/2019/film/news/ginevra-elkann-on-making-her-assured-first-feature-if-only-which-opens-locarno-1203293845/ Cineuropa, August 7, 2019 – Review: “impressive crowd-pleasing story” https://www.cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/376256 Locarno opens with an impressive crowd-pleasing story centring on the children of divorce by Ginevra Elkann. The opening film of the 72nd Locarno Film Festival is a delightfully told family story. […] An impressive aspect of Ginevra Elkann’s debut film is the way she keeps the narrative embedded in reality, while our narrator continually floats off into fantasy. There are no ghosts here, just a wonderful life. Are we supposed to believe everything that happens? […] Both Scamarcio and Rohrwacher live up to their stellar reputations with performances full of nuance and tiny quirks. But it’s Oro De Commarque as Alma who steals the picture. Director Elkann shows a wonderful ability to deal with heavy themes in a light-hearted way. Alma’s observations and dialogue are regularly droll. Some scenes are a little on the nose, but this is easily forgiven when we arrive at the grand finale, which takes place around a dinner table under the Roman sun. There are plenty of fine observations along the way that elevate simple situations, most notably when the women in Carlo’s life share a cigarette in a car. Following a classical structure, even the pet dog has its pay-off. This is the funny, light and sentimental film on divorce that we didn’t know we were waiting for. The Hollywood Reporter, August 8, 2019 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/magari-1229297 The Locarno fest’s opening-night selection is a comic coming-of-age drama told largely from an 8-year-old girl’s perspective. There’s a pint-size die-hard romantic at the center of Magari: Alma, age 8, who with her two older brothers spends a shambolic and charmed holiday season with their divorced dad. Coursing beneath their seaside interlude is a little girl’s intense longing, reflected in the English title of this Italian-French production: If Only. Alma holds tight to the hope that her parents, who split when she was a baby, will remarry. She’s certain, all evidence to the contrary, that this turn of events would set the world spinning in its proper orbit. Ginevra Elkann, a producer who began her film career as assistant director on Bernardo Bertolucci’s Besieged, makes her feature directing debut with a film that’s steeped in a tender but not sugarcoated nostalgia. Vladan Radovic’s flowing, nimble camerawork is perfectly in sync with the gently messy emotional terrain of the story — written with sharp, unfussy insight by the helmer and Chiara Barzini— and especially with its immersion in child’s-eye-view sensory delights. Alma (a lovely turn by Oro De Commarque), broody 14-year-old Sebastiano, aka Seb (Milo Roussel), and diabetic middle kid Jean (Ettore Giustiniani), whose health issues have perhaps heightened his devotion to TV superheroes, fly from Paris to Rome for a Christmastime visit with their father, Carlo (a pitch-perfect Riccardo Scamarcio), a struggling screenwriter. Their mother, Charlotte (Céline Sallette), is an eccentrically pious convert to the Russian Orthodox faith of her husband, Pavel (Benjamin Baroche) — who’s understandably deemed “really boring” by the kids. Along with the clothing they pack for a ski trip that never happens, Charlotte has sent them off with little warning and two secrets that won’t remain under wraps for long: She’s pregnant, and she and Pavel plan to move the family to Canada. Under an auspiciously sunny sky, Dad arrives late at the airport, but with an adorable mutt in tow. That combo of screw-up and charisma is his m.o. But as well-seasoned as his captivating shtick may be, Carlo regards the reunion with a twinge of fear. He’s far from a constant presence in his kids’ lives; when he urges them to speak Italian rather than their now-preferred French, Seb responds with a sullen teenage dig: “It’s hard speaking Italian every two years.” Carlo’s also distracted by work, consumed with getting a production company to greenlight his new screenplay — one that he claims has drawn the attention of Mastroianni. Based on that name-drop and Jean’s Game Boy console, the story is unfolding in the early ’90s — as Italian audiences surely will deduce from the pop songs that spark car sing-alongs and celebratory dancing in key scenes. Carlo’s typewriter might look like an affectation to contemporary eyes, but given his financial situation, it’s more likely that it’s a necessary holdout during the end of an era. Whatever his anxieties, Carlo temporarily abandons the kids at his parents’ place. Static overhead shots capture the orderly geometry of their well-appointed place, a striking contrast to the free-spirited days that lie ahead, after Carlo retrieves Alma and her brothers in an early-morning sneak maneuver. This time he’s accompanied not just by his scruffy dog but by his loose-limbed writing partner, Benedetta (Alba Rohrwacher, terrific). She might also be his lover, and, at least in the eyes of film producers, it seems she’s the better writer — one of many tantalizing details woven seamlessly into the screenplay. Instead of the planned trip to the mountains, Carlo takes the kids to the seaside, where he has a modest house. Seb understands that this off-season beach trip is a cost-saving measure, but Alma views the choice of location through heart-shaped rose-colored glasses: It’s a return to a place that her parents once shared, and therefore another sign that they’re destined to reunite. When she thinks of romantic couples — like herself and a cool teen boy with a moped — Alma envisions wedding scenes, and foremost in her imagined nuptial pairings are her parents, whose reunion is the subject of her ardent prayers and at least one nauseating sacrifice. The unrushed idyll that unfurls is alive with discovery, flirtation, parties and several characters’ boundary-testing drifts between darkness and joy. Brett Gelman (Fleabag), as an American film-biz friend of Carlo’s, bursts in on the lazy days with a high-energy blast of weird intensity and loud English, accompanied by a mysterious silent partner. After such an organic narrative ebb and flow, two key dramatic turns in the late going can’t quite shake off the feeling of contrivance. Magari is not an indelible film, but it casts a sensuous spell, and Elkann has an eye for odd and lovely details, impulsive hairpin turns and everyday moments charged with emotion: a first kiss; the ineffable intimacy of a shared sandwich during a wayward journey — memories in the making, and wishes giving way, if grudgingly at first, to the unexpected. —————————– PHOTO GALLERY RAI COM VIDEOLIBRARY 72 nd Locarno Film Festival Locarno opens with a Franco-Italian film starring Alba Rohrwacher and Riccardo Scamarcio. Rai Com distributes internationally this year’s opening film at Locarno, If Only (Magari in Italian) by Director Ginevra Elkann. The film is essentially a coming-of-age story bolstered by prestigious adult presences such as Italian Riccardo Scamarcio and Alba Rohrwacher, alongside French Céline Sallette. For any information, please write to Rai Com International Sales Executive cristina.cavaliere@rai.it. INTERNATIONAL PRESS REVIEW PHOTO GALLERY RAI COM VIDEOLIBRARY Rai Com Opera Omnia exhibitions in the World The itinerant exhibition on Leonardo continues its journey through the main cities of Europe, Asia and Africa (Addis Ababa, Tbilisi, Warsaw, Beijing, Canton, Kuala Lampur, Bangok, Tirana, Algiers, Yangon, Kampala, Lyon, Jakarta and Dakar). At the same time, in South America, the exhibition Opera Omnia – dedicated to Giotto, Botticelli and Piero della Francesca – continues its journey. After Mexico City he is currently in Pachuca de Soto in the state of Hidalgo in Mexico. LINK: Brochure Poster Paintings Exhibition Inauguration Rai Com – Cultural Heritage Rai Com in Berlin Rai Com takes part to EFM – European Film Market from 7th to 15th February in Berlin to present the documentary Baikonur,Earth, by Andrea Sorini, The Stolen Caravaggio, by Roberto Andò, and Dafne, by Federico Bondi, film selected in the Berlinale Panorama, which Rai Com distributes internationally. On this occasion Rai Com will also announce new titles presently in production and post-production. (read our Newsletter) 04/02/2019 Rai Com al Lido Rai Com at the 75th Venice International Film Festival As international distributor Rai Com is attending the 2018 Venice Film Festival with many new films. Three titles appear in the Official Selection: The Stolen Caravaggio by Roberto Andò (out of competition in the Fiction category), Arrivederci Saigon by Wilma Labate (out of competition in the Sconfini category), and We’ll be young and beautiful by Letizia Lamartire, in the Critic’s Week category. Among the new titles available to the market: Blue Kids by Andrea Tagliaferri, Romance in Rome by Cosimo Messeri, and Freaks Out by Gabriele Mainetti. Newsletter Rai Com Caravaggio Opera Omnia – Bangkok From 4th May to 10th June the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC) in Bangkok is hosting the Exhibition #OperaOmnia dedicated to Caravaggio, the famous “painter of light”; a chronological and thematic journey through digital reproductions of 40 masterpieces. Caravaggio Opera Omnia was inaugurated on 3rd May 2018 in the presence of the local authorities and the Italian Ambassador Francesco Saverio Nisio. It has been arranged by #RaiCom in cooperation, among others, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the Italian Embassy in Bangkok. Curator of the exhibition is the distinguished art historian Antonio Paolucci. http://www.raicom.rai.it/cultural-heritage Cartoons on the Bay 2018 PRESS REVIEW Sito Cartoons on the Bay Posts navigation Older posts Share: Rai Com S.p.A., a company with a sole shareholder Sede Legale: Via Umberto Novaro, 18 00195 Rome Fully paid-up share capital: Euro 10.320.000 Responsabile protezione dati: dporaicom@rai.it Subject to management and control activities Rai – Radiotelevisione Italiana S.p.A. Rome Business and Trade Registry Tax Code/VAT code IT 12865250158 REA n. RM- 949207 © Rai Com 2015 - All rights reserved Home Corporate International Business Areas Special projects Italian Business Areas Events and Markets News Archive Privacy policy Contacts Cookie Policy This site utilizes cookies. 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