Il maestro
Scialla!, the directorial debut of screenwriter Francesco Bruni (winner of the David di Donatello and Nastro d’Argento 2010 for La prima cosa bella (The First Beautiful Thing) by Paolo Virzì) will be the opening feature-length film of the Controcampo italiano section at the 68th Venice International Film Festival (August 31 –September 10, 2011), directed by Marco Mueller and organized by the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta. Il maestro, the first film directed by actress and producer Maria Grazia Cucinotta, will be the opening short film in the Controcampo italiano section.
Both Scialla! and Il maestro will have their worldwide premiere in the Sala Grande, at the Lido on Friday, September 2, and will compete respectively for the Controcampo Award for narrative feature-length films and for the Controcampo Award for short films.
The selection has also been made for the members of the Jury of Controcampo italiano, which will be chaired by Roberta Torre (who opened the Controcampo italiano section in 2010 with the international success I baci mai dati [Lost Kisses], later sold to over ten countries and presented at the Sundance Film Festival and in Moscow, London, and Tokyo), and will also include the director and screenwriter Aureliano Amadei, winner of the Controcampo italiano Award in 2010 with 20 sigarette (the film also won 4 David di Donatello and two Nastro d’Argento) and Cristiana Capotondi, one of the best known and admired Italian actresses of her generation, who won acclaim last year for her performance in La passione by Carlo Mazzacurati, in Competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.
Scialla – a typical expression in teenage Roman slang meaning “let it out”, “chill” – is the story of Luca (Filippo Scicchitano), a restless, fifteen-year old Roman who grew up without a father and is sub-consciously in search of a guide, and of Bruno (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), a professor without children who has left his teaching job to take refuge in the apathy of private tutoring. Starring alongside Fabrizio Bentivoglio are Barbora Bobulova, Vinicio Marchioni and young first-time actor Filippo Scicchitano. The cast is completed by Giuseppe Buarino, Prince Manujibeya, Arianna Scommegna, Giacomo Ceccarelli, and Raffaella Lebboroni. The executive producer of the film is Rita Rognoni for Pupkin Production. Scialla! is produced by Beppe Caschetto for IBC Movie in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be distributed by Rai Cinema/01 Distribution.
Francesco Bruni, born in Rome in 1961, but living in Livorno, earned his diploma at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia where he taught screenwriting from 1999 to 2009. For the cinema, he wrote all the scripts for Paolo Virzì’s films and has worked with Mimmo Calopresti, Felice Farina, Vito Zagarrio, Francesca Comencini, Ficarra and Picone, Carlo Virzì, and Nina di Majo. He also collaborated on the script of Miracle at St. Anna by Spike Lee. For television, he wrote all the scripts in the series Il commissario Montalbano, Il Tunnel della Libertà and Il commissario De Luca. He won the Premio Solinas for screenwriting in 1994 for La seconda volta (The Second Time), the Ciak d’Oro for Ovosodo (Hardboiled Egg) and for Caterina va in città (Caterina in the Big City), the David di Donatello and Nastro d’Argento for La prima cosa bella (The First Beautiful Thing). Sciallà! is his debut film as a director.
Il maestro, Maria Grazia Cucinotta’s debut as director, is inspired by the story of her grandfather and narrates the life of a teacher – played by actor Renato Scarpa, who acted with her in Il Postino and was one of the protagonists of Nel nome del padre (In the name of the Father) by Marco Bellocchio – who dedicated his life to his work, yet finds himself alone and abandoned after retiring. In the cast along with Renato Scarpa is Giselda Volodi. The short film, produced by Maria Grazia Cucinotta’s Seven Dreams Production and distributed by Diva Universal.
The Jury of Controcampo italiano – which starting this year will present 7 narrative feature-length films, 7 short films and 7 documentaries, all world premiere screenings and all in competition in their respective categories, with two new Prizes for the short films and the documentaries – will therefore designate the following prizes with no split awards:
- Controcampo Award (for narrative feature-length films)
- Controcampo Award (for short films)
- Controcampo Doc Award (for documentaries)
The other jurors forming the Controcampo italiano jury with Roberta Torre (president) will be:
- Director and screenwriter Aureliano Amadei, one of the participants in last year’s Venice International Film Festival, where in the Controcampo italiano section he presented his debut feature 20 sigarette, an autobiographical work about himself as a writer-director involved in the attack against the Italian military base in Nassiriya on November 12, 2003. The film won the Controcampo Italiano Prize, a special mention for best actor for the star Vinicio Marchioni and several collateral awards. After the presentation in Venice, 20 sigarette was presented at over 30 festivals and film series in Italy and abroad, won 8 nominations for the David di Donatello, where it won the David Giovani, in addition to 3 others for production, editing and visual effects. The film also won two Nastri d’argento for best supporting actress and best sound. Amadei also won the Golden Globe as best debut director.
- actress Cristiana Capotondi, one of the most famous and admired Italian actresses of her generation. Despite her youth, her experience goes back over many years. In her precocious and rapidly evolving career she has addressed a wide range of film genres, from romantic comedies to dramas, and worked with important auteurs in Italian cinema. In 2004 she starred in the film Volevo solo dormirle addosso by Eugenio Cappuccio, presented at the 61st Venice International Film Festival, in the Mezzanotte section. For her performance, she was nominated as best supporting actress at the Nastri d’Argento in 2005. She then acted in Notte prima degli esami (Night Before the Exams), one of the great Italian successes of 2006. The film won 11 nominations at the David di Donatello that year, including one as best actress for Cristiana Capotondi. For her performance, she won the Premio Diamanti al Cinema award in Venice and the prestigious Premio Biraghi. In 2007 she starred in Come tu mi vuoi, a role that won her a nomination as best actress at the Nastri d’argento, and in I Vicerè by Roberto Faenza. In 2008 she won the L’Oréal Paris per il Cinema award in Venice. In 2010 she returned to television, playing the role of Empress Sissi and earning the Romy Schneider Award. That same year, she starred in La passione (The Passion) by Carlo Mazzacurati, presented in competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and in the short film The Wholly Family directed by Terry Gilliam. This year she has starred in La kryptonite nella borsa, the debut film by director Ivan Controneo and La peggior settimana della mia vita, another first feature by Alessandro Genovesi.
Synopsis and Biographical Notes
Scialla! – synopsis
Bruno Beltrame has let it all hang out, for quite a while. All that’s left of his old talent as a writer is just enough to ghost-write “other people’s books”, biographies of football players or television personalities (he is currently writing a book for Tina, a famous Slovakian porno star who has become a producer of porno films). His passion for teaching has given way to an apathetic routine of tutoring equally apathetic students, including fifteen-year old Luca, who is as ignorant as the others, but vivacious and irreverent.
One day the boy’s mother turns up, like a ghost from the past, revealing a secret that turns Bruno’s life upside down: Luca is his son, a son he knew nothing about… And that is not all: the woman is about to leave for a six-month job as a volunteer in Africa, and the boy cannot and certainly does not want to follow her down there. The woman asks Bruno to take the boy in, and take care of him, but without revealing his true identity to him.
This is the beginning of an unlikely coexistence between the lethargic former professor and the restless adolescent, six months during which Luca will have to deal with an adult male figure and Bruno, despite himself, will be forced to take care of this secret son, who moreover seems destined to get himself into big trouble…
Francesco Bruni, born in Rome in 1961, but living in Livorno, earned his diploma at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia where he taught screenwriting from 1999 to 2009. For the cinema, he wrote all the scripts for Paolo Virzì’s films and has worked with Mimmo Calopresti, Felice Farina, Vito Zagarrio, Francesca Comencini, Ficarra and Picone, Carlo Virzì, and Nina di Majo. He also collaborated on the script of Miracle at St. Anna by Spike Lee. For television, he wrote all the scripts in the series Il commissario Montalbano, Il Tunnel della Libertà and Il commissario De Luca. He won the Premio Solinas for screenwriting in 1994 for La seconda volta (The Second Time), the Ciak d’Oro for Ovosodo (Hardboiled Egg) and for Caterina va in città (Caterina in the Big City), the David di Donatello and Nastro d’Argento for La prima cosa bella (The First Beautiful Thing). Sciallà! is his debut film as a director.
Il maestro – Synopsis
Inside an old building in the suburbs of Rome, an elementary-school teacher leads a silent existence with great dignity. One morning he prepares to go to work, and does so by going through the routine he is familiar with. A sort of ritual that marks the rhythm of his daily life. The school is a place where he is recognized, but also the place where he has spent much of his life and which he feels strongly a part of.
Maria Grazia Cucinotta, the world-famous actress, founded the Seven Dreams Productions company in 2006 with the purpose of producing international-level Italian films, with a particular focus on young talents and on the development of the resources and potential of southern Italy. During her career as an actress and producer she has developed a world-class experience in Italy and abroad, working with the leading directors, actors and technical professionals in international cinema (Emir Kusturica, Spike Lee, Ridley Scott, John Woo, Luis Enriquez Bacalov, Alfonso Arau, James Gandolfini, David Chase, John Cleese, Vittorio Storaro, Roberto Perpignani, etc.) and creating a first-rate network of contacts. Her first feature-length film as a producer, All the Invisible Children, reflects this capacity to work on projects with an international dimension.
In 2007, Maria Grazia Cucinotta produced a short film for Seven Dreams Productions entitled Onde corte, the second work by the young Sicilian director Simone Catania. It was filmed in the province of Palermo, in the town of Santa Flavia, with the highest level of technical quality available (35mm photography with Digital Intermediate), and was presented at major international Festivals (for example, Festival Clermont Ferrand 2008, Berlin Festival 2008). The film involved the logistical support of local government agencies, in particular the City of Santa Flavia and the Provincia di Palermo, and was made entirely by Sicilian personnel (the entire cast and crew apart from the photography department were Sicilians). Onde corte was broadcast by Hallmark (since April 1, 2011 Diva Universal, Channel 128 on Sky) in July 2008. Also in 2007, for the Regione Sicilia, Seven Dreams Productions produced an institutional public relations video entitled Sicilia, l’isola che seduce. In 2010 Seven Dreams Productions co-produced the feature-length film entitled L’imbroglio nel lenzuolo directed by Alfonso Arau, with cinematography by Vittorio Storaro and production design by Giantito Burchiellaro, distributed by 01 DISTRIBUTION, and presented at the Taormina Film Festival 2010. Also last year, Seven Dreams Productions co-produced the feature-length film Hostias, directed by Diego Musiak, with the Argentinian company Big Bang Cine. In 2011, Seven Dreams Productions has co-produced the feature-length film entitled Transgression directed by Erich Alberich, and starring Michael Ironside and Maria Grazia Cucinotta.
Biographical notes – Controcampo italiano Jury
Roberta Torre (director – Italy)
Roberta Torre was born in Milan. After graduating with a degree in philosophy, from the Scuola di Cinematografia in Milan and the Accademia d’Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi, she moved to Palermo in 1990. In the Nineties she filmed several video short films – Angelesse (1991), Angeli con la faccia storta (1992), Le anime corte (1992), Il teatro è una bestia nera (1993), Senti amor mio? (1994), La vita a volo d’angelo (1995), and Verginella (1996) – which won her various prizes in Italian and foreign film festivals; she also founded a small production studio, called “Anonimi & Indipendenti”. But she achieved true success in 1997 with her first feature-length film Tano da morire, an unusual musical in many ways that was presented at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for Best Debut Film, and garnered several other awards including two David di Donatello (best direction for a debut film and best music to Nino D’Angelo) and three Nastri d’argento (best direction for a debut film, best music, best supporting actress). The ideal next career step was Sud Side Stori (2000), another musical that reinterprets the story of Romeo and Juliet from a multi-racial point of view. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Pacifico, among others, who discovered his talent for lyrics on this occasion, and Dennis Bowell, who arranged music for the great Linton Qweesi Johnson. This was another formula that marked the author’s personal fondness for experimentation, which led her to select hundreds of immigrant men and women from the streets to act, dance and sing.
In 2002 she made Angela, a melodrama presented at the Cannes Festival in the section Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, which marked a radical change in style, as she rediscovered the realism of her early documentary portraits applied to a more classical narrative structure. At the Locarno Festival she presented Mare Nero (2006), a film noir, the unsettling story of a man overwhelmed by his obsessions, filmed in the late-night world of private clubs for swingers, with Anna Mouglalis and Luigi Lo Cascio, featuring the sound-track of the Oscar award-winning composer Shigeru Umebayashi.
In 2008 Roberta Torre founded Rosettafilm, which produced Itiburtino Terzo and La notte quando è morto Pasolini, two docu-films on the Roman suburbs. The first is a fresco about the lives and stories of young people from Tiburtino Terzo, a historic district of Rome, the second is a long interview with Pino Pelosi as he reminisces, from past to present, about the night Pasolini was killed. These films were presented at the Festival of Locarno in the Ici et Ailleurs section in August 2009. In 2008 she joined the collective project “All Human Rights for All” for the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, making the short film La Fabbrica, featuring babies on the verge of being born. On March 28, 2009 she inaugurated a photography exhibition entitled Ma-donne at the Historic Archives in Palermo, showing 23 photographs that are a creative elaboration of a new figure of contemporary womanhood, ranging from a sense of the mystical to a taste for the grotesque. In April 2009 a commercial made by Torre for the “Doppia Difesa” association went on the air in defense of women and condemning all violence against them. The commercial features famous personalities from the entertainment world who invite women to report any violence against them, and to end their silence. Lost Kisses (I baci mai dati), her fifth feature-length film, successfully opened the Controcampo italiano section of the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and was sold to over ten countries. It was also the only film representing Italy at the Sundance Film Festival and was later presented in Moscow, London and Tokyo.
Aureliano Amadei (scriptwriter, director – Italy)
Aureliano Amadei was one of the participants in last year’s Venice International Film Festival, where in the Controcampo italiano section he presented his debut feature 20 sigarette, an autobiographical work about himself as a writer-director involved in the attack against the Italian military base in Nassiriya on November 12, 2003. The film won the Controcampo Italiano Prize with the following citation from the jury: “The density of the story has the rhythm of a truth that, beyond all prejudice, becomes a personal story in which, with intelligence and some dose of irony, the elements that pertain to the exercise of freedom intersect. The freedom from our personal experience to pursue a dream, the freedom from our prejudices to meet people, freedom from our own pain to avoid leading the spectator towards pre-determined points of view”. The film also won a special mention for best actor for the star Vinicio Marchioni and several collateral awards. After the presentation in Venice, 20 sigarette was presented at over 30 festivals and film series in Italy and abroad, won 8 nominations for the David di Donatello, where it took the David Giovani, in addition to 3 others for production, editing and visual effects. The film also won two Nastri d’argento for best supporting actress and best sound. Amadei also won the Golden Globe as best debut director.
Aureliano Amadei was born in Rome in 1975 and made his debut as a star at the age of five in the TV film Progetti di Allegria by Vittorio de Sisti. In 1995 he left for London, where he attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts and graduated in acting in 1998. In London he worked as an actor at the Globe Theatre. Back in Italy, he acted in several films including The Talented Mister Ripley by Anthony Minghella (1999), I cavalieri che fecero l’impresa by Pupi Avati (2001), and La rivincita di Natale by Pupi Avati (2004). He also worked in several theatre productions, including Morts sans sepulture by Sartre, where he was the lead actor under the direction of Marcello Cava. In 2001 he made his debut as a theatre director in the production Unamunda by David Ives, a finalist at the Festival in Cremona.
He then began to film, as a director, a series of documentaries for SAT2000 and for “La Storia siamo Noi”, in addition to two video clips and various works as a videomaker. In 2003 he was caught up in the massacre at Nassiriya, where he was serving as an assistant director to Stefano Rolla. In 2005 he wrote the book “Venti sigarette a Nassiriya” with Francesco Trento, which inspired his debut feature-length film. In 2008 he began to produce a series of documentaries of his own and by other auteurs with his production company – MOTOPRODUZIONI. With Alessandro Falcone and Gian Piero Palombini he wrote the book “Non pensavo che la vita fosse così lunga” (I didn’t think life could be that long), about the life of the famous boxer Tiberio Mitri from Trieste, who passed away on February 12, 2001.
Cristiana Capotondi (actress – Italy)
Cristiana Capotondi is one of the most famous and admired Italian actresses of her generation. Despite her youth, her experience goes back many years, thanks to her participation in a series of projects for film and television. In her precocious and rapidly evolving career, the Roman actress has addressed a wide range of film genres, from romantic comedies to dramas, and worked with important authors in Italian cinema.
Born in Rome in 1980, Cristiana Capotondi made her debut at the age of twelve in the television series Amico Mio. Her debut on the silver screen came when she was still very young, in 1995, when she acted in the film Vacanze di Natale ’95 (Christmas Vacation ’95). Over the next several years she appeared in several television series, including Anni ’50 and Anni ’60 (1998/1999), Piovuto dal cielo (2000), Angelo il custode (2001), and Compagni di scuola (2001). In 2004 she was in the cast of Luisa di Sanfelice (2004) by the Taviani brothers. She later starred in the film Volevo solo dormirle addosso (2004) by Eugenio Cappuccio, presented at the 61st Venice International Film Festival, in the Mezzanotte section. For her performance, she was nominated as best supporting actress at the Nastri d’Argento in 2005. She then acted in Christmas in Love (2004) by Neri Parenti and in Notte prima degli esami (Night Before the Exams), one of the great Italian successes of 2006. The film won 11 nominations at the David di Donatello that year, including one as best actress for Cristiana Capotondi, and director Fausto Brizzi won the award as best debut director. For her interpretation, she won the Premio Diamanti al Cinema award in Venice and the prestigious Premio Biraghi.
In 2007 she starred in Come tu mi vuoi, a role that won her a nomination as best actress at the Nastri d’Argento, in Scrivilo sui muri and in I Vicerè by Roberto Faenza. In 2008 she received the L’Oréal Paris per il Cinema award in Venice, an acknowledgment to talent, beauty and a particularly brilliant performance in film, voted by the public and the specialized press. She worked with Fausto Brizzi again in 2009 for his film Ex. In 2010 she returned to the small screen, playing the role of Empress Sissi. This international television success won her the Romy Schneider Award. The same year, she starred in the film Dalla vita in poi (Petty Letters and Love Crimes), which won the special Jury Prize at the Festival of Montreal, and for which Cristiana won the Prize as Best Actress at the Taormina Festival. Also in 2010, she starred in La passione (The Passion) by Carlo Mazzacurati, a film presented in competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and in the short film The Wholly Family directed by Terry Gilliam.
This year she has starred in La kryptonite nella borsa, the debut film by director Ivan Controneo and La peggior settimana della mia vita, another firt feature by Alessandro Genovesi.
