Festival 2022
The theme of the 2022 feStivale was Choice. In this climate, choice can seem like a charged word, but it shouldn’t. Our ability to think, discern, analyze, and ultimately choose is what makes us human.
Enjoy a few photos of our 2022 feSta and trailers of screened movies.
Qui rido io | The King of Laughter
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Naples, 1904: Italian theatre is thriving, and comic actor Eduardo Scarpetta is the box office king. Known in the Neapolitan theater for his cheeky alter egos, Scarpetta’s larger-than-life stage productions were matched only by his eccentric personal life. Composed of wives, partners, lovers, legitimate and illegitimate children (including a young Eduardo De Filippo, famed Neapolitan playwright), Scarpetta’s home situation resembled one of his comedies more than a traditional family. At the height of his popularity, the comedian risked everything by staging a parody of the great Italian poet, Gabriele D’Annunzio. Booed and hissed from the stage by younger rivals, Scarpetta was sued for plagiarism, leading to the first ever copyright lawsuit in Italy. Despite legal troubles and familial strife, Scarpetta fought not only for his craft but for his legacy as one of the great performers of Italian theater. The King of Laughter is an extraordinary movie by film and theater director Mario Martone, featuring Italian star Toni Servillo.
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Year: 2021
Director: Mario Martone
Screenplay: Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo
Editing: Jacopo Quadri
Cinematography: Renato Berta
Music: Sergio Bruni
Cast: Toni Servillo, Maria Nazionale, Cristiana Dell’Anna, Antonia Truppo, Eduardo Scarpetta, Paolo Pierobon, Lino Musella, Roberto De Francesco, Giovanni Mauriello, Chiara Baffi, Roberto Caccioppoli, Lucrezia Guidone, Elena Ghiaurov, Gigio Morra, Gianfelice Imparato, Iaia Forte
Production: Indigo Film, Tornasol, Rai Cinema
World Sales: Film Movement
Welcome Venice
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Pietro and Alvise are heirs to a family of fishermen on the island of Giudecca, in the Venice lagoon. They clash on what should be done with their family house. The deepening impact of global tourism has strongly changed Venice and it has altered the very relationship between city and citizen, between home and life. And the pandemic has made this crisis more evident. Although it is a hard life, Pietro would like to continue fishing for “moeche”, the typical crabs of the lagoon. On the other hand, Alvise wants to take advantage of the house to restart his life, trying to enter the elite of the real estate power that runs the city. Their clash involves the whole family in a choral tale of how our world is changing.
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Year: 2021
Director: Andrea Segre
Screenplay: Andrea Segre, Marco Pettenello
Editing: Chiara Russo
Cinematography: Matteo Calore
Music: Teho Teardo
Cast: Paolo Pierobon, Andrea Pennacchi, Roberto Citran, Ottavia Piccolo, Giuliana Musso, Sandra Toffolatti, Sara Lazzaro, Anna Bellato, Stefano Scandaletti, Mariano Amadio
Production: Jolefilm, Rai Cinema
World Sales: True Colours
Calcinculo | Swing Ride
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Benedetta, 15, lives in rural Italy with her parents and her two little sisters. After work, her father enjoys tinkering with cars while her mother takes out her frustration on Benedetta. When a funfair sets up on the family’s doorstep, she meets a fairground worker named Amanda who lives a self-determined life and defies gender norms. Benedetta is immediately fascinated by the older Amanda’s self-confidence and independence. The two barely talk; their cautious friendship is not one fueled by grand emotions but rather by genial affection, curiosity and unspoken acknowledgement. Director Chiara Bellosi depicts them growing closer in quiet moments and precise observations that lend this coming-of-age film both its poetry and a pervasive sense of lightness. Swing Ride takes a tender look at an unusual friendship whilst unfolding a tale of self-discovery and breaking free.
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Year: 2022
Director: Chiara Bellosi
Screenplay: Maria Teresa Venditti, Luca De Bei
Editing: Carlotta Cristiani
Cinematography: Claudio Cofrancesco
Music: Giuseppe Tranquillino Minerva
Cast: Gaia Di Pietro, Andrea Carpenzano, Barbara Chichiarelli, Giandomenico Cupaiuolo, Francesca Antonelli, Alessio Praticò, Claudia Salerno
Production: Tempesta, Tellfilm, Rai Cinema
World Sales: Vision Distribution
Settembre | September
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The quest for happiness, for authentic human relationships and for new beginnings, whether at 15, 40 or 60 years of age, is the red thread tying together the three stories told in Settembre, actress/screenwriter Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s brilliant directorial debut. It’s a fresh and brilliantly written ensemble comedy whose actors are perfectly aligned with their parts, and which combines emotion and the painful irony of Italian-style comedy with a rigorous and classic American narrative structure, all in a well-balanced mix of light-heartedness and melancholy.
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Year: 2022
Director: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Screenplay: Giulia Louise Steigerwalt
Editing: Gianni Vezzosi
Cinematography: Vladan Radovic
Music: Michele Braga
Cast: Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Barbara Ronchi, Federica Victoria Caiozzo aka Thony, Tesa Litvan, Margherita Rebeggiani, Luca Nozzoli, Andrea Sartoretti
Production: Groenlandia, Rai Cinema
World Sales: Vision Distribution
La terra dei figli |
The Land of the Sons
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The end of civilization has arrived. The apocalypse has wiped out a large part of humanity and the earth has stopped bearing fruit. It is not known what caused this cataclysm, whether it was a nuclear holocaust, a devastating war or a virus that wiped out so much life on our planet. A Father and his Son are among the few survivors. The Son grows up like a wild beast, because the Father thinks this is the only way he can help his child survive in a world where human relationships have become extremely dangerous. When the Father dies, the Son decides to undertake a journey beyond the confines of the sluice and the reservoir, along a mysterious river, moved by the desire to discover the world that was forbidden to him, but above all in search of someone who can read the words written by The Father in a notebook. The Son’s journey will turn into a coming-of-age story, where beauty and wonder have to fight against the darkness of a world which seems implacably hostile.
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Year: 2021
Director: Claudio Cupellini
Screenplay: Guido Iuculano, Filippo Gravino, Claudio Cupellini, inspired on the graphic novel by Gipi
Editing: Giuseppe Trepiccione
Cinematography: Gergely Poharnok
Music: Motta
Cast: Leon De La Vallée, Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Golino, Fabrizio Ferracane, Franco Ravera, Maurizio Donadoni
Production: Indigo Film, Rai Cinema
World Sales: True Colours
Futura
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Following in the footsteps of a long line of documentarians, a collective of three Italian filmmakers known for their politically acute cinema—Pietro Marcello (MARTIN EDEN), Francesco Munzi (BLACK SOULS), and Alice Rohrwacher (HAPPY AS LAZZARO)—set out to interview a cross-section of their nation’s youth about their hopes, dreams, and fears for the future. With today’s political divisions, socioeconomic unease, overreliance on technology, and global weather crisis, the conversations they foster feel particularly urgent—these 15- to 20-year-olds together ask the implicit question: is there a future at all? At the same time, the intelligence, expressiveness, and foresight evinced by these teenagers in this moving and masterful film kindles a form of hope in itself.
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Year: 2021
Director: Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher
Screenplay: Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher
Editing: Aline Hervé
Cinematography: Ilya Sapeha
Production: Avventurosa, Rai Cinema
World Sales: Grasshopper Film
Ariaferma | The Inner Cage
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The prison in Mortana is an old, isolated building about to be dismantled. However, due to a bureaucratic error, something goes wrong in the process of transferring the prisoners. A bunch of inmates is left behind together with some guards, isolated from the rest of the world. The tension between the guards and the convicts is palpable, and every choice they make can bring violence and repression. Gaetano (Toni Servillo), the captain of the prison guard, is the only one who can challenge mafia boss Lagioia (Silvio Orlando). The goal is to find a way to coexist so that imprisonment can become less so, and perhaps reveal the paradox that is behind the very concept of captivity.
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Year: 2021
Director: Leonardo Di Costanzo
Screenplay: Leonardo Di Costanzo, Bruno Oliviero, Valia Santella
Editing: Carlotta Cristiani
Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi
Music: Pasquale Scialò
Cast: Toni Servillo, Silvio Orlando, Fabrizio Ferracane, Salvatore Striano, Roberto De Francesco, Pietro Giuliano, Nicola Sechi, Leonardo Capuano, Antonio Buil, Giovanni Vastarella, Francesca Ventriglia
Production: Tempesta, Amka Films Productions, Vision Distribution, Rai Cinema
World Sales: Vision Distribution