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La Biennale di Venezia

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Cinema

Iddu (Sicilian Letters)

Venezia 81 Competition
Director:
Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Production:
Indigo Film (Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri) with Rai Cinema, Les Films du Losange (Alexis Dantec)
Running Time:
122’
Language:
Italian, Sicilian dialect
Country:
Italy, France
Main Cast:
Toni Servillo, Elio Germano, Daniela Marra, Barbora Bobulova, Giuseppe Tantillo, Fausto Russo Alesi, Antonia Truppo, Tommaso Ragno, Betti Pedrazzi, Filippo Luna, Rosario Palazzolo, Roberto De Francesco, Vincenzo Ferrera, Maurizio Marchetti, Gianluca Zaccaria, Lucio Patanè
Screenplay:
Fabio Grassadonia, Antonio Piazza
Cinematographer:
Luca Bigazzi
Editor:
Paola Freddi
Production Designer:
Gaspare De Pascali
Costume Designer:
Andrea Cavalletto
Music:
Colapesce
Sound:
Stefano Campus, Mirko Perri, Giulio Previ
Visual Effects:
Pasquale Di Viccaro

Synopsis

Sicily, early 2000s. After a few years in prison for mafia, Catello, a career politician, has lost everything. When the Italian intelligence service asks him for help in catching Matteo, his godson and the last prominent fugitive mafia boss out there, Catello seizes the opportunity to get back in the game. A cunning man with a hundred faces, a tireless illusionist who turns truth into lies and lies into truth, Catello launches into a peculiar and unlikely exchange of letters with the fugitive, whose emotional void he tries to exploit.
But a gamble with one of the most wanted criminals in the world involves a certain risk...

Directors’ Statement

The initial idea for this film came from reading the numerous pizzini (notes in code) written by the mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro during his long stint in hiding. The boss was able to run his clandestine life and business through these unusual letters. The notes, however, transcended the practical function of criminal communication and allowed aspects of his personality and the nature of the tragic and ridiculous world that swirled recklessly around him to emerge. Drawing free inspiration from these pizzini, Iddu recounts the correspondence between Matteo, a reluctant prince of a senseless world, and Catello, a grotesque mask of sunny amorality. With Matteo and Catello, we immerse ourselves in the void in which an entire people wallows as if in a great sea kissed by the sun and the Gods.

Production/Distribution

PRODUCTION 1: INDIGO FILM – Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Carlotta Calori, Viola Prestieri
Via Torino 135
00184, Roma, Italy
Tel. 39 0677250255
info@indigofilm.it

PRODUCTION 2: RAI CINEMA - Paolo Del Brocco
Piazza Adriana 12
00193, Roma, Italy
Tel. 39 0633179601
anna.pomara@raicinema.it

PRODUCTION 3: LES FILMS DU LOSANGE - Alexis Dantec
7-9 rue des Petites Ecuries
75010, Paris, France
Tel. 33 1 44 43 87 10
r.quinet@filmsdulosange.fr

WORLD SALES: LES FILMS DU LOSANGE - Raphaëlle Quinet
7-9 rue des Petites Ecuries
75010, Paris, France
Tel. 33 1 44 43 87 10
r.quinet@filmsdulosange.fr

ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION: Luigi Lonigro - 01 Distribution
Piazza Adriana 12
00193, Roma, Italy
Tel. 39 0633179601
soniapisana.dichter@raicinema.it

PRESS OFFICE: Viviana Andriani - RENDEZ VOUS
Tel. 6 80 16 81 39
viviana@rv-press.com
www.rv-press.com

ITALIAN PRESS OFFICE: Manuela Cavallari – Fosforo
Via Nicolò Piccolomini, 1
00165 – Roma, Italia
Tel. +39 0683795469
manuela.cavallari@fosforopress.com


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Biennale Cinema
Biennale Cinema