Production Designer Tonino Zera to receive the Campari Passion for Film Award

La Biennale di Venezia and Campari are pleased to announce that the production designer Tonino Zera (The First King, Rose Island, Angel of Evil) is the recipient of the Campari Passion for Film Award of the 80^th Venice International Film Festival (August 30^th - September 9^th, 2023).

The Campari Passion for Film Award, instituted five years ago at the 75^th Venice Film Festival, seeks to highlight the remarkable contribution given by the director's closest collaborators to the fulfillment of the artistic project that each film represents. Passion for Film attributes this award to these professional figures, who are more than just craftsmen: they are artists and co-authors of the films to which they offer the gift of their unparalleled talent. Over the years, the award has been given to the American film editor Bob Murawski, to the Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, to the American jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, to the British production designer Marcus Rowland, and last year to the American artist and costume designer Arianne Phillips.

The ceremony for the award to Tonino Zera will take place on Saturday 2^nd of September in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema) at 9:45 pm, before the screening Out of Competition of The Palace (Italy/Switzerland/Poland/France, 100’) by Roman Polanski, starring Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, John Cleese, Bronwyn James, Joaquim De Almeida, Luca Barbareschi, Milan Peschel, Fortunato Cerlino and Mickey Rourke, featuring Tonino Zera’s production design.

The 80^th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia will be held on the Lido from August 30^th September 9^th, 2023, directed by Alberto Barbera.

Tonino Zera says: “To receive the prestigious Campari Passion for Film Award during the Venice Film Festival is not only a personal honor, it is also a recognition of the importance of set design in the world of cinema. The award highlights the role played by visual narration, its ability to evoke emotions, and its power to transport audiences into the heart of a movie. Emotions that I have tried to convey in The Palace, directed by Roman Polanski, whose guidance and creative genius were a source of inspiration for me. To collaborate with such a visionary director was a boundless privilege. It was a journey of imagination and meticulous details. My thanks go to Alberto Barbera and Luca Barbareschi.”

Alberto Barbera, Director of the Venice International Film Festival, notes, “With almost one hundred TV and silver screen productions to his name, Tonino Zera has combined the more artisanal dimension of set design with the new possibilities offered by technological and digital innovation. Over the course of his thirty-year career, Zera has contributed to the modernization of film and advertising set design with curiosity and creativity, helping to give form to the imagination of the directors with whom he has worked, from his debut with Carlo Vanzina and Paolo Virzì to Spike Lee, Giuseppe Tornatore, Carlo Verdone, Francesco Patierno, Gabriele Muccino, all the way to Roman Polanski, who called on him to design the sets of his latest movie, The Palace. The production designer has shown particular versatility in reconstructing historical contexts, be they the post-war years of the television dramas De Gasperi, l'uomo della speranza by Liliana Cavani and Gino Bartali by Alberto Negrin, or the “far-right” Milan of the 1970s in the movie Vallanzasca – Gli angeli del male (Angel of Evil) by Michele Placido, for which Zera was nominated for a David di Donatello. Up to his production design masterpiece, Il primo re (The First King), directed by Matteo Rovere and set in the year Rome was founded. His talent for designing “vintage” recreations of historical eras has recently led to collaborations with Sydney Sibilia on the acclaimed L'incredibile storia dell'Isola delle Rose (Rose Island) and Mixed by Erry, confirmation of a professionalism that is open and responsive to every new challenge.”

“We are very proud to confirm the official Campari Passion for Film Award, created by Campari alongside the Artistic Direction of the Exhibition - announces Andrea Ceccarini, Aperitifs Marketing Director Campari Group - Sticking with the main theme that everything comes about through Passion, already understood as a fundamental element for inspiring Creativity, the Prize is aimed at showing an appreciation for the figures who, alongside the director, contribute to excellence when creating cinematic art. This year, in choosing the Italian production designer Tonino Zera, we have rewarded the a profession that is characterised by a distinct aesthetic and artistic sensitivity and the ability to combine passion, craft work, innovation, always looking ahead.”

Born on September 14, 1957 in Villa Santo Stefano, Frosinone, the hometown of protagonists of Italian film such as Vittorio De Sica, Marcello Mastroianni, and Nino Manfredi. After receiving his degree in architecture from the La Sapienza University in Rome, in 1979 he became an assistant of Elio Balletti, the production designer with whom he began his creative activity, working on series such as La Piovra (The Octopus), that made Italian television history. During this period, he came into contact with key directors, including Bolchi, Brusati, and Vancini. Over the course of his career, he has collaborated with Giuseppe Tornatore, Roman Polanski, Spike Lee, Paolo Virzì, Carlo Lizzani, Gabriele Muccino, Liliana Cavani, Matteo Rovere, Sydney Sibilia, Michele Placido, and Carlo Vanzina. Most of the movies he has made during his professional activity were shot at the Cinecittà studios, a fundamental reference point for the activity of this production designer, who aims for “artisanal” cinema, a cinema of reconstruction that is deeply rooted in Italian film tradition. The production designer considers advertising films an excellent opportunity for comparison with the international film panorama – he has collaborated with leading directors such as Sam Mendes, Dennis Hopper, Jonathan Glazer, Frederik Bond, and Michael Haussman. Currently, he is working on Nick Hamm's new film William Tell.

Synopsis. Once upon a time there was, and there still is today... the Palace Hotel. An extraordinary castle designed in the early 1900s by a mystical architect, settled in the Swiss Alps, in the midst of a snowy valley. The Palace Hotel has a gothic and fairytale-like atmosphere where every year wealthy, pampered, and indulgent guests meet from all over the world. A once-in-a-lifetime event brought them all together, the 2000 New Year's party.

The Palace is the newest film by Roman Polanski, produced by Luca Barbareschi for Èliseo Entertainment with Rai Cinema, an international co-production with Lucky BOB (Poland), CAB Productions (Switzerland), and RP Productions (France). This production partnership reunites Polanski, Barbareschi, and Rai Cinema after An Officer and a Spy winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. The screenplay was written by the director himself, along with the renowned scriptwriter Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piąskowska.