The Dream of Venice. From Bologna to the Lagoon. Here are the films we'll see.

Bologna is also present at the 82nd Venice Film Festival , which opens on August 27th. Starting with the juries. Maura Delpero , the Bolognese-trained director and screenwriter, after sweeping awards and nominations with her film 'Vermiglio,' which also won the Silver Lion last year, will be part of this year's jury chaired by Alexander Payne , the director who is a close friend of Bologna and of Cineteca director Gian Luca Farinelli, so much so that in the past he even stated he wanted to "live under the Two Towers." Among the jurors of the Orizzonti competition, led by French director and screenwriter Julia Ducournau, whose latest film 'Alpha' recently screened at Biografilm (distributed by I Wonder in Italy), is Yuri Ancarani , a director and video artist from Ravenna who has a close relationship with Bologna. It was here that MAMbo dedicated a major solo exhibition to him in 2023: it all started with the 2021 film Atlantide, presented in Venice in the Orizzonti section.

Very recently released, Daniele Vicari 's " Ammazzare stanca " (Killing Tired) is competing in the Spotlight section. It was produced by Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and the Manetti Bros. for Mompracem, along with Rai Cinema and with the support of the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission. Filmed in Pianoro Vecchio in the aftermath of the November flood, other areas around Bologna were also involved: Budrio, San Lazzaro, Sasso Marconi, and Bentivoglio. This dark comedy, set in the 1970s and with thriller overtones, tells the story of Antonio Zagari, a real-life gangster (who repented and died in 2004) who grew tired of running the 'Ndrangheta's dirty business. Much of the filming took place in Calabria, where filming was also done, including in the long-closed prison in Lamezia Terme. Eva Robins will also be appearing in the Orizzonti section of Carolina Cavalli's "Arabella," the story of a young misfit named Holly, convinced she's the wrong version of herself until she meets a 7-year-old girl who changes her mind. "My role was originally written for Rossy De Palma," Robins, who plays a former ballet dancer, recently said, "but when Carolina was starting filming, she couldn't find her, so my neighbor Daniela Catari, an award-winning makeup artist, suggested me. Carolina took me on trust."

Here are the films distributed by I Wonder Pictures in competition: The Smashing Machine by Benny Safdie with Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson, Oleksandr Usyk; The Voice of Hind Rajab by Kaouther Ben Hania; The Wizard of The Kremlin by Olivier Assayas with Jude Law, Alicia Vikander (co-distributed with siamo Rai Cinema); and Girl by Shu Qi. In the Orizzonti section, Late Fame by Kent Jones with Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, Edmund Donovan, and Michael Everett Johnson.

Also not to be forgotten is the presence of the Cineteca , which is bringing to Venice the restoration of the film 'The Magnificent Cuckold', 1964, directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, with Ugo Tognazzi and Claudia Cardinale.

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