24/07/2023 - The film starring Pierfrancesco Favino will replace Challengers, which has been withdrawn due to the actors’ strike in Hollywood, while Bayona’s Society of the Snow is closing the event

Directed by Edoardo De Angelis and toplined by Pierfrancesco Favino, Comandante [+see also:
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interview: Edoardo de Angelis
film profile] and The Vice of Hope [+see also:
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“Taking the form of a period piece, which is the product of significant production investment in Italian film, Edoardo De Angelis’ work is full of unambiguous contemporary references”, the director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera enthused. “This story about the real-life adventures of Commander Salvatore Todaro, who saved the lives of enemy sailors who had survived his sinking of their ship, is a powerful reminder of the need to prioritise ethics and human solidarity over and above the brutal logic of military protocols”.

The film is set at the beginning of the Second World War when Todaro is commanding the Italian Royal Navy’s Cappellini submarine. In October 1940, while navigating the Atlantic in the black of night, he comes across an armed merchant vessel travelling with its light out, which he subsequently sinks with cannon fire. He then decides to save the 26 Belgian sailors fated to drown in the middle of the ocean, transporting them to the closest port of safety, as required by the law of the sea. But in order to welcome them into his submersible, he is forced to navigate at surface level for three days, making his own vessel visible to enemy forces and putting his own life and those of his men at risk.

According to De Angelis, “Comandante is a film which speaks of strength, and Salvatore Todaro is the perfect embodiment of this: fighting the enemy without ever forgetting what it means to be human; ready to defeat the enemy but also willing to lend a hand to save their lives. Because that’s what has always been done and that’s what he’ll continue to do”.

Comandante is written by Sandro Veronesi and Edoardo De Angelis, and is produced by Indigo Film and O’Groove together with RAI Cinema, Tramp LTD, V-Groove and Wise Pictures, in association with Beside Productions and in collaboration with the Italian Navy and Cinecittà. Distribution is entrusted to 01 Distribution.

The closing film for the 80th Venice Film Festival has also been announced: Society of the Snow [+see also:
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interview: JA Bayona
film profile] by JA Bayona (The Orphanage [+see also:
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film profile], The Impossible [+see also:
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interview: Juan Antonio Bayona
film profile]), which is screening out of competition. The film revolves around an epic story of survival in extreme conditions: in 1972, Uruguay air force flight 571, which is carrying a rugby team directly to Chile, crashes into a glacier in the heart of the Andes. Only 29 of the 45 passengers survive the crash and they find themselves confronted with one of the most hostile environments in the world, forcing them to resort to extreme measures to stay alive.

The Spanish director’s fifth feature film Society of the Snow is produced by Belén Atienza, Sandra Hermida and JA Bayona. The cast comprises Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka and Tomas Wolf. Based on a novel by Pablo Vierci, the movie is written by Bayona, Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques and Nicolás Casariego. Pedro Luque is responsible for photography and Netflix are distributing the film worldwide.

(Translated from Italian)