16/07/2008

Shooting, which began in June in Argentina, wrapped yesterday in Rome on L’artista (“The Artist”) by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, the result of the Italian-Argentinean accord to develop and co-produce film projects, sealed last year by INCAA (Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales) and Italy’s Istituto Luce and Cinecittà Holding, in agreement with the General Direction for Cinema of the Ministry of Culture.

Starring Sergio Pangaro and Marcello Prayer (from Marco Tullio Giordana’s Once You’re Born You Can No Longer Hide [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco Tullio Giordana
interview: Riccardo Tozzi
film profile], and soon in Edoardo Winspeare’s I galantuomini [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), the film is about a nurse who, upon discovering on of his patient’s talent as a painter, becoming passing off the latter’s work as his own and becomes a hugely successful artist.

Documentary filmmakers until now (their latest project was Yo Presidente), Cohn and Duprat make their fiction debut thanks to financing from Italy’s Barter (co-producer of Paolo Sorrentino’s Il divo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicola Giuliano
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
interview: Philippe Desandre
film profile] with partner company Parco Film) and Argentina’s Costa Film and Aleph Media.

The film has yet to be picked up for Italian distribution. However, in the last seven years alone (at least) four Italian-Argentinean titles were never released in Italy: Gustavo Corrado’s Garúa (produced by Esperia Film), Daniel Burman’s Family Law [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Classic Film), Marcelo Piñeyro’s The Method [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Cattleya) and Pablo Trapero’s Born and Bred [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Sintra Film).

(Translated from Italian)