email print share on Facebook share on Twitter share on LinkedIn share on reddit pin on Pinterest

FUNDING Italy

Emma Dante and Daniele Luchetti receive funding from Sicilia Film Commission

by 

- Among the 34 projects in receipt of a total of €1,525,000 are the new films by Franco Maresco and Pasquale Scimeca

Emma Dante and Daniele Luchetti receive funding from Sicilia Film Commission
Directors Emma Dante and Daniele Luchetti

Thirty-four audiovisual productions, including feature films, documentaries, short films, fiction films and TV series, will receive funding from the Region of Sicily through the Ufficio Speciale per il Cinema e l’Audiovisivo/Sicilia Film Commission, as part of the Sensi Contemporanei Cinema programme. "We received more than 70 applications," commented Alessandro Rais, director of Sicilia Film Commission, "selecting 20 feature films, nine documentaries and five short films to receive a total co-financing fund of €1,525,000which, as has been proved in previous years, should generate a 500% increase in direct expenditure in Sicily.” 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

The first feature to receive funding is The Macaluso Sisters [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the second film by Emma Dante (after A Street in Palermo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Emma Dante
film profile
]
), written by the director with the Palermo-born writer Giorgio Vasta and the journalist and writer Elena Stancanelli. Taken from one of Dante's more successful plays (Le sorelle Macaluso), The Macaluso Sisters will be produced by Minimum Fax Media. Also making the final cut is a film directed by FrancoMaresco, A 25 anni dalle stragi di mafia, produced by Ila Palma, that provides a new and unusual take on modern Sicily, welcoming the return of some memorable characters from Maresco’s previous feature film, Belluscone [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

Among the films co-funded by the Region of Sicily is the new film by Pasquale Scimeca, L’isola delle meraviglie (Inno alla pace), a film about a Sicilian musical tradition that includes the collaboration, among others, of Mario Crispi, a historical member of the Agricantus music group. Also selected in the feature film category is a project directed by Daniele Luchetti, Momenti di trascurabile felicità [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, an adaptation of a novel by the Strega Prize-winning Francesco Piccolo, shot recently in Palermo. The film stars Pif and Renato Carpentieri.

Among the feature films to be made in Sicily is the English production The Winter's Tale, an adaptationof a Shakespearean drama, directed by the British actor and director Sacha Bennett. Filmed primarily in Sicily, the feature will be produced by Three Wise Monkeys Productions. Also of note is the debut feature film by the Palermo-born director Paolo Licata, who recently started shooting an adaptation of anovel by Catena Fiorello entitled Alone with Her Dreams [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

Among the nine documentaries to be selected is Franco Maresco's latest project, Goffredo felicissimo, produced by Associazione Lumpen, which focuses on his ten-year partnership with Goffredo Fofi, an intellectual, essayist and national ("cult") critic. Among the films made for television, in addition to Il commissario Montalbano 17, produced by Palomar, is Nour [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, inspired by Lacrime di sale, the book-testimony by the Lampedusa-based doctor Pietro Bartolo (known for Fire at Sea [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gianfranco Rosi
film profile
]
 by Gianfranco Rosi), starring Sergio Castellitto in the role of the protagonist and directed by Maurizio Zaccaro, as well as the second season of Il cacciatore, a TV series that scooped up the Best Actor Award (for Francesco Montanari) at the first edition of Canneséries – Cannes Film Festival's International TV Series Festival.

Co-funding amounts will be established and published in a subsequent press release.

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

(Translated from Italian)

Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.

Privacy Policy