02/10/2020 - At the MIA International Audiovisual Market in Rome, the Italian company headed by Paola Corvino presents a line-up rich in feature debuts that are making their way into the market

At the MIA International Audiovisual Market, unfolding from 14 to 18 October 2020 in Rome and online, Italian international sales company Intramovies bets on Nimby - Not in My Backyard [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a Finnish dramatic comedy directed by Teemu Nikki, who presented Euthanizer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Teemu Nikki
film profile] at the Toronto Film Festival in 2017. Selected in the Free Spirit Competition section of the 36th Warsaw Film Festival (9-18 October), Nimby is described as “a comedy about intolerance among tolerant people”. The film tells the story of Meri, who returns to her hometown in Finland with his German-Iranian fiancee Kata, to confront her parents and do her coming out. There, she finds out that she isn’t the only one to hide secrets. The two girls find themselves in a chaotic community of gang bangers, bisexual priests, activists, racists, refugees, alcoholics and drug addicts, in which bursts an aggressive group of neonazis. The cast includes Susanna Pukkila, Almila Bagriacik, Elias Westerberg, Matti Onnismaa. The film is produced by It’s Alive Films Oy, Bon Voyage Films, Doppelganger AB. The line-up also includes Teemu Nikki’s next film, The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic (read our interview).

The company headed by Paola Corvino also presents the Italian film Thou Shalt Not Hate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mauro Mancini
film profile], the feature debut from Mauro Mancini, a co-production between Italy and Poland by Movimento Film, Agresywna Banda, Notorious Pictures, Rai Cinema. In Competition in the recent Critics’ Week section in Venice, the film won the Francesco Pasinetti Prize for Best Actor for Alessandro Gassmann. The cast also includes Sara Serraiocco, Luka Zunic, Lorenzo Buonora. Cineuropa described the film as “a promising debut with a simple and engaging story.” Released in Italian cinemas on 10 September via Notorious Pictures, Thou Shalt Not Hate has made €333,000 in its first two weeks in cinemas.

Gathering support on the international festival circuit is the Israeli film Asia [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a mature first work by Ruthy Pribar, starting with the award for Best Actress (Shira Haas, nominated for an Emmy Award for the German-American TV series Unorthodox [+see also:
series review
series profile]), Best Cinematography and the Nora Ephron Prize at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, and finally playing at the next Warsaw International Film Festival. Produced by Gum Film and selected as the Israeli candidate at the Academy Awards, Asia is the name of a 35-year-old immigrant (Alena Yiv), single mother to 17-year-old Vika. Having become a mother at a young age, Asia struggles to relate to her daughter, and their relationship is made even more intense by the incurable degenerative disease which was diagnosed some time ago in Vika.

Presented Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival, The Truth About La Dolce Vita [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Giuseppe Pedersoli
film profile] is a documentary by Giuseppe Pedersoli which focuses on a specific moment in the career of Federico Fellini, when, at the end of 1958, the great master of cinema went through a complicated professional period. Despite having already won two Oscars, for La strada and Nights of Cabiria, nobody wanted to produce his next project: a story called La Dolce Vita. Only Giuseppe Amato, already producer on masterpieces such as Umberto D., Francesco Giullare di Dio and Don Camillo, understands the extraordinary nature of the subject. A reconstruction halfway between fiction and documentary featuring a lot of exclusive material. Produced by Arietta Cinematografica and Istituto Luce-Cinecittà.

Among the other titles presented by the company in the American film Materna, the feature debut from David Gutnik starring Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards) and Jade Eshete (Billions), in which the lives of four women are linked by an accident in the New York metropol. 

Also in the Intramovies line-up is Fuori tutto, a documentary by Gianluca Matarrese awarded at the Torino Film Festival, on the collapse of a footwear company; Gli uomini d’oro [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], an effective comedy which turns to crime, directed by Vincenzo Alfieri and starring Fabio De Luigi, Edoardo Leo and Giampaolo Morelli; Israeli action-comedy Mossad! by Alon Gur Arye, with the prestigious creative consultancy of David Zucker (Una pallottola spuntata); and sci-fi thriller from newcomer Emanuela Rossi, Darkness [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. In pre-production are Brother's Keeper [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ferit Karahan
film profile], a coming-of-age film co-produced by Turkey and Romania directed by Ferit Karahan (The Fall From Heaven) and Before the Night by Ali Kemal Çınar.

(Translated from Italian)