10/05/2023 - The Italian outfit is selling this seven-episode film dedicated to women, directed by eight filmmakers and starring Catherine Deneuve, alongside the Maria Grazia Cucinotta-led comedy

Paduan firm Artex Film are bringing two feature films, Femminile singolare and Gli anni belli [+see also:
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film profile], to the Marché du Film (running 16 – 24 May), which is unspooling withing the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

The former work, Femminile singolare, is a collection of seven stories narrated from female viewpoints and exploring themes such as gender equality, female emancipation and combatting violence against women. The film’s seven episodes are directed by James Bort, Rafael Farina Issas, Kristian Gianfreda, More Raça, Matteo Pianezzi, Adriano Morelli, Elena Beatrice and Daniele Lince, while the cast includes high-calibre names along the lines of Catherine Deneuve, Monica Guerritore, Violante Placido, Agnese Claisse, Pierre Deladonchamps and Dorothée Gilbert. Produced and distributed by Artex Film, Femminile singolare was released in Italy on 11 May 2022 to mark the signing, in 2011, of the Council of Europe Convention for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (also known as the Istanbul Convention).

The latter film, Gli anni belli by Lorenzo d’Amico de Carvalho, is an Italian-Portuguese-Serbian production by Bendico (Italy) and RAI Cinema, Hora Mágica (Portugal), and Art & Popcorn (Serbia), in collaboration with Portugal’s public service broadcaster RTP. The comedy takes place in the summer of 1994. A new government has recently come to power and 17-year-old Elena - a huge Nirvana fan and budding pasionaria - can’t wait to bring it down. Unfortunately for her, her parents have other plans. Her father, a surly Greek teacher, and her mother, a patient mediator, insist on perpetuating a tradition stretching back to the 1970s: jumping into the car and heading to the same old campsite. But a surprise awaits them this year: there’s a new director in town and he’s changed everything, starting with its name. The new is definitely on its way in, and the “Bella Italia” campsite intends to be the new place to holiday. Elena arrives at “Bella Italia” resigned to an infernal summer, but she hadn’t banked on a group of twenty-somethings turning up, or, above all, on the arrival of the angelic André, an eighteen-year-old Italian-French boy who’s “almost more handsome than Kurt Cobain.” Against the backdrop of an Italy “which doesn’t know it, but is also changing,” Elena gears up to experience the most exciting summer of her life. Led by Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Ninni Bruschetta, the cast boasts Gianvincenzo Pugliese, Francesca Ziggiotti, Gabriele Stella, Luca Attadia, Alexia Turchi, Riccardo Maria Manera, Giorgia Spinelli and Costantino Comito among its ranks, and also features a special appearance by Bebo Storti. The movie was released in Italian cinemas on 7 February 2022.

“Artex Film was founded as a film distribution company but, in Cannes, it’s playing the dual role of sales agent and producer. In terms of sales, we’re bringing a high-quality line-up of films and documentaries to the table – among others Bentu [+see also:
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film profile] by Salvatore Mereu, which is competing in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori line-up and has been nominated for 2023’s Best Adapted Screenplay David di Donatello Award – which also includes titles of a more commercial nature.”

“As for production, we’re bringing three projects in development to Cannes. Out of these, there’s Anna - La voce umana, which is a film about Anna Magnani directed by Monica Guerritore, and Borderwine, a project about the intersection of American and Italian culture, revolving around the themes of wine and family, and directed by Enrico Lando (I Soliti Idioti [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). We’re also developing other projects with casts including high-calibre actors such as Ludovica Martino (Skam Italia), Neri Marcorè, Matteo Pompili (The Sea Beyond), Valeria Solarino and Ambra Angiolini. We’re looking for Italian and international co-producers, and pre-purchase agreements for these titles,” Artex Film’s CEO Matteo La Biunda explained.

“Artex Film’s market objectives and expectations undoubtedly revolve around expanding our network of partners, making ourselves known on a wider scale and, more concretely, closing sales and co-production deals. The screening of Femminile singolare is scheduled for Saturday 20 May at 18:45 in Sala Palais I, while that for Gli anni belli is planned for Sunday 21 May at 18:15 in Sala Palais B,” La Biunda concluded.

(Translated from Italian)