22/05/2023 - CANNES 2023: The first feature involves a “personal and heretical reading of Christianity” whilst the second promises to be “a formidable tale about destructive family bonding”

Actor Jacopo Olmo Antinori, who will star in Where the Wind Blows (© TVCO)

At this year’s Marché du Film, Rome-based sales agent TVCO has boarded world sales for two new European features, Cineuropa has learnt. The first is Marco Righi’s sophomore feature, titled Where the Wind Blows [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco Righi
film profile]. The story is set in a small Italian town. Antimo lives an uneventful life, splitting his time between the local church, the chaste dates with his girlfriend, and the cowshed where he lazily works with his dad. One day, he meets Lazzaro, a simple and wild man who helps the nearby farmer. Antimo sees a spark in Lazzaro and sets out to convert him. The religion he starts teaching him doesn’t reflect what he learned at Sunday school, though; it’s a personal and heretical reading of Christianity, which leads the two down unbeaten paths, with no way back. The cast is led by Jacopo Olmo Antinori (Medici, Devils), who stars alongside Fiorenzo Mattu, Yile Yara Vianello and Gaja Mascale, among others.

Speaking about their new acquisition, the TVCO team told Cineuropa: “We believe that the existential despair in this film is portrayed in a careful, warm and intimate way, and can easily resonate with festivals and international arthouse buyers.” TVCO added that the movie is set to have its world premiere at an undisclosed event this year - “one of the most reputable film festivals in the world”. The picture is being produced by Emanuele Caruso for Italy’s Obiettivo Cinema, with backing from the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission.

The second film boarded by the Roman outfit is Clenched Fist [+see also:
film review
interview: Vivian Goffette
film profile] (French title: Les poings serrés), penned and directed by Vivian Goffette. The picture stars Laurent Capelluto (Amour [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile], Mr. Nobody [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
film profile]) in the role of a disturbing father figure. In detail, the story zooms in on 11-year-old Lucien (Yanis Frisch), who lives tucked away with his mother Cécile and his older brother in a village in the Ardennes. He is a secretive boy who avoids contact as much as he does questions. After his grandmother dies, a prison release is granted to his father to attend the funeral. When Lucien sees his father grieving, handcuffed and protected from the fury of the public by an impressive detail of police, it hurts. Against the advice of his family, Lucien decides to see his father again, at the risk of losing everything.

“We believe it to be a formidable tale about destructive family bonding. With the piercingly smart take of Vivian Goffette and the surprise acting skills of Yanis Frisch, we are aiming to get some of the most prominent all-rights buyers on every continent on board,” said the TVCO team. The feature is being staged by Belgium’s Dragons Films.