12/07/2024 - The Italian director is returning with a documentary exploring the digital world in which we’re immersed, which has been selected in competition in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente

Following her first work Normal [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which won a Eurimages Lab Project Award in Karlovy Vary (read our interview), which was selected in the 2019 Berlinale’s Panorama section, and which scooped a First Work Special Mention at the Nastri d’Argento awards, Adele Tulli is back with her new feature film, Real, set to be presented in a world premiere within the 77th Locarno Film Festival’s Cineasti del Presente section. Produced by Pepito Produzioni and FilmAffair together with RAI Cinema and Luce Cinecittà, in collaboration with French firm Les Films d’Ici, the movie is due to be distributed in Italian cinemas by Luce Cinecittà. International distribution is entrusted to Intramovies.

Written by the director herself, the film explores a world in which we’re immersed on a daily basis: the digital world. It’s a reality which has revolutionised all of our lives and which the documentary investigates with the very same technological, creative and relational lenses on which it’s built. “Recently”, a production note reads, “a relentless process of digital acceleration has profoundly changed our planet, our societies and us as people: digital devices are no longer simply tools that we use non-stop, every day. Our smartphones and computers have become gateways to a new reality, an augmented universe undergoing exponential growth, which we almost always experience without physical contact with others. A digital world which is now where we spend most of our time, seeking out happiness, satisfaction, relationships, knowledge and experiences. So, what is ‘real’ today?”

Real opens an unprecedented and experimental window onto this world because it uses the same lenses to access these new digital territories: visors, webcams, smartphones, surveillance cameras, mechanical and virtual approaches which offer a new way of experiencing real life. The film’s photography comes courtesy of Clarissa Cappellani and Francesca Zonars, editing is by Ilaria Fraioli and Adele Tulli, original music is the work of Andrea Koch, and creative production is by Laura Romano.

Real was developed with the support of the NIPKOW writing residency (Berlin 2021). It later took part in the 2023 Venice Gap Financing event and EWIP Koln 2023, as well as winning the Best Project Prize in the 2023 Milan Film Network Workshop.

(Translated from Italian)