19/07/2024 - The Italian feature debut ponders what happens if we forget the love of our life – and, conversely, what if they forget us?

Gian, a 65-year-old ethnomusicology professor, fights the darkness caused by the sudden onset of amnesia. Flashes of the past, which blend with hazy archive footage, haunt his mind like a phantasmagoria of images. Despairing, Gian tries to end things, but he fails. In the aftermath, Miriam (30), the daughter he does not recognise, moves into his apartment with her son Elyas (5). She helps him find a diary written in his twenties that revolves around Leila, a girl with whom he discovers love in the space of one night. This emotion exacerbates Gian’s pain but pushes him to salvage his memory. Who is this woman who was so important in his life? What happened to her? How is it possible that he forgot? Gian’s unmoored present-day life is gradually replaced by the vivid images of that past. He will be able to find himself again and to experience a revelation. What is the mechanism that moves our memories? What happens if we forget the love of our life? And, conversely: what if they forget us?

This is the synopsis of Weightless [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Sara Fgaier
film profile] by Sara Fgaier, which will be premiered in competition at the imminent Locarno Film Festival (7-17 August – see the news). Fgaier received the Rolex Arts Prize under the mentorship of Walter Murch. She directed the 2018 short film The Years (Venice Orizzonti), which won both the European Film Award as Best European Short Film and the Silver Ribbon. As an editor and producer, she has been involved in several films, including The Mouth of the Wolf [+see also:
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interview: Pietro Marcello
film profile] (2009) and Lost and Beautiful [+see also:
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interview: Pietro Marcello ­
film profile] (2015) by Pietro Marcello.

Weightless stars Andrea Renzi (recently seen in La cura and Dry [+see also:
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interview: Fabio Grassadonia and Anton…
interview: Sara Serraiocco
film profile], and recently featuring in Casanova’s Return [+see also:
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film profile] and The First Day of My Life [+see also:
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film profile]), newcomer Emilio Scarpa, Lise Lomi (Love Affair(s) [+see also:
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interview: Emmanuel Mouret
film profile]), Maria Fernanda Cândido (The Traitor [+see also:
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trailer
Q&A: Marco Bellocchio
film profile]), Stefano Rossi Giordani (Everything’s Gonna Be Alright [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), Amira Chebli and Elyas Turki. The cinematography, meanwhile, falls to Alberto Fasulo (who directed Tir [+see also:
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interview: Alberto Fasulo
film profile] and Menocchio the Heretic [+see also:
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film profile], among other achievements).

Weightless is an Italian production being staged by Limen, Avventurosa, Dugong Films and RAI Cinema. International sales are entrusted to RAI Cinema International Distribution, while distribution in Italy falls to Luce Cinecittà.

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