25/07/2024 - The veteran Italian director’s movie, which will close the Venice Film Festival, is set during the Liberation and is led by Filippo Scotti

“Once again, we’re tackling the ‘gothic’ genre and, in this instance, we’re not only revisiting those places in our country which have proved so significant, we’ve also expanded the first part of the story to encompass those areas in rural America which are so similar to our own region of Emilia-Romagna”. This is how Pupi Avati explained the title of his upcoming movie, L’orto americano [+see also:
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A master of the kind of provincial gothic horror which was his trademark in the early years of his lengthy career (The House of the Laughing Windows, dating back to 1976, boasts cult film status) and which he returned to in 2019 after a number of hit comedies, to give us Il signor Diavolo [+see also:
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The film stars the extraordinary protagonist of The Hand of God [+see also:
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Avati has been selected in competition six times for Venice (by way of Una gita scolastica in 1983, Noi tre in 1984, Regalo di Natale in 1986, Fratelli e sorelle in 1992, The Second Wedding Night [+see also:
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film profile] in 2005 and Giovanna’s Father in 2008), three times in Cannes (via Bix in 1991, Magnificat in 1993 and A Heart Elsewhere, awarded the David di Donatello for Best Director in 2003) and once in Berlin (with Il testimone dello sposo in 1998).

L’orto americano is produced by Duea Film courtesy of Antonio Avati and by Minerva Pictures together with RAI Cinema. International sales are entrusted to Minerva Pictures Group while the film’s release in Italian cinemas falls to 01 Distribution.

(Translated from Italian)