19/12/2024 - Produced by Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and the Manetti bros., the Italian director’s first feature film is scheduled to world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at the IFFR

An international debut with all the trimmings is on the cards for The Rhine Gold [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Bologna-born director Lorenzo Pullega’s first feature film is set to be presented in a world premiere within the Big Screen competition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, running 30 January to 9 February (read our news). The movie is produced by Pier Giorgio Bellocchio and the Manetti bros., alongside Roberto Romagnoli, Federico Montevecchi and Lorenzo Pullega, on behalf of Mompracem and Rheingold Film in collaboration with RAI Cinema with the support of the Emilia-Romagna region by way of the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission.

Written by Federico Montevecchi, Lorenzo Pullega and Roberto Romagnoli, The Rhine Gold is a story about stories which unfold around a river: Italy's Reno. The mission of travelling and listening to tales set between the past and the present along the banks of the waterway falls to a director who’s been tasked by a strange local group to make a documentary. He sets off from the source to the river’s mouth, gathering notes and impressions. Little by little, this little trip around the river of his childhood turns into a dreamlike journey which is far vaster in people’s tales, where losing yourself can also mean finding yourself.

The cast is composed of Rebecca Antonaci (Finally Dawn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Saverio Costanzo
film profile]), Giuseppe Gandini (of Eat Pray Love and the series Curon [+see also:
series review
series profile]), Marco Mario De Notaris (Love and Bullets [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marco and Antonio Manetti
film profile], Indivisible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Edoardo de Angelis
film profile]), Eva Robins (recently seen in Tu mi nascondi qualcosa [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Lucianna De Falco (recently gracing L'amore e altre seghe mentali), and TV presenter and theatre actor Giorgio Comaschi, not to mention Flavia Bakiu, Marco Dondarini, Melissa Falasconi and Lorenzo Ansaloni.

The film’s photography is curated by Alessandro Veridiani, while editing is by Ilaria Cimmino, set design falls to Miriam Scurato and Gianpietro Huber, costumes to Eva Arellano Martin, sound to Alberto Fontana, and music to Marco Pedrazzi.

Having graduated in 1991, Lorenzo Pullega previously worked as an assistant director to the Manetti bros. on the hit TV series Inspector Coliandro, before specialising in location management in subsequent seasons of the series. He has also collaborated on national and international productions, including Netflix series Master of None, films After the War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Annarita Zambrano
film profile] and My Brother Chases Dinosaurs [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Stefano Cipani
film profile], and the Diabolik [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] trilogy. In 2016, he directed his first short film, Calandrino, which was a loose adaptation of a famous short story by Boccaccio, while his second short film released in 2019, Gli Arcidiavoli - a comedy with surrealist undertones set in the underworld of pool halls – enjoyed screenings in numerous festivals and competitions.

(Translated from Italian)