28/07/2025 - The abrupt halting of filming on a movie about Carmelo Bene is at the heart of the Sicilian director’s new title, which sees him returning to compete on the Lido

Franco Maresco’s new movie, Un film fatto per Bene, will compete for the Golden Lion at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. As the Sicilian director explains with his trademark sarcasm: “For some time, I’ve been aware that all of my films have been nothing other than traps which I’ve walked into, in cruelly self-destructive fashion. This time, for the first time ever, I’m afraid I won’t come out of it well, or in one piece. I should have listened to the advice given by Miss Filomena, the teacher who led my afterschool sessions in primary school, who would constantly repeat an Italian proverb about tempting fate, but it’s too late for regrets. I’ve tempted fate to extinction”.

Going by the synopsis issued by the production team, Maresco’s film seems to be “a film within a film” revolving around himself, but also dedicated to the great actor, director and playwright who was a leading name in neo-avant-garde Italian theatre and who passed away in 2022: ”Filming on Franco Maresco’s movie about Carmelo Bene is abruptly interrupted following an umpteenth incident on set. Producer Andrea Occhipinti pulls the plug, exasperated by the endless slamming of clapperboards and repeated delays. For his part, the director behind Belluscone [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used To Be [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] accuses the production team of “filmicide” and scarpers. Maresco’s friend Umberto Cantone tries to mend the rift, calling everyone who took part in the endeavour to testify in an investigation which allows us to take another look at the personality and ideas of Italian cinema’s most corrosive and apocalyptic director. What if, in the meantime, far away from everything and everyone, Maresco was finishing his film, which had become ‘the only way to lend shape to the anger and horror I feel about this kind of shit’?

Joining Maresco in the cast are Umberto Cantone (the film’s co-screenwriter in league with the director, Claudia Uzzo and Francesco Guttuso), Marco Alessi (one of the movie’s producers), Francesco Conticelli, Bernardo Greco, Francesco Puma, Giuseppe Lo Piccolo (The Time It Takes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Francesca Comencini
film profile]), Gino Carista, Melino Imparato and Antonio Rezza (L'isola degli idealisti [+see also:
film review
film profile]).  Photography was entrusted to Alessandro Abate (Padre Pio [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Abel Ferrara
film profile]), editing to Paola Freddi (Another End [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Piero Messina
film profile]) and Francesco Guttuso (The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used To Be [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), set design comes courtesy of Nicola Sferruzza and Cesare Inzerillo, costumes are by Luisa Viglietti and the music is penned by Salvatore Bonafede.

The film’s selection marks Maresco’s big return, following the Special Jury Prize he won in Venice 2019 for The Mafia Is No Longer What It Used To Be, his participation in the festival out of competition in 2015 with Gli uomini di questa città non li conosco, and the Special Jury Prize he scooped in the 2014 Orizzonti section for Belluscone, una storia siciliana.

As previously mentioned, Un film fatto per Bene was produced by Andrea Occhipinti for Lucky Red - who are also managing distribution in Italy - alongside Marco Alessi for Dugong Films and Daniele Occhipinti for Eolo, with support from the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Sicily Region - Sicilia Film Commission and the Apulia Region - Apulia Film Commission. World sales are entrusted to True Colours.

(Translated from Italian)