14/07/2005

Antonio Capuano will be the only director to represent Italy in competition at the Locarno Film Festival (3-13 August) with La guerra di Mario ('the war of Mario'), a film produced by Fandango and Indigo Film, in collaboration with Medusa Film and Sky (distributor: Medusa).
This family drama starring Valeria Golino, Andrea Renzi and young Marco Grieco is the story of a 'difficult child', Mario (9 years old), whom the judge for minors takes away from his family and entrusts to a couple of unmarried forty-year-olds. For the three of them, living together is difficult and painful, since the couple and the child come from two separate realities.

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'I was inspired by the story of a friend of mine who adopted a child. This is a moving film about the difficult interaction between two different cultures,' the Napolitan filmmaker explained for CinecittàNews. La guerra di Mario was shot in Naples with a local crew, the same tram that made Paolo Sorrentino's The Consequences of Love. 'My producers are Nicola Giuliano and Luciano Stella (president of the Campania Film Commission); Giogiò Franchini takes care of the editing and my cinematographer, Luca Bigazzi, is an "almost genuine" Napolitan.'

Marco Grieco, the little boy of the film, was chosen from 1500 school-boys from Naples. 'He is a great kid, and a fantastic actor, very similar to his character — he is strong and free at the same time. However, when it was time to shoot a scene, he would not stop playing and would always complain: "Why did you pick me?".'

(Translated from Italian)