Pitzianti looks at multi-ethnic Sardinia in first feature
Tutto torna, the first narrative film by Enrico Pitzianti (the director of the documentary Piccola pesca), has become a hit in its native Sardinia, where it was released on May 9. The film will now try for the same success on the “continent”.
The low-budget film – produced with numerous difficulties (and more than one lawsuit against the Ministry of Culture) by Gianluca Arcopinto and Andrea Fornari’s Zaroff Film – avoids clichés of the island in its story about a young man who moves from northern Sardinia to Cagliari, to instead offer a fresh look at the city.
“[Cagliari] is a modern and multi-ethnic metropolis far from the agro-pastoral stereotypes often associated with the island,” says Pitzianti (co-screenwriter of the film with Antonia Iaccarino). Perhaps it was precisely this lack of folklore that won over Sardinian audiences and have earned the film over 10,000 admissions in less than a month.
Tutto torna, set mostly in an apartment building inhabited by outrageous tenants, is also a coming-of-age tale. For the main character (Antonio Careddu, a newcomer like most of the cast), who grew up in the countryside and dreams of becoming a writer, coming to the city means above all discovering love. “I’m inspired by models such as Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío,” says the director, “by Latin American comedy that combines humour and contemplation.”
Pitzianti’s next project will be yet another change in direction. After shooting a documentary this January on Tuareg children in Africa, he is currently writing a film “on a family dealing with mental illness, which will also depict 20 years of Italian history.”
Scored by jazz musician Gavino Murgia, and produced through local companies, Tutto torna will be released by Zaroff Film on June 13 in the major Italian cities.
(Translated from Italian)
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