VENICE 2008 Out of competition
Near the Coliseum is... Monicelli
After Manoel de Oliveira (besides opening short Do Visìvel ao Invìsivel, in the last few days the equally short – and previously unreleased (although made 50 years ago) – Romance de Vila do Conde and O viral e a santa morta have screened), the Venice Film Festival celebrates the creative vitality of another European film master: Mario Monicelli.
Born in 1915 and with more than 60 films to his name (including extraordinary critical and commercial successes such as Persons Unknown), the director of The Great War (Golden Lion in 1959) is presenting on the Lido one of his most underrated works (Oh, Grandmother’s Dead, 1969, as part of the “These Phantoms” retrospective) and his latest title Vicino al Colosseo c’è Monti (“Near the Coliseum, there’s Monti”). Based on an idea by Chiara Rapaccini, the 20-minute documentary explores Rione Monti, the oldest district in Rome, where the director has chosen to live.
Lensed in digital by Valerio Azzali (who worked on Francesca Comencini’s documentary In fabbrica), Vicino al Colosseo c’è Monti was produced by Gianvito and Alessandro Casadonte for Inspire Production.
(Translated from Italian)
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