29/01/2009

Gemma, a distrustful and cantankerous elderly Italian woman and Angela, her young, understanding Romanian caretaker, are the main characters of Federico Bondi’s feature debut Mar Nero [+see also:
trailer
film profile], on release tomorrow by Film Kairós on approximately 15 screens.

“I was inspired by the relationship between my grandmother and the young woman who looked after her,” said the director, who developed the autobiographical elements with screenwriter Ugo Chiti (currently working on a theatrical adaptation of the script).

The result, adds Bondi, is “an intimate story that leaves behind socio-political themes” (although it is set during Romania’s entry into the EU), to instead explore the growing bond between the two women. Thus, when Angela decides to go home, worried because her husband has stopped calling her, Gemma decides to accompany her on the arduous journey from Florence to the mouth of the Danube because “it’s better to regret something you’ve done rather than something you haven’t done”.

“Shooting in Romania gave me the opportunity to discover a humble and sweet people,” says Ilaria Occhini, the first lady of Italian theatre, who won the much deserved acting prize at Locarno last year (the first stop on the film’s successful festival career). She is flanked by Dorotheea Petre of The Way I Spent the End of the World [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Shot in digital by DoP Gigi Martinucci (Private [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), and also starring Corso Salani and Vlad Ivanov, Mar Nero is a €850,000 co-production between Italy (Film Kairos, with support from Rai Cinema), Romania (HI Film) and France (Manigolda Film).

(Translated from Italian)