21/02/2007

Seven years after The Ignorant Fairies, the Turkish born, naturalized Italian filmmaker Ferzan Ozpetek once again depicts a group of friends in his sixth feature, Saturno Contro, which will be launched next Friday on 430 screens by Medusa Film.

This time, Ozpetek focuses on a group of friends in their thirties who come from a bourgeois background and are successful professionally yet feel anxious about the fragility of human relationships in a tough, modern world that "took the sheen out of our lives", says the director.

The cast of this ensemble comedy (co-scripted by Ozpetek and Gianni Romoli, who also produced the movie along with Tilde Corsi for R&C) includes Stefano Accorsi and Margherita Buy (who also starred in The Ignorant Fairies) as well as Pier Francesco Favino. Because of the themes it tackles – the fragility of family ties and extended families – the film could not be more in tune with our times.

"I did not make this movie on purpose to deal with today’s family", Ozpetek nevertheless claims, emphasising that it was only a "happy coincidence" that he chose this subject precisely as political debates on new types of family ties have heated up. "The 'spirit of the times' is inevitably reflected in my film", adds the director, who does not see himself as a 'political' artist and prefers portraying emotions.

(Translated from Italian)