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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Italy / Switzerland / France

Alice Rohrwacher directing Josh O'Connor in La chimera

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- Produced by tempesta and co-produced by Switzerland and France, the filmmaker’s new movie will revolve around an archaeologist involved in the illegal trafficking of archaeological artifacts

Alice Rohrwacher directing Josh O'Connor in La chimera
Actor Josh O'Connor and director Alice Rohrwacher on the set of La chimera (© Simona Pampallona)

Set in the 1980s and toplined by Josh O'Connor, Alice Rohrwacher’s new film La chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
is currently being shot in Tarquinia and Blera (in Italy’s Lazio region), and in southern Tuscany. The 31-year-old actor who played Prince Charles in the The Crown is stepping into the shoes of Arthur, a young English archaeologist involved in the illegal smuggling of archaeological artifacts.

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The fourth feature film by the acclaimed director of Corpo celeste [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Rohrwacher
film profile
]
, The Wonders [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Rohrwacher
interview: Tiziana Soudani
film profile
]
(awarded the Grand Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival) and Happy As Lazzaro [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alice Rohrwacher
film profile
]
(which scooped Best Screenplay in 2018, also courtesy of Cannes), La chimera is produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina on behalf of tempesta in league with RAI Cinema, and in co-production with Amka Films Productions (Switzerland) and Ad Vitam Production (France) in association with Arte France Cinéma.

La chimera, Rohrwacher explained to Variety, “is the final instalment of a trio of films set on the land, which began with The Wonders, and which asks one central question: what should we do with the past? Is the past nothing more than a lost world or is it intrinsically linked to our present?”. The cast also stars Isabella Rossellini playing the part of a retired opera singer, Carol Duarte as a young woman who crosses paths with Arthur, Alba Rohrwacher in the role of an international artifacts smuggler, and Vincenzo Nemolato playing a “gravedigger”: a person who steals items of archaeological interest.

La chimera sees Alice Rohrwacher linking back up with her long-time collaborators: director of photography Hélène Louvart (The Lost Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Mai raramente a volte sempre), editor Nelly Quettier (Annette [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), set designer Emita Frigato, costume designer Loredana Buscemi and producer Giorgio Gasparini. Casting comes courtesy of Chiara Polizzi and Fiona Weir.

RSI – Italian-Language Swiss Broadcasting are supporting La chimera in Switzerland, while the CNC’s Cinéma du Monde Fund is shoring up the movie in France. The film’s release is planned for 2023, distributed in Italy by 01.

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(Translated from Italian)

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