Paolo Sorrentino's hotly awaited TV series "The Young Pope", Iranian director Amir Naderi's "Monte" and "Tommaso" by Kim Rossi Stuart are among the out-of-competition highlights at the 73rd Venice Film Festival that are all linked to Italy.
The fest, directed by Alberto Barbera and organised by the
Biennale under Paolo Baratta, opens on August 31 and runs until
September 10.
Sorrentino's series, starring Jude Law, Diane Keaton and
Silvio Orlando, tells the story of fictional Pope Pius XIII, the
first American pope in history.
It focuses on the pontiff's complex character and how he
balances his rigid conservatism with his deep compassion for the
poor and weak. It also explores and analyses power dynamics in
the Vatican.
Naderi's "Monte", starring Andrea Sartoretti, Claudia
Potenza and Anna Bonaiuto, is set in a medieval village in the
Italian mountains, and takes viewers back to around 1350. It
tells the story of Agostino, who struggles on with his wife and
child in this rural setting.
Rossi Stuart's "Tommaso", in which the director also stars
alongside Camilla Diana, Jasmine Trinca and Cristiana Capotondi,
looks at the life of a young actor who leaves his girlfriend and
gets to know two other women, but faces the same relationship
problems with them.
Among documentaries, "Our War" by Bruno Chiaravalloti,
Claudio Jampaglia and Benedetta Argentieri, shines the spotlight
on the war in Syria and the rise of the Islamist extremist group
ISIS. It focuses on a former U.S. marine, an unemployed Italian
and a Swedish bodyguard who have all decided to go to fight
ISIS.
"Assalto al Cielo" by Francesco Munzi, is a documentary
that analyses the political turmoil and violence in Italy
between 1967 and 1977, and includes personal memories, history,
and reflections on the revolutionary ideas of the time.
photo: Paolo Sorrentino
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