Pietro Messina told ANSA on
Wednesday that he feels "calm" despite the fact that his feature
debut L'Attesa (The Wait), starring Oscar winner Juliette
Binoche, will be one of only four Italian films in competition
at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in September.
"I'm aware of the exceptional nature of everything that's
happening," said the 34-year-old native of the Sicilian town of
Caltagirone.
"Maybe it's because I'm on vacation with my family and my
second child will be born during Venice, but at the moment I
don't feel much pressure".
While at Cannes with his short film Terra (Land), Messina
caught the eye Indigo Film producer Nicola Giuliano. When he
finished the screenplay for L'Attesa after four years, he
pitched it to Giuliano, who picked it up two days later.
"I know that's unusual for the film world, but that's how
it happened," Messina said.
Twenty days after that, the emerging director had secured
Juliette Binoche for the lead.
"She did something crazy in order to make this movie,"
Messina said. "She cancelled a theatre tour in the United
States".
Messina, a graduate of Rome's Experimental Film Centre,
chose to shoot in his home town in Sicily.
"It's a dreamlike film, a little magical, with a spiritual
dimension and a strong theme, which powerful, absolute love,"
Messina explains.
It tells the story of Anna (Binoche) and Jeanne (played by
Lou de Lagee) isolated in an ancient villa in the Sicilian
countryside at the feet of Mount Etna.
They are waiting for Giuseppe (Giovanni Anzaldo), Anna's son
and Jeanne's boyfriend.
Their "almost irrational" wait becomes an act of love and
willpower: can believing in someone's return actually make them
come back?
The movie will be in theaters September 17.
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