Director Giovanni Veronesi Kicks Off a Cuba-Italy Partnership with "No Country for the Young"

"Now is the time when Cuba can become an important co-production partner” said Rome Lazio Film Commission head Luciano Sovena, who recently launched Italy’s top co-production fund between the two countries.

The first production of that partnership is Non è un paese per giovani (No Country for the Young). Directed by Giovanni Veronesi, the film features a great cast that includes Filippo Scicchitano, Giovanni Anzaldo, Sara Serraiocco, Sergio Rubini and Nino Frassica.

I was happy to find a very detailed description of the story in English:

Every year, five hundred thousand young people leave Italy and flee overseas. They call it “brain drain” but among the new emigrants there are a lot of ordinary young people seeking their fortune. Sandro and Luciano are two of them. Sandro, 24, comes from Rome and is curious about his future but he doesn’t have a clear idea yet. He graduated a while ago and he may want to become a writer. He still lives with his parents and works part-time On his first evening shift as a waiter he meets Luciano, who is a little older than him and always earned his living. He has an elegant way about him, but according to his colleagues, looks a bit gay and they can’t help mocking him. Sandro is curious about him instead. Luciano is enigmatic to him. They become good friends after lots of lifts on his moped at the end of the evening shift. Sandro learns about Luciano’s plan. To start up a new business in Italy is a hopeless dream for young people. Now there’s a place instead where everything seems possible. It’s at your fingertips: Cuba. While his friends scrape out a living in London and his girlfriend is ready to start her career in the Silicon Valley, Sandro decides to break up with her and set off for what it seems to be a real adventure together with Luciano. Thanks to Luciano’s ten thousand dollars and another ten thousand, which Sandro asked his father for as a kind of upfront inheritance, the two will be able to open a new restaurant: Cuba is their new aim now.

Upon their arrival in Cuba, they are warmly greeted by Nora, an Italian girl who runs the home where they will live. She has shaved head with a scar, but these is so much more underneath. She is beautiful, confused, incoherent when talking, straightforward and honest. Felipe, a 40-year-old man from Cuba, manages their deal and signs as a partner in the restaurant. In Cuba, foreigners can start a new business only with Cuban partners. As soon as Sandro and Luciano see the wooden shack on a wonderful beach they have already in mind the restaurant it will become. Sandro and Luciano celebrate the event with Nora, who leads them to Havana at night. They end up learning about the world of boxing matches in Havana where Cuban people and foreigners, seeking for strong emotions, face each other no holds barred. As euphoric and drunk Sandro jumps into the fray and risks life and limb. Luciano steps in and saves him showing unexpected physical strength and power. That event will change their lives. Sandro and Nora get closer and closer, whilst Luciano drifts apart. Sandro doesn’t understand what is happening to him as he is very busy with some problems at the hovel. Luciano seems losing more and more interest in the restaurant.

One night Sandro realizes his friend gets back home with injuries on his face. So he decides to follow him. The next day Sandro finds out that Luciano is still taking part into the fights. He likes them and feels good. Everyone calls him “Pavarotti”. He has become famous in that environment. And that’s not all. Luciano takes pills to bear the pain and admits getting them from his friend Nora. Sandro can’t believe it. When he argues with his girlfriend she confirms that. Sandro refuses to listen to reason. He doesn’t want to see them anymore and leaves. When he is about to leave Cuba, he decides to go to the shack. After all, that place is all he has. Sandro can’t sleep that night as he has too many worries. He decides to stay and start a new life on the island. And first of all he decides to start writing his novel. He wants to tell the story of Luciano Capriotti, alias Pavarotti. Sandro spends his days on the beach writing his book. But he soon learns of problems with his father back home, and before long, grave problems with his friend, Luciano, who ends up in the hospital fighting for his life.

Comments

Luisa Ranieri: A Contemporary Classic

Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” has advanced to the short list in the 2022 Oscar race. The film is available stateside on Netflix. One of the stars of the film is actress Luisa Ranieri as the eccentric, troubled Aunt Patrizia. Luisa Ranieri Born in Naples in 1973, Ranieri hit the ground running, finding her break out film just two years after starting her acting career. That project, a made for television movie on the life of Maria Callas in which she played the starring role, immediately made her one of the country’s most popular actresses. After numerous supporting roles in both television and film, Ranieri scored the title role in Lodovico Gasparini’s 2016 miniseries “Luisa Spagnoli,” giving her another opportunity to portray a deeply complex character. The film follows the trailblazing entrepreneur who created the Perugina chocolate brand as well as a popular clothing line that still bears her name. “I was born poor like you and know how hard life can be.” That inspirin...

The Extraordinary Career and Legacy of Dino De Laurentiis

Producer Dino De Laurentiis was one of the most prolific filmmakers ever, having produced or co-produced more than 600 films during a career that spanned seven decades. His legacy continues not only through the work of his children and grandchildren but also through a new generation of filmmakers in his Italian hometown. De Laurentiis was born in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius on Aug. 8, 1919, in the city of Torre Annunziata, located just minutes from the ruins of Pompeii. As a child, he worked at a local pasta factory owned and operated by his father. That experience had a profound effect on him, shaping a lifelong passion for food and an appreciation for business. At the age of 17, he decided to leave home for the big city. He arrived in Rome and enrolled in the prestigious film school, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. After attending the school for about a year, he managed to produce one film in 1940, The Last Combat , before having to leave Rome temporarily for m...

Golden Age Masterpiece: Luchino Visconti’s 1957 “White Nights”

Photo Credit: Archivio Luce Cinecittà Luchino Visconti’s 1957 film, “White Nights” (“Le notti bianche”), offers a thoughtful and poignant exploration of themes such as loneliness, desire and emotional vulnerability. Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella of the same name, it transports the tale from 19th-century St. Petersburg to a dreamy mid-20th-century Italian setting. While Visconti remains largely faithful to Dostoevsky’s narrative, his characteristic style infuses the film with emotional depth, striking visuals, and a focus on class and societal constraints. The story follows a young man named Matteo, played by Marcello Mastroianni, who lives a solitary life in a small Italian town. One evening, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Natalia, portrayed by Austrian-Swiss actress Maria Schell, who is also feeling isolated. Although she is initially reluctant, Natalia eventually confides in Matteo about her love for a man who has promised to return and marry her, but he ha...

A Conversation with Sergio Castellitto

Sergio Castellitto has made a profound impact on world cinema, both in front of and behind the camera. Born in Rome in 1953, Castellitto graduated from film school in 1978 and credits American cinema with pushing him toward a career in acting. His work has garnered numerous accolades, largely due to his immersive, original approach to projects in film, television and theatre. Castellitto is fluent in French and English, which has contributed mightily to his international stardom. But it's the actor's trademark brown eyes and charming everyman qualities that have lent his various characters -- even the ones that are rough around the edges -- an air of dignity that other actors might not have achieved. Sergio Castellitto and Margaret Mazzantini, 2005 Films such as "Paura e Amore," "L'uomo delle stelle," "Caterina va in città," and "Bella Martha" heralded Castellitto as a versatile artist with far-reaching abilities. But it ...

Alberto Sordi Like You've Never Seen Him..

Twenty two-year-old Alberto Sordi on the set of "I tre aquilotti" Directed by Mario Mattoli, the 1942 film"I tre aquilotti" (The Three Pilots) is set at the Royal Air Force Academy of Caserta where three students– Mario (Carlo Minello), Marco (Leonardo Cortese) and Filippo (Alberto Sordi) become close friends. Towards the end of his studies, Marco casually meets and falls in love with Mario's sister, Adriana (Michela Belmonte). Mario shows his opposition to Marco and this causes the end of their friendship. Due to an accident during a training flight, Marco is demoted from the sailors role to the service role, thus not getting the military pilot's license. After the end of the course, the three friends split up for various destinations but all three find themselves in Russia, with Mario and Filippo already decorated with medals of merit, while Marco is in charge of logistics services. During a war action Mario is hit in flight and is forced to land in en...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog