World Courant
Revered Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio is again behind the digital camera taking pictures “Portobello,” a TV sequence reconstructing one among Italy’s most clamorous travesties of justice.
The present marks the primary challenge out of the gate hailing from Our Movies, the brand new shingle headed by distinguished producer duo Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli finest identified for shepherding “The Younger Pope” and “My Good Buddy.”
The six-episode Bellocchio sequence will delve into the true story of fashionable Italian TV host Enzo Tortora who, amongst different applications, performed a primetime sport present titled “Portobello” that aired on Italian state broadcaster RAI ranging from 1977 for seven seasons.
Tortora in 1985 was accused by a number of alleged ex-mobsters turned informants and state witnesses of being a part of a Neapolitan crime syndicate devoted to drug trafficking. After being sentenced to 10 years in jail and spending a while behind bars, plus enduring a prolonged trial, Tortora’s conviction was finally absolutely overturned by Italy’s Supreme Courtroom in 1987 amid widespread perception that the TV host had been the sufferer of corrupt judges and prosecutors.
“Tortora suffered an excellent injustice: arrested, tried and convicted, he was absolutely acquitted solely after an extended judicial odyssey,” mentioned Bellocchio in a press release. “He was a fighter, however the battle made him sick and led to his (untimely) dying,” added the director who went on to notice that he doesn’t intend to show Tortora “right into a saint-like determine,” however relatively dig deep into the nuances of his character and story.
The “Portobello” solid contains frequent Bellocchio collaborator Fabrizio Gifuni, in addition to Enzo Tortora, plus Lino Musella, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Barbora Bobulova, Alessandro Preziosi and Fausto Russo Alesi.
Gifuni beforehand starred as former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in Bellocchio’s restricted TV sequence “Exterior Evening” concerning the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of the nation’s chief by Crimson Brigades terrorists.
The “Portobello” sequence is lead-produced by Our Movies with Bellocchio’s Kavac Movie. It’s an Arte France co-production additionally in collaboration with Fremantle’s The Condo Footage. “Portobello” is written by Marco Bellocchio with Stefano Bises (“Gomorrah”), Giordana Mari (“My Love”) and Peppe Fiore (“The King”).
Filming on “Portobello” has simply begun in Rome, with further areas set in Sardinia, Campania and Lombardy.
Primarily based in Rome, Our Movies reunites Gianani and Mieli, who earlier this yr exited their respective Fremantle-owned banners, Wildside and the Condo, and launched their new single that’s a part of European indie studio Mediawan. Whereas at Fremantle, Mieli produced a variety of critically acclaimed movies comparable to Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” starring Angelina, Jolie and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” which world premiered on the Venice Movie Pageant. Gianani is the producer, amongst different titles, of Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” and Paola Cortellesi’s smash hit “There’s Nonetheless Tomorrow.” Gianani and Mieli had been beforehand companions in Wildside earlier than it was acquired by Fremantle.