| Director: | Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini |
|---|---|
| Production: | Kiné Società Cooperativa (Claudio Giapponesi), Istituto Luce (Roberto Cicutto) |
| Running Time: | 70’ |
| Language: | italian, russian |
| Country: | Italy |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Main Cast: | Emidio Clementi |
| Screenplay: | Federico Ferrone, Michele Manzolini, Wu Ming 2 |
| Cinematographer: | Andrea Vaccari |
| Editor: | Maria Fantastica Valmori |
| Music: | Simonluca Laitempergher |
Cinema
Il varco – One More Unto the Breach
Sconfini
Synopsis
In 1941, an Italian soldier is leaving for the Soviet front. The Fascist army is allied with the Nazi war machine. Victory seems close. The convoy moves forward, men are singing and hopeful. The soldier’s mind goes back to the melancholic fairy tales his Russian mother told him. Unlike his younger companions, he has already been to war, in Africa, and he fears it. The train crosses Europe, reaching the interminable expanses of the Ukrainian plains. As winter arrives, enthusiasm wanes under the first mortar shells, the cold and the snow. The most heartfelt desire is no longer victory, but rather a warm bed, food, and to go back home. The immense wind ravaged steppe seems to be inhabited by ghosts.
Directors’ Statement
Il Varco is a work of fiction made with both official and amateur archive material. It is the subjective account of a soldier involved in the Italian campaign in Russia during WWII. The film, as well as the footage it is made from, is populated by presences. As the war becomes more desperate, ghosts wander the Ukrainian steppe in ever increasing numbers. Memories haunt the protagonist’s mind, taking him back to the horrors of Italy’s colonial war. And finally fragments of a war yet to come, one being fought in Ukraine today, in the very same places. Present and past run on parallel tracks, which get closer and eventually merge. As if the wounds of over 70 years had never healed.
Producers/Distributors
PRODUCTION 1: Claudio Giapponesi – Kiné Società Cooperativa
Via Oberdan, 33
53034 - Colle di Val d’Elisa (SI), Italy
Tel. +39 3315701223
claudio@kine.it
http://www.doc.kine.it
PRODUCTION 2: Roberto Cicutto - Istituto Luce-Cinecittà
Via Tuscolana, 1055
00173 – Roma, Italy
Tel. +39 06 722861
m.cosenza@cinecittaluce.it
http://www.cinecitta.com
WORLD SALES: Manuela Buono – Slingshot Films
Via Roma 17
34132 – Trieste, Italy
Tel. 39 3476273390
manuela@slingshotfilms.it
http://www.slingshotfilms.it
ITALIAN DISTRIBUTION: Federica Di Biagio - Istituto Luce-Cinecittà
Via Tuscolana, 1055
00173 – Roma, Italy
Tel. +39 06 722861
f.dibiagio@cinecittaluce.it
http://www.cinecitta.com
ITALIAN PRESS OFFICE:
Lucrezia Viti – PressPress
Via Anton Giulio Barrili 12
00152 – Roma, Italy
Tel. + 39 06 45684719
Mob. + 39 3482565827
lucreziaviti@presspress.it
Marlon Pellegrini - Istituto Luce-Cinecittà
Via Tuscolana, 1055
00173 – Roma, Italy
Tel. + 39 3349500619
m.pellegrini@cinecittaluce.it
