Nico, 1988 directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli (Cosmonaut, Discovery at Dawn) will be the opening film of the Orizzonti section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival of the Biennale di Venezia (30 August – 9 September 2017), directed by Alberto Barbera, and organized by the Biennale chaired by Paolo Baratta. Nico, 1988 will be shown in its world premiere screening on the afternoon of the Venice Film Festival’s opening day, Wednesday 30 August, in Sala Darsena, to inaugurate the competition in the Orizzonti section. The film stars Trine Dyrholm (Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival in 2016), who started out as a singer and became a favourite actress for both Susanne Bier and Thomas Vinterberg, and will bring the artist-icon Nico back to life, interpreting the part with her own voice and transforming herself physically.
Nico, 1988 to inaugurate the Orizzonti competition
World premiere on the afternoon of the Venice Film Festival’s opening day, Wednesday 30 August, in the Sala Darsena.
One of Warhol’s muses
Set between Paris, Prague, Nuremberg, Manchester, the Polish countryside and the Roman seaside, Nico, 1988 is a road-movie dedicated to the last years of Christa Päffgen, known by her stage name “Nico”. One of Warhol’s muses, the singer of the Velvet Underground and a woman of legendary beauty, Nico lived a second life after the story known to all, when she began her career as a solo artist. Her music is among the most original of the Seventies and Eighties, and has influenced much of the musical production that followed. The "priestess of darkness", as she was called, found her true calling after age forty, when she shook off the weight of her beauty and rebuilt her relationship with her only forgotten son. Nico, 1988 is the story of Nico's last tour with the band that accompanied her around Europe in the Eighties. It is the story of a rebirth, an artist, a mother, the woman beyond the icon.
The story of Nico after Nico
The director Susanna Nicchiarelli explains: "This is the story of Nico after Nico. People usually talk about her only in relation to the men she was with when she was young: Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Alain Delon, Iggy Pop. I once read in an interview that "at age 34 Nico was finished". That's not true. After her experience with the Velvet Underground, Nico became a great musician. I wanted to tell the story of her journey from a different point of view and focusing on the loss of consensus and the change in her image that both gave her back her freedom".
The producers are Marta Donzelli and Gregorio Paonessa (Le quattro volte by Michelangelo Frammartino, A Street in Palermo by Emma Dante, Sworn Virgin by Laura Bispuri, Children of the Night by Andrea De Sica) - and the film is produced by Vivo film with Rai Cinema and Tarantula in co-production with VOO and Be TV; with the support of Eurimages, Ministry of the Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism – General Direction cinema; a film made possible by the support of the Regione Lazio; with the participation of Wallonia; produced with the assistance of the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles; with the support of the Belgian Federal Government's Tax Shelter – Casa Kafka Pictures Empowered by Belfius; in association with AMER; developed with the support of the European Union's Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme.
International sales by Celluloid Dreams.
Nico, 1988 is a film directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli starring Trine Dyrholm (Silver Lion for Best Actress in Berlin in 2016). The cast also includes John Gordon Sinclair, Anamaria Marinca, Sandor Funtek, Thomas Trabacchi, Karina Fernandez, Calvin Demba.
Original music and adaptations by “Gatto Ciliegia contro il Grande Freddo”, vocals by Trine Dyrholm, photography by Crystel Fournier, editing by Stefano Cravero, sets by Alessandro Vannucci with Igor Gabriel, costumes by Francesca and Roberta Vecchi.
Susanna Nicchiarelli
Susanna Nicchiarelli was born in Rome in 1975. With a degree in Philosophy perfected at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, she graduated in Filmmaking from the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome in 2004.
She began her career working with Nanni Moretti, directing one of the Diari della Sacher produced by Sacher Films and presented at the Venice Film Festival. She has written and directed many short films and documentaries, and two feature-length films: Cosmonaut, in 2009, winner of the Controcampo award at the Venice International Film Festival and nominated for Best Debut Film at the David di Donatello and Silver Ribbon awards, and Discovery at Dawn, in 2013, presented at the Rome Film Fest. She has also made two short animated films in stop-motion, Sputnik 5, presented at the Venice Film Festival, winner of the Silver Ribbon and distributed in theatres with her film Cosmonaut, and Esca Viva, presented at the Rome Film Fest in 2012.
