She created the sets for Il tempo che ci vuole by Francesca Comencini, to screen Out of Competition.
Cinema -
Production designer Paola Comencini to receive the Campari Passion for Film Award
The award ceremony will take place on Friday 6th September in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema) at 9:30 pm.
Campari Passion for Film Award
La Biennale di Venezia and Campari are pleased to announce that the Italian production designer Paola Comencini (C’è ancora domani, La bestia nel cuore, Romanzo criminale) will be the recipient of the Campari Passion for Film Award of the 81st Venice International Film Festival (August 28th - September 7th, 2024).
The ceremony for the award to Paola Comencini will take place on Friday 6th of September in the Sala Grande (Palazzo del Cinema) at 9.30 pm, before the screening Out of Competition of Il tempo che ci vuole (Italy/France, 110’) by Francesca Comencini, starring Fabrizio Gifuni and Romana Maggiora Vergano, featuring Paola Comencini’s production design.
About Il tempo che ci vuole by Francesca Comencini:
A father and a daughter. Cinema and life. Childhood that seems perfect and then grow up making everything wrong. Falling and getting up, starting again, getting old, becoming fragile, letting go but never getting lost. The time it takes to save yourself
Statement by Alberto Barbera
The Director of the Venice International Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, said, «Throughout her lengthy career as an architect, set designer and costume designer, Paola Comencini has demonstrated a special sensibility in highlighting the distinctive traits of eras and characters, navigating through genres and languages with great rigour and invention. Her remarkable creative spirit allows her to best interpret the spirit of the stories to be brought to the big screen and to enhance each and every character in interior spaces and outdoor environments. Her innate taste supported by an exceptional professionalism have led her to work with filmmakers who differ widely in temperament and style, starting with her father Luigi. In addition to her sisters Cristina and Francesca, she has worked with some of the most important Italian directors, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Riccardo Milani, Michele Placido, Daniele Luchetti, Stefano Sollima, Carlo Vanzina, as well as Paola Cortellesi for her highly successful debut C’è ancora domani (2023), definitively establishing herself as one of the best costume and set designers in Italian cinema. She has achieved this result through constant dedication and careful study which has always been manifest in the layouts of the sets, in the selection of the fabrics, in the use of often simple props, in the enhancement of every environment. This is the remarkable work of an atelier carried out with meticulous passion, which places her among the finest production designers in the world».
Statement by Alberto Ponchio
“We are very proud to confirm the official ‘Campari Passion for Film Award’, created by Campari alongside the Artistic Direction of the Exhibition - announced the Senior Marketing Director Campari Group, Alberto Ponchio. Sticking with the main theme that everything comes about through Passion, already understood as a fundamental element for inspiring Creativity, the Prize is aimed at showing an appreciation for the figures who, alongside the director, contribute to excellence when creating cinematic art. This year, in choosing the Italian production designer Paola Comencini, we have rewarded the a profession that is characterised by a distinct aesthetic and artistic sensitivity and the ability to combine passion, craft work, innovation, always looking ahead”.
The Campari Passion for Film Award, instituted six years ago at the 75th Venice Film Festival, seeks to highlight the remarkable contribution given by the director's closest collaborators to the fulfillment of the artistic project that each film represents. Passion for Film attributes this award to these professional figures, who are more than just craftsmen: they are artists and co-authors of the films to which they offer the gift of their unparalleled talent. Over the years, the award has been given to the American film editor Bob Murawski, to the Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, to the American jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, to the British production designer Marcus Rowland, to the American artist and costume designer Arianne Phillips, and last year the Italian production designer Tonino Zera.
Paola Comencini – Biographical notes
Born in Rome in 1951, after graduating from the French baccalauréat, she attended the faculty of architecture. However, very early on she decided to work and started following some production as an intern. In 1972 she participated as a volunteer assistant in the film shot by Billy Wilder in Italy, Avanti!.
In 1978 she began working with her father Luigi Comencini, who was a strict and demanding teacher. Her career progressed between ups and downs. She works in all genres of films, comedies, dramas, crime, costume and modern, with directors very different from each other. And she learns something from everyone. She builds environments of all kinds in the various studios. She also collaborated with Cristina and Francesca Comencini.
She received the David di Donatello in 2006 with the film Romanzo criminale directed by Michele Placido and would later be involved in two seasons of the series of the same name directed by a comparative newcomer Stefano Sollima.
Her filmography is very long and very eclectic, as you can see from the list below. This bizarre eclecticism corresponds to the very nature of her chosen craft but also to the character of the production designer.
The last two years have been fortunate. In 2022 she curates the sets of C'è ancora domani by Paola Cortellesi, with whom a deep professional and human relationship is established. 2023 is the year of Il tempo che ci vuole directed by Francesca Comencini, a film in which the set design is not only a creative and accurate work but an incredible emotional journey.
Filmography
2023 “Il tempo che ci vuole” by Francesca Comencini
2022 “C’è ancora domani” by Paola Cortellesi (nomination David di Donatello)
2022 “L’ultima volta che siamo stati bambini” by Claudio Bisio
2021 “Il principe di Roma” by Edoardo Falcone
2020 “I fratelli De Filippo” by Sergio Rubini
2019 “Luna nera” by Francesca Comencini, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Paola Ranby
2018 “Suburra - La serie”, season 2, by Andrea Molaioli / Pietro Messina
2017/2018 “Tutto può succedere”, series tv by Lucio Pellegrini season 3
2016/ 2017 “Tempesta” by Daniele Lucchetti
2016 “Tutto può succedere”, TV series by Lucio Pellegrini season 2
2015 “Qualcosa di nuovo” by Cristina Comencini
2015 “Tutto può succedere”, TV series by Lucio Pellegrini season1
2014 “Latin Lover” by Cristina Comencini
2013 “Oriana Fallaci”, TV series by Marco Turco
2013 “Ti ho sposato per allegria”, comedy by N. Ginzburg / direction by Piero Maccarinelli
2013 “Un fidanzato per mia moglie” by Davide Marengo
2013 “La scena”, comedy by Cristina Comencini
2012 “Benvenuto Presidente” by Riccardo Milani
2012 “Il principe abusivo” by Alessandro Siani
2012 “Un giorno speciale” by Francesca Comencini
2012 “Un giorno devi andare” by Giorgio Byritti
2011 “Benvenuti al Nord” by Luca Miniero
2011 “ACAB” by Stefano Sollima
2010 “Romanzo criminale 2 – La serie” by Stefano Sollima
2010 “Benvenuti al Sud” by Luca Miniero (nomination David di Donatello)
2009 “Due partite” by Enzo Monteleone
2009 “Lo spazio bianco” by Francesca Comencini
2008 “Il romanzo di Ferrara”, adaptation by Tullio Kezich from Giorgio Bassani, direction by Piero Maccarinelli
2008 “Romanzo criminale 1- La serie” by Stefano Sollima
2008 “Bianco e nero” by Cristina Comencini
2007 “Due partite”, comedy by Cristina Comencini
2007 “Piano, solo” by Riccardo Milani
2006 “A casa nostra” by Francesca Comencini
2005 “Romanzo criminale” by Michele Placido (David di Donatello 2006, Ciak d’Oro, Premio 35mm.it)
2005 “La bestia nel cuore” by Cristina Comencini
2004 “Mi piace lavorare – Mobbing” by Francesca Comencini
2003 “Il posto dell’anima” by Riccardo Milani
2002 “La forza del passato” by Piergiorgio Gay
2002 “Il più bel giorno della mia vita” by Cristina Comencini
2001 “Le parole di mio padre” by Francesca Comencini
2001 “Liberate i pesci!” by Cristina Comencini
2000 “Cuore”, TV series by Maurizio Zaccaro
1999 “Cristallo by rocca” by Maurizio Zaccaro
1998 “Matrimoni” by Cristina Comencini
1998 “Del perduto amore” by Michele Placido
1998 “La missione” by Maurizio Zaccaro
1998 “Ultimo” by Stefano Reali
1997 “Il carniere” by Maurizio Zaccaro
1996 “Va dove ti porta il cuore” by Cristina Comencini
1996 “Esercizi di stile” by Mario Monicelli e Dino Risi
1993 “La fine è nota” by Cristina Comencini
1992 “I divertimenti della vita privata” by Cristina Comencini (nomination David di Donatello)
1992 “Marcellino pane e vino” by Luigi Comencini
1990 “Zoo” by Cristina Comencini
1989 “Le finte bionde” by Carlo Vanzina
1988 “La partita” by Carlo Vanzina
1988 “La Bohème” by Luigi Comencini
1986 “La Storia”, TV series by Luigi Comencini
1985 “Vacanze in America” by Carlo Vanzina
1984 “Amarsi un po’” by Carlo Vanzina
1983 “Mystère” by Carlo Vanzina
1983 “Dieci registi italiani, dieci racconti italiani”, TV series “Il matrimonio di Caterina”
1982 “Identificazione di una donna” (costumes) by Michelangelo Antonioni
1980 “Voltati Eugenio” (sets and costumes) by Luigi Comencini
