19/08/2016 - The Italian-US-French co-production by the great Iranian director was shot in Italy and is set there in 1350; it was selected for the Venice Gap-Financing Market in 2014

Great Iranian director Amir Naderi (Vegas) will receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the 73rd Venice Film Festival (31 August–10 September 2016). The handing out of the prize – dedicated to a personality who has made an original contribution to innovation in contemporary cinema – will take place on 5 September, ahead of the Out of Competition screening of his new film, Monte [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which will be world-premiered at Venice. 

Monte is a co-production between Italy, the USA and France, staged by producers Citrullo International, Zivago Media, Cineric, Ciné-Sud Promotion and KNM, in conjunction with Rai Cinema and with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities – General Directorate for Cinema, the IDM – Alto Adige Film Commission and the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Film Commission. It is Naderi’s first project to be set and directed in Italy. 

The movie, which was shot on location in the mountains of the Alto Adige and Friuli regions, is set in the year 1350 and tells the dramatic story of a man who makes every attempt to bring the sunlight into his village, where his family is barely able to survive because of the prevailing darkness. In 2014, Monte, which stars Andrea Sartoretti and Claudia Potenza, was one of the projects selected for the Venice Gap-Financing Market, a programme launched by the Venice Production Bridge.

"Amir Naderi gave fundamental impetus to the birth of New Iranian Cinema during the 1970s and 1980s,” remarked Alberto Barbera, director of the Venice Film Festival. “The last half hour of Monte is a sort of synthesis of his entire body of work, a larger-than-life metaphor of a struggle for survival prevailing over the dividing lines, intimidations and insults that can sometimes make human existence miserable.”

(Translated from Italian)