Benigni on sale in Cannes

by Camillo De Marco

09/04/2005 - International sales for La tigre e la neve, Roberto Benigni’s latest film, will start at the Film Market, at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival (11th-22d May). Melampo Cinematografica, the producer, just signed an agreement for Focus Features International to handle these sales.

The film, starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, and Jean Reno, was shot both in Italy and Tunisia. 01 Distribution will release it in Italy on the 14th of October. La tigre e la neve is the story of a poet in love with his art, but even more in love with a women named Vittoria of whom he dreams all the time. This love is not reciprocal but the poet will do anything to conquer her, even if it puts him in grotesque, or epic situations. As a matter of fact, they both end up in Irak in the beginning of the current war. There, they meet en Arabian poet (played by Jean Reno). La tigre e la neve, Benigni explained while he was still shooting, is a film about the present ; it is a reaction to horror. The war in Irak is seen through the eyes of a very special character, a poet for whom each humanbeing is worth as much as any other, and for whom even a pebble can influence your destiny.’

(Translated from Italian)