08/05/2012 - The film, selected at the 35th Toronto Film Festival, was shot in Buenos Aires and Patagonia. In cinemas from May 11

On May 11, Stefano Pasetto's (Tartarughe sul dorso) second feature, Il richiamo, is out in cinemas, three years after its making and a few distributing hitches. It is the story of the unexpected passion which strikes two women at a crossroads in their lives, shot in Argentina amidst the chaos of the densely populated Buenos Aires and on the boundless expanses of Patagonia.

Selected to the 35th Toronto Film Festival, awarded at the Villerupt in 2010 (see the news) and the Audience Award at the Nantes Film Festival in 2011, Il richiamo is an Italo-Argentinian co-production (Iter Film, Rai Cinema, Dock Sur Producciones) and is brought to cinemas by JP Entertainment, which will distribute it in 25 copies, after already having been sold in France, Germany, Poland, Brazil and Holland.

Lucia and Lea (Sandra Ceccarelli and Francesca Inaudi) are two women who are worlds apart, one is controlled and going through a marriage crisis, the other is impulsive and marked by an absent father. Their meeting will represent a rebirth for both of them. "I wanted to portray the wholly female quality of being able to turn an obstacle into an opportunity", says the director, "I didn't think of a film with a homosexual theme, but one about two women who question their certainties and who escape male control".

In fact, Lucia, discovering she has cancer, refuses her husband's care and introduces an important subject: the weight of willpower in the regression of the illness. "I consulted the medical literature and realised that this was a typically female characteristic. And a woman who finds the strength within herself is a message for everyone", states Pasetto. "For Lucia Lea represents a daughter, a lover, a life-saving angel'', confirms the talented Ceccarelli.

And with regards to shooting in Patagonia, the director explains: "We needed imposing natural scenery such as the desert and the open sea with porpoises, as a contrast to the chaotic metropolis. To prepare myself I watched so much Argentinian film that educated and influenced me''. The sound of the tango elegantly accompany one of the film's most beautiful scenes: Lucia and Lea (pregnant) meet for one last dance together. In their eyes we see affection, complicity, gratitude. A hymn to life and femininity.

(Translated from Italian)