23/05/2006

"Tornatore is one of the few Italian directors that pre-sell", veteran sales agent Adriana Chiesa told Cineuropa, commenting on the film’s recently closed deals with Japan (Happinet Pictures) and Brazil (Paris Film).

At press time, a slate of European territories were being negotiated by the Rome-based Adriana Chiesa Enterprises (ACE) for the Oscar-winning director’s new film, La Sconosciuta (lit. “The Unknown Woman”), an Italian/French co-production between Medusa and Babe Films.

Both Scripted and directed by Tornatore, the €8m film, shot entirely in the north-eastern Italian city of Trieste, centres around an enigmatic Eastern European au pair, played by Russian theatre and TV actress Xenia Rappoport, who is flanked by established Italian actors Michele Placido and Margherita Buy. The film will be released in Italy next autumn by 01 Distribution.

Also on ACE’s Cannes line-up is Kim Rossi Stuart’s Along the Ridge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kim Rossi Stuart
film profile] (Anche libero va bene), which screened in the Directors’ Fortnight and was picked up by French company MK2, with deals being negotiated for Belgium, Benelux, Portugal and several Asiatic territories.