Italian producer and director Ginevra Elkann, whose delicate first feature “If Only” opened the 2019 Locarno fest garnering critical praise, is at the Toronto Film Festival with her tonally different follow-up, “I Told You So.”
The movie features a group made up mostly of women who are having a mental meltdown amid an unprecedented January heat wave in Rome. As the heat rises, so do the characters’ obsessions with sex, food, drugs, alcohol, and religion. The eclectic ensemble film, which was conceived by Elkann and her co-writers during the pandemic, features a star studded cast comprising Danny Huston – speaking perfect Italian on screen – as a heroin-addicted Italian-American priest. Then there is Valeria Golino as a past-her-prime porn star named Pupa; Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as a psychopathic mother who happens to be obsessed with Pupa; and Alba Rohrwacher as an alcoholic artist who loses custody of her son to her heartbroken ex played by Riccardo Scamarcio.
The movie features a group made up mostly of women who are having a mental meltdown amid an unprecedented January heat wave in Rome. As the heat rises, so do the characters’ obsessions with sex, food, drugs, alcohol, and religion. The eclectic ensemble film, which was conceived by Elkann and her co-writers during the pandemic, features a star studded cast comprising Danny Huston – speaking perfect Italian on screen – as a heroin-addicted Italian-American priest. Then there is Valeria Golino as a past-her-prime porn star named Pupa; Valeria Bruni Tedeschi as a psychopathic mother who happens to be obsessed with Pupa; and Alba Rohrwacher as an alcoholic artist who loses custody of her son to her heartbroken ex played by Riccardo Scamarcio.
- 9/12/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Coming of age thriller “The Gymnasts,” one of the most recent titles from Europe’s public broadcaster partnership The Alliance, has been licensed to over 30 territories, London-based super indie All3Media International confirmed on Monday at the Berlinale Series Market.
Based on Ilaria Bernardini’s bestselling novel “Corpo Libero” (“The Girls Are Good”), the six-part series is produced by the Oscar-winning team at Indigo Film, behind “The Great Beauty,” in co-production with Zdf Neo’s German company Network Movie.
The series has been made in collaboration with Rai Fiction and Paramount+, and in association with All3Media International.
Such powerful partners feeds through to the distribution. Spearheaded by the collaboration of Paramount+ Italia, Paramount +/Viacom has acquired rights to Australia, South Korea, Canada and the U.K.
Now newly announced territories take in New Zealand where “Gymnasts” will air on Paramount+/Viacom.
In a combination of multi-territory streamer deals and...
Based on Ilaria Bernardini’s bestselling novel “Corpo Libero” (“The Girls Are Good”), the six-part series is produced by the Oscar-winning team at Indigo Film, behind “The Great Beauty,” in co-production with Zdf Neo’s German company Network Movie.
The series has been made in collaboration with Rai Fiction and Paramount+, and in association with All3Media International.
Such powerful partners feeds through to the distribution. Spearheaded by the collaboration of Paramount+ Italia, Paramount +/Viacom has acquired rights to Australia, South Korea, Canada and the U.K.
Now newly announced territories take in New Zealand where “Gymnasts” will air on Paramount+/Viacom.
In a combination of multi-territory streamer deals and...
- 2/20/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Con Men & Gymnasts: Deadline’s The Hot Ones Mipcom Dramas From BBC Studios & All3Media International
When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom this week, it might be easy to forget why everyone is there: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You may hear whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television from the top players in distribution.
Here are two more dramas:
The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies
BBC Studios
Length: 5 x 60’
Producer: Sister
As the cameras were preparing to roll for BBC drama The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies, a plethora of jaw-dropping con man docs dropped on Netflix to much acclaim.
Here are two more dramas:
The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies
BBC Studios
Length: 5 x 60’
Producer: Sister
As the cameras were preparing to roll for BBC drama The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies, a plethora of jaw-dropping con man docs dropped on Netflix to much acclaim.
- 10/17/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscar winner Roberto Benigni is attached to Paramount+ original Francesco Il Cantico, as the global streamer prepares to launch in Italy tomorrow with more than 8,000 hours of content.
Benigni will front the show, which is billed as “an immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.” Its announcement came at a star-studded blue carpet event at the iconic Cinecittà Studios in Rome this evening, with Paramount+ still gathering pace following launches in countries such as the UK and South Korea.
Further production details of Francesco Il Cantico are understood to be following at a later date.
Also unveiled on the evening was a new season of comedy Vita Da Carlo, in which comedian and actor Carlo Verdone plays himself, revealing his difficult relationship with Italy’s capital Rome. Verdone also directs the show, which bills its plot as “showing the frugal private life of a man...
Benigni will front the show, which is billed as “an immersive reading of one of the most iconic texts dedicated to love.” Its announcement came at a star-studded blue carpet event at the iconic Cinecittà Studios in Rome this evening, with Paramount+ still gathering pace following launches in countries such as the UK and South Korea.
Further production details of Francesco Il Cantico are understood to be following at a later date.
Also unveiled on the evening was a new season of comedy Vita Da Carlo, in which comedian and actor Carlo Verdone plays himself, revealing his difficult relationship with Italy’s capital Rome. Verdone also directs the show, which bills its plot as “showing the frugal private life of a man...
- 9/14/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Streaming
Streamer Paramount+ will arrive Sept. 15 in Italy with some 8,000 hours of content spanning all genres at launch. Paramount originals available at launch include “The Offer,” “Tulsa King” and “Halo.” Upcoming originals include “1883,” Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” prequel; and “1923,” also from Sheridan, featuring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford in the next instalment of the “Yellowstone” origin story.
The selection of available Italian titles will include ‘Circeo,” the series produced by Cattleya in collaboration with Vis, Paramount+ and Rai Fiction which retraces the process following double murders in 1975; “14 Days,” a Paramount+ original Italian production, written and directed by Ivan Cotroneo, which tells the story of a couple forced into two weeks of seclusion; the “Corpo Libero” series, a co-production by Indigo Film and Network Movie, in co-production with ZDFneo, in collaboration with Rai Fiction and Paramount+, in association with All3Media International Limited: the thriller based on the novel by Ilaria Bernardini...
Streamer Paramount+ will arrive Sept. 15 in Italy with some 8,000 hours of content spanning all genres at launch. Paramount originals available at launch include “The Offer,” “Tulsa King” and “Halo.” Upcoming originals include “1883,” Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” prequel; and “1923,” also from Sheridan, featuring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford in the next instalment of the “Yellowstone” origin story.
The selection of available Italian titles will include ‘Circeo,” the series produced by Cattleya in collaboration with Vis, Paramount+ and Rai Fiction which retraces the process following double murders in 1975; “14 Days,” a Paramount+ original Italian production, written and directed by Ivan Cotroneo, which tells the story of a couple forced into two weeks of seclusion; the “Corpo Libero” series, a co-production by Indigo Film and Network Movie, in co-production with ZDFneo, in collaboration with Rai Fiction and Paramount+, in association with All3Media International Limited: the thriller based on the novel by Ilaria Bernardini...
- 8/11/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Paramount+ has partnered with Italian and German public broadcasters Rai and Zdf on coming-of-age TV series “The Gymnasts” from Italy’s Indigo Film (“The Great Beauty”) to be directed by Cosima Spender (“Palio”) and Valerio Bonelli.
Also on board as a key partner on “The Gymnasts” — which was recently presented at the Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions — is London-based super-indie All3Media International, which will be handling international sales of the show in territories not covered by its main broadcasters.
The project is part of The Alliance, the production pact forged among continental Europe’s leading public broadcasters to co-finance innovative, high-profile TV series for the international market.
But, in an interesting twist, “The Gymnasts” will be premiering as a Paramount+ original in Italy and across France, the U.K., Canada, Australia, Latin America and South Korea.
Based on Italian author Ilaria Bernardini’s bestselling novel “Corpo Libero,” the six-episode series...
Also on board as a key partner on “The Gymnasts” — which was recently presented at the Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions — is London-based super-indie All3Media International, which will be handling international sales of the show in territories not covered by its main broadcasters.
The project is part of The Alliance, the production pact forged among continental Europe’s leading public broadcasters to co-finance innovative, high-profile TV series for the international market.
But, in an interesting twist, “The Gymnasts” will be premiering as a Paramount+ original in Italy and across France, the U.K., Canada, Australia, Latin America and South Korea.
Based on Italian author Ilaria Bernardini’s bestselling novel “Corpo Libero,” the six-episode series...
- 5/31/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italian filmmaker’s second film has an ensemble cast that includes Alba Rohrwacher and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi.
Leading German sales agent The Match Factory has acquired international rights to Ginevra Elkann’s upcoming Italian drama I Told You So.
It marks the second feature to be directed by the London-born Italian filmmaker after If Only (Magari), which opened Locarno Film Festival in 2019.
I Told You So, which has the Italian title Te l’avevo detto, is described as “a turbulent mosaic of intertwined stories amidst the inescapable Italian heat”, with an ensemble cast that includes Marisa Borini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi,...
Leading German sales agent The Match Factory has acquired international rights to Ginevra Elkann’s upcoming Italian drama I Told You So.
It marks the second feature to be directed by the London-born Italian filmmaker after If Only (Magari), which opened Locarno Film Festival in 2019.
I Told You So, which has the Italian title Te l’avevo detto, is described as “a turbulent mosaic of intertwined stories amidst the inescapable Italian heat”, with an ensemble cast that includes Marisa Borini, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
“The Young Pope” producer-distributor Fremantle has hired Wme’s Raffaella de Angelis to lead literary acquisitions for its global drama division.
De Angelis will also lend her expertise to Fremantle’s development and production outfit The Apartment, which is headed by “My Brilliant Friend” executive producer Lorenzo Mieli, as well as “True Detective” executive producer Richard Brown’s Passenger Pictures, with whom Fremantle has an exclusive multi-year deal.
Based in London, de Angelis will report into Christian Vesper, Fremantle’s executive VP and creative director for global drama.
At Wme, de Angelis was international literary agent and partner, working with such celebrated authors as Alice Munro, Mohsin Hamd, Jhumpa Lahiri, Lauren Groff, Jonathan Lethem, Petina Gappah, Chiara Barzini, Suketu Mehta, Timothy Snyder and Eric Schlosser, as well as on international bestsellers such as Daniel James Brown’s “The Boys In The Boat” and Paul Kalanithi’s “When Breath Becomes Air.
De Angelis will also lend her expertise to Fremantle’s development and production outfit The Apartment, which is headed by “My Brilliant Friend” executive producer Lorenzo Mieli, as well as “True Detective” executive producer Richard Brown’s Passenger Pictures, with whom Fremantle has an exclusive multi-year deal.
Based in London, de Angelis will report into Christian Vesper, Fremantle’s executive VP and creative director for global drama.
At Wme, de Angelis was international literary agent and partner, working with such celebrated authors as Alice Munro, Mohsin Hamd, Jhumpa Lahiri, Lauren Groff, Jonathan Lethem, Petina Gappah, Chiara Barzini, Suketu Mehta, Timothy Snyder and Eric Schlosser, as well as on international bestsellers such as Daniel James Brown’s “The Boys In The Boat” and Paul Kalanithi’s “When Breath Becomes Air.
- 3/6/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
American Gods producer Fremantle is digging into the literary library with the hire of Wme’s Raffaella de Angelis.
De Angelis has joined the Rtl-owned producer and distributor’s global drama division in a literary acquisitions role, hunting for books to adapt into scripted series. In addition to working at Fremantle’s central drama unit, she will also work for Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment, which is part of Fremantle, and Richard Brown’s Passenger, which Fremantle has a multi-year deal with.
Reporting to Christian Vesper, Fremantle’s Evp Creative Director, Global Drama, she is based in London.
She joins from Wme, where she was most recently International Literary Agent and Partner and worked with authors including Alice Munro, Mohsin Hamid, Lauren Groff, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Lethem, Petina Gappah, Chiara Barzini, Suketu Mehta, Timothy Snyder and Eric Schlosser, and on books such as The Boys In The Boat and When Breath Becomes Air.
De Angelis has joined the Rtl-owned producer and distributor’s global drama division in a literary acquisitions role, hunting for books to adapt into scripted series. In addition to working at Fremantle’s central drama unit, she will also work for Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment, which is part of Fremantle, and Richard Brown’s Passenger, which Fremantle has a multi-year deal with.
Reporting to Christian Vesper, Fremantle’s Evp Creative Director, Global Drama, she is based in London.
She joins from Wme, where she was most recently International Literary Agent and Partner and worked with authors including Alice Munro, Mohsin Hamid, Lauren Groff, Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Lethem, Petina Gappah, Chiara Barzini, Suketu Mehta, Timothy Snyder and Eric Schlosser, and on books such as The Boys In The Boat and When Breath Becomes Air.
- 3/6/2020
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Ginevra Elkann with Alba Rohrwacher at the Museum of Modern Art premiere of Magari (If Only) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Istituto Luce Cinecittà opening night reception for The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, while Julian Schnabel circulated through the crowd and Sony Pictures Classics Michael Barker and Rome Film Festival Artistic Director and Le Conversazioni founder Antonio Monda held court, Ginevra Elkann, the director of Magari (If Only) joined me for a conversation on her debut feature film, co-written with Chiara Barzini.
Riccardo Scamarcio as Carlo with Alba Rohrwacher as Benedetta in Magari (If Only)
Magari, shot by Vladan Radovic, stars Oro De Commarque, Alba Rohrwacher, Céline Sallette, Brett Gelman, and Riccardo Scamarcio with Ettore Giustiniani, Milo Roussel, and Benjamin Baroche. After viewing If Only, I thought of my Babsi, Isabella Rossellini’s Nando, and Thom Browne’s Hector with Andrew Bolton,...
At the Istituto Luce Cinecittà opening night reception for The Wonders: Alice and Alba Rohrwacher at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, while Julian Schnabel circulated through the crowd and Sony Pictures Classics Michael Barker and Rome Film Festival Artistic Director and Le Conversazioni founder Antonio Monda held court, Ginevra Elkann, the director of Magari (If Only) joined me for a conversation on her debut feature film, co-written with Chiara Barzini.
Riccardo Scamarcio as Carlo with Alba Rohrwacher as Benedetta in Magari (If Only)
Magari, shot by Vladan Radovic, stars Oro De Commarque, Alba Rohrwacher, Céline Sallette, Brett Gelman, and Riccardo Scamarcio with Ettore Giustiniani, Milo Roussel, and Benjamin Baroche. After viewing If Only, I thought of my Babsi, Isabella Rossellini’s Nando, and Thom Browne’s Hector with Andrew Bolton,...
- 12/17/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
“Magari” is an Italian word without a precise English-language equivalent: somewhere between “maybe” and “I wish,” backed by a particularly Italian tone of cheerful, shrugging flexibility. It’s the original title of Ginevra Elkann’s sweetly ruminative debut feature, though the more blandly whimsical “If Only” has been chosen as its English moniker, which is neither wrong nor quite right. Yet that elusiveness is apt enough in the case of Elkann’s semi-autobiographical film, which presents family tensions and divisions that are at once universally recognizable and firmly rooted in her Franco-Italian upbringing: Following a splintered family’s reconciliation over the course of one shambolic Christmas vacation, it’s a gentle, cool breeze of a memory piece made pleasurable by its richly and specifically accented telling. That might not translate into major global distribution, but this year’s Locarno opener will win friends on the festival circuit.
Elkann has already...
Elkann has already...
- 8/7/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
A London Film School graduate, who worked as an assistant to Bernardo Bertolucci and Anthony Minghella, Ginevra Elkann is known on the indie circuit as a producer of standout titles such as Swahili-language drama “White Shadow,” and also “Chlorine,” “Short Skin” and Babak Jalali’s “Land.” She’s now made her directorial debut with “Magari” (“If Only”), a sentimental comedy about the disconnect felt by kids with divorced parents, produced by Wildside. The film was significantly chosen by Locarno’s new artistic director Lili Hinstin to make her own debut. Elkann spoke to Variety about the elements that come together in “If Only,” the central one being the children. From the outset “it was clear that they were the key,” she notes.
Let’s start with the story. It’s not directly autobiographical. But as is often the case with first works, I think you worked with what you know.
Let’s start with the story. It’s not directly autobiographical. But as is often the case with first works, I think you worked with what you know.
- 8/7/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Ginevra Elkann’s “Magari” (“If Only”), which world premieres as the opening film at the Locarno Film Festival.
The film, described as a “sentimental comedy,” tells the story of three siblings, Alma, Jean and Sebastiano, who live in Paris, in the safe, albeit bizarre, bourgeois world of their Russian-Orthodox mother. One day they are suddenly sent off into the arms of their absent, unconventional and completely broke Italian father Carlo (played by Riccardo Scamarcio), who has no idea how to look after himself, let alone his kids.
During a Christmas holiday spent at a beach house with Carlo and his writing partner Benedetta (played by Alba Rohrwacher), family tensions bubble to the surface. Carlo uncovers a dark side to his former wife and proves to his children that he is indeed an unreliable father, but also an incredibly charismatic one.
The film, described as a “sentimental comedy,” tells the story of three siblings, Alma, Jean and Sebastiano, who live in Paris, in the safe, albeit bizarre, bourgeois world of their Russian-Orthodox mother. One day they are suddenly sent off into the arms of their absent, unconventional and completely broke Italian father Carlo (played by Riccardo Scamarcio), who has no idea how to look after himself, let alone his kids.
During a Christmas holiday spent at a beach house with Carlo and his writing partner Benedetta (played by Alba Rohrwacher), family tensions bubble to the surface. Carlo uncovers a dark side to his former wife and proves to his children that he is indeed an unreliable father, but also an incredibly charismatic one.
- 7/30/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Rai Com is kicking off sales in Berlin on Italian producer Ginevra Elkann’s directorial debut, “Magari” (If Only), which stars Brett Gelman (“Fleabag”), Alba Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”), Riccardo Scamarcio (“Loro”) and France’s Céline Sallette (“Les Revenants”).
The multi-language pic is currently shooting in the seaside town of Sabaudia, outside Rome.
Produced by Wildside and Rai Cinema, “Magari” is a sentimental comedy about three kids of divorced parents who, while living in Paris with their bourgeois Russian-Orthodox mother, are suddenly packed off and sent to stay with their unconventional and broke Italian father, Carlo.
Elkann wrote the screenplay with writer Chiara Barzini, author of English-language novel “Things That Happened Before the Earthquake.”
Elkann previously directed the short “Vado a Messa,” which screened at Venice. As a producer she’s shepherded several standout festival titles, including Noaz Deshe’s Swahili-language drama “White Shadow,” which won the 2013 Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future.
The multi-language pic is currently shooting in the seaside town of Sabaudia, outside Rome.
Produced by Wildside and Rai Cinema, “Magari” is a sentimental comedy about three kids of divorced parents who, while living in Paris with their bourgeois Russian-Orthodox mother, are suddenly packed off and sent to stay with their unconventional and broke Italian father, Carlo.
Elkann wrote the screenplay with writer Chiara Barzini, author of English-language novel “Things That Happened Before the Earthquake.”
Elkann previously directed the short “Vado a Messa,” which screened at Venice. As a producer she’s shepherded several standout festival titles, including Noaz Deshe’s Swahili-language drama “White Shadow,” which won the 2013 Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future.
- 2/8/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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