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Minerva Pictures closes Venice81 with a standing ovation for L’orto americano by Pupi Avati!

8 September 2024

Minerva Pictures concluded the 81st Venice Film Festival with The American Backyard, Pupi Avati’s new gothic film based on his namesake novel. Presented as the closing film, it received a 10-minute standing ovation at the Sala Grande, marking the return of the acclaimed director with an exceptional cast. Alongside leads Filippo Scotti and Rita Tushingham, the film stars Armando De Ceccon, Roberto De Francesco, Chiara Caselli, and Romano Reggiani. This extraordinary performance, combined with Avati’s direction, captivated the audience.

The plot of The American Backyard is set in 1950s America and blends gothic atmospheres, intertwining themes of remorse, memory, and the supernatural, characteristic of Avati’s cinema. With ten films presented at the Lido, Avati confirms his status as the Italian director with the most official selections.

Produced by Minerva Pictures and Duea Film, in collaboration with Rai Cinema, the film will be distributed in Italian cinemas in 2025 by 01 Distribution, generating high expectations among critics and art-house cinema fans.

This work marks the culmination of a rich lineup from Minerva Pictures, which also presented other significant titles such as Cloud by Kiyoshi Kurosawa and the documentary Twst – Things We Said Today by Andrei Ujică, along with the restoration of Lina Wertmüller’s classic Swept Away.

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Minerva Pictures at the 81st Venice International Film Festival!

24 July 2024

This year, Minerva Pictures returns to the 81st Venice International Film Festival with three films and confirms The Film Club as the Official Partner of the 39th Settimana Internazionale della Critica!

The American Garden, a new Gothic genre film directed by Pupi Avati and based on his novel of the same name, will be featured as a closing event outside of competition! A production by Minerva Pictures and Duea Film with Rai Cinema. The cast includes Filippo Scotti, winner of the Mastroianni Award at the 2021 Venice Film Festival for Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, alongside the multi-award-winning British actress Rita Tushingham.

Swept Away (1974), written and directed by Lina Wertmüller, will be presented in competition in a restored 4K version in the Venice Classics section. The restoration was done by the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Minerva Pictures.

Cloud, the return to Venice for Kiyoshi Kurosawa following his 2020 Silver Lion for Best Director win for Wife of a Spy. The film will have its world premiere in Venice out of competition. Distributed by Minerva Pictures, which also brought the Japanese master’s previous work to Italy.

Additionally, for the third consecutive year, The Film Club returns to the Lido as the Official Partner of the 39th Settimana Internazionale della Critica and will present the audience award, The Film Club Audience Award, at the end of the event. Join us at the Casa della Critica from August 28 to September 7!

#staytuned for updates, news, curiosities, and behind-the-scenes content directly from the Lido!

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The Film Club is the Official Partner of the 39th Settimana Internazionale della Critica!

22 July 2024

During the Venice Biennale Cinema 2024, The Film Club is proud to return to the Lido as the Official Partner of the 39th Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC). For ten days, we will be stationed at the Casa della Critica and, at the end of the festival, we will present The Film Club Audience Award!

Returning to the Lido for the third consecutive year with an increasingly strong brand and an ever-evolving platform that continues to grow and offer new features, The Film Club has established itself as a vast and inclusive ecosystem, comprising seven subscription channels, all available on Amazon Prime Video and Tim Vision Box.

We are delighted to once again support the activities and talents of the Settimana Internazionale della Critica, an autonomous and parallel section organized by the National Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI) within the framework of the Venice Biennale’s International Film Festival.

See you at the Lido from August 28 to September 7!

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“Shadow of Fire” by Tsukamoto inaugurates the 21st edition of the Asian Film Festival

10 April 2024

Kicking off the 21st edition of the Asian Film Festival tonight is Shadow of Fire (2023), the latest film by visionary director Shin’ya Tsukamoto, showcased in the Orizzonti section at the Venice Film Festival 2023.

With this film, Tsukamoto concludes his deeply personal war trilogy, following Fires on the Plain (2014) and Killing (2018), the latter available on Rarovideo Channel of The Film Club and Prime Video.

The film is set in a black market that begins to come to life again after the devastation of World War II. In a small Japanese restaurant almost completely destroyed by fire, a woman makes a living by selling her body. Her entire family died during the conflict. A war orphan sneaks into the woman’s house to steal, while a young demobilized soldier arrives as a client. The three start a strange life together. But it is short-lived: the soldier’s war memories end up destroying all three lives.

The film tells of a fire and the continuously moving shadows it casts all around, but above all of the people living hidden among these shadows. As the world moves away from peace, I felt it my duty to make this film, as if it were a prayer,” the director commented.

So, the much-anticipated screening of Shadow of Fire at Cinema Farnese in Rome at 7:00 PM tonight is not to be missed.

And there’s more: soon, the film will also be available exclusively for streaming on Rarovideo Channel of The Film Club and Prime Video, along with other must-see titles from the Tsukamoto collection!