This year’s Cannes Film Festival promises to have quite a few Italian filmmakers in and out competition.
Vying for the Palme d’Or will probably be Matteo Garrone and Alice Rohrwacher. Nanni Morretti could also be in competition, although there’s a chance he could be relegated to a side section. I’m also hearing Marco Bellocchio’s latest film might not be ready.
Someone who definitely won’t be there is A-list Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino who is about to shoot his next film in Naples next month. Sorrentino's latest, entirely set between Naples and Capri, has a shoot that will go from April 3 until September 23.
The film is said to be based on a Neapolitan legend: The Siren of Parthenope. In reality, the Siren is said to only be the starting point of Sorrentino's mysterious new film.
There is currently no official title attached to the project, but the story is rumoured to pass through numerous Neapolitan eras, traveling through time and touching on themes such as that of the San Gennaro.
The actors cast so far are Giampiero De Concilio and the Siren will be played by an unspecified Neapolitan supermodel.
Sorrentino is coming off 2021’s “The Hand of God,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice and was nominated for the Best International Film Oscar. Other notable works in his filmography include “The Great Beauty” and “Il Divo.”