WINNER EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY FILM AWARD 2018

The story of Lazzaro, a peasant still shy of 20 and so good he appears stupid, and Tancredi, a young man of the same age but spoilt by his own imagination, is the story of a friendship. It’s a friendship that begins genuinely amid a flurry of secret schemes and lies. Full of light and youthful enthusiasm, it’s the first friendship Lazzaro has ever had. And it subsequently survives the passing of time and the disruptive consequences of a Big Swindle to bring the one, Lazzaro, to a huge, empty city in search of the other, Tancredi.

Direction: Alice Rohrwacher

Script: Alice Rohrwacher

Production: Carlo Cresto-Dina

Co-Production: Pierre-François Piet, Michel Merkt, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen, Tiziana Soudani, Alexandra Henochsberg, Grégory Gajos, Arthur Hallereau

Cinematography: Hélène Louvart

Editing: Nelly Quettier

Production Design: Emita Frigato

Costume Design: Loredana Buscemi

Make-Up: Daniela Tartari, Ronald Haldimann

Sound: Marta Billingsley

Original Score: Piero Crucitti

Visual Effects: Rodolfo MIgliari

Cast: Adriano Tardiolo, Agnese Graziani, Alba Rohrwacher, Luca Chikovani, Tommaso Ragno, Nicoletta Braschi, Sergi Lopez

Original Title: LAZZARO FELICE

Original Language: Italian

Film Production Countries: Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland

Website: http://www.tempestafilm.it/portfolio/cinema/lazzaro-felice/

Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/tempestafilm/?ref=br_rs

Statement of the Director/s
When travelling through my country I have often met people like Lazzaro. People I would call good people, but who most of the time do not dedicate themselves to doing good, because they do not know what it is to do good. They simply are, and that which they are means they forever remain in the shadows, because, whenever possible, they relinquish their own selves in order to leave space for others. They are not able to emerge from these shadows. They don’t even know that it is possible to “emerge”.
After reflecting at length on the origins of stories, which are often about people who, unlike these Lazzaros, impose their own destiny, I felt a strong desire to recount the journey of someone whose actions are overwhelmed by events: actions that are perhaps mistaken, but which nonetheless arise from a sort of unconscious and limitless goodness.
Lazzaro cannot change the world: his saintliness is not recognised. The saints, as we imagine them, must have strength and charisma, and be able to impose themselves. However, I don’t think saintliness is linked to charisma. Instead, I believe that if a saint, with their unlikely martyrdom, were to appear in our modern lives, we may not even recognise them as such. They are someone who is empty, who does not know what it means to triumph as an individual. Someone who is surprised but keeps going when the road ends, if they are told that the road doesn’t end. Someone who believes fully in those around them.
This is how the character of Lazzaro was created. From the desire to recount to the world in the lightest way possible, with love and with humour, the tragedy that has devastated my country: the abandonment of the countryside, the migration of thousands of people who knew nothing of modernity to the fringes of cities, and of how they renounced what little they had to have even less. A tragedy that today is being repeated, in the same way, elsewhere.

Biography of the Director/s
Born in 1981 in Fiesole, she studied in Turin and Lisbon. She was involved in music and documentaries, working primarily as an editor and composer for theatre. Le Meraviglie/The Wonders, written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher, won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2014and Best Film at Filmfest München 2014. It has been selected by major international festivals,
such as New York, London,Abu Dhabi, and Busan.

Filmography of the Director/s
Filmography

DE DJESS Italy 2015 (15’)
• New York Fashion Week 2015
• Venice Days - International Venice Film Festival 2015

LE MERAVIGLIE/THE WONDERS Italy/Switzerland/Germany 2014 (111’)
• “Grand Prix du Jury” Cannes Film Festival 2014
• “Best film” Filmfest München 2014
• “Best Screenplay” Mar de la Plata International Film Festival 2014
• “Black Pearl Award” Abu Dhabi 2014

CORPO CELESTE Italy/France/Switzerland/Germany 2011 (98’)
• “Ingmar Bergman Int. Debut Award" 2012
• “Nastro d’Argento” Best Newcomer 2012
• “Ciak d’Oro” Best Newcomer 2012
• "Premio Suso Cecchi D'Amico" Best Screenplay 2012

LA FIUMARA episode of the collective documentary Checosamanca Italy 2006 (4’)

World Sales:
The Match Factory
Michael Weber
Domstraße 60
Cologne, 50668, Germany
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +49 221/ 539 709 - 30

Press:
tempesta srl
Francesca Andreoli
via broccaindosso 20
Bologna, 40122, Italy
E-Mail: [email protected]
Phone: +393939276990
Website: http://www.tempestafilm.it/