Festivals FILM

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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Pupi Avati’s “The American Garden” selected at De Rome à Paris 2024

26 January 2024

The De Rome à Paris festival, now in its 16th edition, returns to the Ville Lumière to celebrate Italian cinema in an intense day of professional encounters. We are delighted to announce that today, on January 26, Minerva Pictures will take center stage by presenting the preview of The American Garden in the Works in Progress section.

This new gothic genre film, adapted from Pupi Avati‘s novel of the same name, is directed by the Maestro himself and is currently in post-production. The cast features Filippo Scotti, who has already won the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival for The Hand of God (2021) by Paolo Sorrentino, alongside the award-winning British actress Rita Tushingham.

De Rome à Paris is organized by Cinecittà in collaboration with the General Directorate of Cinema and Audiovisual of the Ministry of Culture, CNC, and Unifrance.

This is an unmissable event that underscores Minerva Pictures’ ongoing commitment to bring high-quality Italian cinema to the international stage. We look forward to welcoming you today at the CNC (Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée) for this extraordinary preview!

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First take for L’orto americano, Pupi Avati’s gothic film

11 December 2023

The filming of L’orto americano is underway, a gothic film based on Pupi Avati‘s novel, who also directs it. The cast includes Filippo Scotti (È stata la mano di Dio), the award-winning British actress Rita Tushingham, Armando De Ceccon (Oltre la bufera), Roberto De Francesco (Il silenzio grande), Chiara Caselli (Lei mi parla ancora), Romano Reggiani (Eravamo bambini), Cesare Cremonini, and Andrea Roncato.

Cesare Bastelli is in charge of cinematography, Biagio Fersini handles the set designs, Beatrice Giannini designs the costumes, and Ivan Zuccon takes care of the editing.

Seven weeks of filming are planned, spanning locations in Rome and its surroundings, Cinecittà Studios, the Delta del Po, and the city of Davenport in Iowa.

L’orto americano is produced by Santo Versace and Gianluca Curti for Minerva Pictures, and Antonio Avati for DUEA Film, in collaboration with Rai Cinema. The film is made with the support of the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission.

Synopsis
Bologna, in the 1940s. A mentally troubled young man with literary aspirations falls desperately in love with a female auxiliary in the American army with just a glance. A year later, circumstances lead him to live in the American Midwest, right next to, but separated by a ominous garden, where the elderly mother of the soldier lives. The woman is desperate for her daughter, who, since the end of the conflict, after writing that she would marry an Italian, has not been heard from. The young man embarks on a tense search for the girl, experiencing a particularly dramatic situation, leading to an entirely unexpected conclusion in Italy.