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‘To Leslie’ by Michael Morris and ‘January’ by Viesturs Kairišs finally in cinemas!

10 April 2024

To Leslie (2023), the eagerly awaited directorial debut from Michael Morris featuring Andrea Riseborough, a 2023 Oscar nominee thanks to her extraordinary performance, is coming to Cinema Troisi from February 22nd to 28th!

Shot in just 18 days in Los Angeles during the peak of the pandemic on 35 mm film, this small yet significant gem of independent cinema reaches the Academy Awards on the back of the most astonishing support campaign from the Hollywood star system ever seen. It tells a story of downfall and rebirth, portraying a single mother who, after squandering a lottery win, tries to rebuild her life and her relationship with her son in the heart of Texas.

Winning The Hollywood Reporter Rome award for best debut film at the latest edition of Alice in the City, ‘To Leslie’ is scheduled from February 22nd to 28th, exclusively at Cinema Troisi. Don’t miss it!

Moreover, in March, Minerva Pictures is delighted to present two major international titles at Cinema Modernissimo in Bologna with four unmissable events!

January (2022) by Viesturs Kairišs, scheduled for Sunday, March 3rd at 20:15 (introduced by Paola Malanga) and Wednesday, March 6th at 22:30.
Winner of the awards for best film, best actor, and best director at the 17th edition of the Rome Film Fest and best international film at Tribeca 2022.

January 1991. Three aspiring filmmakers witness the Soviet tank invasion aiming to suppress Latvia’s independence. Viesturs Kairišs tells the story of his generation, which dreamed of the cinema of Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Jarmusch, and yearned to explore the world. Against the backdrop of the struggle for Latvian freedom, and in the challenging relationship with the present, Kairišs celebrates the unstoppable strength of youth, rediscovering some echoes of the Sixties’ Nouvelle Vague.

To Leslie (2023) by Michael Morris is scheduled for Monday, March 4th at 21:45 and Friday, March 15th at 17:45.

We look forward to seeing you in the theater!

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Minerva Pictures brings “Love is a Gun,” the debut film by Lee Hong-Chi, winner of the Lion of the Future award at the last Venice Film Festival, to Italy!

24 November 2023

After distributing Alice Diop’s debut, Saint Omer, winner of the Silver Lion and the Lion of the Future at the last Venice Film Festival, Minerva Pictures, in collaboration with Rarovideo Channel and The Film Club, will bring Love is a Gun (2023), the extraordinary debut of the young Taiwanese director Lee Hong-Chi, to Italy in 2024. Successfully presented at the 38th Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC) during the 80th Venice Film Festival, it was awarded the Lion of the Future – Venice Award for a Debut Film ‘Luigi De Laurentiis.’

“In a balance between sentimental impulses and noir implosions, ‘Love is a Gun’ minimalistly crafts an (im)possible escape from an inevitable, seared destiny. The protagonist, Sweet Potato’s redemption journey, resembling an obstacle course, draws inspiration from genre cinema, steering it into an authorial reinterpretation from the first enlightening minutes […]. Lee’s chosen stylistic approach manages to encapsulate all the film’s and its protagonist’s urges, harboring an inevitable explosion beneath the surface, the only conceivable path to the idyllic Turtle Island” (Enrico Azzano).

Beatrice Fiorentino, the SIC General Delegate, described the film as “a passionate and powerful debut that reveals the talent of a new young author destined to become one of the main names in contemporary Asian cinema.”

Synopsis:
Released from prison, Sweet Potato settles for his small job on the waterfront, living off meager earnings and ignoring the advice to let go. However, he is dragged into the vortex of the past when the old boss, mother, and finally, friend Maozi reappear in his life. One by one, they forcefully seize his present, erasing any hope for the future. Only Seven manages, to some extent, to mitigate his anxieties. One day, against the backdrop of an oppressive, smog-laden coastal landscape, Sweet Potato is finally granted a meeting with the boss.

Love is a Gun will be theatrically released in 2024, contributing to Minerva Pictures’ ongoing efforts to promote high-quality cinematic works. In the past year, Minerva Pictures has distributed notable films such as Father & Soldier by Mathieu Vadepied, the opening film of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2022, starring Omar Sy, and The Plough by Philippe Garrel, Silver Bear for Best Director at the 73rd Berlinale 2023, featuring Louis Garrel, Esther Garrel, and Lena Garrel.

The excitement doesn’t end here! In 2024, Minerva Pictures will see a year of highly anticipated releases. It starts with To Leslie, the extraordinary debut directed by Michael Morris, which won the Best Debut Film award at Hollywood Reporter Rome at Alice in the City 2023. The lead, Andrea Riseborough, received an Oscar nomination in 2023 for Best Leading Actress for her outstanding performance in this independent film.

Also on the horizon is Holly by Fien Troch, in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival and presented at Alice in the City in the Sintonie section. Additionally, Eismayer by David Wagner, winner of the Grand Prize at the 37th SIC in Venice and two awards at Les Arcs Film Festival (Public Prize and Prix des Cinglés du Cinéma), and January by Viesturs Kairiss, Best International Film at the Tribeca Festival and winner of three awards (Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor) at the 17th edition of the Rome Film Fest are on the way.