Notturno by Gianfranco Rosi is in the Official Selection of the Toronto International Film Festival, whose lineup in 50 films was announced today.
The film, shot over three years in the Middle East, on the borders between Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon, to tell humanity beyond the conflict, will arrive in Toronto immediately after the presentation in the Venice Film Festival competition.
It is a return of Rosi to Toronto after Fuocoammare, formerly Golden Bear in Berlin and Oscar nomination. There is already a seller for North America, Submarine Entertainment, in addition to the international one, The Match Factory.
«During three years of traveling in the Middle East, - says Rosi - I met people who live in war zones. I wanted to tell the stories, the characters, beyond the conflict.
I stayed away from the front line, but I went where people try to mend their lives. In the places where I filmed the echo of the war reaches, the oppressive presence is felt, that weight so heavy as to prevent it from projecting itself into the future. I tried to tell the everyday life of those who live along the border that separates life from hell ".
With this film Rosi gives voice to a human drama that transcends geographical divisions and the time of calendars; illuminates, through encounters and images, the daily life behind the continuous tragedy of civil wars, fierce dictatorships, invasions and foreign interference, up to the murderous apocalypse of ISIS. Different stories, to which narration gives a unity that goes beyond borders. The war does not appear directly: we hear it in the mournful songs of mothers, in the stammering of children wounded forever, in the staging of the senselessness of politics recited by the patients of a psychiatric institution. A street singer sings the praises of the Most High. A poacher among reeds and oil wells. The grace of the peshmerga guerrillas. Islamic State terrorists in prison. The anguish of a Yazidi mother for her captive daughter. Ali, a teenager, struggling to bring bread to his brothers ... All around, and within the consciences, signs of violence and destruction: but in the foreground is humanity that wakes up every day from a night that seems infinite . Notturno is a film of light from the dark materials of history.
The direction, photography and sound are by Gianfranco Rosi, the editing by Jacopo Quadri, with the collaboration of Fabrizio Federico.
The film is a 21Uno Film - Stemal Entertainment production with Rai Cinema, with the contribution of Dg Cinema and Audiovisual - Mibact and with the support of Eurimages, in association with Istituto Luce - Cinecittà, produced by Donatella Palermo for Stemal Entertainment and Gianfranco Rosi for 21A Movie.
An Italian-Franco-German co-production with Les Films D'Ici in co-production with Arte France Cinéma and with No Nation Films - Mizzi Stock Entertainment.
The film is distributed in Italy by 01 Distribution.