Netflix Reveals Italian Series Slate
Netflix has revealed a handful of new series out of Italy and confirmed the imminent start of shoot on Elena Ferrante adaptation The Lying Life Of Adults, which will star Valeria Golino. Scroll down for the series (synopses translated from Italian). Netflix’s VP of Italian Originals Tinny Andreatta, the former Rai exec, said: “Being able to show the world Italy as it really is, in its authenticity, in its culture, in its beauty and contradictions, in its roots and infinite reserves of imagination, through the voice of the best authors and directors, and taking it to 190 countries, is our great challenge: it’s a challenge that we want to face together with our production partners and Italian talent.” Previously announced Italian series include Luna Park, out on September 30th; Guida Astrologica per Cuori Infranti (Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts); and Strappare Lungo I Bordi (Tear Along The Dotted Lines), the first animation series written and directed by Italian cartoonist Zerocalcare.
BRIGANTI (BRIGANDS)
● Produced by Fabula Pictures
● Written by the GRAMS*
Synopsis: The adventurous transformation of Filomena, from obedient wife to ruthless bandit, takes place out of necessity: hunted and on the run, she seeks shelter in the woods where she meets a band of brigands ready for anything. Her determination and cunning will save her life and, joining them, she decides to give back to the south what was stolen from him: Garibaldi’s gold. On his path are two women, Michelina and Ciccilla, sometimes allies, sometimes enemies, equally determined and unpredictable. Inspired by real characters, a modern, epic and action-packed tale.
LIDIA POËT (titolo provvisorio / working title)
● Produced by Groenlandia
● A series by Guido Iuculano and Davide Orsini
● Written by Guido Iuculano, Davide Orsini, Elisa Dondi, Daniela Gambaro, Paolo Piccirillo
● Directed by Matteo Rovere and Letizia Lamartire
● Matilda De Angelis as the protagonist Lidia
Synopsis: Turin, 1884. A court ruling prevents Lidia Poët from practicing the profession of lawyer because she is a woman. Penniless but full of pride, Lidia asks her brother Enrico for a job at his law firm and prepares an appeal, determined to overturn the Court’s conclusions. Through a gaze that goes beyond her time, Lidia deals with the suspects looking for the truth behind appearances and prejudices. Jacopo, a mysterious journalist and Lidia’s brother-in-law, passes her information and guides her into the hidden worlds of a magniloquent Turin.
The series reinterprets the true story of Lidia Poët, the first female lawyer in Italy, as a light procedural.
NEMESIS
● Produced by Indigo Film
● Created by Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi, Stefano Sardo
Synopsis: What makes us what we are: genetics or the social and economic conditions in which we grew up? How much of our destiny is already decided at birth?
Diana is a lawyer who comes from nothing and has arrived at the most prestigious law firm in Milan where she finds herself defending Tommaso, heir to a very rich family of entrepreneurs, accused of the murder of his wife Gloria. The case is immediately difficult because the man appears innocent and guilty at the same time, victim and executioner, loving and traitor.
During the process, Diana will have to unravel a thread that is lost in the past. And to do so, she will have to reconcile with the darker version of herself struggling to come to light.
TUTTO CHIEDE SALVEZZA
● Produced by Picomedia
● Written by Francesco Bruni, Daniele Mencarelli, Daniela Gambaro, Francesco Cenni
● Freely inspired by the novel of the same name written by Daniele Mencarelli, 2020 Young Strega Prize, Mondadori.
● Directed by Francesco Bruni
● Federico Cesari as the main lead character, Daniele
Synopsis: To end up under the Tso regime for seven days, does it mean to be crazy? This is what twenty-year-old Daniele asks himself when, after a psychotic crisis, he wakes up in the dormitory of a psychiatric ward. He finds himself with five unlikely roommates with whom he thinks he has nothing in common, pressured by doctors who they want to rummage in his brain, and looked after by nurses who seem cynical and disinterested.
But seven days are long and what at first seemed like a sentence gradually turns into one of the most intense and formative experiences of his life.
A dramedy of existences that recovers the root of our best bitter comedy, reinterpreted in a contemporary key, as in a cry for help, heartbreaking but full of hope, from the new generations and their enigmatic discomfort in living.
LA VITA BUGIARDA DEGLI ADULTI (THE LYING LIFE OF ADULTS)
● Produced by Fandango
● Inspired by Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name, published by Edizioni E/O
● Written by Laura Paolucci, Francesco Piccolo, Elena Ferrante, Edoardo De Angelis
● Directed by Edoardo De Angelis
● Valeria Golino as Vittoria, Giovanna’s aunt
Synopsis: The lying life of adults is a powerful and singular portrait of Giovanna’s transition from childhood to adolescence in the 1990s. The search for a new face, after a happy childhood, oscillates between two consanguineous Naples which, however, fear and hate each other: the Naples above, which has given itself a fine mask, and the one below, which pretends to be excessive, banal. Giovanna oscillates between high and low, tumbling now climbing, bewildered by the fact that, up or down, the city seems unanswered and without escape
MGM’s Pamela Abdy To Be Feted In Zurich
Pamela Abdy, MGM’s Motion Picture Group President to be honoured with Game Changer Award during the Zurich Summit industry conference at the 17th Zurich Film Festival. Abdy will be joined by Michael de Luca, MGM’s Motion Picture Group Chairman for an on-stage conversation with CAA Media Finance co-head Roeg Sutherland about the iconic studio’s revitalisation.
The Game Changer Award pays tribute to excellency in the film business with a focus on leaders that “not only cherish change in the industry but also stand for the DNA of what cinema has stood for since it’s invention”.
“Pamela Abdy has revitalised MGM and given the legendary studio a new radiance with the motto Ars Gratia Artis. Later this year, MGM is bringing brilliant films to the big screen such as No Time To Die by Cary Joji Fukunaga, House Of Gucci by Ridley Scott, Liquorice Pizza by Paul Thomas Anderson and Cyrano by Joe Wright. With this, the studio is reviving the cinema business,” said Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival.
Abdy’s producer credits include Queen & Slim, A Million Little Pieces, Endless Love, 47 Ronin and Identity Thief.