Italian production designer Paolo Comencini, whose recent credits include the box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow, will be feted with the Campari Passion for Film Award at the 81st Venice International Film Festival.
The ceremony will take place on September 6 to be followed by the Out of Competition screening of Il Tempo Che Ci Vuole by the production designer’s sister Francesca Comencini, which features the production designer’s work.
The father and daughter drama, starring Fabrizio Gifuni and Romana Maggiora Vergano, takes inspiration from their father, the iconic director Luigi Comencini (Bread, Love and Dreams).
Having cut her cinema teeth as an intern on Billy Wilder in Italy, Avanti! in 1978, Comencini began working with her father, before branching out into productions by her sisters and other directors.
Comencini’s more than production designer 50 credits include Michele Placido’s award-winning film Romanzo Criminale for which she received the David di Donatello in 2006. More recently she worked on Paola Cortellesi’s black-and-white, 1940s breakout hit feminist drama There’s Still Tomorrow.
“Comencini has demonstrated a special sensibility in highlighting the distinctive traits of eras and characters, navigating through genres and languages with great rigour and invention,” said Venice Artistic Director Alberto Barbara.
“In addition to her sisters Cristina and Francesca, she has worked with some of the most important Italian directors, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Riccardo Milani, Michele Placido, Daniele Luchetti, Stefano Sollima, Carlo Vanzina, as well as Paola Cortellesi for her highly successful debut There’s Still Tomorrow, definitively establishing herself as one of the best costume and set designers in Italian cinema.”
Launched at the 75th Venice Film Festival, The Campari Passion for Film Award fetes the contributions of craft professionals.
Previous recipients include U.S. film editor Bob Murawski, Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi, U.S. jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, UK production designer Marcus Rowland, U.S. artist and costume designer Arianne Phillips, and last year the Italian production designer Tonino Zera.