God laughsWritten and directed by Giovanni Veronesi (King’s knights), will conclude this year’s Venice Film Festival.
The film will be screened out of competition. The synopsis provided by the festival reads: “Set in the mid-17th century and loosely based on true events, the film resonates strongly with the present with a story that focuses on freedom, the power of truth, and the relationship between people and power, with its shadows and contradictions. With his profound humanity, Friar Leopoldo will change the lives of the people he meets.”
Pierfrancesco Favino, Silvio Orlando, Alma Noce, Francesco Ghigi, Maurizio Lombardi, Paolo Rossi and Carlo Cecchi are the stars of the film. Fabrizio Donvito, Benedetto Habib, Marco Cohen, and Daniel Campos Pavoncelli produced for Indiana Production, and Massimiliano Orfe, Luisa Borella, and Davide Novelli produced films for PiperFilm.
The screenplay was written by Veronesi, Nicola Baldoni, Gianluca Bernardini and Nicola Diorzola along with Paolo Bortone and Jean-Jacques Longa.
Discussing the title, Venice boss Alberto Barbera said: “We will close the film on a high note thanks to Giovanni Veronese and his wonderful cast, to whom we owe the successful mixture of irony and lightness applied to a traditionally serious subject. It is a tone that belongs to the finest traditions of a certain Italian cinema, and one that has been overlooked for too long.”
Venice will open with Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch biopic ink. The film stars Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, and will be screened on September 2 at the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido.
Boyle is directing the film from a screenplay written by James Graham (Dear England), Based on his Tony-nominated play. O’Connell plays the title role The sun Newspaper editor Larry Lamb, with Pierce as Murdoch. Foy plays Jules Davies.
Venice runs from September 2-12.
