IN QUESTA PAGINA:
- Basileia
- The Antique
BASILEIA
Out of competition/Closing film
Italy, Sweden, Denmark, 2024, Director Isabella Torre Cast Elliott Crosset Hove, Angela Fontana, Koudous Seihon Running time 90′
Venice Days closes amidst the myths and wilderness of Aspromonte, Calabria, where Basileia, the debut feature by young Italian director Isabella Torre, is set. There, we follow an archaeologist and his assistants looking for an ancient treasure. Still, their excavations unleash mysterious and mythical creatures that will change the lives of the inhabitants of a remote mountain village forever. ‘Aspromonte, with its harsh and unforgiving landscape, is the real protagonist of my story,’ explains Torre, who is returning to Venice after presenting the short film Luna Piena at SIC in 2021. ‘There, the past is a constant presence, a repository of tradition, and the attempt to bring it back to light by bending it to the imperatives of science and commerce triggers violent and monstrous reactions’.
Claudia Giampaolo
ANTIKVARIATI (THE ANTIQUE)
The Antique: Screening Authorised
After suspending screenings as a precautionary measure following an emergency decree issued by the Venice Court, the film The Antique can be shown on 6 September in competition at Venice Days, in agreement with the Biennale. An order of the same court authorised the screening following an appeal filed by director Russudan Glurjidze and the GdA to protect the author’s moral right to her work.
Georgia, Switzerland, Finland, Germany. 2024. Directed by Rusudan Glurjidze. With Salome Demuria, Sergey Dreiden, Vladimir Daushvili. Running time 132′.
Tbilisi-based director and producer Rusudan Glurjidze made her debut in 2016 with Skhvisi sakhli. Antikvariati, which Glurjidze also wrote, is set in St Petersburg in 2006, at the time of the illegal deportation of thousands of Georgians, and tells the story of young lovers Lado (Vladimir Daushvili) and Medea (Salome Demuria). Lado smuggles antique furniture from Georgia to Russia, while Medea, tired of her partner’s immaturity, buys a flat in the historical centre of St. Petersburg. The price is very low because the flat has been sold with its owner, Vadim Vadimich (Sergey Dreyden), an old-fashioned and opinionated man, inside, but this does not worry Medea, who is ready to move in. At the time of the deportation of thousands of Georgians from Russia, Lado is captured and deported, the antique’s warehouse is looted, and Medea hides in a cupboard.
Oscar Cosulich
