by Silvia Tarquini
Collettivo Chiaroscuro cinematographers have a particularly strong and wide-ranging presence at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. They have contributed to twenty titles across the Festival’s various sections: from the Venice 83 Competition to Orizzonti, from Giornate degli Autori to the Venice International Critics’ Week, as well as Venice Open, the SIC@SIC and Orizzonti Corti short-film programmes, and Venice Classics.
Two CCS members are cinematographers on films selected for the main Competition. Francesco Di Giacomo CCS shot Nanni Moretti’s Succederà questa notte, which will be presented on 5 September, while Fabrizio La Palombara CCS is the cinematographer on Marco Bechis’s Ritorno a Buenos Aires, screening on 11 September. La Palombara also shot the Mexican film Hombre al agua, directed by Gael García Bernal and screening on 6 September.
Particularly significant is the CCS presence in Orizzonti: Guido Michelotti CCS is the cinematographer on Tommaso Landucci’s I figli della scimmia, screening on 6 September, while Andrea Benjamin Manenti CCS shot Una storia, Anna Foglietta’s directorial debut, presented on 7 September. Manenti is also represented in Orizzonti Corti with Tommaso Acquarone’s Angelo Azzurro, screening on 10 September, and in the… SIC@SIC with Puca by Sara Scalera. Also in Orizzonti, Amine Messadi CCS is the cinematographer on La città dei vivi Amine Messadi is the cinematographer on Edoardo Gabbriellini’s [film title], which was presented on 3 September. Messadi is also represented in the Venice International Critics’ Week with Kamel Laaridhi’s Halaa (The H@llow Man), screening on 8 September, and in Venice Production Bridge – Final Cut in Venice with Alaa Eddine Aljem’s Eldorado, The Taste of the South, screening on 7 September.
In the SIC@SIC section, dedicated to Italian short films at the Venice International Critics’ Week, alongside the aforementioned Puca, shot by Andrea Benjamin Manenti, Camilla Cattabriga CCS is also present with her work on Giulia Cosentino’s Se mai le cose, screening on 9 September.
At Giornate degli Autori take part Carla Lonzi, dentro e fuori dal mondo Francesca Archibugi’s, with cinematography by Daria D’Antonio CCSwhich will be presented on 5 September, and the short film Blues Baby Boy Andrea Simonella’s, with cinematography by Lorenzo Pezzano CCSwhich will be presented on 5 September as part of the event Bullying and Support NetworksIn the section Notti Veneziane features Fame d’aria Giuseppe Bonito’s, shot by Alfredo Betrò CCSscreening on 7 September. In Venezia Spotlight we find Lorenzo Casadio CCS with Conversation with the Sea by Muayad Alayan, screening on 7 September.
There is also a strong presence in Venice Open. On 9 September, Francesco Carrozzini’s Be Brave, with cinematography by Matteo Vieille Rivara CCS, will be presented. On 10 September, it will be the turn of Mario Martone’s Scherzetto, shot by Paolo Carnera CCS, President of Collettivo Chiaroscuro, and Walter Fasano’s Nino – Un film su Nino Rota, with cinematography by Camilla Cattabriga CCS and Leonardo Mirabilia CCS, alongside Clarissa Cappellani (AIC). The Venice Open – Series section also includes Peccato, a series directed by Valerio Vestoso and shot by Davide Manca CCS.
Rounding out this extensive presence is Ciprì and Maresco’s Lo zio di Brooklyn, with cinematography by Luca Bigazzi CCS, screening on 11 September as part of Venice Classics.
Twenty titles, fifteen CCS associate cinematographers, and a presence spanning virtually every section of the Festival, from feature films to shorts, from documentaries to series. We wish all our associate members a wonderful Festival and great cinema.
LA CITTÀ DEI VIVI
Section: Orizzonti
Director: Edoardo Gabbriellini
Cinematography: Amine Messadi CCS
Cast: Emanuele Maria Di Stefano, Gaia Merlonghi, Simona Senzacqua, Roberta Mattei, Valerio Mastandrea; Screenplay: based on the novel of the same name by Nicola Lagioia; Production: Eagle Pictures, Cinemaundici, Lungta Film; Italian Distribution: Eagle Pictures; International Sales: PiperPlay; Running Time: 103 min (Italy, 2026).
Luca is twenty-three and lives with the family who adopted him. He spends his days between the outskirts and the centre of Rome, his friends and an important relationship. As he tries to find his own path, however, he is also leading a double life. An apparently chance encounter takes his life in a dramatic new direction, drawing him into a world of blind, senseless violence.
SUCCEDERÀ QUESTA NOTTE
Section: Venice 83 – Competition
Director: Nanni Moretti
Cinematography: Francesco Di Giacomo CCS
Cast: Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca, Hippolyte Girardot, Angela Finocchiaro, Melina Åkerman, Elena Lietti, Andrea Lattanzi, Antonio De Matteo, Nanni Moretti; Screenplay: Nanni Moretti, Federica Pontremoli, Valia Santella, based on Eshkol Nevo’s short-story collection Legami; Production: Fandango, Sacher Film, Rai Cinema, Pan Cinema, Playtime, France 3 Cinéma, Bteam Prods, Irusoin, IWHT Film; Italian Distribution: 01 Distribution; International Sales: Playtime; Running Time: 103 min (Italy, France, Spain, 2026).
Inspired by Eshkol Nevo’s stories, the film weaves together relationships, encounters, separations and family bonds. At its heart is a love story in which a woman and a man always seem to meet at the wrong time, yet continue to believe in the possibility of another chance.
CARLA LONZI, DENTRO E FUORI DAL MONDO
Section: Giornate degli Autori – Special Events
Director: Francesca Archibugi
Cinematography: Daria D’Antonio CCS
With: Olga Basso, Paola Basso, Sofia Basso, Maria Consagra, Angela Mioni De Carlo, Gabriella Di Milia, Silvia Fabro, Anna Maria Gehnyei, Silvia Giambrone, Laura Iamurri, Battista Lena, Ludovica Lena, Vittorio Lonzi, Maria Edgarda Marcucci, Nanni Moretti, Roberta Paoletti, Giulio Paolini, Suzanne Santoro, Giulia Siverio, Carla Subrizi, Paola Ugolini, Paola Volpi, Giovanna Zapperi; Production: Fandango, Rai Cinema, Luce Cinecittà; Italian Distribution and International Sales: Fandango; Running Time: 80 min (Italy, 2026).
Through archive material, testimonies and previously unseen documents, Francesca Archibugi reconstructs the public and private life of Carla Lonzi. Alongside the uncompromising intellectual and feminist, the film reveals her personal vulnerability, her relationship with motherhood and with her partner, her conflicts with other women, and the legacy of a body of thought that remains central to contemporary debate.
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BLUES BABY BOY (short film)
Section: Giornate degli Autori – Incontri, Out of Competition
Director: Andrea Simonella
Cinematography: Lorenzo Pezzano CCS
Screening as part of the Bullying and Support Networks event
Cast: Ubaldo Pantani, Luca Morello, Margherita Ghisi, with a special appearance by Marco Bocci; Story and Screenplay: Andrea Simonella; Editing: Alice Lorenzon; Production: CS Cinema, in collaboration with Magenta Film, Moses Rental and PH Neutro Film; with the support of Fondazione Perugia and Adisu Umbria (Italy, 2026).
Loosely inspired by real events that took place in Umbria, Blues Baby Boy tells the story of a particularly sensitive teenager with a passion for blues, vinyl records, vintage clothes and the saxophone. During his birthday party, the exclusion and bullying he is subjected to come to light. The short film thus focuses on the challenges faced by young people and the importance of building support networks that ensure the most vulnerable are not left alone.
I FIGLI DELLA SCIMMIA
Section: Orizzonti
Director: Tommaso Landucci
Cinematography: Guido Michelotti CCS
Cast: Riccardo Scamarcio, Fausto Russo Alesi, Lidiya Liberman, Andrea Aggio, Tancredi Naldini, Cristina Odasso, Luigi Diberti; Screenplay: Tommaso Landucci, Damiano Femfert; Production: Lungta Film, Lebowski, Mosaicon Film, Rai Cinema; Italian Distribution: Medusa Film; International Sales: PiperPlay; Running Time: 110 min (Italy, 2026).
Dario is the father of a child with a disability, to whom he devotes all his attention. However, his increasingly close relationship with his brother’s teenage son awakens in him an image of the son he might have wished for and the father he might have been. Unspoken desires and projections gradually undermine his inner balance, ultimately overwhelming the entire family.
HOMBRE AL AGUA
Section: Venice Spotlight
Director: Gael García Bernal
Cinematography: Fabrizio La Palombara CCS
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Esmeralda Pimentel, Débora Nascimento, Natalia Oreiro, Anna Díaz, Ezequiel Díaz, Manuel García Rulfo, Jorge Salinas, Ricky Martin; Screenplay: Gael García Bernal, Mariano Pensotti; Production: La Corriente del Golfo, Carcava Cine, Redrum; Running Time: 116 min (Mexico, 2026).
Camilo, a Cuban lifeguard, saves Mexican businessman Abel from drowning. In gratitude, Abel takes him to Mexico, where Camilo marries his daughter Juana and they have a child together. Before long, however, Camilo discovers that his new life is part of a scheme of manipulation and control orchestrated by his father-in-law. As his world begins to collapse, Camilo must uncover the deception and try to regain control of his own destiny.
FAME D’ARIA
Section: Giornate degli Autori – Confronti
Director: Giuseppe Bonito
Cinematography: Alfredo Betrò CCS
Cast: Paolo Pierobon, Saverio Santangelo, Rosa Palasciano, Milvia Marigliano, Alfonso Santagata; Screenplay: Monica Zapelli, Daniele Mencarelli, based on Mencarelli’s novel of the same name; Production: Clemart, Rai Cinema; International Sales: TVCO; Running Time: 96 min (Italy, 2026).
Pietro is travelling to Puglia with Jacopo, his autistic son, when their car breaks down, forcing them to stop in a small village. Taken in by Agata, the owner of a bar that was once also a guesthouse, they gradually become part of the life of the local community. Their journey, however, is brought to a halt by the emergence of a dramatic truth.
UNA STORIA
Section: Orizzonti
Director: Anna Foglietta
Cinematography: Andrea Benjamin Manenti CCS
Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Guido Caprino, Elio De Capitani, Caterina Casini; Screenplay: Anna Foglietta, Tania Pedroni, Matteo Ferri; Production: HT Film, Indigo Film, Tenderstories, Blu One Lab, Rai Cinema, HBO Max; Italian Distribution: BIM Distribuzione; International Sales: True Colours – Glorious Films; Running Time: 107 min (Italy, 2026).
Erika and Mauro live in the provinces, sheltered by the routines and small gestures of everyday life. When their daughter Irene leaves to study away from home, the house empties and the couple’s equilibrium begins to unravel. The suspended time that follows brings old wounds and forgotten desires back to the surface, forcing them both to question their own identities and the future of their relationship.
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HALAA (THE H@LLOW MAN)
Section: Venice International Critics’ Week – Competition
Director: Kamel Laaridhi
Cinematography: Amine Messadi CCS
Cast: Mohammed Hessine Grayaa, Nesrine Bani, Riadh Hamdi, Kamel Dridi, Sadok Aidani; Editing: Seif Ben Othman; Music: Zouhair Gouja; Production Design: Lassad Ben Sgheir; Costumes: Fatma Chamem; Production: Moncef Taleb – Inside Production, Chawki Kniss and Achref Lemmouchi – Room 420, Yazid Chebbi – Good Tone Studio; Running Time: 79 min (Tunisia, 2026).
In Tunisia in 2059, a bio-chip regulates memories and suppresses emotions. Taha, a ‘pathos maker’ capable of restoring lost feelings to others through poetry, secretly undergoes a hypnosis session. His journey into his own memory leads him to an isolated house, where a man and two women are preparing a suicide attack, and ultimately to the shocking truth about his own origins.
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ELDORADO, THE TASTE OF THE SOUTH (ELDORADO, LE GOÛT DU SUD)
Section: Venice Production Bridge – Final Cut in Venice
Director: Alaa Eddine Aljem
Cinematography: Amine Messadi CCS
Cast: Alseni Bathily, Manon Clavel, Majd Mastoura; Screenplay: Alaa Eddine Aljem; Producer: Francesca Duca; Production: Le Moindre Geste, Haut Les Mains Productions, Dugong Films; International Sales: Best Friend Forever; Countries: Morocco, France, Italy, Norway; Status: In Post-Production.
A group of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa reaches northern Morocco to cross the Mediterranean in search of Eldorado, a secret island said to be home to a just and peaceful society. Due to a mistake by the smuggler, they are joined on the journey by a group of Moroccans heading for Spain. Once they arrive, however, the migrants discover that Eldorado is actually the name of a tomato sauce factory, where they will have to work while waiting to obtain citizenship.
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HIWAR MA’ ALBAHR (CONVERSATION WITH THE SEA)
Section: Venice Spotlight
Director: Muayad Alayan
Cinematography: Lorenzo Casadio Vannucci CCS
Cast: Kamel El Basha, Amer Hlehel, Ruba Blal, Haitham Omari, Bahira Ablassi, Maria Zreik, Rebecca Esmeralda Telhami; Screenplay: Muayad Alayan, Rami Alayan; Editing: Matteo Faccenda; Music: Fabienne van Eck; Production: PalCine Productions, KeyFilm, Metafora Production, Red Sea Fund; International Sales: MAD World; Running Time: 112 min (Palestine, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Qatar).
In Jerusalem, sixty-year-old Palestinian Kamal is ordered by an Israeli court to pay a substantial social security debt attributed to his son Wael. But Wael drowned in the Red Sea many years earlier. When Kamal discovers that there is no official record of his death, he decides to follow the only remaining lead in an attempt to uncover what really happened to his son.
BE BRAVE
Section: Venice Open – Out of Competition
Director: Francesco Carrozzini
Cinematography: Matteo Vieille Rivara CCS
With: Renzo Rosso, Arianna Alessi, Imran Amed, Lorenzo Cherubini – Jovanotti, John Galliano, Adriano Goldschmied, Johan Lindeberg, Luigino Lionello, Glenn Martens, Maurizio Marchiori, Andrea Rosso, Giuseppe Rosso, Sidonia Rosso, Stefano Rosso, Anna Wintour; Screenplay: Lara Prando, Michele Abatantuono; Production: Our Films; Running Time: 90 min (Italy, 2026).
The documentary traces the journey of Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel and the OTB Group, through the accounts of family members, friends, artists and leading figures in the fashion world. To capture its subject’s provocative and innovative spirit, the film uses artificial intelligence as a narrative tool, exploring the relationship between technology and human creativity.
PUCA (short film)
Section: Venice International Critics’ Week – SIC@SIC
Director: Sara Scalera
Cinematography: Andrea Benjamin Manenti CCS
Cast: Annunziata Celeste Vadicamo, Elisa Rosaci, Ludovica Tassoni, Antonio Serrano, Giuseppe Musarella, Emilia Mariana Buza, Tonino Proietto, Beatrice Stranges; Screenplay: Sara Scalera, Antonio Romagnoli; Production: GM Production, Limbo Film, Hubris Pictures, Red Couch Pictures, Eidos Film; Running Time: 14 min (Italy, 2026).
On a summer afternoon in the 1990s, sisters Lotti and Malibù sneak out to go to the bar frequented by the boy they both like. Their little sister Puca insists on coming with them and, as they pass by the beach, claims to have seen a mermaid. When the sisters lose sight of her, their search becomes a symbolic passage through which they come to realise that their childhood is coming to an end.
SE MAI LE COSE (short film)
Section: Venice International Critics’ Week – SIC@SIC
Director: Giulia Cosentino
Cinematography: Camilla Cattabriga CCS
Cast: Astrid Casali, Emanuele Linfatti, Francesca Melluso; Screenplay: Giulia Cosentino; Production: Okta Film, Envie de Tempête Productions; Distribution and International Sales: Lights On; Running Time: 20 min (Italy, France, 2026).
On a winter morning in Catania, Rachele returns to the flat she shared with Paolo to collect her belongings. As she packs up her things, the objects begin to speak, bringing back memories of the relationship that has just ended. The emotional value of these objects opens up a reflection on home, romantic relationships and the symbolic legacy of the bridal trousseau.
SCHERZETTO
Section: Venice Open – Out of Competition
Director: Mario Martone
Cinematography: Paolo Carnera CCS
Cast: Toni Servillo, Lorenzo Perrotta, Serena Rossi, Leonardo Lidi, Gianluca Di Gennaro, Giovanni Ludeno; Screenplay: Mario Martone, Ippolita Di Majo, based on the novel of the same name by Domenico Starnone; Production: Mad Entertainment, Rai Cinema; Italian Distribution: 01 Distribution; International Sales: Rai Cinema International Distribution; Running Time: 116 min (Italy, 2026).
Daniele Mallarico, a renowned illustrator in his seventies who has been widowed, leaves Milan and returns to his family home in Naples to look after his grandson Mario for a few days. Precocious, lively and convinced that he knows everything, the boy constantly challenges his grandfather. Within the walls of the house and on the balcony overlooking the city, their duel forces Daniele to confront his past and his own ghosts.
NINO – UN FILM SU NINO ROTA
Section: Venice Open – Out of Competition
Director: Walter Fasano
Cinematography: Clarissa Cappellani AIC, Camilla Cattabriga CCS, Leonardo Mirabilia CCS
With: Vince Mendoza, Alexandre Desplat, Caterina D’Amico, Mino Gabriele, Joe Lovano, Park Chan-wook, Michele Marvulli, Rita Pavone, Solrey; Screenplay and Editing: Walter Fasano; Production: Be Water Film, Sugar Play, Adler Entertainment, I Diavoli, Rai Documentari; Distribution: Be Water Film; Running Time: 120 min (Italy, 2026).
The documentary presents a personal and artistic portrait of Nino Rota, the first Italian composer to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Archive material, music and interviews explore the composer whose name became closely associated with the films of Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Luchino Visconti, King Vidor and Franco Zeffirelli, while also revealing his work as a composer of opera, ballet, orchestral and chamber music.
PECCATO
Section: Venice Open – Out of Competition, Series
Director: Valerio Vestoso
Cinematography: Davide Manca CCS
Cast: Emanuela Fanelli, Francesca Archibugi, Caterina Balivo, Anna Bonaiuto, Alessandro Borghi, Geppi Cucciari, Massimo De Lorenzo, Fabio Fazio, Sabrina Ferilli, Giovanni Floris, Gabibbo, Paolo Genovese, Martufello, Gigi Marzullo, Valerio Mastandrea, Angela Melillo, Stefania Orlando, Ferzan Özpetek, Malcolm Pagani, Tullio Solenghi, Paolo Virzì, Tommaso Zorzi, Paola Cortellesi; Screenplay: Emanuela Fanelli, Giulio Somazzi, Valerio Vestoso; Production: Be Water Film, with the participation of HBO Max and in collaboration with Rai Cinema; Total Running Time: 180 min (Italy, 2026).
Comprising six episodes, Peccato is a comedy mockumentary series set in the near future. In 2049, Emanuela Fanelli is sixty-three years old, has given up acting and lives in isolation in a village in the Aosta Valley. With a surreal tone, the series retraces her career and attempts to uncover the scandal that forced her to withdraw from public life.
ANGELO AZZURRO (short film)
Section: Orizzonti Corti
Director: Tommaso Acquarone
Cinematography: Andrea Benjamin Manenti CCS
Cast: Thomas Di Federico, Pietro Paolo Marziani, Vida Tunguz; Screenplay: Tommaso Acquarone; Production: Fondazione Apulia Film Commission, Rai Cinema; Distribution and International Sales: Lights On; Running Time: 20 min (Italy, 2026).
Along the Adriatic coast, fourteen-year-old Alessandro is caught between his ambiguous friendship with Filippo and his attraction to Lena, a Croatian girl. Amid unspoken desires and awkward attempts at courtship, he confronts his first stirrings of desire and the complexities of his own identity, over the course of a night suspended between the innocence of childhood and the turmoil of adolescence.
RITORNO A BUENOS AIRES
Section: Venice 83 – Competition
Director: Marco Bechis
Cinematography: Fabrizio La Palombara CCS
Cast: Adriano Giannini, Paula Cohen, Ana Celentano, Vero Gerez, Olivia Nuss, Adrian Fondari, Marcelo Chaparro, Marcela Serli, Maria Laila Fernandez; Screenplay: Marco Bechis, Vijaya Bechis Boll; Production: Fandango, 39Films, Karta Film, 34 Filmes, Rai Cinema; Italian Distribution: Fandango Distribuzione; International Sales: Fandango; Running Time: 104 min (Italy, Brazil, 2026).
Buenos Aires, 2008. After thirty-three years living in Italy, Mariano Guerra returns to Argentina to testify at the trial of the former military officers who abducted and tortured him during the dictatorship. Meeting other survivors and waiting to give his testimony bring events that had remained unresolved for decades back to the surface, forcing him to confront the burden and guilt of having survived.
LO ZIO DI BROOKLYN
Section: Venice Classics
Directors: Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco
Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi CCS
Cast: Pippo Agusta, Antonino Bruno, Rosario Carollo, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Ernesto Gattuso, Salvatore Gattuso, Pietro Giordano, Natale Lauria, Giovanni Lo Giudice, Gaspare Marchione, Marcello Miranda, Giuseppe Paviglianiti, Pietro Rizzo; Screenplay: Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco; Production: Digital Film; Restoration: Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna in collaboration with Filmauro, at the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory; Running Time: 99 min (Italy, 1995).
In an apocalyptic suburb of Palermo, the Gemelli family is forced by a Mafia clan to take in and hide a mysterious ‘uncle’ who has arrived from Brooklyn. The man does not speak, sleep or eat, while a grotesque, ghostly cast of characters moves around him. Emerging from the world of Cinico TV, Ciprì and Maresco’s debut feature returns to Venice in a restored version.
