Fabrizio La Palombara CCS has two films at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival: he is the cinematographer of Gael García Bernal’s Hombre al agua, selected for Venice Spotlight and presented yesterday, and Marco Bechis’s Ritorno a Buenos Aires, in Competition at Venice 83, which will screen during the final days of the Festival.
Hombre al agua is directed by, stars and is produced by Gael García Bernal, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Mariano Pensotti. Set on the peninsula of the Yucatán, the film explores, in the form of a fable and a comedy of errors, the crisis of masculinity, the politics of intimate relationships and the contradictions of contemporary Latin America. Alongside García Bernal, the cast includes Esmeralda Pimentel, Débora Nascimento, Natalia Oreiro, Anna Díaz, Ezequiel Díaz, Manuel García Rulfo, Jorge Salinas and Ricky Martin. Editing is by Yibrán Asuad, production design by Sandra Cabriada, costumes by Mariestela Fernández and music by Memo Guerra. The film is produced by La Corriente del Golfo, Cárcava Cine and Redrum.
The second film shot by La Palombara, Ritorno a Buenos Aires, will be presented in Competition at Venice 83 on 11 September. Directed by Marco Bechis, the film is set in 2008 and follows Mariano Guerra, played by Adriano Giannini, as he returns to Argentina. After thirty-three years in Italy, Mariano must testify at the trial of the former military officers who abducted and tortured him during the dictatorship. Through fiction, the director once again explores memory, survivor’s guilt and the intrusion of the past into the present.
The cast, alongside Adriano Giannini, includes Ana Celentano, Verónica Gerez, Olivia Nuss, Adrián Fondari, Paula Cohen and Marcelo Chaparro. Written by Marco Bechis and Vijaya Bechis Boll, the film is edited by Jacopo Quadri and Nicolò Tettamanti, with music by Guglielmo Diana. It is produced by Fandango, 39 Films and Karta Film, with Rai Cinema and 34 Filmes; Italian distribution and international sales are handled by Fandango.
