Italy’s Kino Produzioni (‘Alcarràs’) Ramps Up Slate, Lara Costa-Calzado Joins as Head of Production (EXCLUSIVE)
Italy’s Kino Produzioni, the indie shingle that co-produced 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” is ramping up production with new films by emerging Italian filmmakers Carlo Sironi, Laura Luchetti and Irene Dionisio, as well as also Dutch director Michiel Van Erp and Argentine filmmakers María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat.
“We reached a turning point last year that started out well with the ‘Alcarràs’ victory,” said Kino chief Giovanni Pompili, speaking at the EFM. He noted that in 2022, the Rome-based outfit shot four films, “which for us was pretty challenging, but worked out well.”
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Meanwhile, the Kino team has grown. Producer Lara Costa-Calzado, who has been working for a decade between the U.S. and Europe on films such as Eliza Hittman’s Silver Bear winner “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” Sally Potter’s “The Roads Not Taken” and Halina Rejin’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” has joined Kino as head of production.
The main titles on Kino Produzioni’s slate include a yet to be titled drama from Sironi (“Sole”) starring rising French indie star Noée Abita (“Slalom”) and Maria Camilla Barandenburg (“Slam Italia”). Film follows two 17-year-olds named Clara and Irène who both have health issues. Shortly after meeting, they run away together to an island where they experience an unforgettable summer. See first look image above.
Sironi’s “Sole,” a love story intertwined with baby trafficking, made an international splash after launching in 2019 from Venice and Toronto. Sironi was among Variety’s 10 European Directors to watch in 2020. Kino has co-produced his followup with France’s June Films and support from RAI Cinema.
Another title is Van Erp’s English-language period drama “A Beautiful Imperfection,” about 18th-century Venetian adventurer Giacomo Casanova’s love affair, when he was 17, with a Dutch courtesan in Amsterdam told from a female perspective. Pic is in post. As previously announced, Jonah Hauer-King (“The Little King”) plays Casanova and Israeli actress and model Dar Zuzovsky (“The Survivor”) plays the courtesan named Lucia. “Beautiful Imperfection” is an adaptation of Dutch bestseller “In Lucia’s Eyes,” by Arthur Japin. Pic is co-produced by Kino with Kaap Holland Film of the Netherlands and Belgium’s Eyeworks.
Also in post is “Puán,” a comedy set in the chaotic world of the University of Buenos Aires’ overpopulated, underfunded philosophy and literature department. Pic is co-directed by Alché (“A Family Submerged”) and Naishtat. Kino co-produced with Argentina’s Pucará Cine and Pasto companies.
“The Beautiful Summer” stars Deva Cassel, the daughter of Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel, making her acting debut as a wild and provocative artists’ model named Amelia in this coming-of-age film by Luchetti, now in post. Pic is based on Italian author Cesare Pavese’s novel “La Bella Estate,” which won Italy’s prestigious Premio Strega literary prize in 1950 and has been widely translated. Luchetti, who debuted in 2019 with Toronto Festival player “Twin Flower,” described “Summer” in a statement as “a visionary, suspended, whispered, evocative, sensual, carnal and painful record of an unforgettable summer in 1938.” Kino is producing with Rome’s 9.99 films and backing from RAI Cinema. Lucky Red will handle the film’s Italian release.
Rounding out the slate is ”Idda,” from Dionisio, whose debut “Pawn Streets” launched from Venice’s Critics’ Week. The film, which is in development, is about two childhood friends, now in their thirties, who find themselves during a hike up Sicily’s Mount Etna volcano.
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