Tonino Zera, Italian Production Designer on Roman Polanski’s ‘The Palace,’ to Receive Venice Fest Award

Italian production designer Tonino Zera will receive the Campari Passion for Film Award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Zera — whose works include production design for Giuseppe Tornatore’s The Unknown Woman (2006), Paolo Virzì’s Like Crazy (2016) and Michele Placido’s Caravaggio’s Shadow (2022) — most recently created the sets for Roman Polanski’s The Place, which will have its world premiere at the 80th Venice Film Festival next month. The dramedy, set in a luxurious Swiss hotel on a fateful New Year’s Eve in 1999, stars Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, John Cleese, Luca Barbareschi and Mickey Rourke. It will screen out of competition in Venice.

Zera will receive his award Sept. 2 ahead of The Palace premiere.

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“To receive the prestigious Campari Passion for Film Award during the Venice Film Festival is not only a personal honor, it is also a recognition of the importance of set design in the world of cinema,” said Zera. “The award highlights the role played by visual narration, its ability to evoke emotions and its power to transport audiences into the heart of a movie. Emotions that I have tried to convey in The Palace, directed by Roman Polanski, whose guidance and creative genius were a source of inspiration for me. To collaborate with such a visionary director was a boundless privilege. It was a journey of imagination and meticulous details.”

Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera praised Zera’s large body of work, particularly his talent for designing “vintage re-creations of historical eras” in nearly 100 film and TV productions.

“Tonino Zera has combined the more artisanal dimension of set design with the new possibilities offered by technological and digital innovation,” said Barbera. “Over the course of his 30-year career, Zera has contributed to the modernization of film and advertising set design with curiosity and creativity, helping to give form to the imagination of the directors with whom he has worked.”

The Campari Passion for Film Award honors excellency in behind-the-camera crafts talent. Previous winners include film editor Bob Murawski (The Hurt Locker), Italian cinematographer Luca Bigazzi (The Great Beauty), costume designer Arianne Phillips (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and film composer Terence Blanchard (BlacKkKlansman).

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