Venice Horizon’s title ‘Vittoria’ has proved the perfect calling card for what the Italy-US directing duo want to do.
Italian filmmaker Alessandro Cassigoli and US journalist Casey Kauffman have known each other and worked together for years. With their second narrative feature, the Italian-language Vittoria — which follows two documentaries and the 2021 feature Californie — the international industry is sitting up and taking notice.
The true story of a hairdresser who adopts a young girl from overseas, Vittoria is produced by Lorenzo Cioffi and Giorgio Giampa’s Zoe Films and Nanni Moretti’s Sacher Film, and premiered in Venice’s Horizons Extra this year, winning the Fedic award. Intramovies handles sales and Teodora releases in Italy.
As with Californie, Vittoria is set in the city of Torre Annunziata, near Naples, and features a cast of non-professional actors, headed by Marilena Amato. It is based on the real experiences of Amato and her family, who the filmmakers interviewed, as well as doing research into the world of international adoption. They used this material to write their screenplay — although it was not used by the actors.
“They never learned any lines,” admits Kauffman who, like Cassigoli, is bilingual in English and Italian. “We would rehearse with the cast and, if a scene didn’t make sense to them, we would adapt.”
This commitment to emotional authenticity made for striking drama, but it was not easy to raise the financing. “These unconventional projects are hard to pitch,” says Kauffmann. “When they work, critics and audiences love them. But they are not the people working in the ministry, or the region, or the film funds.”
Relying on each other for support and motivation is key, and the pair share on-set duties. “One person is with the DoP talking about scene mechanics, and the other works with the actors,” says Kauffman.
Committed to their fact-based approach, the pair are poised to expand their horizons. They are working on a project that starts in Italy, moving out into other parts of Europe. “It is still connected with reality, but will be a fiction with unknown actors,” says Cassigoli.
The ideas so far have all spun out of previous projects. “When we are on a shoot, our antennas are fully on,” notes Kauffman. “So when we meet a good character, it usually sparks immediate exploration.
“There’s a huge potential for taking our method to places that have more active geopolitical situations, like China, Gaza or northern Syria,” adds Kauffman. “This next one may be more of my vision, but I’m determined to take Alessandro with me.”
No comments yet