Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

July 4 - 12, 2008

Il Divo
Il divo

Colour, 35 mm
Italy, 2008, 118 min
Section: Open Eyes
Film trailer: Higher quality | Lower quality

Film screenings:
2D9 - 5.7., 22:00, Theatre Karlovy Vary
411 - 7.7., 9:00, Grand Hall
9D4 - 12.7., 14:00, Theatre Karlovy Vary

Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Screenplay: Paolo Sorrentino
Dir. of Photography: Luca Bigazzi
Music: Teho Teardo
Designer: Lino Fiorito
Editor: Cristiano Travaglioli
Producer: Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima, Andrea Occhipinti, Maurizio Coppolecchia
Production: Indigo Film, LUCKY RED, Parco Film
Sales: Beta Cinema

Cast

Toni Servillo, Anna Bonaiuto, Giulio Bosetti, Flavio Bucci, Carlo Buccirosso, Giorgio Colangeli, Alberto Cracco, Paolo Graziosi

Synopsis

“Il divo” means “the divine”, which is how Italians ironically refer to the man who stepped up onto their political stage in 1946 and hasn’t altogether left it since. Going on for 90, Giulio Andreotti, Christian Democrat and devout Catholic, who has headed the Italian government seven times and is a senator for life, is an enigmatic figure closely bound to the history of post-war Italy. This brilliant portrait of Andreotti won director Paolo Sorrentino the Jury Prize in Cannes this year. The subject of the filmmaker’s antipathy and fascination is a politician who navigated life without ever coming into conflict with the mafia (while they eliminated many of his colleagues and fellow party members), and who even managed to fend off charges of corruption. Superbly portrayed by Tony Servillo, the “divine Giulio” is a mysterious figure, even physically resembling a puppet who voluntarily defers all that is human, including his conscience, in the interests of his boundless ambition. “This is a malicious film, I am not that cynical,” was Giulio Andreotti’s reaction when he saw the biopic. Nonetheless, in keeping with the self-composed opportunism that has always aided his steep rise to political fame, he added that he does not intend to sue the filmmaker.

About the director

Paolo Sorrentino (b. 1970, Naples, Italy) worked as a scriptwriter with Neapolitan stage and film directors and in 1998 made the short film Love Has No Confines (L’amore non ha confini), for which he won awards at home and abroad. He was also involved as a writer in the TV series La squadra (2002) before making his first feature film One Man Up (L’uomo in più), screened in the competition at Venice in 2001 and a year later at Karlovy Vary. The film won a series of awards, as did Sorrentino’s next film, The Consequences of Love (Le conseguenze dell’ amore, 2004), which was selected for the competition at Cannes, as was his latest film, Family Friend (2005 – Horizons KVIFF 2006). He competed in Cannes for the third time with his film Il Divo, a portrait of politician Giulio Andreotti.

Film Guests

Nicola Giuliano

Contacts

Beta Cinema
Grünwalder Weg 28d, D-82041 Oberhaching
Germany
Tel: +49 89 673 469 829
Fax: +49 89 673 469 888
E-mail: beta@betacinema.com
www: www.betacinema.com

Filmitalia
Via Aureliana 63, 00187 Rome
Italy
Tel: +39 06 420 125 39
Fax: +39 06 420 035 30
E-mail: info@filmitalia.org
www: www.filmitalia.org

Main navigation

Logginig-in

New registration

Send password

KV IFF Partners

Play video

Hot tips

Karlovy Vary IFF 2009

The 44th Karlovy Vary IFF will be held from July 3 – 11, 2009.

Call for Entries

The application deadline for the 44th Karlovy Vary IFF is April 17, 2009 ...

Festival Daily

Festival guests

Stars and filmmakers (film directors, actors) are again coming to Karlovy Vary to introduce their films personally ...

Statistics KV IFF 2008

Up-to-date information about the issued accreditations and festival passes and issued and sold tickets is available here ...

Newsletters

Are you planning to attend the Karlovy Vary IFF? Do not miss any news at our website ...

RSS