Roberto Minervini takes the whole show. The Italian director is awarded ex aequo for best director of Un Certain Regard. “The Damned” (already in Italian cinemas, distributed by Lucky Red) is present at the award ceremony unlike the other winner. Rungano Nyoni author of “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”, from Zambia, has already left the Cannes Film Festival.
Minervini – highly appreciated documentary maker born in Fermo in 1970, already nominated for the Golden Lion with “What to do when the world is on fire?” – wins at Cannes with his first fiction work.
“The damned”, shot in English, is a period war film set in 1862 America during the Civil War. From the side of the young soldiers, their point of view on the conflict and their human suffering, the film recalls in its rhythms and atmospheres “The Tartar Desert” Of Dino Buzzati it is the first Terrence Malick.
The top prize of the Un Certain Regard section it is instead awarded by the jury chaired by the Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolanin Chinese “Black Dog”.
The recognition to Minerviniwho has lived and worked in the USA for years, is a nice sign of appreciation towards the Italian cinema that looks far beyond national borders.
Now it’s up to Paolo Sorrentinowith “Partenope”, try to enter the major palmarès. The one that awards the Palme d’Or (a hope) and the other prizes of the main competition (for the Italian, a more concrete possibility). Tomorrow, Saturday 25th, the closing ceremony of the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Kick-off, for an hour of match, at 6.45pm. Playing field, the wonderful Grand Theater Lumière. Which here is Wembley.
Of Federico Fumagalli
