Cannes, Roberto Minervini wins the award for best director in the Un Certain Regard section

«The Damned», Roberto Minervini’s first feature film, wins the award for best director in the Un Certain Regard section, effectively the second competition of the festival. Known for his extraordinary quality as a documentary filmmaker, this time Minervini constructs an intense reflection on violence within a story of the American Civil War. The film is co-produced by Rai cinema and currently in theaters thanks to Lucky Red.

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Minervini awarded in Cannes

«The award to Roberto Minervini in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at the Cannes Film Festival confirms the talent of an author who has shown a well-defined idea of ​​cinema over the years and enriches the path of a director now recognized internationally». Thus Paolo Del Brocco, CEO of Rai Cinema, recalling that «if in 2015, again here in Cannes, Minervini had told the story of the forgotten land of Louisiana, now with ‘The Damned’ he turns his gaze towards a handful of invisible soldiers very far from the world. Despair and personal fears are reflected in those of a universal community of men, targeted by a conflict that looks to our contemporaneity. And if the film captured the Jury’s favor – he underlines – it is also because there is still a need to give a voice to those who have none and to those who risk dying every day”.

«Rai Cinema has always been alongside authors, supports them with trust, invests in their talent – continues Del brocco – and often, as in the case of Minervini, is at their side from when they take their first steps. He participates with passion in those projects and stories that involve challenges and adventurous journeys and this film has been so right from the start. When the producer Paolo Benzi of Okta Film presented us the project – he says – we had the conviction that it would take us far; Our congratulations go to him and Roberto Minervini and we share this success with them.” «Roberto Minervini’s cinema – adds Nicola Claudio, president of Rai Cinema – is a concentration of reality, and the spectator can always find new tools in his stories to reflect and better understand what surrounds him. The public who chooses to go and see ‘The Damned’, in theaters these days, will certainly be able to recognize this quality and we hope that the award received at the Cannes Film Festival will give even more prestige to a film that will certainly not go unnoticed ».

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