‘PREMIERE: Fai bei sogni - Marco Bellocchio’

Preceded by a conversation with Marco Bellocchio

Turin, 1969. Nine-year-old Massimo’s idyllic childhood is shattered by the mysterious death of his mother. A few days later his father takes him to a priest who explains to him that she is in heaven. Massimo refuses to accept her brutal disappearance. By 1990, Massimo is an accomplished journalist but he is haunted by his past. His traumatic childhood has become an obsession.

Marco Bellocchio
Born in Piacenza (Italy) in 1939, Marco Bellocchio graduated from the Experimental Center for Cinematography in Rome and London’s Slade School of Fine Arts. From teenage rebellion to religious institutions and political subversion, his films have explored the social and political contradictions of his country, often attacking symbols of Italian conformism. His first feature film, Fists in the Pocket (1965), about an existentially tormented teenager, is often credited with having anticipated the youth rebellion at the end of the 1960s. He denounced religion with In the Name of the Father (1972) and the police with Victory March (1976). In the 1980s, Bellocchio’s films focused on individuals with a turbulent past. He has questioned ideologies and moral issues and fought to make sense of his characters’ motives. In 2011, Bellocchio was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival.