Overview

• Set within a faux-nonfiction frame, the film stages Maresco’s aborted attempt to make a Carmelo Bene biopic and the director’s disappearance inside the story.
• Producer Andrea Occhipinti is shown pulling the plug on the project, while in real life he produces the finished film, reinforcing its industry in-jokes.
• Early Venice reviews highlight abrasive, locally rooted humor and predict that the film will resonate chiefly with Maresco devotees rather than broader international audiences.
• Maresco foregrounds a bleak view of cinema’s purpose as he revisits past controversies, casts street performers and outcast Sicilian actors, and records on-set breakdowns including a failed levitation stunt.
• Lucky Red and Dugong Films produced with Eolo Films Productions, and True Colours is handling international sales.