What if Luxembourgish director Donato Rotunno returned from Los Angeles on March 27 with his arms full of an Oscar? In any case, his film was selected by to be among the 2022 selection.
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What if Luxembourgish director Donato Rotunno returned from Los Angeles on March 27 with his arms full of an Oscar? In any case, his film was selected by to be among the 2022 selection.
On February 8, 2022, the heart of Donato Rotunno and the team of Luxembourg production house Tarantula beat a little louder than usual. It is on this date that the Academy of Oscars will unveil the list of films selected for the 94th edition of the prestigious ceremony dedicated to cinema. And who knows then if Io Sto bene will not be among the selected works? In any case, it is this feature film that the Luxembourg national commission has chosen to represent the Grand Duchy in Hollywood.
In theaters since October 13 in the Grand Duchy, the film has already attracted the attention of critics and cinephiles. It therefore remains to pass the jury test of the Academy Awards, in the category of best foreign film. By then, the film will soon be in competition at Hof International Filmfestival in Germany and projected at the close of Villerup Italian Film Festivalt (which takes place from October 29 to November 14).
This romantic painting against a background of Italian immigration to Luxembourg seduced the national commission by “the mastery of the production, the direction of the actors and the accuracy of the shots. The impressive performances of the performers and technicians (mostly nationals) add an additional creative touch to this fine production ”.
Donato Rotunno had already been selected to represent the Grand Duchy at the Oscars, six years ago, with his second fiction film, Baby (a) lone. But it is first as a producer that the Luxembourger has made a name for himself. Of Io Sto bene (transl: I’m fine), he says it is “a drama of love. It is in fact the dramas, the crossroads of destinies, the choices or the non-choices that allow to move forward in life. Your words are not sad. The drama or the small dramas of everyday life are as many engines of life, stimuli which allow to move forward in happiness ”.
And the director to defend himself from having put on film a purely Italian story. “No, we are talking about Italy as a starting point. Italy and also the starting point of my life. It is obviously a tribute to the Italian community, since I come from here. But we can extrapolate to the Portuguese community in Luxembourg or in Europe. There are so many similarities. It’s not the nationality that matters, it’s the course. ”
Of this film which will be released on Belgian screens in March 2022, Donato Rotunno acknowledges that it is “a work of twelve years”. And to explain: “I had the luxury of taking the time to do the things I love in depth. Here, it is a subject that I carry because I want to defend it. I also love my work as a producer to channel, support and seek directors, talents, stories, films that tell differently and better than me the subjects that interest me. My place in the shadow of the producer suits me very well ”. But sure the Oscar lights wouldn’t hurt him either.
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“Io Sto bene” runs to the Oscars