Pietro Marcello, the critically acclaimed Italian filmmaker of the Venice prize-winning “Martin Eden,” has just started shooting “Scarlet” (“L’envol”), a French-language drama set in Northern Normandy. Orange Studio has acquired international sales rights to the film which will be distributed in France by Le Pacte.
Charles Gillibert, whose Paris-based outfit CG Cinema previously delivered award-winning films such as Deniz Erguven’s “Mustang” and Leos Carax’s “Annette,” is producing “Scarlet” with Avventurosa and Rai Cinema in Italy, in collaboration with Ilya Stewart (Hype Film) and Antonio Miyakawa (Wise Pictures).
Marcello penned the script with his regular screenwriting partner Maurizio Braucci (“Gomorra”), as well as Maud Ameline (“Amanda”), with the participation of the novelist Geneviève Brisac.
The film is set between the two world wars, a time of great inventions, and follows the journey of a young woman who was raised by her father, a widowed war veteran, and strives to find her own path in life. The inspirational period drama weaves musical and fantasy elements.
“Scarlet” will be headlined by newcomer Juliette Jouan, who will star alongside Raphaël Thierry (“Staying Vertical”), Louis Garrel (“DNA”), Noémie Lvovsky (“Camille Rewinds”), Ernst Umhauer (“In The House”), François Négret (“Madame Hyde”) and Yolande Moreau (“Seraphine”), among others.
Marcello has assembled a French-Italian crew for this film, notably the cinematographer Marco Graziaplena (“Mektoub, My Love”), costume designer Pascaline Chavane (“8 Women”), set designer Christian Marti (“Le redoutable”) and music composer Gabriel Yared (“The Talented Mr. Ripley”). The movie will mark Marcello’s first feature film since his 2019 drama “Martin Eden,” an adaptation of Jack London’s cult novel, which competed at Venice and won best actor for Luca Marinelli who was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
Earlier this year, Marcello presented the documentary “Futura,” which he co-directed with fellow Italian directors Alice Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”) and Francesco Munzi (“Black Souls”) at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. The documentary delivered a portrait of how Italy’s adolescents look at the future.
“Scarlet” was co-produced by Match Factory in Germany, Arte, Raï Cinema, with the support of the Italian culture ministry. The film is expected to be released in 2022.