The drama “Elisa”, from Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo, is in the running for a golden lion at the 82nd International Film Festival in Venice, which opens on Wednesday. Co-produced by Amka Films and the RSI, notably shot in Ticino, the film plunges into the story of a condemned murderer.
Aged 35, Elisa has been in prison for ten years for having killed her older sister without apparent and burned her corpse. She claims to remember the facts, but still decides to participate in the research of the criminologist Alaoui. His memories and a feeling of guilt will then begin to appear.
This work by Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo was inspired by the studies and interviews of the “IO Stolevo Ucciderla” test (“I wanted to kill it”) of the two criminologists Adolfo Ceretti and Lorenzo Natali.
Ticino shot
This film, the fourth by Leonardo Di Costanzo, was shot in Ticino in early April, more precisely between Mendrisio, Vacallo, Morbio Superiore and Stabio, according to the Ticino Film Commission. This film is a co -production of the company Amka Films, based in Savosa (TI) and the television of Italian Switzerland RSI. On the Italian side, Rai Cinema, the production company of the public channel Rai, and the company Tempesta de Bologna have co -produced the film.
The world premiere of “Elisa” will take place on September 4 at the Venice Film Festival. Leonardo Di Costanzo considers this film as a kind of follow -up to his drama “Ariaferma” (2021), a story that also took place in prison.
Fierce competition
In the international competition “Venezia 82 Concorso”, “Elisa” will compete with twenty other films for the Golden Lion, the highest distinction of the famous film festival. We can cite for example “Le Mage du Kremlin”, by the French director Olivier Assayas. It is an adaptation of the bestseller of Giuliano Da Empoli, who narrates the ascent towards the power of Vladimir Putin, from the point of view of one of his closest advisers. Jude Law embodies the strong man of the Kremlin on the screen.
“Frankenstein”, by Guillermo Del Toro is also in the running. It is an updated version on a big budget of the myth of the creature of Dr. Frankenstein. Tracing the murder of a 6 -year -old Palestinian, killed by Israeli troops in Gaza in January 2024, “The Voice of Hind Rajab”, by Kaouther Ben Hania will be one of the most political films of the festival.
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First four in the world
Four other Swiss films will celebrate their world premiere in Venice: in the “Venice Spotlight” section, “Au Bras-le-Corps” (“Silent Rebellion”) of director Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, from La Chaux-de-Fonds (NE), was selected. This co -production of the RTS tells the story of Emma, a 15 -year -old girl who, after being raped, learns that she is pregnant. The action of the feature film takes place in a rural region of Switzerland during the Second World War.
Two feature films and a Swiss documentary were selected in the independent section “Venice Days”, indicates a press release from Swiss Films: the feature film “Memory of Princess Mumbi” by Zurich Damien Hauser, the documentary co -produced by the RTS “which still lives” from the Geneva director Nicolas Wadimoff and “Il Quieto Vivere” Matarrese.
In the category “Venice immersive”, the virtual reality installation “Empathy Creatures” by French artist Mélodie Mousset, who lives and works in Zurich, will also be presented.
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International Venice Film Festival, from August 27 to September 6, 2025.
