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MARCELLO, MARCELLO

By Denis RABAGLIA

Comedy - Completed 2007

Striving to win the favor of his beloved Elena with the perfect gift, 19 year-old Marcello conquers the hearts of an entire village.

- Year of production
- 2007
- Genres
- Comedy
- Countries
- ITALY
- Languages
- ITALIAN
- Duration
- 97 mn
- Director(s)
- Denis RABAGLIA
- Writer(s)
- Mark David HATWOOD, Denis RABAGLIA, Luca DE BENEDITTIS
- ISAN
- 0000-0001-EDA0-0000-K-0000-0000-E
- EIDR
- 10.5240/2AC7-BDC2-4A2A-5592-5F8A-T
- Producer(s)
- Anne WALSER (C FILMS AG), Martin HAGEMANN (Zero Fiction Film)
- Synopsis
- The year is 1958, and we are in Amatrello, a small island in the Tyrrhenian sea. A unique tradition has developed on the island over the years: every time an 18 year-old girl celebrates her birthday, all the village boys are invited to bring a gift for the father, as he alone will decide which lucky boy is worthy of a date with his daughter. Yet Marcello, the 19 year-old son of a poor fisherman, wants nothing to do with this tradition. First of all because he’s never been interested in a girl, and secondly because he believes the tradition to be further proof that grownups want to stick their noses into everything!
  The boy changes his opinion when he sees the enchanting Elena Del Ponte – in the blink of an eye, as it were. After a long stay at a private boarding school, Elena has returned to her native village to be put through what she considers to be an archaic tradition. To win the privilege of being with her, Marcello must now find a gift beautiful enough for her father, who happens to be the Mayor of Amatrello. But Marcelo has neither money nor time, and his chances of finding the perfect gift seem hopeless...
  It is only upon hearing the much-too-early loud crow of a rooster that Marcello finds inspiration. For as it happens, Elena’s father is roused from his precious sleep every morning by the raucous beast belonging to his neighbor. Marcello is convinced that he’ll win Elena if he can deliver the Mayor the rooster and therewith his precious morning peace. But the rooster’s owner will not give the animal to the boy for free, of course. He demands two bottles of the Palmieri Sisters’ renowned limoncello in exchange. If Marcello is to have the bottles, the Sisters would accept, in return, a pair of wedding dresses they once commissioned from a certain seamstress, who, for her part, is obsessed with finding the gun that killed her brother... And so the story unfolds: as one hand washes the other, Marcello soon finds himself trading with the entire village.
  He is surprised to learn that everyone apparently wants something from someone else, and it seems that his quest to win a maligned bird has grown into a process of redemption for all of Amatrello. Yet this ever-growing chain of unlikely exchanges would be a surmountable challenge if its final link were not a deal with Marcello’s hateful rival, Armando Cesari, the richest boy on the island and as such the favorite of all fathers.
  After the boisterous and frenzied run of his life, Marcello must now choose or reject the ultimate Faustian pact: Armando will help, but only if Marcello shares the date with Elena with him...
- Partners & financing
- Zero Fiction Film, RTSI –Televisione Svizzera, Teleclub und La Petite Entreprise; Mit Unterstützung von: Bundesamt für Kultur, Sektion Film (Schweiz), Zürcher Filmstiftung, Kulturfonds Suissimage, Fonds Regio Films, Kanton Wallis, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg (Deutschland), Media; In Kooperation mit: Campari (Schweiz) AG, Barilla, Natura Güggeli AG, Cineman.ch, Italian News, Coop Zeitung, Radio Energy, Ringier, Helvetic Airways, Istituto Italiano di Zurigo, Mastro Lorenzo
- Beginning of shooting
- May 01, 2007