Barbara Chichiarelli and Carlotta Gamba Also Star

Marco Santi's debut feature "Il Grande Giaffa" opens the Settimana della Critica (Critics' Week), the autonomous parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival (Sept. 2-12). The film stars Edoardo Pesce as Giacomo Falta, a shy, distracted journalist who feels "invisible, and Roberto Zibetti as the Grande Giason, a mysterious performer adored by all for no apparent reason.

Barbara Chichiarelli and Carlotta Gamba also star. "More than a tragicomedy, it's a dark fable, which we also evoked by choosing a very isolated, self-contained, timeless setting, Santi told ANSA. "This is a story that could take place today or twenty years ago.

In the plot, the Grande Giason "is a bit like the Pied Piper. Being seen as a 'great' becomes a status symbol, allowing him to attract anyone. This collective seduction repeats in the provincial center where Giacomo lives and works.

Trying to understand the performer's strong charisma over crowds, the journalist ends up transforming his entire identity over one long night. Produced by 10D Film and Andromeda Film in collaboration with Rai Cinema, "Il Grande Giaffa" tells of "a universal feeling that can strike any of us at some point in life, a sense of inability to communicate with others, the director observed. "Giacomo, however, is an extreme case; he becomes alienated, loses interest in everything, also because every time he tries to do something more, he is essentially ignored.

For Santi, previously a director of commercials, music videos, and shorts including "Clara, winner of the "48 Hour Film Project, the Grande Giason "is somewhat the emblem of a form of popularity also widespread on social media: being considered great without any real justification." Pesce "liked the story immediately, and there could be no better Giacomo Falta, Santi stressed. "He really gave his all. The film also fed on the passion Edoardo put into it every day of shooting.

The story also features two very different female characters: Giada (Chichiarelli), Giacomo's partner and mother of his child, and Isabel (Gamba), who, like the journalist, lets herself be taken in by illusions. "Giada is a person exhausted by her relationship with Giacomo, Santi added. "She tried every way to stimulate him, to move him, but every attempt was more than futile.

Their relationship, though constantly questioned, is nonetheless solid in some way. Isabel, instead, is like Giacomo, "a lost soul trying to find her place in the world. She thinks she can cling to others and sees in the evolution Giacomo undergoes a lifeline to save herself." As a filmmaker, "what I try to bring is my idea of cinema, my own style, which doesn't have to be over-the-top or unreal, Santi noted. "I try to create microcosms or micro-worlds that have rules, and within those rules I try to have fun.