At MIA, the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, currently taking place in Rome, the timeless portrait of Anna Magnani breaks in with extraordinary images that describe the greatest Italian actress even thanks to an unpublished audio interview made by Oriana Fallaci.
The project was illustrated during “Italians doc it better”, the MIA section dedicated to the presentation of documentaries to international players: “The Passion of Anna Magnani” is the title of this documentary, directed by Enrico Cerasuolo, produced by Zenit Audiovisual Arts with Arte France, Istituto Luce and RaiCom, worldwide distributor. The documentary is in post-production and will be ready for the end of the year. It presents archive images and testimonies of the great characters who have crossed the career and life of the actress: the goal, as explained by producer Massimo Arvat, “is to tell the story of Magnani to an international audience.” It also has footage of the actress as an amused and embarrassed guest of “What’s My Line,” the American TV show hosted by John Daly: the actress, helped by an interpreter, in 1953 participated in this quiz show where blindfolded competitors had to guess a mysterious character.
Based upon the creative use of extraordinarily precious footage made available by the family, including film sequences, Luce and Rai archive footage, and foreign and private archive material, “The Passion of Anna Magnani” puts the actress’s unique private and professional story under a magnifying glass to reveal the path of this unconventional woman 45 years after her death. On its fourth day, MIA is attaining resounding success in all three sections – cinema, TV and documentaries – with over 1800 operators from all over the world, more than 125 market screenings, about 400 buyers, 4 windows of exclusive previews dedicated to films, television series and documentaries of the upcoming years; 58 pitching projects from 21 countries of feature films, drama series and documentaries still under development, 3 public presentation sessions, 4 days of B2B meetings, and around 40 Talks.
