Italo pubcaster Rai’s sales arm Rai Com has taken world sales on two Cannes titles, mob noir "Pericle il nero" ("Pericles the Black Man") which will screen in Un Certain Regard, and juvenile jailhouse romancer "Fiore", one of three Italo titles launching from Directors’ Fortnight, Variety said.
Directed by Stefano Mordini, whose "Steel" was in Venice Days in 2012, "Pericles" (pictured) toplines Italo heartthrob Riccardo Scamarcio ("My Brother is an Only Child") as a a failed porn actor working as a Mafia hitman in Liege who disenages from the shackles of the mob after meeting a woman named Anastasia.
Buzz pic based on the eponymous Italo cult novel by Giuseppe Farrandino, published in France by the Gallimard Noir imprint, is produced by Scamarcio and Cannes main jury member Valeria Golino, in tandem with Gaul’s Alain Attal and the venerable Dardennes’ Brothers Belgium-based Les Films du Fleuve.
"Fiore" is the third feature by young director Claudio Giovannesi. It’s a romancer set in a Southern Italian juvenile detention center where sexes aren’t supposed to mix. Pis is co-produced by Italy’s Rai Cinema and Gaul’s Pupkin Production. Giovannesi made an international splash with coming-of-age drama "Alì Blue Eyes" which went to Tribeca in 2013.
