PvNew has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Marco Bellocchio’s “Kidnapped” (Rapito), which has its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film starts in 1858 in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, when the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education.
Edgardo’s parents, distraught, will do anything to get their son back. Supported by public opinion and the international Jewish community, the Mortaras’ struggle quickly takes a political dimension. But the Church and the Pope will not agree to return the child, to consolidate an increasingly wavering power.
The film stars Paolo Pierobon, Fausto Russo Alesi, Barbara Ronchi, Enea Sala (as the young Edgardo Mortara), Leonardo Maltese (Edgardo as a young adult) as well as Filippo Timi and Fabrizio Gifuni.
The cast is completed by Andrea Gherpelli, Samuele Teneggi, Corrado Invernizzi, Aurora Camatti, Paolo Calabresi, Bruno Cariello, Renato Sarti, Fabrizio Contri and Federica Fracassi.
“Kidnapped” is produced by IBC Movie and Kavac Film with Rai Cinema in coproduction with Ad Vitam Production (France) and The Match Factory (Germany), coproduced with the participation of Canal +, Ciné+ and BR/ARTE France Cinéma in association with Film-und Medienstiftung NRW with the support of Région Ile-de-France, and is produced by Beppe Caschetto and Simone Gattoni.
The film received support from MIC Ministero della Cultura and the Emilia-Romagna region through the Emilia-Romagna Film Commission.
It will be released in Italy through 01 Distribution on May 25. Ad Vitam is handling French distribution, with a release date set for Nov. 8. The Match Factory is handling international sales.
