Horizons - Award-Winning Films 2003 / Velocita massima / Italy 2002
Seventeen-year-old mechanic Claudio works for Stefano, who takes advantage of the kid’s ability to turn any old junker into a hot rod: at night the two take part in illegal races. The film captures the collision between a perceptive young man and a world gone gaga over speed in all its many forms. The film was shown in competition at last year’s Venice IFF where it won the FEDIC Film Club Prize.
Seventeen-year-old Claudio lives only for fulfilling his dream of becoming an auto mechanic. After a fight with his father he goes to “apprentice” for Stefano, the 35-year-old owner of a small garage in the seaside town of Ostia. Drowning in debt, the shrewd Stefano takes advantage of Claudio’s natural ability to bring any motor up to maximum efficiency. During the day the two mechanics repair minor problems on middleclass Fiats, but after the sun goes down they drive to Rome in a souped-up Ford for illegal nighttime races. There the innocent and as yet sexually-uninitiated Claudio meets a hot blonde bartender named Giovanna who spends her days dreaming of a better life. Vicari’s movie dramatizes the simple story of a young man’s introduction into a world of speed: cars and sexual experiences, promises quickly made and even more quickly broken. But acceleration has its limits, and in a highly unusual way the uncommonly “slow” Claudio rebels against the hurtful shallowness of those feeding off him. The film was shown in competition at last year’s Venice IFF where it won the FEDIC Film Club Prize.
111 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Daniele Vicari
/ Screenplay Maura Nuccetelli, Laura Paolucci, Daniele Vicari
/ Dir. of Photography Gherardo Gossi
/ Music Massimo Zamboni
/ Editor Marco Spoletini
/ Producer Domenico Procacci
/ Production Fandango
/ Cast Valerio Mastrandrea, Cristiano Morroni, Alessia Barela, Ivano DeMatteo, Emanuela Barilozzi, Massimiliano Dau, Massimiliano Varrese
/ Contact Intramovies
Daniele Vicari (b. 1967, Caste di Tora, Italy) has made many short films and documentaries, including a contribution to Partisans (Partigiani). He and Guido Chiesa shot the documentary Non mi basta mai (1999) about five Fiat employees discharged in 1980. Velocita massima is his feature debut. Filmography: Il nuovo (1993), Mari del sud (1996), Partigiani (1997), Bajram (1997), Uomini e lupi (1998), Comunisti (1998), Sesso marmitte e videogames (1999), Non mi basta mai (1999), Morto che Parla (2000), V-Max(2002).
Intramovies
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Phone: +39 064 577 7930
E-mail: [email protected]
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