Sept. 10 – The audience at the Toronto Film Festival greeted with a long applause the world premiere of “Il sud è niente,” Fabio Mollo’s directorial debut. The film, produced by B24 Film, stars Vinicio Marchioni, Valentina Lodovini and newcomer Miriam Karlkvist. The film, ideated by a young director from Calabria (born 33 years ago in Reggio Calabria), is set in a small town on the Messina Strait and retraces an intense story of hopes and dream. The story – as detailed on www.filmitalia.org – follows Grazia, who lives with her father, Cristiano, a young widowed father who sells pescestocco (a dish from the province of Reggio Calabria) in a small shop on the outskirts of town. Grazia was 12 years old when her older brother Pietro emigrated to Germany. Since then, she never saw him again. Some time after, Cristiano explained to Grazia that Pietro had died and never spoke of him again. Today Grazia is 18 years old, with a body similar to that of a boy, as if she was physically trying to fill the void left by Pietro’s death. And, indeed, in the eyes of her father, Grazia replaced Pietro, in his life and in the workshop. Fabio Mollo has already received several awards, his feature film screenplay “Il sud è niente” was selected by Cinéfondation Atelier for the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the Talent Project Market at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, the 2010 Rome International Festival of New Cinema Network, and the Ateliers d’Angers in 2009 directed by Jeanne Moreau. He also won the Production Award and Post Production Award at the Torino Film Lab of 2010.
