US audiences will also be able to see the story of Edgardo Mortara’s forced conversion told. A distribution house has in fact secured the rights to the splendid Kidnapped, the latest film by Marco Bellocchio
Kidnapped Of Mark Bellocchio will sail to the United States soon. One of the three Italian films in competition at the last Cannes Film Festival, which ended more or less two weeks ago, has in fact found a stars and stripes distribution: the Cohen Media Group.
The good news comes from Variety, who’s calling Looker “reverend master” and which defines Kidnapped “a beautifully edited period film”. On the other hand, those who dealt with the purchase of the rights to the story in images of the story of Edgardo Mortara he has declared:
Marco Bellocchio’s latest film is a powerful and important story that will appeal to American audiences (…) Marco Bellocchio has been a director respected throughout the world for several decades and we are therefore happy to show viewers the moving work of a true master .
Read also Kidnapped: the review of Marco Bellocchio’s film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2023
The protests of the Jewish community of Rome
After summarizing the plot of the film, which was making sparks at our box office, Variety spoke of a controversy that had broken out in Rome and which involved the chief rabbi of the Jewish community of Rome. Richard DiSegni and the Vatican. The former wrote an open letter of protest in which he maintained that the official defense of Pius XI and his system of persecution “is gaining more and more ground in Italy”. The Vatican, for its part, wanted to have its official journal (L’Osservatore Romano) write that the kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara today could never happen.
Beyond Kidnappedthe Cohen Media Group secured the rights to the film at Cannes Martin Provost Bonnard, Pierre and Marthawhich was part of the Cannes Première section.
Interpreted by Barbara Ronchi, Fausto Russo Alesi, Paolo Pierobon, Fabrizio Gifuni, Leonardo Maltese, Aeneas Sala e Filippo Timi. Kidnapped tells the story of a child torn away from his Jewish family by the Catholic Church because he was secretly baptized as a newborn.