Venetian director Andrea Segre’s (Io sono Li, La prima neve, Il pianeta in mare) documentary Molecole (68′), made in Venice during the coronavirus lockdown, will be screened on the Pre-opening night of the 77th Venice International Film Festival. The pre-opening night screening will take place on Tuesday, Septemeber 1st, in Sala Darsena (Palazzo del Cinema) at the Lido.
Between February and April 2020, while preparing two projects, one for the theatre and one for film, director Andrea Segre was held up in Venice by the spread of the coronavirus and the following national quarantine measures. Many of his projects have been based in Venice, his father’s city, a complex city from many points of view. This pandemic “froze” and emptied out the city, restoring it to nature and its history and – at a personal level – to the director’s family memories, who used that time to gather visual notes and stories in the documentary Molecole. The film brings to the surface his bond with his Venetian father, a scientist, chemist and physicist, and the real protagonist of the film, who passed away ten years ago. The city’s isolation merges with the more personal, intimate isolation of the director, who wrote the original screenplay. The film will be released in theaters starting September 3rd, 2020.
To make a film you have to conceive it, write it, organize it and film it. None of this happened for Molecole. I didn’t even realize I was making it. It was an experience for me and the film came out by itself, in a timeframe and dimension I could not have anticipated. Molecole just spurted out. Like water. To present it as the pre-opening film of the Venice Film Festival is a great honour for me, the best way to thank the city that gave birth to it.
Andrea Segre, director of Molecule
Molecole director: Andrea Segre|screenplay: Andrea Segre | starring: Gigi Divari, Elena Almansi, Maurizio Calligaro, Giulia Tagliapietra, Patrizia Zanella | music: Teho Teardo | production: ZaLab Film with Rai Cinema, in association with Vulcano and Istituto Luce Cinecittà, in collaboration with the Teatro Stabile del Veneto Carlo Goldoni distribution ZaLab Film, Italy, 2020, 68’.
The 77th Venice International Film Festival will be held on the Lido di Venezia from September 2nd to 12th 2020 directed by Alberto Barbera and organized by La Biennale di Venezia.
About the filmmaker
Andrea Segre (Dolo, Italia, 1976) is a film and documentary director. Il pianeta in mare (A Planet in the Sea, 2019) was presented Out of Competition at the Venice International Film Festival 2019. His first fiction feature film, Io sono Li (Li and the Poet, 2011), was presented in Venice at the Giornate degli Autori – Venice Days, La prima neve (First Snowfall, 2013) participated in the competitive Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival, L’ordine delle cose (The Order of Things, 2017) was presented at the Festival as a Special Screening. His documentaries include Lo sterminio dei popoli zingari (1998, debut film) Marghera Canale Nord (2003, Special Screening in Venice), Come un uomo sulla terra (2008), Il sangue verde(2010, presented at Venice Days), Mare Chiuso (co-directed with Stefano Liberti, 2012, Collateral Event of the European Council in Venice) and I sogni del lago salato (2015, Special Project at Venice Days).