– The director’s second work revolves around the complex relationship between the father of a child with a disability and his brother’s teenage son, and stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Fausto Russo Alesi
Actors Riccardo Scamarcio (© 2024 Dario Caruso per Cineuropa – @studio.photo.dar, Dario Caruso) and Fausto Russo Alesi (© 2025 Fabrizio de Gennaro per Cineuropa – fadege.it, @fadege.it)
Filming has kicked off in Turin on the feature film I figli della scimmia, directed by Tommaso Landucci (Caveman – The Hidden Giant [+see also:
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interview: Tommaso Landucci
film profile], selected in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori line-up) who also penned the movie’s screenplay alongside Damiano Femfert. The film will be shot over five weeks in various city centre locations.
I figli della scimmia tells the story of Dario, who has a son with a disability whom he cares for in every possible way. However, the bond he shares with his brother’s teenage son becomes increasingly far-reaching, turning into a space for the projection of desires and missed opportunities. The resulting fragile balance soon jeopardises the entire family.
The cast stars Riccardo Scamarcio (nominated four times for a David di Donatello award and recently seen in Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia [+see also:
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film profile] and Close to Me [+see also:
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film profile]), Fausto Russo Alesi (David-nominated for Exterior Night [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Marco Bellocchio
series profile] and recently gracing Duse [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Pietro Marcello
interview: Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
film profile]), Lidiya Liberman (Maternal [+see also:
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interview: Maura Delpero
film profile], Blood of My Blood [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Marco Bellocchio
film profile]), Andrea Aggio, Tancredi Naldini, Cristina Odasso and Luigi Diberti (recently seen in Storia di una notte [+see also:
film review
film profile]).
The film is being produced by Lungta Film, Mosaicon Film and Lebowski, in collaboration with RAI Cinema. The project is made with support from the Film and Audiovisual Investment Development Fund, the “Piemonte Film TV Fund” call for applications held within the FESR Piemonte 2021-2027 framework, and the Film Commission Torino Piemonte.
The winner of the 2021 Franco Solinas Prize for Best Screenplay, I figli della scimmia has enjoyed a complex international development journey: it was selected in the Alpi Film Lab organised by the Italian National Film Museum’s TorinoFilmLab, and it also took part in MIA’s Co-Production & Pitching Forum in 2023. The project then went on to scoop the Grand Prize in the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film Lab that same year.
(Translated from Italian)
