Mindemic
Mindemic is a 2022 Italian psychological comedy drama film directed by Giovanni Basso in his directorial debut. It was in competition at the 2023 David di Donatello Awards.
The film was nominated for three Golden Ciak, including Best Emerging Director, Best Lead Actor and Best Playbill.
Plot
Nino, a retired seventy-year-old director, is tasked by his longtime producer, Fredo, to craft a new screenplay. Accepting the challenge, he types away on his cherished typewriter, inspired to create an epic war tale. Seeking aid, he reaches out to past collaborators: screenwriter De Paoli, who declines, and actor Giovanni Marino, who rejects the offered role.Lost in his creative fervor, Nino stages his script in his apartment, playing every part himself—a band of soldiers rescuing a mysterious woman in a vague war. Nino also receives a visit from a woman, a prostitute identical to his ex-wife Angela, who left him years before and with whom he's still in love. As he writes, Nino slips into a delirium where memories of Angela and his colleagues blur with his film’s plot, muddling reality and illusion.
When Angela tells him he’s dead and his world unreal, Nino persists, finishing his script with a warped conclusion.
On his apartment’s terrace—never once departed—he stands with her, accepting his fate hand in hand.
Cast
- Giorgio Colangeli as Nino
- Rosanna Gentili as Angela
- Roberto Andreucci as De Paoli
- Paolo Gasparini as Giovanni Marino
- Claudio Alfredo Alfonsi as Fredo
- Rossella Gardini as Lucia
Production
During an interview for The Hot Corn, Basso stated:The movie was filmed in Rome inside an apartment in via Galeazzo Alessi. It was entirely shot on an iPhone 8+ with an anamorphic lens. Basso also stated that all the phone & video calls that Nino makes in the film were recorded live and not added in post-production.
Promotion and Distribution
The official trailer was published on the Coming Soon YouTube channel on June 9, 2022, while a promotional clip of the film was published on MYmovies on June 14, 2022.The movie was distributed in Italian cinemas on June 15, 2022. On the 19th of September 2022 it was included in the list of twelve Italian films to possibly represent Italy at the 2023 Academy Awards. Since the 3rd of August 2023 the movie is available on demand on the streaming platform Chili. In June 2024, the film received a limited theatrical release across select Australian cinemas.