Bonifacio Angius’ is the only Italian film selected by the prestigious Californian festival
Sassari-born filmmaker Bonifacio Angius’ last work lands in USA: his movie “Ovunque Proteggimi” (“Protect me everywhere”) has been selected by Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
This is a new goal that follows the great success at Torino Film Festival 2018 and great box-office results: Bonifacio Angius with “Ovunque proteggimi” managed to beat Blockbusters and stay into the main Italian cinemas programming for 7 weeks in a row after the official release.
Now everything is ready to take part in the cinematographic event which is considered as the Los Angeles’ Academy Awards preview. The festival, set to run January 30- February 9, is one of the most important cinema events in North America and will take place in Santa Barbara (California). This is one of the Hollywood stars’ favourite seaside resorts, also known as “The American Riviera”.
The programme of the 2019 edition will include high profile names such as: Glenn Close, best actress at last Golden Globes, and Viggo Mortensen who will receive American Riviera Award. Also many others stars of international cinema like Daniel Day-Lewis, Isabelle Huppert, Cate Blanchett and Martin Scorsese treaded the Santa Barbara International Film Festival red carpet last years.
“Ovunque Proteggimi”’s leading actors Alessandro Gazale, Francesca Niedda and Antonio Angius and director Bonifacio Angius will attend the festival to support the film in the first overseas screening. The film already crossed Italian borders last 17th December at the Mostra de Cinema Italià de Barcelona and there it enjoyed both audience and critical acclaim.
“Ovunque proteggimi” is the 3rd feature lenght film by the 37-years-old filmmaker: it’s the story of Alessandro and Francesca, two solitary souls at the edge of the world looking for social rescue through an escape on the road in Sardinia.
A frame of “Ovunque proteggimi” (credits: movieinmarche.it)
As the official selection at SBIFF went public, Angius stated: «My film has been shot in my island, with local actors and craftsmanship, and I’m honoured that it could make room for itself through a universal tale of feelings and human beings strugg
ling with a hopeless life, that society often pretends not to see. Moreover, American cinema of the Seventies has been a strong source of inspiration for me, expecially for the making of “Ovunque proteggimi”. I believe the admission committee of Santa Barbara festival noticed that».
The talented Sassari-born filmmaker made his debut in 2003 with the short film “L’arte di essere felici”, but he became known for his second short “Ultimo giorno d’estate” (2005), thanks to important awards such as Best work by Sardinian author at Sardinia Film Festival the same year and Best Film at Santena Film Festival. In 2010 he shot his first feature lenght film, “SaGràscia”, and in 2012 he started the film production and distribution association “Il Monello Film”, which produced his second film “Perfidia” (2014) and the last “Ovunque proteggimi”. Last ambitious project by Angius, together with Alessandro Gazale and Francesca Niedda, is to create the City Light Cinema, and arthouse cinema and a cinema school which aims to raise young actors and actresses, cinema craftmanships and filmmakers of the Sardinian future.