Jean Vigo Italia

Thanks to its constant work throughout the years, Jean Vigo Italia S.r.l. has reached an important position among Italian independent producers. The company has successfully realized many projects and has obtained prestigious awards in Italy and abroad. At the same time, its precise production policy results in a strong identity and coherence.

The origin of Jean Vigo Italia S.r.l. is Cooperativa Jean Vigo, established in 1976 to produce the film Forza Italia!, a satirical and cruel portrait of the Christian Democratic party that was prevailing at that time. Oddly enough, the title coincides with the name of the political party founded many years later by Silvio Berlusconi, with whom the film has obviously nothing to do.

Despite its success, Forza Italia! was withdrawn from the Italian theatres on 16 March 1978, the day when Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian Democratic party, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades who killed the five policemen escorting him. During his captivity, before being killed by the terrorists, Aldo Moro mentioned Forza Italia! in one of his letters, saying that people should see it to become aware of the ruthlessness of his fellow party members.

After this first experience, Cooperativa Jean Vigo, then become Jean Vigo Italia Srl, started to realize arthouse movies, expressing different and controversial points of view, in line with the message of Jean Vigo, the French director after whom it is named, author of unforgettable films on freedom such as A propos de Nice, Zéro de conduite, L’Atalante.

Among the works realized over the years, often through international co-productions: Maledetti vi amerò (To love the damned), the directorial debut of Marco Tullio Giordana; Le chiavi di casa (The keys to the house) by Gianni Amelio; Last Summer by Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli; The Demons of St. Petersburg by Giuliano Montaldo; many of the films by Roberto Faenza, from Sostiene Pereira (According to Pereira) to The truth lies in Heaven inspired to the story of Emanuela Orlandi, the 15-years old Vatican citizen mysteriously disappeared in 1983.

Jean Vigo Italia’s latest productions are Andrei Konchalovsky’s “The Sin”, soon to be released, a powerful visionary reconstruction of Michelangelo’s art, realized through an international co-production of 14 million euro budget; and “5 is the perfect number”, written and directed by the famous graphic novelist Igort, starring Toni Servillo, one of Paolo Sorrentino’s favorite actors, also to be released later this year.

The company is currently developing, in addition to the TV series based on “Le Case del Malcontento” (“Grudgeville”), a theatrical movie based on the life of Mario Capecchi, Nobel prize for medicine in 2007: the extraordinary and adventurous transformation of a wild boy into a great scientist.