Key Points

"I don't like to have objectives. I don't love the idea that I have to do new things," the director said. "I stay at home without doing anything, and then suddenly something comes up in my mind that becomes an obsession, and I say, 'OK, let's do a movie about this obsession.'"

"Probably I am going to do worse, like many directors," he added.

Sorrentino, who appeared in conversation with Serbian filmmaker Ognjen Glavonic, is attending the Sarajevo Film Festival this year to receive an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award in "recognition of the great beauty that he gave us with his films," according to festival head Jovan Marjanovic, reported Variety.

A retrospective of his films will be shown as part of the festival's "Tribute To" program, according to Variety.

'La Grazia' is a Fremantle film produced by The Apartment, a Fremantle Company, by Numero 10, and by PiperFilm, which will be distributed in Italy. MUBI owns worldwide rights, excluding Italy. The Match Factory is handling international sales.

"I am very happy that the 82nd Venice International Film Festival will open with the new and highly anticipated film by Paolo Sorrentino," Venice head Alberto Barbera said in a statement.

"I like to recall that one of the most important and internationally acclaimed Italian auteurs made his debut right here at the Biennale di Venezia in 2001 with his first film, 'One Man Up', in my early years as the Artistic Director. The relationship with the Venice Film Festival became consolidated over the years with the presentation out of competition of the first episodes in the series The Young Pope (seasons one and two) and, above all, with The Hand of God, which, in 2021, won the Silver Lion-Grand Jury Prize," added Alberto Barbera.

He concluded by saying, "Paolo Sorrentino's return in competition comes with a film destined to leave its mark for its great originality and powerful relevance to the present time, which the audiences of the Venice Film Festival will have the pleasure of discovering on opening night".

The film will open the Venice Film Festival, which runs August 27 - September 9.

Speaking in Sarajevo, Sorrentino recalled his first visit to the Lido a quarter-century ago. "When I went the first time in Venice, I didn't know anything about the movie world," he said. "I remembered the first time I did a meeting with journalists, with 10 journalists. I didn't understand that they were journalists, and why they were sitting in front of me. It was a complete shock the first time," reported Variety.

A few months later, the filmmaker received a phone call inviting 'One Man Up' to the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival. However, Sorrentino was convinced he had been the target of a prank."

"My producer was always doing games with difference voices," he recalled. "And the guy said, 'Robert DeNiro wants your movie at the Tribeca Film Festival!'"

The director shared why he refuses to direct other people's scripts, "I understand only the things that I write", why Fellini's '8 1/2' is his favourite film ", It's a great movie because it's not perfect", and why producers are lining up to work with him. "I don't love to work on set. I'm very fast, because I can't wait to go home," he said. "Producers love me because I save money, but only because I am eager to go home to watch football matches."

The Sarajevo Film Festival will continue till August 22.

- ANI