Scarlet, a French-language period drama from Italian director Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden), will be the opening night film for the 54th edition of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section. It will kick off the 2022 film festival sidebar May 18.
Set in Normandy, Northern France, between the two World Wars, Scarlet follows a young woman, a widowed war veteran, being raised by her father and struggling to find her own path in life. It features a cast of French stars, including Juliette Jouan, Raphaël Thierry, Louis Garrel and Noémie Lvovsky.
Marcello is well-known for his Italian period pieces, most recently Martin Eden, adapted from the Jack London novel, which won the best actor honor for star Luca Marinelli at the 2019 Venice Film Festival. He is also an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, with credits including Futura, which screened in Cannes last year, and La bocca del lupo, which won the Caligari Film Award in Berlin in 2010.
Marcello co-wrote the script to Scarlet with regular collaborator Maurizio Braucci (Gomorra) and Maud Ameline (Amanda), together with the participation of French novelist Geneviève Brisac. Scarlet was produced by Mustang producer Charles Gillibert at CG Cinema with Italy’s Avventurosa and Rai Cinema, in collaboration with Ilya Stewart of Hype Film and Wise Pictures’ Antonio Miyakawa. Orange Studio is handling international sales at Cannes. Le Pacte will distribute Scarlet in France.
The full Directors’ Fortnight lineup will be unveiled Tuesday, April 19. This year’s event, which runs May 18-27, will be the third and final under the auspices of artistic director Paolo Moretti.
