Oct 31, 2008
Gianni Di Gregorio’s debut feature MID-AUGUST LUNCH (PRANZO DI FERRAGOSTO), distributed by Fandango Portobello Sales, has won the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Award at the London Film Festival.
The annual award is given by the Satyajit Ray Foundation to a first feature which best captures the artistry expressed in Ray’s own vision.
The film has previously been awarded both the Francesco Pasinetti prize for Best Italian Film and the Luigi De Laurentis prize for Best First Film at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.
A comedy of elderly manners, the films tells the story of fifty-something Gianni, who lives with his elderly mother and has money worries.
One day in August, the administrator who takes care of the bills for their apartment building agrees to cancel Gianni's debt if he will look after his mother for a few days while he goes away with his family. Reluctantly, Gianni agrees, then finds himself with not one but three ancient and demanding guests to look after in their small apartment with only a bottle of wine for support.
PRANZO DI FERRAGOSTO has also been acclaimed by the critics. Screen International called it "small but utterly charming concealing a serious social message behind its delicate comic treatment of the burdens of old age", while Variety thought it a "surefire pleaser".