From the Biennale and Berlinale, two Italian premiere titles that weave together family tales and self-seeking, across Europe’s physical and personal borders: on Jan. 16, the Trieste festival opens at the Miela Theater with Wishing on a star, a portrait of a Neapolitan astrologer seeking to change the destiny of her clients, while on Jan. 20 it doubles up with an opening at the Politeama Rossetti, which will host Lo spartito della vita (Sterben), a tragicomic work about illness, love affairs, dysfunctional relationships and confused parenting.
Trieste, December 18, 2024 – The 36th Trieste Film Festival is set to return (scheduled from
January 16 to 24, 2025), featuring two Italian premieres as the highlights of its double opening
night.
Leading the event will be “Wishing on a Star” by Peter Kerekes, on Thursday, January 16,
at Teatro Miela, followed by “Dying” (“Sterben”) by Matthias Glasner, during the
ceremony that opens the doors of Politeama Rossetti on Monday, January 20. After their
world premieres in Venice and Berlin respectively, these major European films of the year are
coming to the Trieste Film Festival audience.
To cut the ribbon for the festival, the latest work by Slovak Hungarian director Peter
Kerekes will be presented, whose films have all been featured in the festival’s past editions. Also
shot in Italy, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Campania, “Wishing on a Star” was presented in
the Orizzonti section at the latest Venice Biennale. In the film, Luciana, an astrologer from
Naples, knows a method to make her clients’ wishes come true: all they need to do is take a
trip on their birthday to a specific destination to be reborn under new celestial configurations. It
does not matter if the destination is Taipei, Beirut, or a small village close to their homes: during
birthday trips, the protagonists experience unexpected transformations and discover what they
truly desire.
Inaugurating the elegant hall of Politeama Rossetti in Trieste will be “Dying” (Sterben) by
German director Matthias Glasner. The film is a witty and profound story that won the Silver
Bear for Best Screenplay at the latest Berlinale and was crowned the best German film of the
year (also awarded the Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Score awards) at
the Lola Awards, the German Film Awards. Coming soon to theaters with Satine Film, this
comedy-drama focuses on the Lunies family, with the elderly parents Lissy and Gerd, nearing the
end of their lives, and their two children too preoccupied with their own problems to get
involved. Tom (played by Lars Eidinger, a nominee at the EFA) is a famous Berlin orchestra
conductor preparing to direct an orchestral project called “Dying” (Sterben), while his sister
Ellen is a dental assistant with alcohol problems. When the darkest moment arrives, the family
will come together once again.
