New trailer for The City of the Living, telling the story of the Luca Varani murder

One of the most debated murder cases in recent Italian history is being brought to the big screen.

According to a report announced by Deadline today, Piperplay has taken over the worldwide sales of the film titled The City of the Living, known internationally as La città dei vivi. Along with the agreement, the international trailer for the production was shared for the first time. The film will premiere in front of audiences at two major festivals in the coming weeks: first at the Orizzonti competition of the Venice Film Festival, followed by the Toronto Film Festival.

It's not the murderers at the center, but Luca

The film is loosely adapted from the 2020 book of the same name by Strega award-winning Italian author Nicola Lagioia.

The source material examined the case of 23-year-old Luca Varani, who was murdered in Rome in March 2016, not just as a crime file, but as a literary true-crime work exploring the nature of city, class, loneliness, identity, and violence.

Gabbriellini's film approaches the incident from a slightly different angle.

In the official summary of the Venice Film Festival, the production is described as “the unfinished coming-of-age story of a young man searching for his place in the world.” Luca, portrayed by Emanuele Maria Di Stefano, is followed as a 23-year-old trying to find direction in his life while living among his loving adoptive family, friends, and girlfriend. A chance encounter one night interrupts his life with a violence that is hard to explain.

This choice is significant. Instead of merely pursuing the question “How was Luca Varani killed?”, the film seeks to open up space for who he was before the murder and the world he lived in within Rome.

The D’Innocenzo brothers on the script

The creative team of the film includes notable figures from contemporary Italian cinema.

The screenplay directed by Edoardo Gabbriellini also features Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo. The brothers, known for Bad Tales, America Latina, and Dostoevskij, are also involved as executive producers on the project.

Emanuele Maria Di Stefano is joined in the lead role by Valerio Mastandrea, Gaia Merlonghi, Simona Senzacqua, and Roberta Mattei. The film has a runtime of 103 minutes.

On the production side, Eagle Pictures, Cinemaundici, and Lungta Film are involved, while HBO Max is among the supporting partners. Eagle Pictures will handle distribution in Italy.

The first major test in Venice

The City of the Living has been selected for the Orizzonti competition at the 83rd Venice Film Festival.

Orizzonti is the competitive section of the festival that focuses on new cinematic languages and emerging directorial approaches. Gabbriellini's film is among the 19 productions competing in this section this year.

After its Venice screening, the film will head to Toronto. The production is listed as having its international premiere in the TIFF program; thus, the festival journey will move from Europe to North America.

Piperplay taking over sales just before these two festivals is no coincidence. The initial reviews coming from Venice and Toronto could directly impact the distribution agreements in the remaining international territories.

Rome is not just a backdrop

As in Lagioia's book, the film does not use Rome merely as the city where the story takes place.

The official promotion from Venice promises a portrait that reveals the city's “cracks, loneliness, and contradictions” through Luca's story. As Luca moves from the center of Rome to surrounding neighborhoods with his friends, the film juxtaposes a personal coming-of-age story with the dark side of the city.

This also distinguishes The City of the Living from a straightforward serial killer or murder investigation film. While a real crime case serves as the starting point, the focus is not on the mythology of the perpetrator but on a young man whose life was cut short and the city surrounding him.

The simultaneous release of the new trailer with the worldwide sales indicates that the film has moved beyond being just a production within Italy and has entered the international festival and distribution process.

The next step is Venice: The City of the Living will face its first audiences in the Orizzonti competition.