Chicago, IL…Music Box Films is pleased to announce the acquisition of all US rights to Marco Amenta’s THE SICILIAN GIRL. The film is based on the real-life drama of Rita Atria, who dared to break the mafia’s code of silence and testify against the “family business” after her father and brother were murdered.
The film stars Sicilian native Veronica D’Agostino (“Respiro”) as Rita and Gérard Jugnot (“The Chorus”) as the chief prosecutor of Palermo. Jugnot’s character is based on the anti-mafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino, who takes Rita’s confession and becomes her friend and protector.
THE SICILIAN GIRL is just the latest recent Italian movie to depict organized crime’s pervasive grip on the country using a fresh narrative approach and a sharply critical tone. A native of Sicily, writer-director Amenta has directed several documentaries about the Sicilian Mafia including an award-winning 1997 documentary about Rita Atria (“One Girl Against the Mafia: Diary of a Sicilian Rebel”).
Music Box Films president William Schopf and Roissy Films sales agent Yohann Comte negotiated the deal. Roissy, now a division of Luc Besson’s Europa Corp, also co-produced the film along with R&C Produzioni and Eurofilm. Music Box and Roissy previously worked together on the Cesar-winning film, SERAPHINE.
According to Schopf, “THE SICILIAN GIRL is an inspiring story of personal courage and a new take on the Mafia that American audiences raised on ‘The Godfather’ won’t fail to respond to.”
THE SICILIAN GIRL had its US premiere earlier this year in New York at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual New Italian Cinema series. Upcoming film festival showings include the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2010. THE SICILIAN GIRL will open theatrically in the late spring, early summer of 2010.
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