20 Cigarettes (2010)
"20 sigarette" (original title)

Autobiographical story about an assistant director who receives an offer to fly to Iraq in order to shoot a film.

Director:

Aureliano Amadei

Writers:

Aureliano Amadei (story), Francesco Trento (story),

Stars:

Vinicio Marchioni, Carolina Crescentini, Giorgio Colangeli

18 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vinicio Marchioni	...	Aureliano
Carolina Crescentini	...	Claudia
Giorgio Colangeli	...	Stefano Rolla
Orsetta De Rossi	...	Carlotta
Duccio Camerini	...	Padre di Aureliano
Alberto Basaluzzo	...	Massimo Ficuciello
Antonio Gerardi	...	Produttore
Edoardo Pesce	...	Tino
Nicola Nocella	...	Cico
Andrea Iaia	...	Olla
Silvio Laviano	...	Melis
Giovanni Carroni	...	Generale Stano
Vanni Fois	...	Colonnello Scalas
Stefano Mereu	...	Piras
Fabrice Scott	...	Dottor Fester

Storyline

Autobiographical story about an assistant director who receives an offer to fly to Iraq in order to shoot a film.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Release Date:

8 September 2010 (Italy)

Also Known As:

20 Cigarettes

Company Credits

Production Co:

R&C Produzioni, Rai Cinema, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali (MiBAC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Venti sigarette - Backstage (2011)

User Reviews

A remarkable first film

A remarkable first film, made by Amadei from his own real life experience of going to Iraq in 2003 to be an assistant director on a film, and almost winding up dead.

The war sequences are terrific and powerful in execution; harrowing, cinematic, real and yet stylized, largely seen from a subjective camera.

The film is quite moving in the end, and Amadei is willing to let himself (played very well by Vincio Marchioni) come off as a flawed, real human being. Re-examining one's self and one's traumatic experience with a sense of clarity, but without losing emotion would be a challenge for any artist, but as a first feature it is very special.

I also liked that the film wasn't afraid to be a very disturbing film about the realities of war, but still have a comedic edge at time. Life is both tragic and funny, but rare is the film that can walk both sides of that street.

Once in a while the style gets a bit overdone, to the point of breaking a sense of reality, but that's a small fly in a very rich ointment.

I hope Amadei's immense talent can translate to telling stories other than his own.