Creative Documentary Architecture of Happiness
At Festivals
Campione d’Italia lies on Lake Lugano, surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino.
For almost a hundred years, the exclave has lived exclusively from this casino, both economically and in the self-image of its inhabitants. It was an employer for everyone, and it was glamor, cosmopolitanism, luxury villas, Sophia Loren, Frederico Fellini; the fur coats, the cars! Their glitter gilded everyone.
But then the casino files for bankruptcy overnight. Since then, the municipality and its unemployed residents have also gone bankrupt. Sadness hangs over the streets and promenades; above all this, the casino broods as a monolith that has become meaningless.
What happens to a community whose center of meaning suddenly no longer exists? Does it find the courage and insight to embrace something new, or does everything sink into lethargy? The film traces universal processes in the manageable structure of a village community. Its protagonist is a friendly fool whom everyone in Campione knows. For he plants flowers in this gray place.
Countries of production: DE/CH
Runtime: 77´
Year: 2025
Languages: Italian, French,Turkish
Subtitles: German, English, French, Italian
Festivals
Solothurn Film Festival, Switzerland, 2025Credits
Written and directed by Michele Cirigliano and Anton von Bredow
Produced by Hercli Bundi and Thomas Tielsch
Co-produced by Mira Film with Filmtank Hamburg and RSI/SRF.
Funded by Swisslos-Fond Basel-Stadt, Swisslos-Fonds Basel-Landschaft, Bundesamt für Kultur, Kulturfonds Suissimages, Ticino Film Commission, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Filmförderungsanstalt FFA.