Winner of the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear, Elio Germano delivers a knockout performance in Hidden Away, an authentic and visionary portrait of the exceptional artist Antonio Ligabue.
The son of an emigrant Italian mother, Toni (Elio Germano, Bad Tales IFF20) is deported from Switzerland after his mother’s death. Sent to Italy against his will, he lives for years in abject poverty on the banks of the river Po, with no fixed abode and little work, but remaining true to his great passion for drawing.
Meeting the sculptor Renato Marino Mazzacurati sets him on the path to liberation as he convinces him to take up painting. Marginalised and often mocked, Ligabue becomes an imaginative artist who paints a fantasy world of tigers, gorillas and jaguars.
Delving into the artist’s dark side and horrific visions, but also his need to be understood and acknowledged, director Giorgio Diritti delivers a passionate biopic about Antonio Ligabue, a revolutionary loner in modern art.
Director: Giorgio Diritti
The director, screenwriter and producer was born in Bologna, Italy in 1959. His debut feature film, The Wind Blows Round (2005), screened at over 60 festivals around the world and won some 40 awards. His second feature, The Man Who Will Come (2009) premiered at Rome Film Fest where it won several prizes as well as securing three David di Donatello and three Nastro d’Argento Italian film awards. Hidden Away is his eighth film as director.