Ketticè Debuts at Locarno: A Coming-of-Age Portrait of 2012 Palermo

The Italian drama Ketticè opened the competition slate of the 79th Locarno Film Festival. Written and directed by emerging filmmaker Giovanni Tortorici, the film follows 16-year-old Giulio (Salvatore Gallina) as he drifts through a listless school life in Palermo, Sicily, in 2012—the height of Silvio Berlusconi’s media-driven political era. Giulio’s routine changes when he meets Ketty (Rachele Testagrossa), a self-assured peer from a working-class background. Their friendship becomes a “shared refuge” from adult judgment, marked by late-night weed purchases, street-side conversations, and a tentative rebellion against family, school and state institutions. Monica Bellucci, one of the few professional actors in the cast, portrays Giulio’s aristocratic mother, a figure caught between societal expectations and personal frustration. The film’s title derives from Ketty’s nickname in the Sicilian dialect. International sales are being handled by PiperPlay, and the picture is in competition for the festival’s top prize.

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Luca Guadagnino, known for *Call Me by Your Name* and *Challengers*, joined the project as a producer. Guadagnino framed his support for Tortorici as an effort to revive the historic vitality of Italian filmmaking that flourished from the silent era through the 1970s.

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• Giovanni Tortorici – writer-director; sophomore feature after *Diciannove*.

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• Luca Guadagnino – producer; champion of emerging Italian auteurs.

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• Monica Bellucci – actress; plays Giulio’s mother, bringing professional gravitas to a largely non-professional cast.

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• Salvatore Gallina – actor; portrays the disaffected teenager Giulio.

"I was nervous, but Monica Bellucci laughed a lot with me during filming."

• Rachele Testagrossa – actress; embodies the rebellious Ketty.

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*Ketticè* foregrounds the friction between a privileged aristocratic family and a working-class peer group, using Palermo’s neighborhoods as a quasi-character that shapes the protagonists’ choices. By portraying youthful rebellion through both tender drama and subversive comedy, the picture seeks to capture the “unique energy of being young,” a quality noted by several reviewers as rare in coming-of-age cinema.

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• “She’s hysterical, but she doesn’t scare anyone because we know that she will never have the courage to leave.” — Monica Bellucci, one of the film’s few professional actors

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• “This is a woman who forgot about her femininity. She doesn’t take care of herself,” — Monica Bellucci, one of the film’s few professional actors

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• “Shooting this movie, I met a lot of people in Palermo, even coming from difficult neighborhoods with difficult life experiences. I find in these stories the possibility to continuing to explore this struggle of young people with authorities.” — Giovanni Tortorici, emerging italian director

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PiperPlay will manage international sales, positioning *Ketticè* for broader theatrical release beyond the festival circuit. Guadagnino’s involvement signals continued interest in nurturing emerging Italian directors, suggesting that Tortorici’s next project—described as “far from me” and rooted in stories from Palermo’s difficult neighborhoods—may also receive production support.

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