Screening of the award-winning film by Pietro Marcello, and adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel Martin Eden.
Introduced by Clara Caleo Green, Founder and Chair of CinemaItaliaUK.
Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli), comes from Naples’ working class, but his fate is changed forever when he defends a young boy from a beating by a security guard on the docks. The boy repays him for his kindness by inviting him into his bourgeois home, and it is there that Martin meets Elena (Jessica Cressy), the daughter of an upper-class industrial family. It is love at first sight for Eden, seduced by her education and refinement. Martin’s dream of becoming an accomplished writer is now something he hopes will elevate him to the family’s social standing and marriage with Elena. He proves himself quickly as an autodidact, but grapples with politics under the influence of a left-wing journalist, Russ Brissenden (Carlo Cecchi), who guides him deeper into socialist circles, resulting in a political reawakening that challenges his love for Elena and his aspirations to the elite world that she comes from.
Pietro Marcello‘s distinctive, visually rich adaptation of Jack London’s semi-autobiographical novel employs archive material, using saturated colours and 16mm celluloid to create a stunning and empathetic film and a timely re-working of the struggle for equality. According to Marcello: “Martin Eden tells the story of people who weren’t educated by their families or in school, but on the road. It’s the novel of the self-taught and those who believed in education as an instrument of emancipation, but were somehow let down by it.”
Distributed by Verve Pictures Ltd
Charismatic lead actor Luca Marinelli won Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival (2019) for his role as Martin.
129 min Italy/France/2019/Certificate 15
Toronto International Film Festival Winner – Platform Prize
The Italian Cultural Institute has taken the decision to verify attendee Covid-19 status on arrival at the event. Adults will need to demonstrate either:
• proof of completion of a full course of vaccination, or
• proof of negative lateral flow test result taken within 48hr.
Face covering is required during the event, unless exempt. Sanitiser will be provided.