THE SWORD AND THE ROSE also competes for the “Luigi de Laurentiis” Award, atributed to a debute feature from any section.
João Nicolas film, O Som e a Fúria most recent production, will compete along with “Sleeping Beauty”, by Catherine Breillat, “Guest”, by Jose Luis Guerin, “News From Nowhere”, by Paul Morrissey, among others.
The oldest film festival in the world is also, along with Cannes, the most internationally known. Only 20 feature film are selected each year for the competition.
Shirin Neshat, Raja Amari, Lav Diaz, Alexander Horwath and Pietro Marcello form the Orizzonti Jury.
THE SWORD AND THE ROSE, between musical, science-fiction and the Pirate movie, introduces us to Manuel, who bids farewell to his routine and boards a 15th century vessel under pirate law. Treason onboard triggers a series of terrible events our protagonist overcomes while keeping his moral principles intact.
The film’s cast includes actors as Manuel Mesquita, Joana Cunha Ferreira, Pedro Faro, Luís Lima Barreto, Lígia Soares, Tiago Fagulha, Hugo Leitão, Mariana Ricardo, Alice Contreiras, Nuno Pino Custódio e com a participação especial de Luís Miguel Cintra, José Mário Branco e Michael Biberstein.
João Nicolau formerly directed two shorts, RAPACE (2006) and SONG OF LOVE AND HEALTH (2009), both premiered at Cannes’ Director’s Forthnight, which reached a notorious success in national and international Film Festivals.
THE SWORD AND THE ROSE, co-produced with French producer Shellac Sud, is O Som e a Fúria’s fifth feature to obtain such an international recognition.