The Art of Happiness (film)

The Art of Happiness
Film poster
Italian	L'arte della felicità
Directed by	Alessandro Rak
Written by	Alessandro Rak Luciano Stella Nicola Barile Paola Tortora
Starring	Leandro Amato Nando Paone Renato Carpentieri
Music by	Antonio Fresa Luigi Scialdone
Production companies	Big Sur Mad Entertainment Rai Cinema MiBAC
Distributed by	Istituto Luce Cinecittà
Release dates	August 28, 2013 (2013-08-28) (Venice) November 21, 2013 (2013-11-21) (Italy)
Running time	82 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian

The Art of Happiness (Italian: L'arte della felicità) is a 2013 Italian animated drama film written and directed by Alessandro Rak, at his directorial debut. It opened the International Critics' Week at the 70th Venice International Film Festival.[1]

Plot

Sergio works as a taxi driver in Naples; under a heavy rain, he brings his customers through the increasingly degraded city. At the same time he tries to cope with the death of his brother, who departed for Tibet ten years before and never returned. On the seats of his taxi a singer, a radio speaker, an old uncle and other characters alternate, and each of them brings a trace of his missing brother.

Cast

• Leandro Amato as Sergio Cometa
  • Luigi Meola as Young Sergio
• Nando Paone as Alfredo Cometa
  • Matteo Russo as Young Alfredo
• Renato Carpentieri as Luciano Cometa
• Jun Ichikawa as Antonia
• Lucio Allocca as Sergio and Alfredo's Father
• Iolanda Semez as Mrs. Pinotta, Sergio and Alfredo's mother.
• Patrizia Di Martino as Erika
• Antonio Brachi as Maurizio Brachetti
• Ciro Cesarano as Nando
• Silvia Baritska as Lariza
• Riccardo Polizzy Carbonelli as Speaker
• Gennaro Matino as himself, the priest in Alfredo's funeral.
• Paola Tortora as Woman in Bass
• Dario Sansone as Man in Bass
• Antonio Funaro as the voice of the taxi's radio.
• Francesca Romana Bergamo as the voice of the radio news
• Robert Thurman as himself

Accolades

The Art of Happiness won the award for best animated film at the 27th European Film Awards.[2][3]

It also won the audience's award for Best Feature Film at the 2014 Raindance Film Festival.[4]

References

1. Nick Vivarelli (August 29, 2013). "Elle Buys Italian 'Art' at Venice Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
2. ""La Mafia uccide solo d'estate" di Pif miglior commedia degli Oscar europei 2014". Adnkronos. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
3. Scott Roxborough (13 December 2014). "Polish 'Ida' Wins Big at European Film Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
4. "'Art of Happiness', Italy's film at Annecy festival". Ansa. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.

External links

• The Art of Happiness at IMDb