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The Open Reel has acquired international sales rights to Andrea Adriatico’s “Bitter Years,” which plays at the Rome Film Festival.

The movie, which follows the life of real life Lgbt intellectual and activist Mario Mieli, stars Sandra Ceccarelli and Antonio Catania. The screenplay is by Grazia Verasani, Stefano Casi and Adriatico. The film is produced by Saverio Peschechera for Cinemare and Rai Cinema.

Mieli was one of the founders of the Italian Homosexual Liberation Movement, created at the beginning of the 70s. He killed himself in 1983 at the age of 30. He was an activist, intellectual, writer and performer: a key figure on the Italian cultural scene, together with his friends architect Corrado Levi, painter Piero Fassoni, singer Ivan Cattaneo, activist Angelo Pezzana, writer Fernanda Pivano and poet Milo De Angelis.

“He liked to provoke and to be an innovator but, today, his thought has been completely forgotten,” according to a statement.

Helmed by Andrea Adriatico, the biopic of Mario Mieli, one of the founders of the Italian homosexual liberation movement, is handled by The Open Reel. As announced earlier this week, the 14th edition of the Rome Film Fest will run from 17-27 October (see the news), and one day earlier, Andrea Adriatico’s Bitter Years will world-premiere as part of the pre-opening selection of the gathering in the Italian capital. Bitter Years follows the important moments in the life of Mario Mieli, who was an intellectual, activist, writer, performer and artist, and was also one of the influential founders of the Italian homosexual liberation movement that started up in the 1970s. Born in Milan, Mieli was a key figure in the Italian cultural landscape, along with his friends architect Corrado Levi, painter Piero Fassoni, singer Ivan Cattaneo, activist Angelo Pezzana, writer Fernanda Pivano and poet Milo De Angelis. During his life,...