Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #69. Michelangelo Frammartino’s Tarda primavera

Published on January 8, 2016

Late Spring

Director: Michelangelo Frammartino
Writer: Michelangelo Frammartino

Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino announced himself as an important new cinematic talent with his 2010 sophomore film Le Quattro Volte. He’s been developing his latest feature Tarda primavera (Late Spring) with producer Marta Donzelli, who had claimed the feature was supposed to film over the summer in 2015. Described as a fantasy film version of Pinocchio but told in reverse order, no confirmations of completion have yet to surface, so there’s a possibility this could be delayed until 2017 depending on Frammartino’s post-production period. The title is meant to close the animist trilogy that began with his 2003 film The Gift.

Cast: NA

Producers: Marta Donzelli

U.S. Distributor: Rights available TBD (domestic/international)

Release Date: Le Quattro Volte was unveiled in Directors’ Fortnight. If Frammartino is indeed ready for 2016, we expect a slot in UCR, if not a fighting chance at the Italian slot in the main competition.

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).