Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #14. Il Buco – Michelangelo Frammartino

#14. Il Buco / The Hole

It’s been a full decade without a new narrative feature from Italy’s Michelangelo Frammartino, whose Le Quattro Volte was one of 2010’s most notable films. After spending years developing a project called Late Spring, which was said to be a Pinocchio-like fantasy told in reverse, this past September Frammartino finally commenced a new project, Il Buco (The Hole), a period piece on some noted spelunkers, lensed by famed DP Renato Berta (who’s worked with countless French auteurs, winning a Cesar for his work on Malle’s 1987 classic Au Revoirs les Enfants and also the latest project from Philippe Garrel). This project is produced by Doppio Nodo Double Bind with Rai Cinema, and co-produced by France’s Société Parisienne de Production, Germany’s Essential Filmproduktion, and also supported by Calabria Film Commission, Mibact, the CNC, Arte/ZDF, and Eurimages.

Gist: In 1961, a group of speleologists discover the world’s second deepest cave, the Bifurto Abyss. Fascinating recap of where Frammartino got the idea from can be found at Cineuropa.

Release Date/Prediction: Frammartino won the Label Europa Cinemas award out of Directors’ Fortnight for Le Quattro Volte. With production ending in October (you can watch the crew take over a small village in Calabria), we expect his third feature to premiere at Cannes 2020, potentially in the Un Certain Regard sidebar. While we wait for the film to drop, check out his Italian language masterclass in late 2018.