Marco Bellocchio Shooting TV Series ‘Portobello’

Revered Italian auteur Marco Bellocchio is back behind the camera shooting “Portobello,” a TV series reconstructing one of Italy’s most clamorous travesties of justice.

The show marks the first project out of the gate hailing from Our Films, the new shingle headed by prominent producer duo Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli best known for shepherding “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.”

The six-episode Bellocchio series will delve into the true story of popular Italian TV host Enzo Tortora who, among other programs, conducted a primetime game show titled “Portobello” that aired on Italian state broadcaster RAI starting from 1977 for seven seasons.

Tortora in 1985 was accused by several alleged ex-mobsters turned informants and state witnesses of being part of a Neapolitan crime syndicate dedicated to drug trafficking. After being sentenced to ten years in prison and spending some time behind bars, plus enduring a lengthy trial, Tortora’s conviction was eventually fully overturned by Italy’s Supreme Court in 1987 amid widespread belief that the TV host had been the victim of corrupt judges and prosecutors.

“Tortora suffered a great injustice: arrested, tried and convicted, he was fully acquitted only after a long judicial odyssey,” said Bellocchio in a statement. “He was a fighter, but the fight made him sick and led to his [premature] death,” added the director who went on to note that he does not intend to turn Tortora “into a saint-like figure,” but rather dig deep into the nuances of his character and story.

The “Portobello” cast comprises frequent Bellocchio collaborator Fabrizio Gifuni, as Enzo Tortora, plus Lino Musella, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Barbora Bobulova, Alessandro Preziosi and Fausto Russo Alesi.

Gifuni previously starred as former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro in Bellocchio’s limited TV series “Exterior Night” about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of the country’s leader by Red Brigades terrorists.

The “Portobello” series is lead-produced by Our Films with Bellocchio’s Kavac Film. It is an Arte France co-production also in collaboration with Fremantle’s The Apartment Pictures. “Portobello” is written by Marco Bellocchio with Stefano Bises (“Gomorrah”), Giordana Mari (“My Love”) and Peppe Fiore (“The King”).

Filming on “Portobello” has just begun in Rome, with additional locations set in Sardinia, Campania and Lombardy.

Based in Rome, Our Films reunites Gianani and Mieli, who earlier this year exited their respective Fremantle-owned banners, Wildside and the Apartment, and launched their new shingle that is part of European indie studio Mediawan. While at Fremantle, Mieli produced a number of critically acclaimed films such Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” starring Angelina, Jolie and Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Gianani is the producer, among other titles, of Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” and Paola Cortelllesi’s smash hit “There’s Still Tomorrow.” Gianani and Mieli were previously partners in Wildside before it was acquired by Fremantle.