The Ticino Film Commission at the Venice Film Festival alongside Elisa by Leonardo Di Costanzo

On Thursday, September 4, at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, Elisa, the new film by Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo, will be presented in the international competition. The film was also shot in Mendrisiotto, with filming taking place in early April across Mendrisio, Vacallo, Morbio Superiore, and Stabio.

On the occasion of the world premiere of this new Italian-Swiss co-production, the Ticino Film Commission will be present in Venice alongside the Mendrisiotto and Lower Ceresio Tourist Organization. As Lisa Barzaghi, operational manager of the TFC, explains, “The film reception, also in collaboration with the City of Mendrisio, will be an opportunity to promote the opportunities the southernmost region of Switzerland offers to the film industry and its professionals, who were involved in the filming.” “We are particularly happy that a film partly made in our region has been chosen for this prestigious international competition,” emphasizes Nadia Fontana-Lupi, director of the Mendrisiotto and Lower Ceresio Tourist Organization. “Our region is rich in unique heritage, authentic and very welcoming. Those who have had the chance to work here have also been able to get to know it, and we hope that many others will choose it for future productions.”

Adding an extra Ticino touch to the film reception will be the Marnin pastry shop from Locarno.

Elisa is produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina and Manuela Melissano for the Italian company Tempesta with Rai Cinema, and by Amel Soudani and Michela Pini for the Ticino-based Amka Films with RSI Swiss Radio and Television. In addition to support from the Ticino Film Commission and the Mendrisio Film Fund allocated by the City of Mendrisio, the film received backing in Switzerland from the Federal Office of Culture, Repubblica e Cantone Ticino / Cantonal Film Fund, and Focal. Distribution in Switzerland at the beginning of 2026 will be handled by Ticino-based Noha Film, while release throughout Italy by 01 Distribution is scheduled immediately after the Venice screening.

Starring Barbara Ronchi, Roschdy Zem, Diego Ribon, and Valeria Golino, Elisa tells the story of a woman in prison for killing her sister and is loosely inspired by the studies of criminologists Adolfo Ceretti and Lorenzo Natali in the essay Io volevo ucciderla. The cast also includes Ticino actresses Jasmin Mattei and Roberta Fossile, and Romandy actor Antonio Buil.

Winner of the David di Donatello for Best Emerging Director with L’intervallo (2012), Leonardo Di Costanzo has also made L’intrusa (2017) and Ariaferma (2021) with Tempesta and Ticino-based Amka Films.

“With Tempesta and Amka Films, Leonardo’s journey has been supported since his debut in narrative cinema,” note Ticino producers Michela Pini and Amel Soudani. “With Elisa, this collaboration is renewed and strengthened. Being in competition at Venice with this film, the result of long-shared work, is not only an artistic achievement: it is confirmation of the strength of a production alliance that shares the same vision of auteur cinema.”

Also within the official selection of the Venice Film Festival, the Spotlight section features À bras le corps by director Marie-Elsa Sgualdo. Set in the Jura in 1941, the film tells the story of a young woman’s journey toward self-determination after becoming pregnant following a rape, with Lila Gueneau in the lead role. Produced by Ticino’s Elena Tatti for Romandy’s Box Productions with Helicotronc, Offshore, and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse, the film benefited from support from the Ticino Film Commission for the creation of subtitles through the Fund for the Promotion of the Italian Language in Swiss Cinema.