Shooting wrapping up in Ticino for Simone Catania's film “Brianza”

After five days spent in Mendrisio, Chiasso, Novazzano, and Lugano, during which a crew and cast of about forty people were hard at work, filming in Ticino for Brianza, Simone Catania’s new film, has just wrapped up.

Filmed in Piedmont, Lombardy, and Ticino, inspired by a true crime story, and set in 2010 in the border region between Italy and Switzerland, Brianza tells the story of an honest person who finds himself committing an act he never would have thought possible. Following Drive Me Home (2018), Brianza is the second feature film directed by Italian director, producer, and screenwriter Simone Catania.

The cast, which includes Fausto Russo Alesi, Paolo Pierobon, Marina Rocco, and Matteo Cremoli, also features two actors from Ticino: Davide Gagliardi and Margherita Coldesina. The crew includes about fifteen professionals from our region, starting with director of photography Pietro Zuercher. The film’s music, composed by Victor Hugo Fumagalli, is also from Ticino.

Brianza is produced by Turin-based Indyca in collaboration with Geneva-based Beauvoir Films and Ticino-based Rough Cat, along with RSI. The film is supported by the Ticino Film Commission, among others, and has benefited from the Mendrisio Film Fund provided by the City of Mendrisio.

For both the Italian company Indyca and the Swiss company Beauvoir, this marks a further strengthening of their ties with Ticino, a region that has already hosted some of their previous productions. “Switzerland has been a partner of ours since the days of the documentary smoKings,” explains producer Francesca Portalupi of Indyca. “We then worked in Ticino on Michele Pennetta’s Lonely and his subsequent feature film Etera, through which we met Beauvoir Films and got along very well. Part of the story of Brianza takes place in Ticino, so it was natural for us to consider a co-production with Switzerland, and in particular with Rough Cat.” “Filming in Ticino is truly a wonderful experience,” confirms Aline Schmid, producer at Beauvoir Films. “We’ve already been to the Mendrisiotto region for Etera, and it’s great to return and work once again with people we know and get along with. The availability of regional funds, such as the one in Mendrisio, also makes a difference in our decision.

Operational support in the Ticino region for the filming in Brianza was provided by Central Productions, based in Lugano, which served as the local production service.