Luca Guadagnino Explains Why He Just Had to Produce Giovanni Tortorici’s Coming-of-Age Drama ‘Ketticè’ in a “Sterile” Italian Film Landscape

Luca Guadagnino didn’t come to Switzerland to share updates on the drama surrounding his OpenAI movie, Artificial, during a meeting with reporters at the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival. No, he was in town to sing the praises of a protégé. To be precise, Guadagnino came to Locarno, in Italian-speaking Switzerland, to discuss Ketticè, the sophomore feature of his former assistant, writer-director Giovanni Tortorici (Diciannove). The coming-of-age drama stars Salvatore Gallina, Rachele Testagrossa and Monica Bellucci. And yes, the movie’s list of producers includes Guadagnino. Set in Palermo, Sicily in 2012, the era of media…