Starfinancer

Peng is a Chinese pop star whose star is tarnished, new musical idols compete for the love of fans and his new manager decides to participate in the reality show This is true love, to be shot in Italy, could relaunch his career. Mandy is a young Chinese immigrant in Rome, she lives with her uncles who have a laundry, tailoring and works through a thousand jobs, dreaming of becoming a chef in the footsteps of her idol, Antonino Cannavacciuolo. They couldn’t be more different but they will end up falling in love.

In the first weekend of programming the Italian-Chinese romantic comedy The Italian recipe, shot in Rome, it had 500,000 admissions in China after being released in about 9,000 copies. The film is produced by the Italian Cristiano Bortone and directed by the Chinese director Hou Zuxin from a subject of Alberto Simone. Homage to comedy American cult Roman holidays with Gregory Peck And Audrey Hepburnthe film plays with irony on Italian and Chinese stereotypes by mixing languages, style, music.

‘The Italian recipe’, the video clip of the Chinese film shot in Rome

The project stems from the workshop of the European association Bridging the dragon, created to foster collaboration opportunities with China in the audiovisual field. “The enthusiasm of the participants for Alberto Simone’s screenplay prompted us to develop it into a film designed for the general Chinese audience, which is still fascinated by classics such as Roman holidays and from the image of Italy and its extraordinary excellences – explained the producer Bortone – Here are therefore iconic elements in the film such as the Vespa, the kitchen (embodied by chef Cannavacciuolo), the football victories against Germany, the Aperol Spritz overlooking the rooftops of Rome, the sunrise over the holes and the glimpses of the most beautiful city in the world. “The four-handed work meant that the film never falls into the error of the Danish film Tuscany who “set” the Parmigiano in Tuscany with a consequent and just protest from the Parma Consortium.

Far from it happens The Italian recipe where Mandy, as well as a tour guide for middle-aged Chinese ladies complete with a muscular gladiator who appears on the open bus and for the modest sum of six euros poses for photos, as well as being a criminal law student at night, she is also a dishwasher and potato peeler in an Italian restaurant where he steals the recipes of Roman-style artichokes with his eyes. When her Italian friend Antonio asks her to replace him to pick up important Chinese guests at the airport, she Mandy cannot escape and on that occasion, amid a thousand gaffes and delays, she meets Peng.

‘The Italian recipe’, the video clip of the Chinese film shot in Rome

“There is a saying that says that you should always look for your” soul mate “, and only then will you be complete – says director Zuxin Hou, born in Beijing but who studied in Los Angeles and has a video clip from 23 million views and with this film he made his feature film debut – But is it really like that? And what is really a soul mate? I believe that instead of waiting for someone to “complete” us, true love is what helps us understand who we really are, which helps us to become the person we wanted and perhaps never had the courage to be “.

The film is set in the iconic places of the capital: the Colosseum, Castel Sant’Angelo, the Trevi Fountain, but also the Santa Cecilia Conservatory. The soundtrack is by Santi Pulvirentihistorical collaborator of Carmen Consoli, but the director was happy to be able to insert “part of the score of the Love theme from New Cinema Paradisothe music composed by your famous musician Ennio Morricone so as to pay homage to this legendary Italian figure who has always been in my heart. The Italian recipe it is truly a joint effort of many Italian and Chinese talents. I really enjoyed shooting in Rome with such a varied and creative troupe, sharing with them our great cultural distances but also everything that unites us in the vision of art and life. I hope this film can connect Chinese and Italian audiences through the celebration of food, music, love and the important things in life. “