Giovanni Tortorici on Working With Monica Bellucci in ‘Ketticè’

Emerging Italian director Giovanni Tortorici, whose feature debut “Diciannove” made a splash last year after launcing from the Venice Horizons section, is in competition at the Locarno Film Festival with his followup, “Ketticè,” a coming-of-age drama set in 2012 Palermo, featuring Monica Bellucci who is among the film’s few professional actors.

“Ketticè” explores the dynamics between two local sixteen-year-olds, Ketty and Giulio, who are from very different social backgrounds. They build an exclusive friendship that largely consists of getting stoned on pot that they buy from a street dealer in a Palermo housing project, an act that gives them “a shared refuge in their search for freedom, away from the judging eye of the adult world,” says the synopsis.

The film’s title, “Ketticè,” refers to Ketty’s nickname, in Sicilian dialect.

Tortorici, who is 30, relied on street casting for most of the film’s roles, the main ones being Rachele Testagrossa and Salvatore Gallina, who respectively play Ketty and Giulio.

He spoke toVariety about depicting young teens in Palermo circa 2012, a time “marked by political stagnation, cultural numbness and the first pervasive impact of social media,” working with Bellucci, and getting guidance from Luca Guadagnino.

Your first feature “Diciannove,” which means “Nineteen,” is about a 19-year-old and somewhat autobiographical. This one is about two 16-year-old kids from different social classes in Palermo. Does “Ketticè” also stem from personal experiences?

Yes, this film was born a bit by chance. After I made “Diciannove,” I came across a screenplay I’d written when I was younger, around 22, that was about 16-year-olds. I had zeroed in on lots of dynamics, expressions, mannerisms, that I’d actually even forgotten about. So I started thinking a lot about that period and everything that being 16 had entailed for me. Being in high school,…