30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

In mid nineteenth-century Romagna, Stefano Pelloni finds his marriage to Barbara, the woman he loves, impeded by Don Morini, her uncle, and a pastor. After killing his rival, Pelloni goes into hiding and, nicknamed "il passatore", forms a gang that is feared throughout Romagna. Cruel to the rich but generous with the poor, he becomes very popular, although he claims many victims, among them Don Morini. The niece, to avenge the death of her uncle, leads an expedition to capture Pelloni, but her gesture will prove to be the final gesture of a never-ending love. Based on a novel by Bruno Corra, the film is a national-popular drama about the most famous "good bandit".  

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  Duilio Coletti

  Among the finest filmmakers from the pre-war period, he enjoyed considerable success with films in the historical-popular genre, including Il fornaretto di Venezia (1939), Capitan Fracassa (1940), and La maschera di Cesare Borgia (1941). His success continued even after the war, when he turned his attention to spectacular and action-packed films, but with good cultural value, such as Il grido della terra (1949) and Sotto dieci bandiere (1960).