As long as there is Prosecco there is hope. An all-Italian story

It is a film of 2017 of Antonio Padovanbased on the novel of the same name by Fulvio Ervaspresented at the Feast of Rome Cinemas of 2017. An intriguing and enthralling investigation set in the fascinating hills of Veneto, the film was nominated for the Silver Ribbons.
The story takes place between the hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadenenative land of the Proseccowhere the beauty of the Italian provinceThreatened by economic interests and the grievances that threaten to suffocate it. A detective story about the charm of the earth, the effervescence of bubbles, the conflict between greed and respect. A story that should make us reflect on the legacy of beauty, the value of respecting nature and the quality of what we eat and drink. It seems at first a very simple case, the one entrusted to the Deputy Inspector Stucky, clumsy but talented, played by Giuseppe Battistonwho will have to come to terms with his own fears and a cumbersome past. Half Venetian and half Persian, with his calm and placid manner, he tries to win the trust of the locals in order to discover the truth about the "blatant" suicide of the rich and extravagant Count Desiderio Ancillotto, played by Rade Serbedzija, owner of a beautiful villa and a vast piece of land dedicated to vineyards, with which he has always produced an excellent Prosecco, unique for its excellent quality, the result of his ancestral way of working the land without pesticides, having part of the land "reforested" every year.
Openly at odds with the director of the cement factory that has sprung up in recent years, the count has long been trying to prove the environmental pollution that the new business has created and that has, in his opinion, caused many people in the small village to die. The story is full of mysterious and curious characters, who reveal themselves little by little, each playing an important role in the film's finale. There is the 'village madman', Teco Celiowho preserves the memory of the dead of Conegliano by scraping the rust off the graves every day and talking to them, recalling their vices and virtues; Stucky's uncle, affectionate but intrusive, who accompanies his nephew on his inner journey; the beautiful prostitute, guardian of the count's secret plans; the faithful maid, guardian of the villa and of the count's family memories; Desiderio Ancillotto's 'recognised' but never lived-in daughter; and the chief inspector, anxious to retire without too much trouble, who alongside his sarcasm and impatience will eventually reveal an irreproachable human side. However, the case soon becomes complicated, because the suicide of this count who loved his cellar and his vineyards is followed by the death of the cement factory director and some of his corrupt colleagues to whom the count himself had sworn revenge. But who has
taken the 'curse' of Desiderio seriously? Stucky will have to investigate amidst enigmas, secrets of the past, unmentionable sorrows, strange characters and battles to defend the land and its traditions. A detective story, imbued with human warmth and subtle irony, set in the rural beauty of Italy and nearby Venice with its iconic charm. The film also features the Knights of the Prosecco Brotherhoodan association set up in the immediate post-war period to prevent the abandonment of the vineyards by the DOCG vine growers, a hypothesis that has now been largely averted. "After spending a third of my life in New York," says Padovan the director, "Inspector Stucky came to pick me up and take me back to my homeland: a small archipelago of rolling hills dotted with vineyards, which is fast turning into a frenetic wine-financial amusement park: Proseccolandia.
As long as there is Prosecco there is hope wants to be a detective story, but at the same time a way of pointing a magnifying glass at a geographical reality little explored by Italian cinema. It is an investigation steeped in reflections on the future we want. A hymn to going slow, savouring life. A portrait of an area entangled between progress and tradition, between excellence and shame. A love letter".