Elio Germano Channels Antonio Ligabue in Berlinale 2020 Film

The film 'Volevo nascondermi', directed by Giorgio Diritti and starring Elio Germano as Antonio Ligabue, premiered in competition at the Berlinale 2020 and is set for theatrical release via 01Distribution. The biopic traces the life of the painter and sculptor (1899–1965), born in Zurich and raised in Italy, who turned to painting as an escape from loneliness and marginalization. Ligabue, nicknamed Toni, had a troubled childhood as the son of an Italian migrant in Switzerland, was fostered by a couple with whom he had a love-hate relationship, and after attacking his foster mother was expelled from Switzerland as 'unfit' and sent to Italy, where he lived along the Po River enduring cold, hunger, and solitude. Diritti and Germano reject the simplistic view of Ligabue as merely anguished and tormented (as Cesare Zavattini described him), instead portraying him as a combative man who fought for his place in society and could also laugh. The film covers his entire life, highlighting marginalization at every age, others' discomfort, self-acceptance, and eventual artistic recognition, first by artist Marino Mazzacurati. It is not a conventional biopic but a social and artistic narrative that shows the act of creation, with Germano/Ligabue feeling the painting as an extra-corporeal extension. This is not Germano's first historical role; he previously played Saint Francis of Assisi in 'Il sogno di Francesco' (2016) and Giacomo Leopardi in 'Il giovane Favoloso' (2014).