Francesca Comencini on her father Luigi's 1961 flop 'A cavallo della tigre' at Bif&st 2025

At the Bif&st 2025 film festival in Bari, director Francesca Comencini discussed her father Luigi Comencini's 1961 film 'A cavallo della tigre', which was a commercial failure despite being produced by a cooperative founded by Age, Scarpelli, Monicelli, and Comencini. The cooperative was formed during a crisis in Italian cinema to allow the authors to make their films. 'A cavallo della tigre' starred Nino Manfredi and Gian Maria Volontè, telling the story of Giacinto, a prisoner who reluctantly joins an escape plan. Francesca noted that the film's paradox—where things are not as they seem—is key to its script. She emphasized that the film's failure led to the cooperative's immediate closure, contrasting with Luigi's previous success 'Tutti a casa' (1960). Francesca described her father's view of fairy tales as cruel and harsh, reflected in the film's raw portrayal of marginalized people without paternalism. She argued that box office success is not the sole measure of a film's value, noting that in 2025 we still discuss this 1961 failure. The event was part of the 'Incontri di Cinema' series at Bif&st.