Munich, Dresden, Cologne, Bonn, Karlsruhe … and Neustadt – according to the distributor “Neue Visionen”, the city on the wine route is the only smaller city that Vicario is heading to on her premiere tour in Germany, and also the only one in the Palatinate, because it will be represented by one of the actresses at the festival in Ludwigshafen. The 36-year-old Roman certainly has fond memories of the Tedeschi and her country because her film was enthusiastically celebrated at the “Berlinale” in February.
The invention of pop music in late Baroque Venice
What is “Gloria!” about? The film is advertised as a “feel-good drama about the emancipatory power of music.” The setting is historical. The setting is Venice around 1800, and the viewer is initially immersed in the world of the Ospedali, orphanages for poor girls, which can be imagined as the forerunners of the 19th century conservatories, because the Figlie di Choro, the choir girls, received a first-class education here – albeit at the price of lifelong exploitation. At the center is the maid Teresa (Galatéa Bellugi), known to everyone as “the mute”, who is imbued with an incredible musicality that enables her to break the boundaries of the canon of her era. Together with a small group of extraordinary musicians, she breaks the conventions of her time and invents a rebellious, light and modern music – the birth of pop music. And this, of all times, during the visit of the new Pope.
A tribute to the many forgotten
Margherita Vicario sees her film, for which she also wrote the music herself together with Anita Rivaroli, as a tribute to the many forgotten or suppressed female composers in history. “In my work as a songwriter, I have been confronted with the same question for years,” she says: “What do you think about the situation of women in music today? In order to find a comprehensive answer, I began researching, which led me to write ‘Gloria!'” The title refers to the “Gloria” of Vivaldi, who was himself the house composer of a Venetian Ospedale.
Vicario, born in Roman in 1988, began appearing in minor roles on Italian television in 2008. Her first role in a feature film was in 2012 in Woody Allen’s “To Rome with Love”. She made her debut as a singer in 2013 with the song “Nota bene”. In 2014 she released her first album, “Minimal Musical”, and in 2021 her second, “Bingo”, on Universal.
Still questions?
“Gloria!” will be shown at the Roxy cinema on Tuesday, August 27th, from 8.30 p.m. Beforehand, there will be a limoncello or watermelon spritz (also non-alcoholic) and an Italian antipasti plate in the foyer from 7.30 p.m. After the performance, director Margherita Vicario will answer audience questions (in English with translation). Tickets (25.50 euros) are available at the box office or at www.roxy.de.
