Italy’s Fandango has scored multiple sales on “Sweetheart” (“Gioia Mia”) the delicate generation gap drama by Margherita Spampinato who is being honored with Kering’s Emerging Talent Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The fresh film about a cheeky young boy named Nico who is raised in a tech-savvy family and forced to spend the summer in a seaside Sicilian town with his grumpy and religious elderly aunt also recently won Italy’s David di Donatello award for best first work, while Aurora Quattrocchi, who plays the elderly aunt known as Zia Gela, scooped the actress David.
In the film, Nico and Gela’s initial wariness soon gives way to friendship. To Nico’s amazement, the mysterious house where Gela lives with her faithful dog is actually full of secrets. And, some claim, vengeful Sicilian spirits.
Produced by Benedetta Scagnelli and Alessio Pasqua for Yagi Media and Arcopinto, “Sweetheart” launched from the Locarno Film Festival. It has now sold to: Greece (Cinobo); Germania and Austria (Arsenal); Australia and New Zealand (Palace); The Netherlands (Arti Film); former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom); Taiwan (AV Jet); Brazil (Pandora/Belas Artes Grupo); Israel (Lev Cinemas LTD); and Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay (Zeta Filmes).
Kering’s Emerging Talent Award, which comes with a €50,000 ($57,000) grant to support a debuting director’s second work, was given to Spampinato for “Sweeheart” which, through this story of a young boy discovering love, memory, and mystery during an unexpected stay in a seaside Sicilian town, “captures the freshness of childhood while exploring themes of transmission, hidden histories, and the unseen,” according to a Kering statement. Spampinato was selected for the award by her predecessor, Brazilian director Marianna Brennand, who won it in 2025.
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