“Pratt literally invented an art form, the graphic novel, but there was so much more about him that spoke to millions of people,” explained Swiss director Stefano Knuchel of his hero Hugo Pratt during the Sunny Side pitch of his new doc project Hugo in Venice.
“In 1967, he created the character of Corto Maltese, a sailor that fascinated a large international audience for almost 30 years. Corto was ahead of its time. The connection he had with other cultures and the role of women in his stories anticipated the values that emerge today. It is no coincidence that he was the first cartoonist in the world to be exhibited in a major museum. It was in Paris, 1984, and then he [Pratt]] received the Legion d’Honneur,” Knuchel underlined.
The 90-minute project, budgeted at €1 million with €400,000 yet to be raised, is slated to shoot Spring 2023 ahead of delivery later in the year. The producer is Vittoria Fiumi of Fiumi FilmArts & Culture. Co-producers are Kama Productions (Italy), Cong Art and Properties (Switzerland) and Magneto (France). Swiss broadcaster is RSI. “We are looking for pre-sales, distributors and international sales, and anyone interested in this project should come now and join us,” producer Fiumi told the SSD audience.
The character of Corto Maltese influenced the likes of Frank Miller who created the eponymous island used in many DC comics, director Knuchel claimed, and Woody Allen who references Maltese in his Hannah and her Sisters. In 2018, an exhibition on Bordeaux focusing on the anthropological approach of Hugo Pratt attracted 250,000 visitors in one year. In 2020, the fashion house Lanvin based a new collection on the character of Corto Maltese.
Knuchel made the previous Pratt homages Hugo in Africa in 2009 and Hugo in Argentina in 2021. “Now we’re working on a third and final chapter; the most important one, I would say, because it speaks about the most successful years of his life,” the director says. “It’s called Hugo in Venice because that’s the city he is associated with, but don’t expect the usual postcard [approach]. Pratt will take us on a very unusual trip. We will have access to the most secret island in the lagoon. We will enter the most mysterious palaces of Venice where only the magic word ‘Pratt’ allows filming…The documentary will also go beyond Venice to the islands of the Pacific passing through Paris and a mystical Switzerland…These places have a secret link that we will unveil.”
Knuchel also revealed that he has exclusive documentary rights to the comic master which makes the film a valuable commodity given that a major international fictional live action production of Corto Maltese is currently in the works. “We now have an exclusive for the next five years…so we are ready to create the most evocative documentary, also to celebrate in a couple of years the 30th anniversary of his [Pratt’s] death.”
He further underlined the international and cultural appeal of the doc. “Pratt is very well known in France, all the French-speaking countries in the world, in Italy, in Spain, in South America (mainly in Argentina), in Canada and North America,” he said. “South Korea has a strong connection with his work. So in that way it is international. I think it’s also very important, the relation between his work and his life, and this could speak to another audience also…The search, the almost spiritual search [at] the end of his life is so compelling,” Knuchel concluded.
