(2025, Italy, 125')
An inept tennis coach – the self-proclaimed former champion Raul Gatti (Pierfrancesco Favino) – and a talentless teenager, Felice (Tiziano Menichelli), thirteen years old and burdened with all his father’s expectations, meet on the court during a summer in the late 1980s. Match after match, the two embark on a journey along the Italian coast which, through defeats, lies and eccentric encounters, leads Felice to discover the taste of freedom and Raul to glimpse the possibility of a new beginning, revealing a bond that grows unexpectedly deep.
Born in Rome in 1972, he began his career as an actor in Italian cinema before moving behind the camera, directing international action films such as Escobar – Paradise Lost starring Oscar-winner Benicio Del Toro and Josh Hutcherson, and The Informer with Joel Kinnaman. In 2023 he returned to Italy to direct Pierfrancesco Favino in Last Night of Amore. With Il Maestro (2025), presented Out of Competition at the 82nd Venice Film Festival, he leaves action behind to try to reinvent the conventions of the Italian comedy.
