Italian multi-hyphenate Marco Perego — who was recently on the Cannes red carpet as a producer of Cristian Mungiu‘s Palme d’Or winner “Fjord” and Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” which scooped the Grand Prix — is on a mission to foster “collaboration in cultural expression” at a time when, as he puts it, indie cinema is “under threat.”
Besides backing this year’s two top Cannes prizewinners, Perego — a visual artist, director, former professional soccer player and the husband of Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña — was also on the Croisette as part of the production team behind James Gray’s standout competition entry “Paper Tiger” as well as Kantemir Balagov’s Directors’ Fortnight opener “Butterfly Jam,” via his production company Leaf Entertainment in tandem with producer Michael Cerenzie.
And Perego is backing four more titles likely to soon surface on the festival circuit, including his sophomore feature “Petrichor,” co-written with Alexander Dinelaris (“Birdman”) and starring Valeria Golino, Isabella Rossellini and Tommaso Ragno. He’ll be editing the film during the next few weeks at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios, where Saldaña is shooting Netflix’s romantic caper “Positano” opposite Matthew McConaughey.
