''Finally Dawn'' ( it, Finalmente l'alba) is a 2023 Italian

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

film written and directed by

Saverio Costanzo Saverio Costanzo (born 28 September 1975) is an Italian film and television director. Biography Early life Costanzo was born in Rome, the son of journalist and TV presenter Maurizio Costanzo and writer Flaminia Morandi, and the brother of writ ...

and starring

Lily James Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson (born 5 April 1989), better known by her stage name Lily James, is an English actress. She studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and began her career in the British television series ''Ju ...

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Willem Dafoe, various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for ...

and

Joe Keery Joseph David Keery (born April 24, 1992) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Steve Harrington in the science fiction series '' Stranger Things'' (2016–present) and for his role in the comedy film ''Free Guy'' (2021) ...

. Set in the

Hollywood on the Tiber Hollywood on the Tiber is a phrase used to describe the period in the 1950s and 1960s when the Italian capital of Rome emerged as a major location for international filmmaking attracting many foreign productions to the Cinecittà studios. By contr ...

era of 1950s Rome, the film follows a long, intense night in an aspiring actress' career. ''Finally Dawn'' premiered at the

80th Venice International Film Festival 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

on 1 September 2023, where it was selected to compete for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

Cast

as Josephine Esperanto *

as Rufus Priori *

as Sean Lockwood *

Rachel Sennott Rachel Anne Sennott (born September 19, 1995) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her online comedy television series ''Ayo and Rachel Are Single'' with Ayo Edebiri and for starring roles in the films '' Shiva Baby'' (2020) ...

as Nan Roth *Rebecca Antonaci as Mimosa *Enzo Casertano as Rinaldo

Production

On 29 August 2022, it was announced filming began in Italy. Filming wrapped on 15 October, after an eight-week shoot mainly in

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Release

''Finally Dawn'' premiered in-competition at the

on 1 September 2023. It was also invited at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 'World Cinema' section and was screened on 8 October 2023.

Reception

Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports that 50% of ten critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.2/10.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 21824548 Films shot in Italy English-language Italian films Films directed by Saverio Costanzo Italian drama films