Stefano Knuchel’s “Hugo in Venice” will premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival on September 12. The film is the final installment in Knuchel’s 20-year trilogy exploring the life and work of Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt, following “Hugo in Africa” (2009) and “Hugo in Argentina” (2021). The premiere is timed to coincide with the upcoming centennial of Pratt’s birth in 2027.
Knuchel’s previous films in the series have received recognition at the Venice Film Festival. “Hugo in Africa” won the Bisato d’Oro for best director in the Horizons section in 2009, and “Hugo in Argentina” screened in Venice Days in 2021. “Hugo in Venice” is a co-production between Fiumi Film and Swiss public broadcaster RSI.
The film draws on previously unheard recorded conversations between Pratt and biographer Dominique Petitfaux, the source of the film’s title, “Il desiderio di essere inutile, Hugo a Venezia” (“A Longing to Be of No Use, Hugo in Venice”). Participants in the film include Patrizia Zanotti, managing director of Cong SA, the company that manages the rights to Pratt’s work since 1995, and writer Marco Steiner, who collaborated with Pratt and later continued the *Corto Maltese* series.
Knuchel described the title as a “philosophical provocation,” noting that while “useless” sounds rude in English, it represents a rejection of the need to constantly prove one’s usefulness. He explained that, like a tarot card, the title has two interpretations: one relating to cultural transmission and the other stemming from Pratt’s own pride in creating comics despite them being dismissed as a worthless art form. Pratt reportedly said he was “proud to be useless” when confronted with such dismissals.
Knuchel characterized each film in the trilogy as an attempt to overcome a different challenge. The first film addressed Pratt’s childhood in Ethiopia with a fascist father, focusing on finding ethics in an unethical situation. The second, “Hugo in Argentina,” explored becoming an artist and accepting the associated opportunities and burdens. “Hugo in Venice” focuses on facing mortality and recognizing that one’s legacy precedes them.
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