The Art of Happiness () is a 2013 Italian animated drama film written and directed by Alessandro Rak, at his directorial debut. It opened the International Critics' Week at the 70th Venice International Film Festival.
Plot
Sergio works as a taxi driver in Naples; under a heavy rain, he brings his customers through the increasingly degraded city. At the same time he tries to cope with the death of his brother, who departed for Tibet ten years before and never returned. On the seats of his taxi a singer, a radio speaker, an old uncle and other characters alternate, and each of them brings a trace of his missing brother.
Cast
Leandro Amato as Sergio Cometa
Luigi Meola as Young Sergio
Nando Paone as Alfredo Cometa
Matteo Russo as Young Alfredo
Renato Carpentieri as Luciano Cometa
Jun Ichikawa as Antonia
Lucio Allocca as Sergio and Alfredo's Father
Iolanda Semez as Mrs. Pinotta, Sergio and Alfredo's mother. Patrizia Di Martino as Erika Antonio Brachi as Maurizio Brachetti Ciro Cesarano as Nando Silvia Baritska as Lariza Riccardo Polizzy Carbonelli as Speaker Gennaro Matino as himself, the priest in Alfredo's funeral. Paola Tortora as Woman in Bass Dario Sansone as Man in Bass Antonio Funaro as the voice of the taxi's radio. Francesca Romana Bergamo as the voice of the radio news Robert Thurman as himself
Accolades
The Art of Happiness won the award for best animated film at the 27th European Film Awards.
It also won the audience's award for Best Feature Film at the 2014 Raindance Film Festival.
References
External links
2013 films
European Film Awards winners (films) Italian animated feature films 2013 animated films Italian drama films Animated drama films Films set in Naples 2013 directorial debut films 2010s Italian films Animated films set in Italy