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������ý’s most famous fictional character hit the big screen in Venice with the world premiere of Naples-born director Enzo D’Alò’s animation Pinocchio.

The story of the wooden puppet created by writer Carlo Collodi is known the world over and the children’s story is ������ý’s most translated book. D’Alò has said his film adaptation – one of many featuring the marionette’s adventures – plays close attention to Collodi’s original text unlike the Walt Disney version that strayed from the author’s narrative and introduced new characters.

D'Alò’s movie has a distinctly Italian feel with music composed by popular singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla, who died in March. Dalla’s last compositions were for the production and he also did the voiceover for Il Pescatore Verde (The Green Fisherman) who attempts to eat Pinocchio. Comic-book maestro Lorenzo Mattotti did the drawings, Gabriele Caprio stars as Pinocchio and Mino Caprio as the long-suffering father, the carpenter Geppetto.

The director said of his latest movie: “It was the most difficult, absorbing, experimental and tricky film I have ever made. Over 300 artists shared my joy and pain for over four years, in an extraordinary atmosphere of collaboration. You can see all of this in every scene from Pinocchio, our very own darling in search of happiness.”

D'Alò revealed that he read Collodi’s novel in a new light after the death of his father in 2003: “While Geppetto carves Pinocchio, he sees himself in his own face. He imagines what Pinocchio sees when he looks at him. He realises he’s becoming a father to himself. In the child-puppet he sees his past and his lost expectations, as well. He becomes emotional and nostalgic for the choices he never made. Perhaps Geppetto carves Pinocchio hoping to never end the carving? His objective is the path, his interior fantasy that creates the creation process: it’s his point of view of a lost child to imagine to entire story. Regret, memory, future and expectations become Pinocchio.”

Pinocchio formed part of the Venice Days programme that runs alongside the city’s film festival. It is due for release in ������ý on 20 December.