David di Donatello: EDI wins Best Visual Effects for “The Forbidden City”

VFX Supervisor Stefano Leoni and Producer Andrea Lo Priore accepted the award for their work on Gabriele Mainetti’s film: over 300 shots integrated with numerous fight scenes, transforming Cinecittà into China.

At the Cinecittà studios, on a portion of a courtyard built by the production design team, the EDI (Effetti Digitali Italiani) team utilized VFX to recreate China and modify various glimpses of Rome for Gabriele Mainetti’s latest film, “The Forbidden City.” The film is a Wildside production (a Fremantle group company), Piperfilm, and Goon Films, distributed in theaters by Piperfilm.

Under the supervision of Stefano Leoni, this significant undertaking involved creating set extensions and enhancing the action sequences with digital wounds, blood, and sharp blades, a performance that earned the David di Donatello for Best Visual Effects.

“In synergy with the director and the production design team, we handled the reconstruction of the entire exterior for the scenes set in China, which open and close the film,” explained Leoni, now at his third David di Donatello win following Rose Island and Mainetti’s Freaks Out. “Using VFX, we expanded the shots to make the scenery feel more imposing within actions filmed in confined spaces.”

The work didn’t just cover China, but also parts of Rome. “Gabriele Mainetti wanted Piazza Vittorio to be visible at the end of the street where the Chinese restaurant is located,” Leoni added. “We actually filmed that in a nearby street using a green screen, later creating the background where the Parco delle Cascine is visible.”

Before the final scene, the action shifts to a factory. “We realized it in a parking lot, adding the entire industrial background in VFX and using the railway area to have a freight train pass through, making the setting more interesting,” Leoni noted. “Inside the factory, with help from the Director of Photography, we created light transitions to simulate the passing of the train cars.”

The supervisor’s role also involved collaborating with the director to enhance live-action prosthetic effects through digital augmentation. “It’s a show with over 300 VFX scenes, all seamlessly integrated, an almost ‘invisible’ job that truly showcases the value of our intervention.”

For a film rich in combat, EDI enriched the fights with digital blood and blades, which also eased the reset process between takes. “Gabriele Mainetti had beautiful choreography; we helped complete it with elements that made it more poetic, like the scene where Mei fights with bouquets of flowers in the market,” said Leoni. “Adding VFX flying petals at every impact made everything more beautiful.”

In a continuous sequence shot in a kitchen: Combat Details: Wounds, blood splatters, and objects thrown in the air were integrated or emphasized with visual effects. Practical Integration: Boiling oil poured on the floor was a practical effect integrated with CGI smoke and splatter interactions. Cleanup: The team also removed protective mats used by the stunt performers.

One of the most emotional moments is a full CGI shot: “The scene of the origami thrown by Mei onto her sister’s pyre, which burns slowly until it disappears in the wind, was done entirely in CGI, and the final result is moving.”

Synopsis

Mei, a mysterious Chinese girl, arrives in Rome in search of her missing sister. Meanwhile, Marcello (a chef) and his mother Lorena struggle to run the family restaurant amidst the debts left by his father Alfredo, who abandoned them. When their destinies cross, Mei and Marcello fight ancient cultural prejudices and ruthless enemies in a battle where revenge cannot be separated from love.