Giuseppe Gagliardi’s fictional documentary centres around the rediscovery of singer Antonio Ragusa, stage name Tony Vilar, who rose to fame abroad in the 1960s and then disappeared without a trace. The film portrays the journey of a distant cousin in search of his lost relative, a sort of road movie that moves through Buenos Aires, Connecticut, New York and the Bronx. Filming in Italy took place in the Calabrian municipality of Castrovillari (CS).
Giuseppe Gagliardi’s fictional documentary centres around the rediscovery of singer Antonio Ragusa, stage name Tony Vilar, who rose to fame abroad in the 1960s and then disappeared without a trace. The film portrays the journey of a distant cousin in search of his lost relative, a sort of road movie that moves through Buenos Aires, Connecticut, New York and the Bronx. Filming in Italy took place in the Calabrian municipality of Castrovillari (CS).
Copyright: Tico Film
Dario De Luca, Saverio La Ruina, Cristina Mantis, Roy Paci — Calabria
The story of Tony Vilar is half reality half legend. Antonio Ragusa, who was born in Calabria, set off around Argentina in 1952, took the name Tony Vilar, and basically became one of the most famous singers in Latin America in the 1960s. Then Vilar suddenly disappeared, and we never heard from him again. The True Legend of Tony Vilar tells the story of the journey in search of the singer. Embarking on this journey is Peppe Voltarelli, a young Italian singer-songwriter who has always idolised Tony Vilar. The result is a musical road movie set in Calabria, Buenos Aires and New York, which skilfully mixes documentary and fiction and meets the most unlikely characters along the way, finally lifting the veil on the disappearance of Tony Vilar. Surprises in store!
