Nirvana (1997)

Country of Origin: An Italian-French co-production
Year of Production: 1996
Running Times: 113 mins
Length: 3189 metres
Format: colour
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby Digital

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Mario & Vittorio Cecchi Gori and Maurizio Totti present a film by Gabriel Salvatores  C.G.G. Tiger Cin. Ca / Colorado Film Production-Davis Film
Executive Producer: Antonio Tacchia
Co-Executive Producer: Samuel Hadida
Produced by: Rita Cecchi Gori and Maurizio Totti
Co-Producer: Samuel Hadida
Production Manager: Antonio Tacchia
Roberto Luvisotti
Unit Production Managers: Stefano Dioguardi, Roberto Gallarati

SCRIPT
Written by: Gabriele Salvatores
Screenplay Collaborators: Pino Cacucci, Gloria Corica

DIRECTION
Directed by: Gabriele Salvatores
Assistant Director: Fabio Scamoni
2nd Assistant Director: Maria Raffaella Faggiano

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Italo Petriccione
Camera Operator: Fabrizio Vicari

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editing: Massimo Fiocchi

MUSIC
Original Music: Mauro Pagani, Federico De Robertis
Song: Nofx (Reeko)

SOUND
Digital Production Sound: Tullio Morganti, Mauro Lazzaro
Sound Designer: Jean Cristophe Casalini
Assistant Sound Editor: Josh Cramer
ADR Mixer: Mark DeSimone

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Costume Design: Patrizia Chericoni, Florence Emir
Costumes For Christopher Lambert, Diego Abatantuono and Emmanuelle Seigner: Giorgio Armani
Costumes: Giorgio Armani
Head Make Up: Bernadette Grampa
Make Up: Cristina Magliano

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Biomechanical Prosthetic Design: Sergio Stivaletti

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Victor Togliani

VISUAL EFFECTS
Digital Special Effects Design & Creation and Computer Graphic: Stefano Marinoni and Paola Trisoglio for Digitalia Graphics
Digital Special Effects and Computer Graphics Supervisor: Fabrizio Donvito

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Design: Giancarlo Basili
Set Decorators: Giancarlo Basili, Mauro Venturini
Prop Designer and Maker: Daniele Auber

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Paola Bonelli

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Luca and Alessandro

LOCATIONS
Locations: Portello, Milan, Lombardia, Italy

CAST
Christopher Lambert (Jimi Dini)
Diego Abatantuono (Solo)
Sergio Rubini (Joystick)
Stefania Rocca (Naima)
Amanda Sandrelli (Maria)

and with
Emmanuelle Seigner (Lisa)

Claudio Bisio (Red Rover)
Antonio Catania (paranoid vendor)
Gigio Alberti (Dr Ratzenberger)
Ugo Conti (Sicilian tourist)
Silvio Orlando (Indian desk clerk)
Oreste Guidi (German)
Haruhiko Yamanouchi (Okasama Starr psychologist)
Avinash Ganesh (Avinash)
Antonello Grimaldi (Pakistani porter)
Paolo Rossi (Joker)
Bebo Storti (meditating man)
Fabio Sartor (policeman)
Corinna Agustoni (assistant to Guru)
Leonardo Gajo (Gaz-Gaz)
Gianni Palladino (truckdriver)
Renato Sarti (man on drugs)
Luca Torraca (President)
Riccardo Zinna (Mafia man)
Bedlu Cerchiai (Asli)
William Chiu (Japanese man in sushi bar)
Giuseppe Messina (bartender)
Suleyman Salmassi (Sid)
Daniele Auber (young man in bar)
Agostino Canepa (1st policeman game)
Eugenio Ciotola (1st organ hunter)
Luisa Corna (the goddess Kali)
Alessandro Cremona (policeman)
Germaine Damar
Bachir Ahmet Diakhate (5th organ hunter)
Rocco Di Gioia (6th organ hunter)
Alessandro Eccelsi (nude man)
Aminata Fall (1st bodyguard psychologist)
Antonio Luigi Grimaldi (Pakistan desk clerk)
Pieter Jurriaanse (young man)
Victor Kanu (2nd bodyguard psychologist)
Reynold Joh Kerr (meek man)
Christine Krug (prostitute in window)
Coco Leonardi (Jimi's father)
Lorenzo Loris (1st terminator)
Rosario Marino (bum)
Marcello Mazzarella (2nd organ hunter)
Adolfo Oltrecolli (older man)
Michael Oyegunle (3rd organ hunter)
Federico Pasquetto (2nd policeman game)
Roman Pavlouchev (soldier)
Vincenzo Petrarolo (Indian who runs away)
Elisabetta Riva (virtual prostitute)
Giovanni Sorenti (organ vendor)
Valerio Staffelli (2nd terminator)
Marialuisa Tadei (woman announcer)
Stefania Ventura (4th organ hunter)
Loredana Zupanic (3rd terminator)

PLOT SUMMARY

Computer game designer Jimi is amazed when he finds that his latest game has been infected by a virus which is giving its lead character, Solo, artificial intelligence. Jimi is distracted by the recent departure of his girlfriend Lisa and now has another problem - Solo wants to die and he needs to both find Lisa and find a way to delete the game before it can be released.

AVAILABILITY

Brazil
Video Distributors: PlayArte Home Vídeo

Japan
Theatrical Distributors: K2 Entertainment

Norway
Theatrical Distributors: Scandinavian Entertainment Group

Portugal
Theatrical Distributors: Vitória Filmes

Spain
Theatrical Distributors: Hilo Visión, S.A.

USA
Theatrical Distributors: Miramax Films

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Finland
Rating: K-16

Germany
Rating: 16 (w)

Hong Kong
Rating: IIB

Mexico
Rating: B

Portugal
Rating: M/16

Spain
Rating: 13

USA
Rating: R (for language, violence, drug use and some sexuality)

AWARDS

1997
David di Donatello Awards, Italy
Migliore Montatore (Tullio Morganti, Ruggero Mastroianni) - winner
Migliore Fonico di Presa Diretta (Tullio Morganti) - winner

1998
Fantasporto, Portugal
International Fantasy Film Award Best Film (Gabriele Salvatores) - nominated

TIMELINE

1997
January
24: Italy – theatrical release

May
12: France – shown at the Cannes Film Festival
28: France – theatrical release

August
21: Germany – theatrical release

September
2: Spain – theatrical release

1998
January
1: Russia – theatrical release

February
22: Portugal – shown at the Fantasporto Film Festival

March
12: Hungary – theatrical release

June
26: Denmark, Sweden – theatrical release

August
14: Portugal – theatrical release
28: Mexico – theatrical release

November
7: Japan – theatrical release

1999
February
27: South Korea – theatrical release

May
19: Norway – theatrical release

October
28: Hong Kong – theatrical release

2000
April
28: Australia - video release

2007
March
18: UK - television broadcast (on BBC One)

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Nirvána - Hungarian title
Nirvana - Jagd im Cyberspace - German title

LINKS

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Especial Cannes: 50 Anos de Festival (1997)

SEE ALSO
Blade Runner (1982)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Max Headroom (1985)
Strange Days (1995)

REFERENCES

MAGAZINES

Première June 1997 p.44 (France)
review (by Gerard Delorme)

NEWSPAPERS

Correio da Manhã 14 August 1998 (Portugal)
review (by Vitoriano Rosa)

KEYWORDS

artificial intelligence, computers, cyberpunk, cyberspace, the future, hackers, virtual reality

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009