Giovanni Veronesi film Dio ride premieres at Venice Film Festival

The film “Dio ride”, directed by Giovanni Veronesi, was presented as a non-competitive closing film at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. Set in 17th-century Italy between Umbria and Tuscany during a plague outbreak, the story follows Fra Leopoldo (played by Pierfrancesco Favino), an illiterate Capuchin friar who preaches a revolutionary, joyful version of the Gospel to the marginalized.

His charismatic approach, which emphasizes God as a joyful figure rather than an austere authority, gains widespread popularity and alarms the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In response, Pope Innocent X tasks Cardinal Vincenzo Maculani (played by Silvio Orlando), a tormented inquisitor, to handle the situation. The film explores themes of faith, the tension between authentic spirituality and institutional power, and the use of laughter as a form of spiritual freedom.