From Cannes to Venice: Riviera Film studio at the 83rd Mostra
The Cannes studio Riviera Film Production is working at the Venice Film Festival for the first time. Its feature project “L’Art du Désir” is presented to the professional section of the 83rd Mostra, which runs on the Lido from 2 to 12 September 2026. The company is less than a year old — and this is already its second outing on the international stage.
Studio on rue d’Antibes
Riviera Film Production was registered in Cannes in February 2026, the address in the business register — rue d’Antibes, a few minutes from the Palais des Festivals (societe.com). The company is headed by the Italian producer Piernicola Mucci.
The choice of city is not decorative. Cannes gives a small studio what no office in Paris or Rome can: the business calendar that brings the whole industry to the city every year, and the opportunity to meet people rather than just correspond with them. The emphasis is on developing its own projects rather than executing other people’s commissions — the studio itself gathers material, seeks co-authors and brings a project to market.
First outing: “I Profeti” in Cannes
The debut came in May 2026. At the 79th Cannes Film Festival, in the Italian Pavilion of the Hôtel Le Majestic, Riviera Film Production presented the publishing project “I Profeti” — a work by Gianni Maragno, curated by Mucci (Casting News Magazine). Themes — memory, migration processes, contemporary identity and the criminal chronicle of today.
For a first year of existence this is a sensible move: to show not a finished film that does not yet exist, but a way of thinking about the material.
“L’Art du Désir”: Paris and Venice in one film
In June 2026 the studio announced the development of the feature film “L’Art du Désir”. It is a psychological drama with a noir tone: a young woman is drawn into an alluring and closed world, and the film tells the story of her transformation and self-discovery. The action unfolds between Paris and Venice.
““L’Art du Désir” was born from the encounter of two cities — symbols of European culture,” says Piernicola Mucci. The producer describes his task as the search for works that combine artistic quality, narrative elegance and international scope (Casting News Magazine).
The project is now in advanced development and has already entered the professional contours of the international industry — that is, it is looking for co-producers, distributors and financing.
Why Venice, and not just Cannes
The two festivals have different structures. Cannes is a showcase: premieres, the red carpet, the attention of the world press. Venice, aside from the competition, hosts the Venice Production Bridge — a market where producers, distributors, sales agents and investors meet to launch projects (La Biennale di Venezia).
This is exactly where the Cannes studio went. “L’Art du Désir” is shown not to the public but to those able to finance it. For a company without blockbusters behind it such a format is more effective than any red carpet: in ten days one can hold dozens of meetings without being distracted by social pages. Moreover, half of the action of the future film takes place in Venice — negotiations happen where the shoots are later planned.
What this means for the Côte d’Azur
The coast has long ceased to be only a festival venue. Nice, with the legacy of the Victorine studios, Cannes with its business calendar, on-location sites from Grasse to Antibes — this infrastructure works year-round, not just for one week in May. The emergence of young studios like Riviera Film Production is a sign that film production here is not limited to servicing visiting crews.
The conversation about how the industry can survive alongside platforms and generative artificial intelligence is taking place at the highest level: on 7 September 2026 the Lumière Summit took place in Saint-Paul-de-Vence with the participation of Emmanuel Macron. This concerns small independent studios directly — they are the first to feel when there is less money in the system. And Fitzgerald’s legacy on the Riviera reminds us that film and jazz arrived on this coast a hundred years ago and have never left since.
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Photo: cottonbro studio / Pexels