Max Original PORTOBELLO To Premiere At The 82nd Venice International Film Festival

Max Original PORTOBELLO, a new series directed by Marco Bellocchio, will be presented out of competition at the 82^nd Venice International Film Festival. The series, the first Italian original production for HBO Max, will debut in 2026 and is centered around one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in Italy: the story of television host Enzo Tortora, the tragic downfall of an innocent man.

1982. Enzo Tortora is at the height of his success. He hosts “Portobello,” a show reaching 28 million viewers in prime time, where contestants try to make the parrot, the show's mascot, speak. Tortora is the king of 1980s television, and the president of Italy, Alessandro Pertini, even appoints Tortora Commander of the Republic. During this time, the Irpinia earthquake delivers the final blow to the already fragile balance of the New Organized Camorra criminal organization. Giovanni Pandico, a trusted friend of crime boss Raffaele Cutolo and a regular viewer of “Portobello,” decides to repent. Interrogated by the judges, he names an unexpected person: Enzo Tortora. When on June 17, 1983, the Italian police knock on Tortora’s hotel room, he thinks it’s a mistake, but it is only the beginning of an odyssey that will drag him from the heights to the abyss.

The series, written by Marco Bellocchio, Stefano Bises, Giordana Mari, and Peppe Fiore, stars Fabrizio Gifuni as Enzo Tortora, plus Lino Musella, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Barbora Bobulova, Carlotta Gamba, Alessandro Preziosi, Fausto Russo Alesi, and Salvatore D’Onofrio. 

PORTOBELLO is produced by OUR FILMS, a company of the Mediawan group, and KAVAC FILM, in co-production with ARTE France and in collaboration with The Apartment Pictures, a company of the Fremantle group. It is produced by Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani for Our Films and by Simone Gattoni for Kavac Film. Cinematography by Francesco Di Giacomo, with set design by Andrea Castorina, costumes by Daria Calvelli, editing by Francesca Calvelli, and music by Teho Teardo.

PORTOBELLO will debut in 2026 on HBO Max where it’s available globally, including in upcoming launch markets Italy and the UK but excluding France and Germany.