May 2023 saw the announcement of Freaks Out and They Call Me Jeeg director Gabriele Mainetti’s latest project: a kung fu film set in Italy and starring Disney’s Mulan star Crystal Liu’s stunt double, actress and stuntwoman Yaxi Liu. We now have the deets thanks to the goings-on over in Berlin where PiperFilm are repping international sales for The Forbidden City which has some neat key art and sales assets which you can view at the bottom of the page.
Set in the cosmopolitan melting pot of Rome’s Piazza Vittorio hood, Mainetti’s latest work will see two very different souls intersect. One is the son of an indebted local restaurant owner who disappeared with his lover. The other is a young mysterious woman who has just arrived from China in the Italian capital in search of her missing sister. United by fate, the two will find themselves catapulted into the slums of Rome’s criminal underbelly. To survive, they will have to fight side by side in an overwhelming no-holds-barred adventure, challenging armies of ruthless criminals, but above all, ancient prejudices, and cultural diversity.
Mainetti directs from a script he wrote with Stefano Bises and David Serino. Liu joins a cast that includes Enrico Borello, Sabrina Ferilli, Marco Giallini and Luca Zingaretti, with action sequences by Liang Yang (Mission: Impossible – Fallout).
The Forbidden Kingdom (La Città Proibita) is also eyeing a March 13 release in Italian cinemas from PiperFilm.
Check out the trailer below. It’s not subtitled and the CC is only available in Italian but the description above should already give you an idea of what’s in store along with the incumbent footage. Enjoy!
