Max Original PORTOBELLO, the new series directed by Marco Bellocchio, will be presented OUT OF COMPETITION at the 82nd VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
The series, the first Italian original production announced by Warner Bros. Discovery for the new streaming platform HBO Max coming in 2026, 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 and reaches 28 million viewers in prime time, all waiting for the contestant who will manage to make the parrot, the show’s guest of honor, speak. Pertini appoints him Commander of the Republic. Tortora is the king of 1980s TV, and his program tells and comforts the country. In those same years, the Irpinia earthquake delivers the final blow to the already fragile balance of the New Organized Camorra. Giovanni Pandico, a trusted man of boss Raffaele Cutolo and a regular viewer of Portobello from his cell, decides to repent. Interrogated by the judges, he names an unexpected person: Enzo Tortora. When on June 17, 1983, the Italian police knock on his hotel room, Tortora 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 production is by OUR FILMS, a company of the Mediawan group, and KAVAC FILM, in co-production with ARTE France and in collaboration with Rai Fiction and 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.
In the cast of the series, Fabrizio Gifuni as Enzo Tortora, Lino Musella, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Barbora Bobulova, Carlotta Gamba, Alessandro Preziosi, Fausto Russo Alesi, and Salvatore D’Onofrio. The series is written by Marco Bellocchio, Stefano Bises, Giordana Mari, and Peppe Fiore.
The cinematography is by Francesco Di Giacomo, the set design by Andrea Castorina, the costumes by Daria Calvelli, the editing by Francesca Calvelli, and the 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, excluding France and Germany.
