Palio | |
Director: | Cosima Spender |
Producer: | James Gay-Rees John Hunt |
Runtime: | 92 minutes |
Country: | United Kingdom Italy |
Language: | Italian |
Palio is a 2015 British documentary film. Filmed in Siena, Italy, the film documents Palio di Siena, the oldest continually run horse race in the world that is held twice each year.[1] It is directed by Cosima Spender, and produced by James Gay-Rees and John Hunt. It was written by Hunt and Spender.
The documentary premiered on 18 April 2015 during the Tribeca Film Festival,[2] where it won Best Editing for a Documentary (Valerio Bonelli). It additionally received a nomination in the category for Best Documentary at the British Independent Film Awards.[3]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 20 critics, with an average rating of 7.5/10.[4] On Metacritic, the film have an above average score of 73 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[5]
Mike Hale in writing on the feature for a Tribeca film Festival roundup in The New York Times described it as "Rocky on Horseback".[6] Eight months later, another reviewer from The New York Times, Daniel M. Gold, reviewed the film and wrote that "Despite its oversights, the film — shot and scored beautifully — is an enthusiastic introduction to this delirious event and its peposo of passion, style and intrigue".[7]
Joe Leydon in reviewing the film in Variety said "Cosima Spender's entertaining documentary about a storied Italian horse race is as dramatically satisfying as the most crowd-pleasing scripted sports saga".[8]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called Palio, "[a] handsome-looking film".[9]