Grand sale! Grand sale! A Melburnian legend is set to be immortalised forever in a full-length documentary film. Franco Cozzo, the enigmatic furniture salesman is set to have his story told in a documentary that has just received financial backing from Screen Australia.
Palazzo di Cozzo will be written and directed by filmmaker Madeleine Martiniello. The 90-minute documentary will document the extraordinary life of Cozzo. His journey from a poor Sicilian immigrant, to a multi-million dollar furniture mogul and bonafide icon.
“It’s partly a biography of Franco Cozzo, but I’m also really interested in looking at the broader cultural ideas around furniture and migrant home life,” Martiniello shared with Sydney Morning Herald. “There are going to be portraits in the film of people who have bought Franco Cozzo furniture over the years, showing the evolution of the clientele and the styles of people’s houses. So there will be these beautiful cinematic scenes that present the furniture in its full glory, in context.
“The bigger ambition is to kind of show how a public personality like Franco Cozzo can bring people together or connect different communities.”
Filming will begin in 2020. As Pedestrian reports, the 83-year-old will travel back to his hometown of Ramacca, Sicily during production.
Watch: Franco Cozzo TV Commercial
Palazzo di Cozzo is just one of the 11 documentary film projects that Screen Australia has committed $1.9 million in funding to.
