Salvatore Mereu's Three-Hour Sardinian Epic 'Wandering Trees' Premieres at Locarno
A three-hour Italian film about Sardinians' deep, tangled bond with their land had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival, with Variety publishing its review on 12 August 2026.
Salvatore Mereu directed Wandering Trees — listed in the festival programme under its Italian title Alberi erranti — adapting a novel by Sardinian writer Alberto Capitta, as announced in Variety's 9 July report on the Locarno lineup (Variety). The film is set in a remote corner of northern Sardinia, where the destinies of three families intertwine, according to sales agent Minerva Pictures International (Minerva Pictures International). The production is credited to VIACOLVENTO and listed as a 2026 Italian production in DCP 2K format on the Locarno festival site.
Mereu is a established name in Italian cinema, with earlier films including Assandira and Pretty Butterflies. His latest brings together an ensemble cast across the three families at the story's centre.
Alessandro Haber plays Piero Arca, a man devoted to nurturing rescued animals alongside his young son Giuliano, played by Lupo Barbiero. Massimo Popolizio plays Sebastiano Nonne, a man from a military family who forbids his son from associating with the Arca family. Lorenzo Urso plays Emiliano, Sebastiano's sensitive, book-loving boy and Giuliano's best friend.
On the third side of the triangle, Alberto Cracco plays Edoardo Branca, an aristocratic old man whose daughter Maddalena — played by Giulia Maenza — is described in the review as the film's princess. Lorenzo Richelmy, known to international audiences from the Netflix series Marco Polo, plays Michelangelo, Sebastiano's older soldier son and Maddalena's boyfriend.
The Variety review, published on 12 August 2026, takes issue with a tonal clash at the heart of the film: a fairy-tale structure that sits uneasily against its realistic elements (Variety). That tension between mythic storytelling and grounded naturalism runs through the film's sprawling three-hour runtime.
Minerva Pictures International is handling international sales, with the title listed in its active catalogue. The Locarno premiere puts the film in front of the festival-market audience — buyers, programmers and critics who help determine whether a three-hour Sardinian drama reaches screens beyond Italy.
