NBCUniversal Takes Global Distribution on Italian Soccer Icon Doc ‘My Name Is Francesco Totti’ (EXCLUSIVE)

NBCUniversal Global Distribution has closed a deal for all international rights outside Italy, Germany and the U.K. on Italian soccer icon doc “My Name Is Francesco Totti,” an intimate look at the life and career of long-time A.S. Roma team captain Francesco Totti.

Directed by Rome native Alex Infascelli (“S Is for Stanley”) who had access to its star and lots of archival material – including home movies and images from Totti and his family – the high-profile piece is narrated by Totti. On the night before his farewell to soccer the team captain basically relives his life as though he were watching it as a movie, together with his fans, his team, and collectively his native Rome, the city that during his long faithful career he has come to encapsulate like few others.

The deal was inked between Sky Studios and Italian sales company Vision Distribution International, in which Sky is a partner. NBCUniversal, a Sky sister company, will handle distribution of the “Totti” doc on behalf of Sky Studios in all territories worldwide except Germany and the U.K., where Vision Distribution had already closed deals with Sky as a broadcaster.

In an interview with Variety last month, when “Totti” launched from the Rome Film Festival, Infascelli said that the doc transcends the soccer world.

He called his film a homage to Rome, just like Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty” and other films that depict Rome.

“Totti is a monument, as he defines himself,” Infascelli said. “I think that for viewers outside Italy the film is a way of taking a walk inside Rome and Roman soccer, which ultimately is the Colosseum; the big arena,” he added, noting that “It’s like seeing a modern gladiator telling his story in the first person.” 

“My Name is Francesco Totti” is produced by The Apartment and Wildside, which are both Fremantle units, with Capri Entertainment and Fremantle, and also Vision Distribution and Rai Cinema in collaboration with Sky and Amazon Prime Video.