Italian director Edoardo De Angelis’ anti-war epic “Comandante” – the opener of this year’s Venice Film Festival – has secured North American distribution via Uncork’d Entertainment, which will release the film theatrically in tandem with partner company Dark Star Pictures. 

The movie stars Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino as Sicilian World War II naval captain Salvatore Todaro and depicts his act of wartime humanitarianism on Oct. 15, 1940. Todaro, as commander of the submarine Cappellini, sank a Belgian merchant ship called Kabalo that was carrying aircraft parts and operating under British rule.