The film documents the preparation of La Forza del Destino, Verdi’s masterpiece, which opened La Scala’s 2024 season. From the initial rehearsals to the premier, award-winning director Anissa Bonnefont chronicles the world class cast of singers (Soprano Anna Netrebko, Barytone Ludovic Tézier, Tenor Brian Jagde), the Maestro, Riccardo Chailly and the stage director, Leo Muscato, along with the nine hundred artisans, dancers, musicians and technicians who ceaselessly toil until the world’s most iconic season opening.

Every 7th of December marks the beginning of Milan’s legendary opera season at La Scala. Since 1951, the entire city stops and moves to the rhythm of the event known as, “La Prima”. The spectacle is filmed by RaiTV and broadcast live on Rai 1, while opera enthusiasts from around the world flock to Milan to attend the performance in person. In 2024, “La Forza del Destino”, Verdi's masterpiece, inaugurated the season to rave reviews.

With La Scala: The Force of Destiny, Anissa Bonnefont, accompanied by cinematographer Martina Cocco, invites the audience into the creative hive that is La Scala during the final months of preparation, capturing the tensions, the stress, and the passion that span from the first meeting of the opera team all the way to the pull of the curtain as it raises above the stage. In a spirited countdown, driven by conductor Riccardo Chailly and stage director Leo Muscato, the film follows every step of this extraordinary artistic creation. The contemporary music of Jack Bartman accompanies the masterful compositions of Verdi while the film's script is brought to life by chief editor Guerric Catala.

Directed by Anissa Bonnefont, Italian and Engish with English subtitles, 2025, 90 minutes.