Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s feature documentary, Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe, will open in cinemas worldwide next month under a distribution pact between Trafalgar Releasing and Lionsgate. Australian release schedules list 18 September, the same date reserved for New Zealand multiplexes and a day-and-date rollout planned for several key European markets, including Germany. U.S. and Canadian exhibitors are expected to follow during the week of 21 September, according to internal booking notes shared with regional chains.
Directed by Cosima Spender and produced by Entertainment One in association with Lionsgate, the 107-minute film premiered as a Gala presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. Spender was hired after Bocelli insisted on an Italian-speaking filmmaker; she recalls their first meeting in London where “he made his decision quickly, because we share the same Tuscan accent.”
The documentary threads concert footage—anchored by Bocelli’s summer performance at Rome’s Baths of Caracalla—with intimate moments at home in Tuscany, offering what the director describes as “an atmosphere the music permeates every day.” Family interviews revisit the singer’s childhood struggle with congenital glaucoma and the soccer accident that cost him his sight, balancing career milestones with personal history.
Trafalgar’s theatrical plan echoes its event-cinema strategy: limited engagements in premium auditoriums, followed by encore dates tied to Bocelli’s 30th-anniversary concert festivities. Advance listings already appear on cinema portals in Australia, New Zealand and Germany, and box-office analysts say strong pre-sales for recent classical-music films suggest demand beyond the tenor’s traditional fan base. Lionsgate retains ancillary rights, with a home-entertainment window expected before the holiday season.
