“Inside the Dream,” a new movie about Bulgari, follows a necklace from the jewelry house’s 2021 Magnifica high jewelry collection from its inception — design, stone selection and production — to its introduction around Zendaya’s neck at the world premiere of “Dune” during the Venice International Film Festival last year.
“Very little is known about what happens before the collection is unveiled,” said Jean-Christophe Babin, chief executive of the Bulgari Group. “We believe that there will be a lot of interest.”
The movie actually has another film festival connection: It is scheduled to debut on Sept. 12 at the Toronto International Film Festival, at a private screening presented by Bulgari and the festival. (The next day it will be available on Amazon Prime Video in the United States and other countries.)
But then Bulgari, which has supported other film-related events from Berlin to Shanghai over the years, is making its own debut as a major sponsor of the Toronto festival this year. The jewelry house’s goal, Mr. Babin said, is “to substantiate our commitment and involvement” with the film industry.
Experts say the strategy is a sound one. “The alignment with that higher level of creation in a different artistic medium actually trickles down and makes the brand shine a little brighter,” said Thomaï Serdari, a marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the director of its Fashion and Luxury M.B.A. program.
The allure that surrounds film festivals is likely part of their appeal. “Bulgari is in the business of glamour and that’s certainly a part of what we do at our festival,” said Cameron Bailey, chief executive of the Toronto event.
The high jewelry piece featured in the film, the Magnifica Hypnotic Emerald necklace, certainly lends itself to red carpets. Its 93.83-carat emerald, as the film describes, was cut from a nearly 9-pound stone in Jaipur, India, one of the locations in the film. The twisted snake design, which echoes the house’s famous Serpenti look, was made in platinum and included more than 57 carats of diamonds and 233 buff-cut emeralds. Bulgari said the necklace was sold this year, but declined to disclose the price.
The movie’s main stars are that big emerald and Lucia Silvestri, Bulgari’s creative director of high jewelry — although, along with Zendaya, well-known faces like Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Lily Aldridge also appear.
“Inside the Dream” was made by Terminal 9 Studios, an independent production company in France, that Mr. Babin said had approached Bulgari with the idea. The movie, which Bulgari describes as a docu-film, was not financed by the brand, but at times the lack of unaffiliated voices and the dreamy panoramas of cities like Rome, where Bulgari is based, make it seem somewhat like a marketing video.
“We didn’t want a documentary which could be a bit too niche and perhaps a bit too boring for some people not passionate about high jewelry,” Mr. Babin said.
But detailing the steps that go into creating a high jewelry necklace, Ms. Serdari said, “actually increases the beauty and the understanding of this piece, the same way that a label that we see at a museum next to a piece increases our understanding of what the thing is.”
