THE UNHAPPY ANGEL
Paolo Strippoli
Scritto da Jacopo Del Giudice, Paolo Strippoli, Milo Tissone
A teacher decides to save a boy, who, possessed of certain "miraculous" powers, is exploited by the community. But by liberating the "Angel of Pont Remy," he unwittingly unleashes genuine horror.
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Paolo Strippoli has co-directs A Classic Horror Story, available on Netflix, written together with Milo Tissone. Jacopo Del Giudice wins the Solinas Prize with the full length feature Piove, (Flowing) directed by Strippoli and presented at Alice nella Città Section of the Rome Film Festival in 2022. The three authors attain their degrees in Screenwriting at the Centro Sperimentale and now have various full-features in pre and post-production.
ELVIRA
ONE OF THEM
Emanuela Ponzano
Scritto da Emanuela Ponzano e Michela Straniero
Daughter of a shopkeeper who had rebelled against the Neapolitan Mafia "Camorra" protection racket and of a "repentant" ex-criminal who had turned State's Witness, Anna (19), loses her way during a wild rave party. Fearing that she might have been spotted by several camorristi, following two young Rom children, Anna takes refuge in a forest. Deep in the woods, she befriends a group of nomad-acrobats who breed horses, and with the fixed idea of not going back home - out of fear of being killed - Anna decides to remain with her “new friends” and to follow them all the way to France to participate in the famous Camargue Gypsy Festival.
Emanuela Ponzano is an actress and director. In 2016, she creates the fictional short film La Slitta (The Sled), selected for the Silver Ribbon Awards of 2016. In 2020, she realizes her fourth short film Una nuova prospettiva (A New Perspective) which has its world premiere at the Turin Film Festival.
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Michela Straniero attains a degree in scriptwriting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. In 2017, she wins the Solinas Prize for the film Io e il Secco (Me and Slim), produced by Nightswim for the direction of Gianluca Santoni. She also co-authors the screenplays of the film trilogy Sul più bello (Out of my League), directed by Alice Filippi and Claudio Norza.
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VIDA
A SIMPLE LIFE
Silvia Zeitlinger
Scritto da Silvia Zeitlinger e Paola Cicuttini
For almost 100 years, practically until the end of the Second World War, thousands of Slovene women had been sent to work as cooks and housekeepers in Alexandria of Egypt. There were so many that they were called the Aleksandrinke. Upon returning home, they would show off their modern clothes and the new languages they had learned. Indeed, they had "evolved," but this was not at all appreciated. More often than not, they were held in contempt. One of these women is Vida. She and her husband, Boris, are expecting their second child, but, are now, as a result of the recent war, suffering from hunger. It is 1923. Vida's mother-in-law makes her life so miserable that in order to save her family, she chooses to go and work in Alexandria. Needless to say, her return will be traumatic.
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Silvia Zeitlinger is a writer and director. As lead actress in some of the most important German theaters, Silvia Zeitlinger works with major directors such as George Tabori, Jürgen Flimm, Peter Brook. Her first full-length feature as author and director, MIKADO - House of Cards, is projected at the New Orleans Film Festival, where it is awarded for Best Screenplay.
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DYING OF HER
Stefano Sardo
Scritto da Giacomo Bendotti e Stefano Sardo
When all of Rome is crushed under the COVID lockdown, and his physician wife is called to work endless shifts at the hospital in order to save lives, Luca - a schoolteacher with a fanciful desire to become a writer - is "fatally" attracted to his new front door neighbor, Amanda. His wild and overwhelming passion for her will overturn his life, and eventually involve him in a gruesome homicide.
Stefano Sardo s born in Bra, in 1972. He lives in Rome, where he writes for Cinema and Television. He is co-creator of the SKY series 1992, 1993 and 1994, as well as of the Italian adaptation of In Treatment. For cinema, he writes, among other works, La Doppia Ora (The Double Hour) (by Giuseppe Capotondi, in competition at the Venice Film Festival, 2009), Il Ragazzo Invisibile (The Invisible Boy) (by Gabriele Salvatores, 2015), Il Divin Codino (The Divine Ponytail) (by Letizia Lamartire, 2021), a movie about soccer ace, Roberto Baggio, for Netflix. Presently, he is working as lead writer and for serial projects such as I Leoni di Sicilia (The Lions of Sicily), for Disney+.
Una relazione (With or without you) marks his direction debut.
Giacomo Bendotti attains a degree in Screenwriting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. He publishes his first graphic novel, about Giovanni Falcone and his second about Paolo Borsellino (both Magistrates killed by the Mafia). For Cinema, he co-scripts L’attesa (The Wait) by Piero Messina and Una storia senza nome (The Stolen Caravaggio) by Roberto Andò. He also creates and scripts the miniseries for RAI Chiamami ancora amore (Ever After).
BALKANICA
Nicola Sorcinelli
Scritto da Andrea Brusa e Nicola Sorcinelli
The border between Bosnia and Slovenia represents the doorway to Europe for those refugees taking the so-called Balkan Route. It is, however, a passage that is massively blocked by the border authorities, who refuse to let absolutely anyone through. But the migrants are undeterred and keep on trying all the same, traversing a dense and nearly impervious snow-covered forest at night in order to reach their destination. The Afghan musicians Jalil and his father Nazar, are headed to Italy where in a week they even have a concert scheduled and where they hope to obtain political asylum They reach the Slovene border, but are brutally beaten and refused entry. At that point, they can but join the many other refugees blocked in that "Bosnian Limbo." These hapless people are invisible to all - authorities and institutions with the sole exception of a group of "international crisis doctors" whose mission is to save anyone in need, regardless of provenance. Among them there is Greta, an Italian doctor on her first mission. The date of the scheduled concert is ever closer and though Nazar's physical condition is desperate after the beating and all the cold he's been exposed to, they're more determined then ever to attempt another border crossing.
Nicola Sorcinelli is a young Italian director. He has more than 90 awards of merit and recognition. He wins a Silver Ribbon with his short film Moby Dick, which then participates at the Venice Film Festival. Ape Regina (Queen Bee), produced by Wildside and Rai Cinema, participates at the Rome Film Festival where it wins the Alice nella Città Award. Presently he is involved in the shooting his first series - for Netflix Briganti, (Brigands) to be released in 2023.
A screenwriter and director, Andrea Brusa is a member of the Italian Cinema Academy. Among the projects he has scripted: Inverno (Winter), a short film that wins a David di Donatello Award in 2020; Viola, Franca, presented at the Tribeca Film Festival and nominated for the David di Donatello Awards; Magic Alps, also nominated for a David; Respiro (Breath), nominated for the Silver Ribbon Awards. .
CALL ME CHRIS
Lorenzo Vignolo
Creata da Stefano Sardo. Scritta da Gianluca Bernardini, Stefano Sardo, Lorenzo Vignolo
Call Me Chris is a story of Love and Music. A coming-of-age tale even if most of those involved have already "been of age" for quite some time. As is the case for Cristiano, aka Chris, who, at age thirty-seven no longer believes in his dream of making a living by playing with his band, "The Lemmings," and wants to create a less frustrating life for himself. And as is the case with Giovanni, his older brother, who at age 45, instead, still can't resign himself to leaving the band and sacrifices his very physical existence to emulate the excesses of Keith Richards, but without having the fiber. (As actually no one has outside of Keith himself!)... And then as is NOT the case with Alice, the only one who, at age nineteen, is possessed of true talent, the kind that is crystalline pure and manifests itself in only one in a million people. But she's also the only one who truly believes in that dream. A series focused on three different generations – thirty year olds, forty years olds and twenty year olds – each still on a quest for their truer identities, but with one common denominator: a passion for music. For, as Nietzsche, the philosopher famous for demolishing God, inventing the Superman and molesting a horse once said: “Without music, life would be a mistake.”
Stefano Sardo is born in Bra, in 1972. He lives in Rome, where he writes for Cinema and Television. He is co-creator of the SKY series 1992, 1993 and 1994, as well as of the Italian adaptation of In Treatment. For cinema, he writes, among other works, La Doppia Ora (The Double Hour) (by Giuseppe Capotondi, in competition at the Venice Film Festival, 2009), Il Ragazzo Invisibile (The Invisible Boy) (by Gabriele Salvatores, 2015), Il Divin Codino (The Divine Ponytail) (by Letizia Lamartire, 2021), a movie about soccer ace, Roberto Baggio, for Netflix. Presently, he is working as lead writer and for serial projects such as I Leoni di Sicilia (The Lions of Sicily), for Disney+.
Una relazione (With or without you) marks his direction debut.
Gianluca Bernardini is an Italian screenwriter. He has scripted, among other works, Il legame (The Binding) (2020) by Domenico De Feudis, available on Netflix and La cena perfetta (The Perfect Dinner) (2022) by Davide Minnella.
Lorenzo Vignolo is an Italian director. He directs various publicity campaigns and approx. 150 music videos. He directs, among other projects, the film Workers - Pronti a tutto (Workers - Ready for Anything) (2012) and the pilot episode of Up&Down (2021), produced by Rai Fiction and Premio Solinas.
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