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Isabella Torre is at Venice with her first feature “Basileia.” The film follows an archaeologist who, while exploring a tomb containing an ancient treasure in Southern Italy’s rugged Aspromonte mountains, unleashes mythical nymphs.

The dark fairytale – which is closing the fest’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori, also known as Venice Days – was developed at the Sundance Lab. It is produced by Torre’s partner, director Jonas Carpignano (“A Chiara”) and sold by Luxbox. “Basileia” is an expansion of Torre’s short “Nymphs,” which premiered at Venice Horizons in 2018. The film’s cast comprises Angela Fontana (“Indivisibili”) and Danish-American actor Elliott Crosset Hove (“Godland”).

Below, Torre and Carpignano speak to Variety about venturing into the non-conventional genre space with a tale that mixes mythology and present-day reality.

How did the story of “Basilea” germinate?

Torre: It’s all because of Aspromonte, which is not just a location — it became...

Screen can unveil the first trailer for Isabella Torre’s debut feature Basileia, set to world premiere out of competition as Venice Days’ closing film on September 6.

The Italian fantasy drama follows an archaeologist and his assistants searching for an ancient treasure whose digging unleashes mythological creatures that shake up the lives of the inhabitants of a remote village forever.

Cast includes Godland star Elliott Crosset Hove, Angela Fontana, and Koudous Seihon.

Shot on location in Calabria, Basileia is an adaptation of Torre’s short Nymphs which premiered in Venice Horizons 2018.

The film is produced by Jonas and Paolo Carpignano...

Films directed by women dominate the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori, which has unveiled a lineup full of first works and special events including “Peaches Goes Bananas,” French filmmaker Marie Losier’s tribute to iconic Canadian electropop provocateur Peaches.

Shot over the course of 17 years, “Peaches Goes Bananas” provides an intimate portrait of the former schoolteacher, who during the 1980s moved from Canada to Berlin and became a queer feminist icon, breaking taboos and “transforming her body into art,” as the doc’s synopsis puts it.

The competition of the Giornate – which is also known as Venice Days – comprises 10 world premieres, six of which are first works, within a selection that artistic director Gaia Furrer described in her notes as “rigorous” and “stylistically eclectic.”

Furer underlined that 16 out of the section’s 25 titles are directed by women, a fact she called significant “because many of them...

Paris-based sales outfit Luxbox has boarded international sales for Isabella Torre’s debut feature Basileia, produced by Jonas Carpignano.

The Italian fantasy drama is set in southern Italy and follows an archaeologist team whose latest dig accidentally unleashes mythical creatures. It is an adaptation of Torre’s debut feature Nymphs which premiered in Venice Horizons 2018.

Godland star Elliott Crosset Hove leads the cast with Angela Fontana, Koudous Seihon, Marco Raco, Ilaria Caffio and Ylenia Romano.

Carpignano produces Basileia through his outfit Stayback Productions while co-producers are Film I Väst, Snowglobe and Rai Cinema.

Torre’s second short Full Moon...

L.A. Italia Fest is set to open with the world premiere of Amazing Leonardo, a new biopic about Leonardo Da Vinci, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death (May 2, 1519).

Luca Argentero (Eat Pray Love) stars as Da Vinci in the film, a Sky original production with Progetto Immagine.

Director Jesus Garces Lambert will introduce Amazing Leonardo at the festival’s opening night on Feb. 17 at the TLC Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, which is organized in association with Intensa Sanpaolo. Angela Fontana, who plays Cecilia Gallerani in the pic, and producer Cosetta Lagani will ...

L.A. Italia Fest is set to open with the world premiere of Amazing Leonardo, a new biopic about Leonardo Da Vinci, in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death (May 2, 1519).

Luca Argentero (Eat Pray Love) stars as Da Vinci in the film, a Sky original production with Progetto Immagine.

Director Jesus Garces Lambert will introduce Amazing Leonardo at the festival’s opening night on Feb. 17 at the TLC Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, which is organized in association with Intensa Sanpaolo. Angela Fontana, who plays Cecilia Gallerani in the pic, and producer Cosetta Lagani will ...

Following his first feature in 2014, the Rinko Kikuchi-led “Last Summer”, Italian writer-director Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli returns with “Likemeback,” a young women-led drama exploring smartphone addiction. This time around, he follows three Italian teenagers – played by Angela Fontana, Denise Tantucci and Blu Yoshimi – on a boat-based vacation in Croatia, celebrating the end of high school. They share everything on social media, but their addiction to those platforms, along with conflicts concerning their insecurities, take multiple dark turns that look to be life-ruining.

As “Likemeback” received its world premiere at this year’s Locarno Festival, Seràgnoli spoke to Variety about the film’s themes concerning social media, collaborating with his stars on the story, and the appeal of setting a social media cautionary tale out at sea.

When did you start cultivating an interest in the relationship we have with technology and our phones?

I didn’t have Facebook until two years ago.

Indivisible (Indivisibili) Medusa Film Director: Edoardo De Angelis Written by: Nicola Guaglianone, Barbara Petronio, Edoardo De Angelis Cast: Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana, Antonia Truppo, Massimiliano Rossi, Tony Laudadio Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 9/28/17 Opens: September 29, 2017 “Indivisible,” or “Indivisibili” in the original, might remind cinephiles of Josh Aronson’s film “Sound and Fury,” which […]

The post Indivisible (Indivisibili) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Title: Indivisibili Director: Edoardo De Angelis Cast: Angela Fontana, Marianna Fontana, Antonia Troppo, Massimiliano Rossi, Tony Laudadio, Marco Mario De Notaris, Gaetano Bruno, Gianfranco Gallo, Peppe Servillo. Italian filmmaker Edoardo De Angelis presents a disquieting modern tale about ancestral exploitation of a physical distortion. Daisy and Viola are siamese twin sisters living in the suburbs […]

The post Indivisibili Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Exclusive: Darker Than Midnight producer to shoot feature in October.

Rising Italian actress Angela Fontana, co-star of Venice 2016 hit Indivisible (Indivisibili), is to play the lead role in Italian featureLucania, a magical realist drama about a young mute girl caught in the middle of a clash between her farmer father and those who want to poison his fields.

Fontana will star alongside Maia Morgenstern (The Passion Of The Christ), Pippo Delbono (I Am Love), Christo Jivkov (The Passion Of The Christ) and actor-producer Joe Capalbo (At A Glance), who will play the role of the father.

Babylon Sisters filmmaker Gigi Roccati will direct the €1m-budgeted feature, which is due to shoot in southern Italy from October.

The Italian and Romanian-language project is produced by Federico Saraceni and Pilar Saavedra’s Moliwood Films together with Capalbo’s Fabrique Entertainment (Nightlife) in collaboration with Rai Cinema, which has taken TV rights.

The film has production support from Italy’s culture...