Director and founder of Ilovecut creative duo based in Rome. He has worked on TV commercials and promotions, advertising photography and cinematographic promotions for advertising agencies, TV channels and production companies.
PROJECTS
Tampax – #dontskip
Born in Istanbul in 1959, Ferzan Ozpetek moved to Rome in 1976 to study the history of cinema at La Sapienza University. His first film, Il bagno turco (Hamam) (1997) immediately achieved such great critical and public acclaim that it was selected for the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. Two years later he obtained further success with Harem suaré, a film set during the fall of the Ottoman Empire about a love story between the sultan’s favourite concubine and his eunuch. This feature film was screened at Cannes in 1999 in the Un Certain Regard category. Le fate ignoranti (The Ignorant Fairies), the outstanding affirmation of the director, is a romantic comedy which was the most important film of the cinematographic season of 2001, also attracting international attention. As confirmation of this it was awarded four Nastri d’argento and three Globi d’oro. In 2003 he stunned the public again with La finestra di fronte (Facing Windows), which won him awards and recognition: five David di Donatello, three Nastri d’argento, four Ciak d’oro, three Globi d’oro, not to mention three prizes at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and two at the Seattle Film Festival. Cuore sacro (Sacred Heart), 2005 opened lively public debate and won two David di Donatello awards and the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. The following year, Saturno opened in movie theatres and won a series of awards: one David di Donatello, four Nastri d’argento, five Globi d’Oro and four Ciak d’Oro. The success of Saturno, was followed two years later by Un giorno perfetto (A Perfect Day) based on the novel of the same name by Melania Mazzucco. This film was in competition at the Venice International Film Festival. That same year, 2008, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) New York dedicated a retrospective to him.
Mine vaganti (Loose Cannons), 2010, received both public and critical acclaim at home and overseas; yet another Ozpetek film to receive a shower of recognition: two David di Donatello, five Nastri d’argento, four Globi d’Oro, four Ciak d’oro and the Special Jury prize at the Tribeca Film Festival, New York. 2012 was the year of Magnifica presenza (Magnificent Presence), which won two Nastri d’argento, the Greatest Audience award at the Moscow International Film Festival and four Globi d’Oro. This was followed in 2014 by Allacciate le cincture (Fasten Your Seatbelts), starring Kasia Smutniak, which won three Nastri d’argento, a Globo d’oro and a Ciak d’oro. The new artistic challenge for Ozpetek came about in 2011 when he was called upon to direct his first opera on the occasion of the music festival of May in Florence. Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida was a magnificent success for Ozpetek and this was duplicated the following year in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo with La traviata.
Not content with cinema and theatre, in 2013 he published his first novel, Rosso Istanbul (Red Istanbul), with Mondadori, a true declaration of love to his birthplace, Istanbul, and his mother. Four years later, in 2017, he made a film of the same name, shot entirely in the Turkish metropolis.
In 2015 he wrote his second novel, again for Mondadori, Sei la mia vita (You Are My Life), a heart-wrenching love story including genuine behind the scenes moments from his film sets. Back to cinema and at the end of 2017 Napoli velata (Naples in Veils) was released, starring Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Alessandro Borghi. A big box office success, it received critical acclaim winning two David di Donatello for Best Photography and Best Screenplay. Then, on 19 December his latest film, La dea fortuna (The Goddess of Fortune) with Stefano Accorsi, Edoardo Leo and Jasmine Trinca was released in Italian cinemas.
In April 2019 he was back at the San Carlo theatre, Naples, to direct Madame Butterfly. In May that year he was invited to the Venice Film Festival with his video installation Venetika, starring Kasia Smutniak which opened the Venice Pavilion. This work received excellent reviews in the press and international media. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award with a solo show at Spain’s Exhibition of Cinema, Valencia.
Added to the significant cultural and institutional recognition he has earnt is the honorary citizenship of Lecce, Naples and Palermo and honorary degrees from the University for Foreigners, Perugia and the University of Palermo. In the month of November, he was made ambassador of the University of Salento, Lecce and received the Italian Commander Order of Merit.
He has been an active member of the AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research) for many years, producing television publicity campaigns for them and participating at charity fundraising events.
PROJECTS
D’Amico – Al gusto non si comanda
He graduated in Filmology from the School of Performing Arts in Bologna (DAMS). He received immediate critical and public acclaim with his short film Tana libera tutti (2006), nominated in the same year for a David di Donatello award.
His production of shorts continued with Il Valzer dello Zecchino – Viaggio in Italia a tre Tempi (2011), Anna bello sguardo (2012), homage to Lucio Dalla and Matilde (2013), selected at the Berlin International Cinema Festival and winner, among other awards of the prize for Best Short at the International Film Festival and the public prize for Biografilm 2016.
Working as a professor at the Laboratorio Multimediale and Audiovisual of CITE Bologna since 2014 in the same year he made the documentary Le pareti di vetro (Walls of Glass) and this was followed by the feature film See You in Texas (2015), produced by Ascent Film and RAI Cinema.
In 2018, he was the author and director of Il Mondiale in Piazza, produced by Articoluture, winner of the MigrArti prize 2018 and presented the same year at the Venice Film Festival, winner of over fifty prizes and selections worldwide, not to mention being in the five finalists at the Nastri d’Argento and at the Globi d’oro 2019.
That same year he made the documentary Da Teletorre 19 é Tutto! winner of the ministerial project Cineperiferie.
Marco Pianigiani has been a writer, director, producer and creative director since 2004.
He has won 23 international prizes at national and international festivals such as the New York Film Festival, the Promax, the Telly Awards, the Key Awards and recognition at the Prix Italia and the Los Angeles Fine Arts Film Festival.
He has directed several commercials, videos and international documentaries such as the Vatican Museum 3D – Dalla terra al cielo, topping the box office in Italy on the day it was released, the third highest box office earnings ever for an art documentary, distributed worldwide by Nexo. Next came, Dante e L’Invenzione dell’Inferno (Dante and the Invention of Hell), docu-fiction made for Sky Arts International, finalist for best art documentary at the worldwide television prize Ebu-Rose d’or Awards 2017.
This was followed by, Perché Danziamo (Why We Dance), an international five-episode doc-series, winner in 2019 of Best Dance Documentary in Europa at the Prix Italia and in the world at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
His latest projects are documentaries on the series Romulus and Botticelli and Florence. La Nascita della Bellezza (Botticelli and Florence. The Birth of Beauty).
Producer, set photographer and director of photography, he has worked on commercials, documentaries, TV series, backstage film, music videos and shorts.
PROJECTS
Dacia Christmas – “Il Riciclone”
She made her debut with the multi-prize winning L’isola (The Island), presented at the Directors’ Fortnight at the 56th Cannes Festival, 2003. In the same year the making of Racconti per L’isola (Tales for the Island) was invited to the Venice Film Festival in the New Territories section. She won a Nastro d’argento twice for Best Documentary: with Terramatta in 2013 and Triangle in 2015. Among her national and international prize-winning documentaries presented at the most important international film festivals are: Ècosaimale? (2000), Il bambino Gioacchino (2000), La Borsa di Hélène (Hélène’s Bag) (2000), L’insonnia di Devi (The Insomnia of Devi) (2001), Raìz (2004), Il mondo addosso (The World on My Back) (2006), Il mio cuore umano (My Human Heart) (2009), Con il fiato sospeso (With Bated Breath) (2013), Special Prize at the Nastri d’argento), Triangle (2014, Premio Cipputi), 87 Ore, 2015, Special Prize at the Nastri d’argento).
With Ascent Film she made Sembra mio figlio (Just Like My Son), presented in 2018 at the Locarno Festival, winner of the Ciak d’oro, Bello e invisibile (Beautiful and Invisible) and the Nastro d’argento. In 2018 she won the World Visions Prize, the IR Prize and the Amnesty International Prize and in 2019 she was president of the jury in the Venice Classics section at the 76th Venice Film Festival. She has been artistic director of the Palermo branch of the National Film School dedicated to documentary cinema since 2019.
Born in 1982, Matteo Rovere made his debut as director with the short Lexotan, winner of the Kodak prize at the Salerno Festival Linea d’Ombra. Other shorts and documentaries followed until 2006 when he won national and international prizes with Homo Homini Lupus, with Filippo Timi and Valentina Chico among which the Nastro d’argento for the best Italian short. In 2008 he made his first feature film, Un gioco da ragazze (Child’s Play), presented at the Rome International Film Festival. In 2012 his second feature film as director, Gli sfiorati (Touched), based on the novel of the same name by Sandro Veronesi, with Andrea Bosca, Miriam Giovanelli, Caludio Santamaria, Michele Riondino and Massimo Popolizio was released in Italian cinemas. This film had its world premiere in London at the British Film Institute Festival. In 2016 he wrote and directed Veloce come il vento with Stefano Accorsi and Matilda De Angelis. It received 16 David di Donatello nominations, winning six statuettes and two Nastri d’argento and has been sold in more than 40 countries including Germany, Japan, China, Australia, France, South America, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan. In January 2019, Il primo re starring Alessandro Borghi one of the most awaited and talked about films of the season. Sold all over the world, it was nominated for eight Nastri d’argento and won three.It won also three David di Donatello, including the one for the best production.
Alongside his work as director he also works as a screenwriter on most of his work and cinema and TV producer. In 2008 he became a partner in the production house Ascent founded in 2004 by Andrea Paris. In 2014, with the director Sydney Sibilia he set up the production company Groenlandia with whom he produced the trilogy Smetto quando voglio (I can quit whenever I want). The first chapter was nominated for 12 David di Donatello awards and five Nastri d’argento. For this film, Rovere won a Nastro d’argento for best producer making him the youngest producer, at 32, to win a prize. In 2019 he produced Croce e delizia (An almost ordinary summer), directed by Simone Godano and The Champion (Il Campione), first film by Leonardo D’Agostini. In the summer of that year he was showrunner, producer and director of the series Originale Sky Italia Romulus and produced with Ascent Il Cattivo Poeta, screenplay by Gianluca Iodice and Shadows by Carlo Lavagna. In the 2019 he also produced with Groenlandia L’Incredibile Storia dell’Isola delle Rose, a Netflix Original film directed by Sydney Sibilia.
OTHER PROJECTS
Pasta Garofalo
Renault Twingo GT – The turbo outfit
Gitanes
Valerio Rufo’s early career begins as a photo reporter for some of the most know national newspapers. He then slides into Advertising, working as a creative in well known agencies such as Saatchi&Saatchi, Lowe, TBWA. That’s where the switch arrives, diving into what then became his current career: directing. He directed spots for brands of the likes of Renault, IKEA, Jägermeister, Enel, McDonald’s.
He lived and worked in London for four years and is now based in Rome. In 2019 his short-movie Via Lattea, produced by Matteo Rovere, has won several prizes including Best Director Award at Cortinametraggio, and Special Director’s Prize at Corti d’Argento (Nastri d’Argento 2019).
OTHER PROJECTS
Sport di tutti
Samsung Galaxy S9 e S9+
Sky Now Tv Box
Leroy Merlin – The Host
Renault Rugby – Video HUB
JägerMusic LAB
Producer, director and screenwriter, Sydney Sibilia (1981) has written and directed various successful short films among them the multi-award winning Oggi Gira Così (2010).
In 2014 he set up the cinema production company Groenlandia with Matteo Rovere.
He made his cinema debut with the dazzling Smetto Quando Voglio (I Can Quit Whenever I Want) (2014), produced by Domenico Procacci’s Fandango, Matteo Rovere’s Ascent Film, Andrea Paris and Rai Cinema. This film garnered enormous public and critical success and was presented in prestigious international festivals (the BFI London Film Festival among them and the RIFF – Rejkjavik International Film Festival) it received 12 David di Donatello nominations and won several prizes among them the Nastro d’argento for Best Producer and a Ciak d’oro for Best Newcomer of the year.
He also wrote and directed the two sequels to Smetto quando voglio – Masterclass, produced by Groenlandia, Fandango and Rai Cinema followed by Smetto quando voglio – Ad honorem both of which appeared in cinemas in 2017.
The Smetto quando voglio saga has totalled more than 1.6 million admissions for over 10 million euro and was sold in over 15 countries including Spain where the remake Lo dejo cuando quiera was an immediate box office hit.
He also works for important brands including Wind and Ferrero where he is involved in directing. His latest film, L’incredibile storia delle rose (The incredible story of rose island), is due in 2020 first production Netflix Originals Europe.
OTHER PROJECTS
Io sì tu no
Zio Gianni
He divides his time between screenwriting and producing and cinema criticism and journalism on various magazines and websites in the cinema and entertainment sector.
In 2009 Hollywood sul Tevere gained Nastro d’argento and David di Donatello nominations and in 2011 he received a nomination for the Focal prize with Hollywood Invasion and in 2015 he won a special Nastro d’argento for Walt Disney and Italy – Una storia d’amore (A Love Story), Sophia racconta la Loren and Enrico Lucherini – Ne ho fatte di tutti i colori which was nominated for a David.
Between 2014 and 2015 he made a further two portraits for the series Donne nel Mito (Women in the Myth), one on Matilde Serao and another on Mina to celebrate the singer’s 75th. In 2015, he wrote and directed a programme on Anne Bancroft for Universal Studios ten years after her death with a long interview with Ezio Greggio. In December of the same year he made a programme on Woody Allen, again with Universal Studios, to celebrate the director’s 80th birthday with an interview with Carlo Verdone.
In 2016 he directed a commercial on the first joint promotional campaign by MPA – Anica – Univideo – Fapav for the protection of the audiovisual industry entitled #IoFaccioFilm.
In 2017, Cinecittà Babilonia – Sesso, Droga e Camicie Nere (Cinecittà Babylon – Sex, Drugs and Blackshirts), produced by the Istituto Luce, was aired on Raiuno on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Cinecittà.
He wrote and directed Motori Ruggenti (Cars) and the social media campaign made up of 10 clips to herald the arrival of the Disney – Pixar film Cars 3 in cinemas. This was his second documentary produced by the Walt Disney Company and was aired in cinemas in an event on 25 and 26 July.
In 2017 he wrote and directed The Italian Jobs – Paramount Pictures and Italy produced by Paramount Channel in association with Ascent Film and Kenturio, dedicated to the extraordinary story of the hollywoodian giant in Italy. This film, directed by Antonio Monda, premiered at the Rome Festa del Cinema and was nominated for a David di Donatello for Best Documentary and for a Nastro d’argento for Best Cinema Documentary.
He was the first Italian to direct a feature film in VR 360: The Seven Miracles adapting the screenplay based on the John the Evangelist. He co-directed the film with Rodrigo Cerqueira who was also the producer with Enzio Sisti (FPC) and Joel Breton of HTC. This film won London’s Raindance Film Festival and was due to be aired on HTC LIVE and on all the other VR platforms in 2019.
He has been teaching documentary film making on the Level I Master, Writing School for Cinema and Television at the Creative Center of Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli, Rome (LUISS).
