Cannes Docs

Runtime: 87'

Expected release: September, 2023

Production stage: Post- production

Budget: €493.866 (83% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Distributors, Buyers, Gap financing

Synopsis:

Honeydew isn’t just a town it’s a state of mind. Maureen, 60s, moved to the tiny Northern California enclave in her 20s, seeking freedom in its purest form. But her simple life of writing country songs and illegally cultivating weed is disrupted due to the legalization of marijuana. Unable to adapt to government bureaucracy she has no choice but to surrender her corner of paradise to a younger generation.

Director’s profile:

Born in Parma, Italy in 1991, Marco Bergonzi obtained a degree in Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. He returned to Parma where he completed his studies in 2018 with a multidisciplinary thesis about informal living. Through this research he came into contact with humanistic disciplines such as anthropology and sociology. As a passionate photographer/cinematographer, and storyteller, he has dedicated the last three years to documentary cinema. Honeydew is his first feature length film.

Co-Director’s profile:

Born in Turin, Italy in 1992, upon graduating from Liceo socio psico pedagogico, Michael Petrolini enrolled as a Sociology major in Milan but later took a hiatus from his studies to work and travel. Over the next five years he journeyed and worked an array of jobs in the United States, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South East Asia and Africa. In 2017 he took classes at the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern school of cinema in Bologna, where he graduated in November 2018. Honeydew is his first feature length film.

Producer’s profile:

Simone Catania is director and producer. In 2007 he cofounded Indyca in Turin, an independent movie production company oriented to international co-production. He produced films premiered at important international film festivals like Venice Film Festival, SXSW, IDFA, HotDocs and nominated at prestigious prices such as EFA and Nastri d’Argento, among the others. Currently, he is also working on an international coproduction film titled ‘Samia’ directed by Yasemin Samdereli.
Francesca Portalupi started her career in the film production with the documentary ‘Almost Married’, which premiered at IDFA in 2010. She joined Indyca in 2019 where she is executive producer of creative documentaries and feature films. Among the productions: ‘Happy Winter’ (premiered in Venezia), ‘We Are the Thousand’ (SXSW), ‘Cuban Dancer’ (Miami, San Francisco) and ‘The Store’ (BFI, Rotterdam).

Runtime: 75', 33'

Expected release: November, 2023

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €110.000 (70 % in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festival, Sales agent, Distgribution, Co-producer

Synopsis:

Crotone, the young people of the Rione Fondo Gesù deal with the absence of their fathers. Forced to be husbands for their mothers, every year among the grey buildings, they gather to honor the millenary tradition of the Santa Lucia fire, trying to rediscover their lost adolescence.

Director’s profile:

Matteo Russo was born in Crotone on 10/15/1992. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, founding the collective « Hi, Toys videoproject » in 2011 with some of his collaborators approaching the world of teh cinema. In 2014 he made his first real experience in the world of cinema, working on the set of the film « Confusi e felici » by Massimiliano Bruno, playing the role of assistant director. The two real film projects are those made in 2015 or « Voglia di fragola » written by Emilio Maria Costa (awarded as best experimental short at TMFF) and « My beloved son » written, produced and directed by the same Matteo, a short film that has received several selections in national and international film festivals. His latest short film « Amare affondo » has just started distributing and has received 20th Official Selection and awards in a World Film Festival.

Producer’s profile:

Orazio Guarino, director, screenwriter and producer, was born in Sava (Ta) on 27 July 1981. he graduated at DAMS Cinema In Bologna with a thesis on the poetics of director JL Godard.In 2004, together with Marco Santoro, he founded Naffintusi Cinema with which he produced his first short films, presented in numerous festivals and receiving various awards. In addition to short films, with Naffintusi he produces his own films and decisions of videoclips and documentaries for major Italian artists.His feature film “Sp1ral” receives the Audience Award at the Terra di Siena Film Festival.He is currently engaged in the pre-production of his new film as director «  »Let the flames burn » » and on several short films by young authors and authors including that of Antonio La Camera co-produced by Palme d’Or director Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Runtime: 110', 130’, 55’x2

Expected release: September, 2023

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €650.000 (80% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festival Curators, National Theatrical Distributors, Buyers, Gap Financing

Synopsis:

Weaponization of energy and nuclear family life in the wilderness intertwine in Terra Incognita, a documentary feature ode to the search for survival resources on planet earth. Starting from Alexander von Humboldt’s oeuvre Cosmos, made of sketches describing the natural universe, the film is a poetic post-human investigation, in and out of atomic energy, in the modern geopolitical context.

Director’s profile:

Enrico Masi (1983) is an author, film-director and musician, Phd at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, involved in cinematic research and phenomenological studies. His debut feature length, The Golden Temple premiered in Venice Film Festival, Cinemateca Uruguaya and Festival dei Popoli in 2012, then released worldwide. The Mega Event Trilogy (2012-2019) studied the impact of metropolitan postmodern mutations between London, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo. Shelter-Farewell to Eden, final chapter of the trilogy, is the story of Pepsi, a transgender militant born in the southern Philippines. The film premiered in CPH:DOX main competition, with Doc Alliance special mention, Cinema du Reél, Sheffield Doc Fest, DocLisboa, Festival Mix Milan, BFI Flare. During the Terra Incognita writing and development he has been selected as Berlinale Talents in 2021.

Producer’s profile:

Stefano Migliore (1984) is a producer and author of documentaries for cinema and audio documentaries. Since 2010 he has been president of Caucaso, with which he produces and develops several audiovisual projects including numerous institutional films and research documentaries. He produced 4 audio documentaries for RSI – Laser and for Rai Radio 3. He produced all films directed by Enrico Masi. His relationship with the director is decades old, and thanks to his management, organizational and creative skills, he has always managed to support and realize Enrico’s creative flair.

Runtime: 85'

Expected release: September, 2023

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: €185.000 (80% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, Buyers

Synopsis:

Italo-Brazilian fencing champion Nathalie Moellhausen filmed intimately over 10 years. Three Olympics with two different flags. Challenges, defeats (many) and victories (few). A legendary trainer, a number of dubious mentors, a famous chef as a boyfriend. A distressing relationship with a cumbersome father. A turbulent journey, defined by blind ambition and haunted by demons of failure.

Director’s profile:

Martina Moor, is an Italian filmmaker and editor based in Brussels. She graduated in Visual Arts and Theatre from University of Architecture of Venice and later she gained an MA in TV Screen Documentary from Goldsmith University, in London. Since 2010 she has been directing and producing several short experimental films and edited award winning feature documentaries and video art pieces. Touché is her first feature length documentary film as director.

Producer’s profile:

Filippo Macelloni is an award-winning director, producer and writer. His work has played in numerous film festivals and on TV networks across the world. In 2001, together with Lorenzo Garzella, he founded NANOF, independent production company based in Rome, committed to develop and produce documentaries, fiction and cross media projects. Some of their most significant film credits include: “Climbing Iran” (2020), “The Disappearance of My Mother”, premiered at Sundance 2019; “The lost World Cup”, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011, “Silvio Forever”, released in 2011.