Javier Krause, co-founder of Argentina’s Rispo Films and long one of the country’s key sales agents, has crossed the Atlantic and started Kafilms, a new Swiss production company where he is taking the reins to create new content for international audiences, including two new Italian co-productions which Krause has announced in exclusivity with Variety.
Joined by Maurizio and Manuel Tedesco of Italy’s Baires Produzioni, backers of Filmax-sold “Tomorrow’s a New Day” from Simone Spada and WWI drama “Il destino degli uomini,” Kafilms will co-produce “The Eye of the Rabbit” from debut feature filmmakers Valentina and Francesca Bertuzzi (“Delitto naturale,” “Weekend”) and “L’Arminuta,” – currently in production – written by Monica Zapelli in collaboration with the author of the eponymous novel on which the film is based, Donatella di Pietrantonio.
“The Eye of the Rabbit” turns on Liz, the eldest daughter of a middle-class Roman family who discovers a mysterious hole that, night after night, grows under her bed. While her parents suspect she is behind the growing abyss, inexplicable events unfold in the apartment and the family experiences an inexplicable run of good fortune.
Liz, who studies violin, is admitted to a prestigious academy of music; Bianca, her younger sister, modeled after Greta Thunberg, is finally accepted by the other kids at school; mother Flora, recovers the beauty of her youth and Lorenzo, the father, successfully re-launches his wine company. Although things seem to be all good for the family, the most important things in Liz’s life soon come under great peril. Currently in development, shooting and release are planned for 2021.
Set in late summer 1975, “L’Arminuta” kicks off when a 13-year-old girl is returned to a biological family she didn’t know existed. Overnight the child loses everything she’d had in her previous life: a comfortable house and the exclusive affection of adoring parents. Relocated, she finds herself in an alien world barely marked by modern progress and is forced to share the confines of a small, dark house with five other siblings.
Rai Cinema joins the production trio, with contributions from Mibact-DGCA and the Lazio Region’s Lazio Cine International. Confirmed casting includes Vanessa Scalera (“Vincere”), Fabrizio Ferracane (“Black Souls”), Elena Lietti (“Like Crazy”), Andrea Fuorto (Netflix’s “Suburra: Blood on Rome”) and first-timer Sofia Fiore as the titular L’Arminuta.
BTS L’Arminuta
Credit: Kafilms