Italy’s True Colours has taken sales on two new titles that it will introduce to international buyers at Rome’s MIA Market: “Prophets,” an ISIS-themed drama by Alessio Cremonini (“On My Skin”) and “A Breath of Life,” a doc about a 97-year-old Italian transsexual woman named Lucy, who is among the few survivors of the Dachau Nazi concentration camp.
Both films are in post and will be presented as works-in-progress at MIA, the first in the “What’s Next Italy” section, the latter during MIA’s “Italian Doc it Better” session.
“Prophets” toplines Italian A-lister Jasmine Trinca (“Fortunata”) as Sara, an Italian journalist kidnapped in Syria by ISIS while working on a wartime news report in 2015. She is held in captivity in the midst of a training camp by Nur, a young fighter, wife to a soldier of the Caliphate. Nur’s strong will to proselytize along with the strict orders of the leader of the camp prompt an attempt to convert Sara and make her join Islamic extremism.
Cremonini’s police brutality drama “On My Skin” went to Venice in 2018 and was subsequently released in Italian cinemas and on Netflix, which dropped the pic globally. The politically charged drama went on to win several prizes, including best first work and best producer, at Italy’s David di Donatello Awards. The production team behind “Prophets” is the same as on “Skin,” comprising Cinemaundici and Lucky Red, who will also handle the film’s national release, partnering this time with RAI Cinema.
“A Breath of Life” is the first doc directed by Matteo Botrugno and Daniele Coluccini following the directorial duo’s feature film dramas “Et In Terra Pax” and “Tainted Souls” (“Il Contagio”), which both premiered in the Venice Days section on the Lido and travelled on the fest circuit.
The doc is a portrait of 97-year-old Lucy, deemed to be the oldest transsexual woman in Italy, a living witness of the 20th century and all its dark shadows. In her apartment, photos turned yellow by the passing of time stand as testimony to an adolescence lived as a boy and then a young man who at the time was called Luciano and who experienced, and survived, the Dachau concentration camp.
“The events of her turbulent life become a metaphor for a humanity that does not give up, and that treasures the most important gift in history, memory, as a unique and irreplaceable starting point,” says promotional materials.
“Breath of Life” is an Italian-German co-production between the directors’ production company, Blue Mirror, Italy’s Bielle Re, Kimera Film and German shingle Tama Filmproduktion.
True Colours, which launched from Rome’s MIA Market in 2015 after being jointly set up by Lucky Red and Indigo Film, has since become a top Italian sales company now headed by managing director Gaetano Maiorino, who works closely with the company’s head of sales Giulia Casavecchia.