Isabella Torri is in Venice to premiere her feature film debut, Basilia. The film follows an archaeologist who explores a tomb containing ancient treasure in the rugged Aspromonte mountains of southern Italy, unleashing mythical nymphs.
The dark fairy tale—which closed the independent Giornate Degli Autori festival, also known as Venice Days—was developed at the Sundance Lab. It was produced by Torre’s partner, director Jonas Carpignano (“A Chiara”) and is being sold by Luxbox. “Basileia” is an expansion of Torre’s short film “Nymphs,” which premiered at Venice Horizons in 2018. The film’s cast includes Angela Fontana (“Indivisibili”) and Danish-American actor Elliot Crosette-Hoff (“Godland”).
Below, Torre and Carpignano speak to: diverse The film revolves around venturing into the unconventional genre through a story that blends mythology and current reality.
How did the story of “Basilia” come about?
tower: All thanks to Aspromonte, which was not just a location — it also became one of the main characters. Jonathan and I were living in Calabria. [the region on the toe of the Italian boot] For many years, Aspromonte has been a place we have been to a lot. It is a very special and mysterious place and has a lot more to say than most people would imagine. Not everyone knows Aspromonte, but those who do usually know it for the wrong reason because of its history of being used as a haven for mafia activity and all those kinds of things that are just a part of it, while there is so much more to it.
The first thing that came to my mind were just images. Images of landscapes, which were so magical. I could tell that nature was completely in control just by looking out of the window of our car through the trees. Then, when you get to know the people, you discover another incredible side, because nature is so present there that it rules everything and makes people live differently. I feel like we are in a time when the world is being affected by modernity, renewal, colonialism everywhere. But there is no such thing. Of course, children have Instagram and all these kinds of things, and of course they are like other children all over the world. But at the same time, they have this attachment to their history and I don’t think that will ever change. I feel that Aspromonte remains very true to itself and its roots, and there is a lot to be said about that.
“Basilia” includes mermaids, wolves and mysterious energies, but it is also very rooted in the reality of the region. Do you consider it a film of that genre?
tower: I can't categorize it or put it in a literary category. But I think it's the closest thing to those old dark stories that our grandparents used to tell us that didn't have a great ending, where there was no prince coming to save the princess. They were just very dark stories, sometimes you didn't even understand them, and they were something that probably never got written down. They were just told by Grandma and passed down through the generations, but they had this dark essence and they were very real.
Are there any cinematic references that influenced Basilia?
tower: Yes, there are a lot of them, and I've also been inspired by visual arts. I've watched a lot of Lucretia Martel because I love the way she puts the other world into her own cinematic universe. It's incredible. I've also watched a lot of Alice Rohrwacher. She's a friend, but she's also a director who's always inspired me. And I was really struck by this movie that you might know, “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” [by Apichatpong Weerasethakul]This was the cinematic world I was moving in while writing the script and before shooting.
Jonas, what was the production of “Basilia” like from a production standpoint?
Carpignano: Isabella and I have been living together in Calabria since 2015, and she has obviously been very involved in all the films we have made. From the beginning, I felt an immediate strong attraction to Aspromonte. I remember the first time she told me about the script was after we had returned from there. She told me about the idea of making a film about nymphs and researching the organic mythology of this region. And I remember saying to her, “Just write the film. It’s a great idea. We know the locations. We know the people. I know how much you love this place. Write the film.” And the first thing she did was write a feature film. And I remember thinking, “This is great. I don’t know how we’re going to put all this together now, so let’s see if we can make a short film version of it.”
The next day, I wrote a 12-page script that was an excerpt from the movie. I thought it was great. So we went and made it.
And from there, the film was a huge success because the feature script went into the Sundance Lab the same year that the short film was screened in Venice, so we had an incredible amount of momentum. And then we were about to make the film, but COVID-19 completely ruined our plans. So we had to start from scratch as soon as COVID-19 was over, and now we finally made the film that you saw.
