Writer-director Ruth Borgobello is casting her debut feature, a cross-cultural romantic drama set in northern Italy.
Remarkably, The Space Between will be the first official co-production between Italy and Australia since the two countries signed a treaty in 1996.
“We’ve worked really hard to develop this relationship and have created a very strong network here that we hope to carry into further projects,” the Melbourne-based Borgobello told IF via email from Italy, where she is scouting locations.
Flavio Parenti (To Rome with Love, I am Love ) will play the lead, Marco, a 35-year-old who has a dispiriting job at a factory in Udine despite his skill as a chef, amid the deepening economic crisis in Italy.
Eschewing real love, he passes his time in an empty relationship. After his best friend Claudio is killed in a car accident, he tries to keep Claudio’s struggling bookshop business alive. Then he encounters Olivia, a spirited young Australian living out her dreams in the most unlikely place.
Ruth is in advanced negotiations with a couple of Australian actresses for the role of Olivia. The co-producing partner with her Mondo Studio Films is Idea Cinema. The film is financed by the Italian Ministry for Arts and Culture (MiBACT), the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission and private investors in Australia.
Distribution agreements are in place with Australia’s Palace Films and Italy’s Cinecitta Luce.
The producer is Idea Cinema’s Claudio Saraceni, who has produced more than 60 Italian films including Fellini's last film La Voce della Luna, which starred Roberto Benigni, Darker Than Midnight, which screened at the Cannes festival this year, As You Want Me and Iago.
Filming is scheduled to start next March with post production in Melbourne. The DoP is Vladan Radovic, whose credits include Red Like the Sky, The Rest of the Night and TV's In Treatment. The editor is Paul Maxwell (Mt Zion, Kiwi Flyer, Rain).
“The film is primarily targeted at a generation X and Y audience and will also appeal to a 45-plus audience who may have faced a similar crisis in their lives,” she said.
“The story is cross-cultural, spanning Italy and Australia, and should have strong appeal in both markets as well as in broader European and international markets with strong Italian communities."
A VCA graduate in 2002, Ruth launched Mondo Studio Films in 2008 to develop The Space Between. Her graduate film Claudia’s Shadow screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, Rome Film Festival and the Hawaii Film Festival.
Her follow up short The Gift was released in Australia through Palace Cinemas and was invited to the Berlin Interfilm festival in 2005.