01/07/2022 - Co-produced by Italian outfit Picomedia and French company Thalie Images, in collaboration with Rai Fiction, it will star Jasmine Trinca, Valerio Mastandrea, Elio Germano and Asia Argento

(l-r, front row) Lorenzo Zurzolo, Francesco Zenga, Jasmine Trinca, Elio Germano and Mattia Basciani, on the set of La Storia (© Iacovelli-Zayed)

Filming has begun in Rome on La Storia, a new TV series directed by Francesca Archibugi (her last work for TV was Romanzo famigliare in 2018; her most recent film, Vivere [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Francesca Archibugi
film profile], was in 2019), based on the novel of the same name by Elsa Morante, first published in 1974 and which became one of the most acclaimed and debated novels at the time.

Co-produced by Picomedia and the French company Thalie Images in collaboration with Rai Fiction, the series is written by Giulia Calenda, Ilaria Macchia, Francesco Piccolo and Archibugi herself. Here’s the synopsis: on an ordinary day in 1941, the widow Ida Ramundo, Nino's mother and secretly of Jewish origin, is raped by a German soldier. After the pain, the dismay and the shame, Ida discovers she is pregnant and, nine months later, secretly gives birth to a baby boy who will be lovingly nicknamed Useppe. The family is turned upside down by the events of the war: Nino decides to leave for the front with the fascists, leaving his mother and little Useppe to cope with the Nazi occupation and the round-ups in a flat in Rome's San Lorenzo district. In the July 1943 bombing, Ida loses everything and is forced to evacuate. From then on, every day for her becomes a struggle for her own survival and that of her child.

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Ida will be played by Jasmine Trinca, fresh from her debut behind the camera with Marcel! [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jasmine Trinca
film profile]; alongside her will be Valerio Mastandrea, Elio Germano, Asia Argento, Lorenzo Zurzolo and Francesco Zenga. Photography will be handled by Luca Bigazzi, the set design by Ludovica Ferrario, and the costumes by Catherine Buyse and Valentina Monticelli.

"Staging The Story of Elsa Morante is an infinite joy and responsibility," Archibugi declares. "It is one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century, it is the book that, in my adolescence, opened my eyes not only to human beings, big and small, but also to what 'storytelling' should mean." According to Maria Pia Ammirati, director of Rai Fiction, it is "one of those novels that while restoring the atmosphere and spirit of a historical period - in this case the Second World War and the years that followed it - capture the tragic universality of a human condition and deliver unforgettable characters and situations to literature and society." "Francesca Archibugi," adds Roberto Sessa of Picomedia, "has put together an extraordinary cast that will embellish our story."

The shooting of La Storia will last 22 weeks and will take place in Rome, in the Lazio region and for one week in Naples. German outfit Beta Film will handle its international sales.

(Translated from Italian)