The Venice Film Festival had long been the global stage where artistic brilliance met the height of industry prestige. That year, the 8th edition of the Filming Italy Venice Award added a significant chapter to that legacy when it honored Orlando Bloom with the Filming Italy International Award. As the industry continued to globalize, the role of such accolades shifted from mere recognition to strategic milestones. Under the visionary leadership of Tiziana Rocca, who stood as a formidable force in Italian cinema, the Filming Italy initiative successfully cultivated an ecosystem that bridged the gap between Hollywood’s major production studios and the rich, cultural heritage of the European film industry. For those of us navigating the international film scene, those moments were vital. They represented more than just the glamour of the Lido; they were essential forums where creative narratives and business interests intersected. Bloom’s presence - particularly with his work in the competition title Bucking Fastard - emphasized a shift toward auteur-driven films that demanded global attention. By celebrating artists who bridged those worlds, Filming Italy continued to reinforce the importance of cross-border collaboration. It was a reminder that in the modern cinematic circuit, success was built on the strength of one’s network and the ability to operate fluidly across different markets. As we looked toward the future of global production, the partnership between international talent and the Italian industry remained a cornerstone of excellence, proving that the most compelling stories were those that transcended borders.

Film festivals have long been places where audiences discover stories. Today, they are also becoming powerful meeting points for culture, creativity and brands. The HollyShorts Film Festival is at the forefront of that evolution. Theo Dumont and Daniel Sol the co-founders of HollyShorts Film Festival, Photography: Charlie Minh Nguyen As an Oscar-qualifying and BAFTA Qualifying film festival rooted in Hollywood but with a Global presence (London, Dubai, etc) and creative community, HollyShorts has built a platform where filmmakers, artists, athletes, musicians, creators and brands can exist within the same creative conversation. Its growing roster of sponsors reflects that philosophy: the goal isn't simply to place a brand alongside the festival, but to find a genuine point of connection between what that brand represents and what HollyShorts stands for. Leading that vision is Jessica Badawi, Head of Partnerships at HollyShorts, whose role is to transform sponsorship from a transactional relationship into a cultural one. Her approach centers on finding the why behind a partnership - what a brand can bring to the HollyShorts community, and what HollyShorts can give back in return. That can take many forms: a brand becoming part of the red carpet, supporting filmmakers, powering a conversation, creating an intimate hospitality experience, connecting with music and sports programming, presenting an award, or developing original content that lives beyond the festival itself. For sponsors, HollyShorts offers something increasingly valuable: proximity to the next generation of storytellers and a highly engaged creative audience in one of the world's most influential entertainment capitals. For HollyShorts, the right partners bring resources, creativity and new experiences that elevate the festival and create additional opportunities for its filmmakers and community. It's a two-way exchange of influence. Brands gain cultural relevance by participating in an authentic creative environment, while HollyShorts gains partners who can help expand its reach and ambition. Under Badawi's partnership strategy, the philosophy is simple: the festival doesn't just put a brand in the room - it gives the brand a reason to be there. Jessica Badawi on the HollyShorts red carpet And when that reason is rooted in creativity, storytelling and shared cultural values, the partnership becomes more than an activation. It becomes part of the story HollyShorts is telling. It's more than putting a logo on a step-and-repeat. It is about creating meaningful connections between brands, filmmakers, artists and audiences, and building partnerships that add value to the festival while giving brands an authentic place within the culture of cinema.c With a selection of returning sponsors and a great amount of new ones, here is a little highlight of most of this year's sponsors: MASSICAN: @massicanwinery Alexandra Shipp OUFER JEWELRY: Presented Vanessa Hudgens with her honoree award Vanessa Hudgens with her honoree award made by OUFER JEWELRY @ouferbodyjewelry ARNYCA CELLARS: An elevated wine that gives back! Beauty behind the logo - A portion of their sales supports the National Association for the Deaf, established in 1880 by deaf leaders advocating for sign language rights. @arnycacellars GLASROSE VINEYARDS: @glasrosefarm COTRINI SKINCARE: A celebrity high end Luxury skincare @cotriniskin VIBES CANDY: Sponsored the HollyShorts Music Category also presented the Music Documentary Award on Closing Night @vibessnacks VERSE LA @verse.la ABUNDANCE CEREMONIAL CACAO @abundance.cacao FRAGANCIAS PITORRO @fraganciaspitorro Tropical Fine Fragrance Mists from Puerto Rico, Inspired by Pitorro Rum. TAFARI WORLD @tafariworld Tafari dressed Co-Founder Theo Dumont for his red carpet arrival and also made custom scarves for VIPs along with special gift boxes for our honorees this year. @tafariworld SLĀ GOLF @slagolf NOE FDZ CIGARS @noefdzcigars SUSHILUX LA @sushiluxla SAUCY PIZZA LA @saucylosangeles GOLDEN RESERVE CAVIAR @goldenreservecaviar VITAMINWATER @vitaminwater TOPO CHICO @cocacola ALL ABOUT THE CINNAMON @allaboutthecinnamonbaby MONTUCKY BEER @montuckycoldsnacks MOFONGOS LA @mofongosla AWAKE CHOCOLATES @awakechocolate HONDURAS KITCHEN @honduraskitchen ALTADENA BAKERY @altadena_bakery EMPRESS GIN @empress1908gin BARBANCOURT RUM @barbancourtrhum BLOOMING BOUQCAKES @_bloomingbouqcakes ART & REV @artandrevcocktails THE LOST EXPLORER @thelostexplorer THE LOUNGE BOOTH @theloungebooth FLOR DE YEMA @flor_de_yema KHLOUD @khloudfoods HINT WATER @hint SOLELY @solelyfruit SMARTSWEETS @smartsweets SÄTI @drinksati DISTINCTIVE SOLUTIONS @distinctive_es SAM WOO BBQ @sam_woobbq CAFE ELEGANTE @cafeeleganteburbank BUBBA'S CATERING: @bubbascatering FILTHY CHIPS: @eatfilthychips LUXBITESLA: @luxebitesla GOURMELATAS: @gourmeletas SUNBERRY ACAI:@sunberryacai ZAATAR N' MORE: @zaatarnmore DJ'S OPENING NIGHT - FOUR HANDS LA @fourhandsla DJ FOR CLOSING NIGHT- AM!NA JAGUAR - @aminajaguar Albert G. Ruben Film.io First Entertainment Credit Union @firstent Imgn Ai @imgn.ai Kodak @kodak Mental Health Storytelling Initiative Panavision @panavision Sheppard Mullin @sheppardmullin

Photography: AM Reed Christopher Gialanella understands a secret that most of Los Angeles has forgotten: there is a specific gravity to ink on paper. In a town obsessed with the next glowing screen, the real heavy lifting happens in the quiet corners of publishing. It takes a certain kind of dedication to champion stories that lift neighborhoods up, skipping the cheap tabloids entirely. Finding professionals who truly get this obsession is rare, and Gialanella is the guy leading the charge. Photography: AM Reed When the media group led by Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas bought Los Angeles Magazine, the local whisper network swore Chris bought it himself. The reality is actually much better. The new owners saw a leader and a guy who led by example and tapped Chris as President and Publisher for Engine Vision Media’s Los Angeles, Orange Coast, and Pasadena Magazines, which was the smartest move on the board. Photography: AM Reed A sharp, direct energy from his New Jersey roots translates directly to the West Coast. The art of the hustle was learned early, entirely by accident, thanks to his grandmother, Esther. When a local congressman waved from a parade float, she ran right into the street, stopped him in his tracks, and demanded an internship for her grandson. It worked. That same fearless energy fueled his move to California, where he cut his teeth doing PR and passing around coveted movie screeners, famously crashing at the home of Ian Ziering right at the absolute peak of the Beverly Hills 90210 television craze. Photography: AM Reed Eventually, his fiancée - now his wife - brought home a copy of a beautiful local publication. After looking it over, Chris picked up the phone and called the founder of Modern Luxury directly. Despite having zero magazine experience, he offered a bold deal: give him a desk and pay him strictly on commission. The result was a staggering fifty grand in ads sold for his very first issue. This success came from treating sales like a first date - asking questions, listening intently, and believing blindly in the power of a face-to-face meeting. In a town run on text messages, Chris still requires absolute punctuality and writes handwritten thank-you notes. Photography: AM Reed That genuine curiosity is his secret weapon. Regular appearances on CBS and Fox allow him to highlight local stories, and he covers the Golden Globes and Oscars red carpets with the exact same approachability he uses with the cashier at the grocery store. Everyone is seen as simply human in his eyes. Granted, he admits to completely freezing up and asking for a wildly awkward selfie when he met Robert De Niro, but that only makes him more relatable. Understanding that the guy ordering a drink in Pasadena is having a completely different conversation than the woman relaxing by a pool here in the Hollywood Hills, he refuses to treat our coast like one giant blur. His connection to the community goes far beyond gloss and glamour. When devastating fires ripped through the local canyons, Chris did not simply print a tribute issue. He opened a massive donation center in Marina del Rey, personally handing out socks and blankets to families who had lost absolutely everything. He orchestrated comedy shows to raise relief funds, proving that a publication should act as the actual heartbeat of a city.

Photography: Irma Lion Madison Brodsky is a television host and content creator who has spent more than a decade turning her childhood obsession of celebrity news into a career spanning across Hollywood, sports, live entertainment, gaming and digital media. Long before she ever held a microphone on a red carpet, Madison was the little girl watching Entertainment Tonight with her mom in pajamas and tiny baby heels. When people asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would say she wanted a job that gave her enough free time to volunteer at ET because getting paid to interview celebrities seemed far too fun to be an actual career. Photography: Irma Lion She eventually proved herself wrong. Madison attended the University of Arizona, where she double majored in Broadcast Journalism and Film & Television, graduated in just three years and completed 12 internships along the way. Determined to understand the industry from every angle, she learned how to write, pitch, book, shoot, edit and produce before building her career in front of the camera. After graduating, Madison made the trek to the land of fame and success without knowing a soul and was immediately hired at TMZ, spending more than four years inside one of entertainment journalism’s fastest-paced newsrooms. She went on to land the job she had dreamed about as a kid at Entertainment Tonight, working across multiple properties such as Entertainment Tonight, ET Live and ET Canada as a booking producer and a red-carpet correspondent. Throughout her career, she has developed, produced, booked and hosted entertainment franchises while interviewing actors, musicians, athletes, creators, executives and some of the biggest names in pop culture. Photography: Irma Lion As the media landscape evolved, so did Madison. She expanded into live and digital commerce, becoming a host and talent producer in the e-commerce space, including work with talkshoplive, before moving deeper into interactive live entertainment. Today, she hosts for Live Play Mobile, appearing on live casino entertainment platforms including Modo Casino alongside UFC announcer Bruce Buffer and WOW Vegas, where hours of unscripted broadcasting have made quick thinking, audience interaction and improvisation second nature. Sports became another major chapter of her career. Madison has created and hosted content with the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Kings, covering everything from NFL sidelines and training camp to athlete interviews and fan facing content. Her sports résumé has also taken her to the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA All-Star Weekend and NBA Summer League to interview legends like Tom Brady and Shaquille O’Neal, while her entertainment work has brought her everywhere from Hollywood premieres and press junkets to backstage at the GRAMMY’s interviewing the winners on behalf of the Recording Academy. Her work with Los Angeles Magazine has further blurred the line between journalist, host, producer and personality. As a freelance contributor and on-camera talent, Madison has covered entertainment, sports, culture and major events while developing original concepts that extend far beyond a traditional interview. Among those concepts is “The Roadtrip To,” an original travel-meets-entertainment franchise created by Madison that turns the journey to the world's biggest cultural and sporting events into part of the story itself. Previous installments have centered around destinations including the Super Bowl and Coachella, combining destination coverage, celebrity and personality-driven interviews, brand integrations, behind-the-scenes access and social-first storytelling. The franchise has continued expanding toward major events including Formula 1, with Madison developing The Road to F1 Vegas as its next evolution. Her career has increasingly extended beyond reporting other people's stories and into creating the formats herself. Madison has hosted and moderated major conferences and live events, interviewed leaders across sports and entertainment, created branded campaigns and produced personality-driven social content. She has stepped onto the field as an LA Galaxy player for a day for an Apple TV+ MLS Season Pass campaign, created content inside the Chargers organization, hosted main-stage conversations for high profiled events like New You Beauty Awards, Chi Hair Care’s 40th Anniversary Celebration, and Tim Tebow’s Non Profit Gala. She’s built a career that can move seamlessly from a movie premiere to an NFL facility to a live studio. Whether she is interviewing an A-list actor on a carpet, talking football with an NFL player, improvising for hours on live television, moderating a room full of executives, taking viewers behind the scenes of a major event or turning a brand partnership into an actual piece of entertainment, Madison approaches every assignment with the same goal: make the audience feel like they have the best seat in the house. And increasingly, brands have trusted her to do exactly that. Her partnerships have crossed fashion, beauty, sports, entertainment, travel and lifestyle, with collaborators ranging from Apple TV+ and Wantable to Melinda Maria Jewelry, where her work has helped generate more than $1 million in jewelry sales in a single year. Madison's next chapter is focused on becoming more than the person holding the microphone. She is developing original formats, expanding her footprint across sports and entertainment, pursuing larger television and commercial opportunities and building toward the kind of career where hosting, producing, fashion, brands, live events and pop culture all coexist.

Navigating luxury property markets from Southern California to Dubai requires a distinct caliber of representation. Modern high-net-worth investors need a guide who understands both local zoning in communities like La Jolla, Del Mar, Coronado, and Rancho Santa Fe, and off-plan capital appreciation in the United Arab Emirates. Enter Ghada “GG” Benitez. As a California-licensed REALTOR®, a RERA-certified Dubai real estate broker, and a Certified International Property Specialist, Benitez brings a rare combination of professional credentials and on-the-ground experience in two of the world's most competitive property markets. Her ascent in the real estate sector is not merely a story of sales volume; it is a study in education, relationships, and data-driven strategy. Long before she established GG Benitez International, Benitez honed her business acumen in environments where precision and trust were non-negotiable. She began her career in pharmaceutical sales, presenting clinical research to cardiologists, which taught her how to distill dense data into clear, actionable insights. Later, as the CEO of a public relations agency for twenty years, she represented global brands and public figures. When she transitioned to real estate, she applied that same rigorous methodology: relying on hard numbers, proven track records, and cultivating direct relationships with top-tier developers. Her analytical approach became the foundation of her current enterprise. Recognizing that many North American investors were intrigued by Dubai’s economic growth but lacked a reliable bridge to access it, Benitez decided to fill the void. She launched The Dubai Connect Podcast, which is now in its seventh season. Instead of relying on marketing hype, the platform serves as an education-first resource. Through in-depth interviews with leading developers, attorneys, mortgage specialists, and government officials from the Dubai Land Department, Benitez breaks down the mechanics of international investing. Listeners around the world tune in to understand the realities of the market. Benitez covers everything from identifying prime off-plan opportunities and securing financing to navigating Golden Visa eligibility and executing long-term exit strategies. She emphasizes that successful investing in the UAE requires looking past the immediate glamour to focus on developer reputation, infrastructure plans like the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, and realistic capital appreciation timelines. What sets Benitez apart is a commitment to the long game. She frequently advises clients against short-sighted flipping, encouraging them instead to hold properties for sustainable gains. In an industry where some brokers chase rapid commissions and quick exits, Benitez evaluates her success by her clients' satisfaction years down the line, when they finally rent or sell their completed projects. Her team, split between San Diego and Dubai, ensures that investors have continuous representation and support across time zones. For investors seeking to expand their portfolios across international borders, finding the right advisor is the first and most critical step. Benitez has proven she has the background, the access, and the commitment to guide them. You can follow GG on her Instagram for luxury and international real estate insights from Southern California to Dubai, and subscribe to The Dubai Connect on GG BENITEZ INTERNATIONAL YouTube.

It is one thing to maintain a career in Hollywood that spans many years, it is another entirely to build a body of work that leaves a lasting impact. George Sharperson has done both. Known to millions for his appearances on television series like ABC’s Abbott Elementary, CBS’s United States of Al, Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer, and the OWN Network’s Cherish the Day, Sharperson’s presence on screen is undeniable. He is the kind of veteran performer who brings gravity and heart to every scene he inhabits. But the true depth of his contribution to entertainment extends far beyond his acting credits. As an award-winning executive producer, Sharperson is guiding stories that demand to be told, defining a legacy built on historical truth, social justice, and profound human empathy. Being cast in Abbott Elementary places an actor at the center of modern television history. The ABC and Disney comedy series has captured the cultural zeitgeist, collecting Primetime Emmy Awards and dozens of nominations. Earning a place in an ensemble of this caliber speaks to the level of talent Sharperson brings to his craft. For two decades, he has moved fluently between comedy and drama, grounding his characters with a quiet dignity that resonates with audiences and critics alike. Disney / Gilles Mingasson While his acting career continues to flourish, his work behind the camera reveals his vision for the future of entertainment. He is drawn to documentaries and films that engage audiences and illuminate historical truths. He is the executive producer of the film O'Day Short: An Act of Justice. The film does more than recount a chapter of racial injustice; it highlights the perseverance required to heal a community. By documenting the effort that ultimately led to the renaming of O'Day Short Elementary School, the documentary preserves local history while offering a path toward understanding. The film has drawn widespread interest, resulting in private screenings for educational institutions and local leaders. Equally compelling is his work as Executive Producer of Dreamers, a documentary centered on the immigrant experience in America. Through personal and moving accounts, the film captures the sacrifice and resilience inherent in the pursuit of opportunity. With the documentary eligible for Emmy consideration, it is clear that Sharperson is dedicated to narratives that carry a lasting cultural footprint. Disney / Gilles Mingasson Very few individuals can navigate the divide between performance and production with such clarity. George Sharperson understands storytelling from every angle. He knows how to inhabit a character on a hit series, and he knows how to assemble a documentary that can shift public perspective. Disney / Gilles Mingasson His path from working actor to respected producer is a natural progression for a creative professional driven by authenticity. Whether he is on a soundstage or reviewing cuts in an editing bay, George Sharperson approaches his work with purpose, building a legacy that entertains, educates, and endures. You can follow George Sharperson on his Instagram, IMDb.

Markos Papadatos chatted with Canadian former ice hockey player Brooks Laich about his career in sports and latest endeavors in the digital age, which include World Playground (where he serves as founder). Laich reflected on the greatest lesson that ice hockey has taught him, and he furnished his advice for young and emerging athletes. American track and field running legend Steve Prefontaine once said: “To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” This quote applies to Brooks Laich. After spending more than a decade competing at the highest levels of professional hockey, Brooks Laich has found a new source of purpose. These days, the former NHL player is focused less on life in the arena and more on family, entrepreneurship, and helping others experience the world through travel. At the center of everything, he noted is his family. "This summer, I'm marrying my fiancée, who is an incredible woman and means the world to me," Laich said. "I'm counting down the days until we get to say our vows to each other." The couple also recently welcomed a daughter, now six months old, who has transformed his perspective in ways he never expected. "Being a partner and a father are the roles I'm most proud of and most committed to," he said. "They push me to grow and become the best version of myself. Everything I do is driven by the desire to provide for them, support them, and love them in the best way I can." Professionally, that same drive fuels his work as the founder of World Playground, a travel company dedicated to making travel more accessible. Its recently launched booking platform eliminates commissions traditionally added to travel services, allowing individuals and families to book hotels, cruises, and travel insurance at lower prices. "The opportunity to lead a company that's reshaping the travel booking landscape is incredibly motivating," he said. "It's what energizes me and drives my work every single day." Although hockey defined much of his life, Laich noted that retirement gave him the clarity to understand what he loved most about the sport. "At its core, it was the competition," he reflected. "More than anything else, I loved competing with and against the very best in the world and measuring where I - and our team - stood." Before stepping away from the game, he might have pointed to skating, shooting, or the balance between physicality and mental sharpness. But distance changed his perspective. "I loved hockey, no doubt," he said. "But what I was really addicted to was the competition woven into it." That competitive mindset also shaped the greatest lesson of his career: greatness isn't achieved overnight. "It's built over a lifetime of consistency, dedication, and deliberate effort," he said. "There are no shortcuts. Greatness isn't a destination - it's a continuous process of growth." Much of that work, he notes, happens far from public view. "When I look back on my journey, it's the work no one ever saw that I'm most proud of. That's what earned me the chance to step onto the ice in arenas full of 20,000 people and play with and against the world's best." While hockey required years of sacrifice, technology helped soften some of the distance from loved ones. Leaving home at just 16 years old to pursue his dream meant missing countless family moments, but video calls and digital communication helped bridge the gap. Today, Laich is embracing technology in a different way through World Playground. The platform integrates video and interactive features that allow travelers to explore destinations, resorts, cruise lines, and experiences before booking. "Travel should feel exciting from the very first moment," he says. "We're creating an experience that's more engaging and fundamentally better for the traveler." Retiring from hockey in 2017 also unlocked another lifelong dream: seeing the world. For two years, Laich immersed himself in adventure, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, going on safari in Tanzania, trekking with gorillas in Rwanda, swimming alongside humpback whales in Tonga, scuba diving in Indonesia, and exploring countless other destinations. "I went everywhere and did everything," he said with a smile. "Being a professional athlete consumed my life, and every decision within it. Once I retired, the world opened up to me, and I wanted to experience it all." Those travels ultimately inspired the creation of World Playground. In 2020, he partnered with longtime friend Jeff Shafar to build a community centered around unforgettable adventures. "I figured if I loved these experiences, others would too," Laich said. "Coming from a lifetime in team sports, I missed that sense of shared pursuit." What began as a travel community has since evolved into a full-scale booking platform designed to remove commissions and make travel more affordable. "We give every traveler access to the lowest possible prices on hotels, cruises, and travel insurance—every time," he explains. "No commissions added, ever. Just honest pricing, so you can spend more on the moments that matter." Looking back, one of the defining moments of Laich's life came long before he ever laced up skates professionally. At 12 years old, while competing in a provincial baseball tournament in his hometown of Wawota, Saskatchewan, he struggled through the opening day and felt he'd let his team down. Seeing his disappointment, his mother offered a simple piece of advice that would change his life. "She said, 'You're hoping to hit the ball instead of believing and knowing you're going to hit the ball.'" The lesson transformed his mindset almost instantly. "From then on, I approached everything in life with a deeper sense of confidence and conviction." His team went on to win the provincial championship, but the bigger victory was internal. "I've probably failed more than I've succeeded," he said. "But from that point on, I never questioned my ability to figure things out, keep moving forward, and always believe in myself." He credits both of his parents for helping shape the person he became. "I love my mom so much, and my dad too. I'm so lucky to have terrific parents who supported me every step of the way." For young athletes and aspiring adventurers, Laich's advice is straightforward: pursue what genuinely excites you and commit wholeheartedly. "Find what you're deeply passionate about and go all in on it," he said. "Take ownership of your life and create your own opportunities, because no one else will do it for you. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it." Asked to define success, Laich's answer has evolved significantly over the years. "It's about laying it all on the line and being proud of the effort you gave, regardless of the outcome," he said. He spent 34 years chasing hockey's ultimate prize - a Stanley Cup - but never won one. Yet he refuses to measure his life by a single accomplishment. "If success is measured by getting to do what I loved every day, the incredible people I met, the places I experienced, and the fact that it led me to my fiancée and our daughter, then it was a success beyond anything I could have imagined." Today, success is measured differently. "Every time we help someone save money on a trip, that's a win," he said. "It means we've played a small role in turning someone's plans into meaningful, lasting memories." Ultimately, though, he believes success is deeply personal. "Each person has to discover what it means for themselves and decide how they want to measure it." And to everyone who has followed his journey - from hockey arenas to mountain summits to the next chapter of entrepreneurship - his message is simple. "I would simply say, thank you," Laich said. "Whether you showed up to games, followed along on social media, joined me on a World Playground adventure, or are just discovering my story now, it all means more than you know. I hope to be of service to you in one way or another." To learn more about Brooks Laich, follow him on Instagram. For more information on World Playground, follow its Instagram page.

Photography: Jonas Earnst Markos Papadatos spoke with Grammy-nominated artist Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli in New York City. Scottish politician Walter Elliot once said: “Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.” This quote applies to Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli. Fab Morvan on being back in New York On being back in New York, he remarked, “It’s exciting to be here. I haven’t been here in a while. New York is the city that changed my life. From London, the music went to New York, and from New York, the music went boom.” “New York gave us the stamp of approval, and once New York does that, you know you’re good for the long run. So, I’m back here, and I am telling them where I’ve been and where I’m going and what happened,” he acknowledged. “More importantly, my new label, my new distribution deal and new music. I am re-releasing my book, and adding more shows to the ‘I Love the 90s Tour.’ America, I am coming for you,” he elaborated. “I am super excited about the tour,” he exclaimed. “It has been wonderful! I started the tour in California in Irvine and Sacramento, and then, I will Atlanta with the band, and some more dates in September.” New documentary “The new documentary that is coming out in the fall is going to be good. It covers the Grammys, and the solo nomination that I got for ‘Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording,’ which was pretty awesome! I am on a mission. I don’t take anything for granted and I keep working as hard as I can, and I keep evolving as much as I can. I have four kids from the same woman and I am proud of them. I do everything for them and I am proud of them,” he added. From his catalog, he listed the song “Life is Beautiful” from his new EP as his personal favorite. “That one’s of my favorite songs,” he admitted. ‘Blame it on the Rain’ On their song “Blame it on the Rain,” he said, “When I did the cover of that song, I asked Diane Warren for her blessings. So, I sent it to her, she listened to it, and she gave me her blessings. Go ahead!” The song was recently featured in Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.” “That was a great thing because it allowed me to connect with the youth of today. My goddaughter turned 18 when it came out last year, and she was telling me that there were kids in her class that were singing the songs. When that happens, it allows you to work longer because now, you have access to the newer generation.” ‘I Love the ’90s’ Tour “Now, when I go and do my ‘I Love the ‘90s’ shows, I am seeing kids who watched the series and they know who I am because they researched my music, and some of their family members know who I am. It’s an eternal circle and if I can add new fans to what I am doing, and reconnect with my older fans, then we have something going,” he explained. “The people that are coming to the ‘I Love the 90s’ shows are essentially older fans bringing newer fans and perhaps their life as well,” he admitted. “We play the soundtrack of our lives and we pass this music to the next generation. This music was made with love despite all the controversy around it. I believe music is very healing and it is here to bring us together.” ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ He opened up about the perennial success and relevance of “Girl You Know It’s True.” “It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” he said. “I’m re-releasing the book because the publisher I am working with didn’t pay me a cent. This time, I had a very good contract so I got everything back and I am re-releasing it and the title is ‘Blame it on the Game’ and I had new chapters and more information, so now the book is even more explosive,” he underscored. The digital age On being a part of the digital age, he said, “I’m not a fan of streaming. It allows you to have people access to you. I come from a time when you bought your vinyl, your cassettes, and your CDs. If Spotify were to crash tomorrow, you would lose all your playlists and all the music.” “Also, I am going back to buying vinyl with my label… I will make some very special edition vinyl because the vinyl business is going up. We are now over $1.5 billion in vinyl business, so it keeps on growing and people are buying record players. I am going to go with the flow, and music is life, and life is music. I really believe in that… music is healing,” he elaborated. “When you come with love, and your intent is positive, I think it will reach people,” he added. Stage of his life On the title of the current chapter of his life, he revealed, “Renaissance.” “It’s Rebirth,” he said. “I’ve worked really hard to get over here. Now, everything lines up together and the stars are aligned. The path looks wide open and the possibilities are clear.” “Everything is meditated. I manifested everything, and with my will, I went ahead through life. I am proud of everything that I’ve earned, and I don’t take anything for granted,” he expressed. Advice for young and emerging artists For young and aspiring artists, he said, “Connect with your fans and build a community. Say something; that’s very important. That is what is going to bring the community together. So when you say something that is going to touch them and give them value, this way the fans will stay with you for the rest of your career.” Success Regarding his definition of the word success, he stated, “Success means when you do something so well that you affect people in the proper way… that is your calling, and that is to elevate people, and stimulate them to live a better life.” “In the end, we all make our decisions, but we have to live with each and every decision we make. In order to make proper decisions, you have to really listen to yourself,” he concluded. To learn more about Fab Morvan, follow him on Instagram. For more information on Milli Vanilli, follow the Instagram page.

Photography: Jorge Alcala Goded Aarón Díaz has always possessed a magnetic screen presence, but his current chapter reveals a creator stepping fully into his own light. Known globally for his engaging performances, Díaz has gracefully transitioned from a celebrated hands-on producer, actor, and philanthropist . Photography: Jorge Alcala Goded Today, from his new creative base in Dallas, he is building an ambitious slate of original series designed to captivate a worldwide audience. These upcoming films blend cinematic scale with genuine emotional depth, proving that his time in front of the camera has deeply informed his growing influence behind it. Photography: Jorge Alcala Goded This shift reflects a fierce commitment to creative independence. Díaz takes an active role in his films from their earliest concepts, molding stories that cross cultural and linguistic boundaries. His goal is clear: deliver meaningful entertainment that pairs a strong visual identity with profound human connection. Beyond the screen, his work is rooted in collaboration and positive impact, as he continues to expand his footprint as an artist and philanthropist dedicated to cultural exchange. Photography: Jorge Alcala Goded Yet, his vision extends far beyond television and film. Díaz is channeling for hospitality - a field he formally studied - into physical spaces. In San Miguel de Allende, a UNESCO World Heritage site recognized as one of Mexico’s most admired cities, his hospitality concepts are taking root. He is designing environments that unify nature, wellbeing, and high-end design, offering guests a physical space tailored for refreshment. Photography: Jorge Alcala Goded The centerpiece of this hospitality venture is the soon-to-launch Pegaso Retreats, a signature destination created alongside artist and performer Lola Ponce. Pegaso Retreats is not just a place to stay; it is an immersive invitation to reconnect with the earth's natural beauty and experience meaningful human interaction. It offers a rare space to pause, breathe, and find inspiration in an extraordinary setting. Photography: Jorge Alcala Goded Whether he is developing a new international series or welcoming guests to a sanctuary in central Mexico, Aarón Díaz is driven by a singular purpose: creating beautiful, lasting experiences that resonate deeply, both on screen and his routine.

From "Portobello" to Parliament to international cultural management: how has your definition of a meaningful career shifted, and what core passion has remained unchanged? "When I was that young woman next to Enzo Tortora on "Portobello," a meaningful career meant connecting with millions of Italians through a screen, giving voice to ordinary people and their stories," Carlucci recalled. "Today, it means building bridges between countries through culture." She explained that while the scale shifted from national TV to international diplomacy, the core passion remains unchanged: storytelling as a public service. "Whether I’m hosting Sanremo, writing the "Carlucci Law" for tax credits in cinema, or producing "Social Suite" on Amazon Prime, the goal is the same — create platforms where art, heritage, and talent can be seen, valued, and protected," she added. "Culture is development, culture is progress. That belief has guided me from RAI to the Chamber of Deputies to Belgrade and Mallorca." The 10th Italian-Serbian Film Festival: What drew you to Serbian culture, and how does film heal and unify? "What drew me to Serbia was recognizing a twin soul," she observed. "Italy and Serbia share a Mediterranean temperament, a respect for history, and a resilience shaped by intense pasts. I saw it first at Expo 2015 with the Serbian Pavilion, and again with "Arts in Motion" alongside Montenegro." Carlucci emphasized the power of cinema: "Film is the fastest language we have. It doesn’t need translation when the emotion is real." The Italian-Serbian Film Festival, she stated, was born to give value to new voices and let two traditions sit in the same dark room and recognize each other. "When a Serbian director’s story moves an Italian audience, or vice versa, you’ve already started the healing," she continued. "You’ve replaced stereotypes with faces. That’s unification: not politics, but empathy." The Modigliani co-production: What aspect of him did the world need to see right now? "Modigliani was not just a painter of long necks," Carlucci clarified. "He was an immigrant, a poor artist in Paris, an Italian Jew who never betrayed his roots while absorbing the world." She stressed that the public needs to see Modigliani the bridge right now. "He lived between cultures, between poverty and genius, between tradition and modernity." Addressing current times, she said, "In a time of walls, his life reminds us that identity isn’t lost through contamination — it’s enriched." The film, according to Carlucci, presents Amedeo not as a tragic cliché, but as a man who "estimated" beauty in everyone, especially outsiders. "That’s urgent today," she concluded. Introducing the Italian Tourism Awards before the Oscars: How do you convey Italy’s soul to Hollywood? "Hollywood has seen everything, except what can’t be copied: authenticity born from centuries," she asserted. "I don’t sell Italy with postcards. I tell them: Italy is the only place where a film set is already there — you just have to turn the camera on." She painted a picture of the country's offerings: "The light in Puglia, the silence of a restored abbey, the craft of a costume tailor in Rome who learned from his grandfather. That’s our tax credit: 2,000 years of art direction." To creators and investors, her message is clear. "You can shoot anywhere, but only in Italy does every stone have a story that makes your story better. We don’t compete on budget. We compete on soul," Carlucci stated firmly. "And soul is irreplaceable." "Vanille Mon Amour": What story were you capturing, and how does perfume compare to producing a film? ""Vanille Mon Amour" was born from a memory: the warmth of Italian salons, vanilla pods in a grandmother’s drawer, the elegance that doesn’t shout," she reflected. "I wanted a scent that felt like an embrace after a premiere — intimate, lingering, personal." When drawing parallels to her other work, she said, "Creating a perfume is like producing a film in 30 seconds: you have top notes, heart notes, base notes. It’s storytelling without images, only emotion." Carlucci elaborated on the distinction: "A film takes you on a journey for two hours. A fragrance takes you home in one breath. Both are about curating memory. Both ask: what do you want people to feel when the lights come up, or when you leave the room?" "Social Suite" on Amazon Prime: How do we connect now vs. the TV days, and what’s the message? "Television was a campfire: one program, millions of people, same time, same emotion," she observed. "Today we’re alone together — each with a screen, algorithm-driven, infinite choice." Regarding her Amazon Prime project, she noted, ""Social Suite" examines that shift. The risk is losing the ritual of sharing. The opportunity is choosing consciously." Carlucci wants viewers to take away a simple truth: "Technology changed the tool, not the need." She emphasized, "We still crave stories that make us feel less alone. So curate your time. Choose content that values you, not just distracts you. The gathering place moved from the living room to the cloud, but the human need to connect through art is unchanged." Throughout your demanding global schedule, you have your husband Marco and your son Matteo. How do they ground you when international diplomacy pulls you in so many directions, and how does their love shape the art you choose? "They are my home port and my true north," Carlucci shared warmly. "Diplomacy, festivals, red carpets — it’s all wind. When cultural diplomacy takes me from Rome to Palma, from Los Angeles to Belgrade, they are the home I carry with me." She spoke of her husband's steadying presence: "Marco, with his legal mind and clear-sightedness as a man far from the spotlight, reminds me every day that politics passes, but values remain. He reminds me that every project needs structure to fly." Regarding her son, born in 1996, she noted he grew up between sets and parliaments. "Matteo, with the eyes of the young on life, forces me to ask: 'Will what I’m doing serve his future?' He taught me to see culture through the eyes of a new generation: faster, but hungry for meaning." This foundation directly impacts her professional decisions. "Their love has changed the way I choose art," she explained. "I used to look for the perfect work. Today I look for the necessary work. I only say yes to projects that I’d be proud to explain at our dinner table. If it doesn’t create value, beauty, or dialogue, it’s not worth the distance. I prefer projects that speak of roots and bridges: films that unite generations, restorations that return beauty to the suburbs, laws that allow a kid from the South to make cinema without having to emigrate." She reflected affectionately on their impact: "Marco taught me the courage of pragmatism, Matteo the courage of hope. Without them, my agenda would be full of events. With them, it is full of meaning. They keep me rooted in what’s real, and the real is always personal." The Estimar Italo-Spanish Film Festival in Palma de Mallorca is another jewel in your cultural work. What is it about the shared Mediterranean spirit between Italy and Spain that makes their cinematic dialogue so rich, and what has been your proudest moment from this international film festival? "Italy and Spain are two sisters gazing into the same sea," she reflected. "We have the same sun on our skin, the same drama in our hearts, the same irony to survive." Carlucci believes their cinematic dialogue is rich because it requires no translation. "Almodóvar’s mother and Tornatore’s mother weep in the same language. We share the cult of family, the sense of the sacred and the profane, and beauty as resistance to pain," she added. Recalling her proudest moment at Estimar, she described a specific screening: "We screened an Italian film subtitled in Spanish and a Spanish film subtitled in Italian, on the same night, in a square in Palma filled with young people. At the end they all stood up, Italians and Spaniards alike, singing "Volare."" That moment crystallized her mission. "That’s when I understood: we weren’t running a festival. We were reminding two peoples that they share the same blood. When culture is real, it doesn’t need a passport." You fought hard to introduce tax credits for cinema in Italy, co-authoring the reform of entertainment. Seeing international productions flock to Italy today, what thoughts arise knowing your political efforts directly paved the way for this artistic boom, and what is the next frontier for supporting artists? "When I see Cinecittà filled with American crews, or Basilicata chosen for a blockbuster, I feel two things: gratitude and unease," she admitted. "Gratitude because that tax credit law, which I fought for in Parliament, now provides work for 60,000 people and has put Italy back at the center of world cinema. We stopped being just a picture-postcard set and became an industry again." However, she cautioned that a boom is not a cultural policy. Carlucci outlined her vision for the future, which is threefold. "First: training. We need film craft academies in every Region, because tax credits without Italian crews are cultural colonialism," she stated. "Second: protecting authors. The algorithm cannot replace the director. We need a European law on copyright in the current climate of AI. Third: bringing cinema where it doesn’t exist. Every village without a theater is a piece of Italy going dark." Her next dream is a concept she calls "Diffused Cinema," held in squares, deconsecrated churches, and schools. "If we won the battle to produce, now we must win the battle to educate the gaze," she declared. You hold degrees in Foreign Languages and Art History, and you have literally written the laws that protect the arts. When you envision the next ten years, what is the single artistic dream you still wish to bring into reality, and how do you hope the world remembers the name Gabriella Carlucci? "My degrees taught me to read the world. The laws I wrote taught me to change it," she stated gracefully. "But there is one dream that still keeps me awake: the "Mediterranean House of the Arts."" She envisions this not as a static museum, but as a living place in Rome where a young Tunisian director, a Greek poet, a Lebanese restorer, and a Spanish musician can create together, supported by a permanent European fund that moves beyond grants and bureaucracy. "A Bauhaus of the Mediterranean, where beauty becomes a common language against nationalism," Carlucci added. When asked about her legacy, her response was clear. "How do I want to be remembered? Not as the politician who "made the laws for cinema." But as the woman who believed that culture was not a luxury for peacetime, but the only weapon to achieve it." She concluded with a profound sentiment: "If ten years from now a girl in Sicily decides to become a screenwriter because she sees that you can make a living from art in your own country, then the name Gabriella Carlucci will have meant something. The rest is plaques. And I have always preferred people to marble."

She is a talent defined by perpetual forward motion, radiating a cinematic magnetism that commands attention. With an arresting presence bridging global fashion and the emotional depth of film, Lee Levi possesses a quiet intensity that draws audiences close. Whether stepping onto an international set or anchoring a major beauty campaign, she moves with absolute grace and fierce intent. The camera finds Lee Levi in motion. It always has. Long before she took the screen by storm in AppleTV's HOOD, she was just fifteen when she walked away from the familiar, trading her Danish roots for a map that stretched across the globe. Cambridge, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Sydney became her training grounds. She did not just travel; she absorbed. That early hunger for the world forged an actor who refuses to stay in one lane, building an internal library of human experiences she would later pour into her characters. For an extended period, her face has been a fixture in high fashion. When houses like Chopard, Moschino, Givenchy, Veuve Clicquot, and Clinique seek a defining image, they look to her. Yet, the flash of the runway and the quiet intensity of the print campaign were only a prologue. Her acting education in Los Angeles at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts & the Lee Strasberg Institute was a silent promise that she would eventually return to the moving image, finding her voice in spaces where silence was no longer required. That promise took shape in American Night which was her first acting role. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Jeremy Piven, Emile Hirsch, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, she carved out her space with absolute certainty. It was the spark that sent her to Italy, a country she now considers a second home. The Italian sun watched her shift from the atmospheric Sicilian Holidays to taking the lead in The Years of the Father. Directed by Stefano Veneruso, it marks her first female leading role abroad, an emotional anchor that proves she holds the screen with a rare gravity. But the truest test of an actor often lies in returning home. Copenhagen called her back in 2023. The Danish film industry tested her edge. It began with the massive television series The Sommerdahl Murders and crested with HOOD. Directed by Lina Csillag, and produced and created by Brian Sean Tange, her now-fiancé. HOOD is now streaming on AppleTV and ViaPlay. As Clara, Levi was a revelation. It was her very first lead role, and critics did not just praise her; they declared she carried the entire film on her back, delivering a performance of intense, localized power. She has not paused for breath since. Following her descent into the shadows for the horror film BEAST, she is currently on set shooting two massive back-to-back features. MONSTER pushes her limits, while THE VIKING WARRIOR - the highly anticipated biopic of world champion boxer Mikkel Kessler, directed by her partner Brian Sean Tange - places her right at the center of Danish cultural history. All the while, she continues to serve as the face for premium brands like OPATRA LONDON and ZO Skincare. Lee also serves as the ambassador and face of Dial 7 car & limousine services for some years now. She say it is the best car services company in NYC and very proud to be their ambassador. Check more: www.offers.dial7.com From shooting THE VIKING WARRIOR, it led to another massive step in her journey. Now, she is taking control of the camera itself. Alongside her partner Brian Sean Tange and Nicolai Afseus, they have launched Northstar Studios, a Danish based film production company. They are building a slate of films meant to challenge the senses, second after THE VIKING WARRIOR, a psychological dark thriller titled Mirror Walker, with Levi in the lead under Tange's direction, and a super cast (soon to be revealed) it signals a fresh chapter. She is no longer just the face on the billboard or the star interpreting someone else's script. She is the creator mapping the journey.

From Italian cinema to Julian Schnabel’s In the Hand of Dante, artist and production designer Paki Meduri explores worlds built from color, sound and atmosphere. The best of all possible worlds may not exist, but cinema and Paki lets us move through them all. He moves through sets listening for sounds, shaping colors, searching for the precise atmosphere that can draw an audience in. For Paki Meduri, one of the most distinctive production designers working across contemporary Italian and international film and television, space is never just a backdrop. It is memory, wound, desire, unease. It is a character breathing alongside the actors. An architect by training and a painter by instinct, Paki has built a visual language defined by contrast: the dirty, sensual baroque of Gomorrah ; the criminal geographies of Suburra; the visual tension of ZeroZeroZero; the moral landscapes of Adagio; and the almost organic darkness of Il Mostro. He has worked across Italian and international productions, from The Old Guard to Django, always carrying the same conviction: a set should not merely contain a story. It should begin telling it before anyone speaks. His latest, outstanding work is In the Hand of Dante, Julian Schnabel’s new film starring Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, Jason Momoa and Sabrina Impacciatore. Presented in the official selection at the Tribeca Festival and arriving on Netflix on June 24, the film moves across eras, languages and visions: the Middle Ages and the present, black and white and color, Dante and Nick Tosches, the materiality of painting and the grammar of cinema. In this conversation, Paki reflects on how he builds worlds: the search for locations, his collaboration with Schnabel, Benjamin Clementine’s music as an emotional compass, the handmade craft of the sets, his obsession with detail, and the delicate threshold where architecture stops being space and becomes storytelling. In his cinema, space can become perfection, the image can turn into desire, and a place can become a dream in which we learn how to listen, and how to breathe. Your work moves across architecture, production design, writing and art. When did you realize that building spaces wasn’t enough, and that those spaces needed a narrative life of their own? I have always been a curious explorer of the arts. I learned to paint when I was 10, and I have never really stopped. I played in three post-rock bands, writing lyrics and music; I write poetry and short stories; and, at the same time, I trained as an architect. I think of myself as an architect with the mind of a painter. My first experiences in theater made that need very clear. The spaces I was designing had to carry a story; they had to mean something. For me, production design is subtext. It is not simply the place where the action happens. It is a character in its own right. And like a character, it speaks, dresses, changes. Most of all, it creates feeling. You have worked on both Italian and international productions, from The Old Guard and Django to ZeroZeroZero and Lasciarsi un giorno a Roma. What really changes between those two worlds, and where do you feel it most on set? My approach to the work is basically the same. What changes is the budget. The instinct is the same: to create worlds and draw the audience into a visual journey made of places, atmospheres and colors. International productions usually come with a more complex production structure, and the challenge is often to keep the project focused, without overloading it or getting seduced by unnecessary flourishes, especially when a larger budget gives you more room to move. With Italian films, where budgets are often more limited, the challenge is to make up for that with invention and creativity. Very often, a more handmade approach brings you closer to something real. It allows you to go deeper into the soul of a place. Paki Meduri on the set of In the Hand of Dante with Oscar Isaac and Martin Scorsese I have always thought of you as a production designer of contrasts: from the almost baroque world of Gomorrah to exterior locations that convey poverty, emptiness and oppression. I’m thinking not only of Gomorrah, but also of Il Mostro, Adagio and Suburra. What kind of work did you do on Il Mostro, where the spaces and the light seem to give physical shape to the protagonist’s unease? A production designer can have a personal style, but every project forces you to deal with different themes, different periods, different scripts and, above all, different directors. Every project has its own key. Every project has a world that has to be found. I like to push the accelerator all the way down, to reach the bone of the story through atmosphere. On Il Mostro, I wanted to bring out all the disgust and unease that had grown inside me, day after day, during the research phase. The more I read about the real events, the darker, starker, rawer and more mold-stained the world I imagined for the series became. So I built sets that had to resemble the characters and their states of mind. The places themselves had to become characters. The most beautiful part is seeing the finished series and realizing that every department felt the same need I did, bringing that same emotion into the visual design of the show and creating an extraordinary kind of magic. In the Hand of Dante, with an extraordinary cast, premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and will soon be released on Netflix. From the set builders crafting furniture for the medieval world to the painters working on textures and patinas, the production has a deeply handmade quality. What did Julian Schnabel ask of you in building those sets, and what is it like to work with him? The film had a long, layered prep process. There was an enormous amount of study and a very long search for the right visual language. We were telling a story that moves across different eras and places that are very far apart from one another. My approach to the project was profoundly shaped by Julian. Julian is, first and foremost, an artist. Every directorial choice he makes is filtered through his imagination, his instinct and his poetic sensibility. It does not always have to be explained or justified. I wanted to follow his inspiration. That meant changing the way I thought about production design. I had to feel the story we were telling. It was an incredible experiment: rethinking every certainty I had in this field, allowing myself to let go as an artist, not only as a technician. When you work with a master like Julian, you have to trust his vision, try to understand it and embrace it. We often built sets from scratch, and a great deal of the furniture was designed and made specifically for the film. As you said, it was a vast exercise in Italian craftsmanship. Painting, textures and patinas were a crucial part of the work. They are always important to me, but never more than when you are making a film with a painter. Sharing a set with Julian was a unique experience. It made me rethink my own work, opened my field of vision even wider, and taught me how to bring a little of my own madness into production design. In Schnabel’s film, black and white often alternates with the colors and atmosphere of the past: Dante feels vividly present, while Nick Tosches seems to exist in a suspended dimension, almost anchored to another time. How did you contribute to the character played by Oscar Isaac, and how did the world around him shape the storytelling? As you said, in our film the past is vivid and alive, while the present feels like a story that has already happened, already been written. I brought that idea into the locations, the builds, the furniture and, above all, the atmosphere. In the scenes where Oscar plays Dante, my sets become tangible, realistic, present. When Oscar plays Tosches, everything becomes smoky, rarefied, changeable, unpredictable, like a dream being dreamed by the protagonist. For an actor, it matters that the production design around him speaks to the character. When a character feels at home inside a designed space, then that space is right. Oscar Isaac, Gerard Butler, Louis Cancelmi, and John Malkovich on the set of In the Hand of Dante Did Benjamin Clementine’s music become a kind of parallel design tool for you during the process, or did it enter the film only after the visual world had already been defined? Often, during location scouts or in our meetings, Julian would take out his phone, play a track and look me straight in the eye, waiting for my reaction. Once I got past the initial embarrassment, I would close my eyes and let my imagination start working. That was exactly what he wanted: to transmit images through sound. Music absolutely became a filter, but also a kind of connective tissue. We were all listening to the same music, all moving in the same direction. There was no need for words or explanations. We just had to follow the sensations, the mood. If you close your eyes for a moment, what is the first memory that comes to mind from your working life, and why? The first image that comes to mind is tied to travel, to my constant search for locations, to meeting new people and discovering new places. My work constantly pushes me to explore, to study distant worlds, to find inspiration. So the image that flashes before me is one of my classics: me on a plane, looking out the window, with a sketchbook on my lap, music in my earphones and an architect’s pencil between my fingers. In your work, space is never neutral. It is almost always a psychological extension of the characters. Do you ever begin with the emotion you want to create in the viewer, rather than with a purely aesthetic idea? Yes. When I read a screenplay, I automatically begin to imagine the places it describes. Sometimes my mind changes them, or completely transforms their nature. Instinctively, a process begins that leads to the creation of an imaginary location. For me, it is essential to express the emotions of the individual characters through the places that contain them. What has been the hardest part of finding a film’s identity? And what kind of work do you do when you translate a screenplay into physical space? When I read a screenplay, I cannot rest until I have found the meaning of the film I am about to make. I ask myself where it should be set, in what season, what colors the story gives me as I read it. The thing I love doing most, which is also the most complicated, is creating the world: the arena, the physical and geographical identity of the places that, one after another, tell the story. I always begin with research driven by suggestion. I let myself be drawn toward the different paths my mind instinctively opens up, and then I gradually narrow the possibilities. Once I have chosen the road, I go straight ahead and try never to step off it. Oscar Isaac, Gerard Butler, Franco Nero on the set of In the Hand of Dante What is something you still want to create, something you have not yet had the chance to build? And what are your next projects? A film I care about very much should be coming out soon: a remake of the original Cliffhanger. I spent seven months between the Austrian Dolomites and the studios in Munich, where I rebuilt a luxury resort and, above all, a mountain ridge, a tunnel and several breathtaking passages where we shot many of the film’s action sequences. Right now, I am working on the second season of Il Mostro di Firenze. I love making period films. They force you to stay within certain boundaries, dictated by the architecture and fashions of the historical period, but at the same time they give you a great deal of freedom. Sometimes, depending on the film, you take poetic license, shuffle the deck, and recreate a past that never existed: places without time and without geography. Above all, period films are a precious vessel into which I can pour my obsession with detail. To answer your question, I have not yet had the chance to take on a science-fiction film. I would love to design worlds that do not yet exist. I would lose myself imagining a possible future, or even life on other planets. It is a dream I have always had. Humility is a precious virtue for a human being. But it is not a virtue for someone who makes cinema.