Samantha Casella

Samantha Casella studied various areas of cinema such as screenwriting, directing, photography and acting between Turin, Florence, Rome and Los Angeles. Her directing essay, the short film "Juliette" winning 19 awards, including "Massimo Troisi European Award". She continued her journey directing surreals short films including "Interrupted Silence", "Memory to the Island of Dead" and "Agape". At the same time she makes documentaries such as "Via Crucis LA Pantheon" which proposes the manufacturing and installation processes of the Via Crucis located in the Pantheon in Rome. In 2019 she directed "I Am Banksy". In the charismatic TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles at the Golden State Film Festival, it won Best International Short. In 2020 she directed the short film "To A God Unknown" (divided into chapters dedicated to the Russian poet Esenin, the American novelist Steinbeck and the French poet Rimbaud). It won 236 awards in Festivals. Her latest short film, "The Antithesis of Love" is a tribute to the biblical work "The Song of Songs". She is the leading actress and has won 20 awards in Festivals. "Santa Guerra" is her debut feature film. Distinctly dreamlike and surreal film that tackles a journey into the subconscious of a woman who can't get over a trauma: the death of her daughter. The preview takes place in a special event during the "79th Venice Film Festival Awards". "Santa Guerra" has won 647 awards in Festivals in 53 different countries. Her second film, "Katabasis" features a woman, played by Samantha Casella, victim of child abuse, who continues to seek out abusive situations but has become dangerous herself. The preview takes place in a collateral event during the "81 Venice Film Festival Awards". In Venice Katabasis won the Starlight Award for Best Emerging Director, the Cinema and Industry Award and the Veneto Region Award as Best Emerging Director.