Archivi Portfolio - Samantha Casella

The Serpent’s Caress

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Premiered during the 83rd Venice International Film FestivalThe Serpent's Caress (2026)

Sofia is an enigmatic and ambiguous actress, trapped in a toxic relationship with a young colleague.

When she receives a screenplay about an ancient matriarchal community ruled by a witch who demands human sacrifices, Sofia realizes that her origins are inextricably linked to that story.

The boundaries between past and present begin to dissolve, transforming reality into a timeless nightmare in which Sofia must confront her own dark side.

Sofia Kirsi Samantha Casella Gina Rose Pieri 2

ARTISTIC CAST

Sofia
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Strega Suprema
LAURA TROTTER

Kirsi
GINA ROSE PIERI

Licaone
BRUNO BILOTTA

Manager
FRANCESCA RETTONDINI

Cartomante / Sensitiva
VANESSA MARINI

Denise
BARBARA BOVOLI

Nix
ANGELA TUCCA

Dioniso
VINCENZO AMOROSO

Monaco – Barista
ROBERTO RIZZONI

Purificatrice
ROSSELLA AMBROSINI

TECHNICAL CAST

Production Company
THE SHADOWS FACTORY

Directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Written by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Story by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Cinematographer
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Original Score
KIM & KATHRYN KLUGE

Production Designer
CLAUDIA DREI

Edited by
PAOLA MERISI

Costume Designer
ROBIN STEWART

Sound Design – Mix
DINO GERVASONI

Sound
GIANMARCO GRAZIANI

Foley
ALVARO APARICIO

Visual Effects
GIOVANNI FERUGLIO

Special Effects
CAROLINE HUFNAGEL

Props Design
MICHAEL WELLS

Makeup Artist – Hair Stylist
CLAUDIA RIGHINI

Year
2026

Genre
DRAMA – SURREAL

Art Works
CRISTIAN CIMATTI
CLAUDIA DREI (after)
MARTINO NERI
FEDERICO SEVERINO
GIOVANNI SCARDOVI

Short film

Songs of innocence and experience

Songs of innocence and experience (2025)

Video art created on the occasion of the publication of William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience,” translated by Giuseppe Conte and plates by Domenico Paladino.

William Blake’s enchantment accompanies a symbolic journey. Innocence is never pure: it corrupts, it wears away like a child’s feet worn out by walking through time. Flowers turn into crosses, milk challenges blood-stained water.
A reel of film rewinds, as if rewriting memory. Dolls and puppets, silent spectators, seem more alive than the hill with the Hollywood sign. It is a dream that shatters, a visual ritual where experience does not erase innocence: it transforms it.

Directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Music by
PINO JODICE

Cinematographer
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Produced by
LAMBERTO FABBRI for IL CENACOLO DELLE ARTI

Full lenght movies

Katabasis

Premiered during the 81st Venice International Film FestivalKatabasis (2024)

Recovering from a repressed childhood abuse, Nora has developed an indecipherable personality. As if she wanted to relive that ancient injustice, Nora has a secret relationship with Aron, a young orphan who has become a star. Only the people who frequent the prison-house where they live know about the love story between Nora and Aron: a majestic villa, the scene of secrets, lies, deceptions and disturbing presences. Weighing down on the fate of each is an entity evoked by Nora during a nightmare she had as a child and to which she asked to enter that kingdom without salvation.

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ARTISTIC CAST

Nora – Witch
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Aron
FRANCESCO LEONE

Jacob
BRUNO BILOTTA

Anna
MARINA ROCCO

Lost son
JACOPO OLMO ANTINORI

Clarissa
VANESSA MARINI

Christian
REYSON GRUMELLI

Gardener
ROBERTO RIZZONI

Mysterious Man . Master of Ceremonies
MARCO IANNITELLO

Pianist – Master
MATTEO FIORI

Demetra
GIUDITTA CORSI

TECHNICAL CAST

Production
THE SHADOWS FACTORY

Directed By
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Cinematography
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Screenplay
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Subject
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Scenography
CLAUDIA DREI

Music by
ENRICO MARIA PAOLILLO

Sound design – Mix
DINO GERVASONI

Foley
ALVARO APARICIO

Music tracks
DAVID IOZZI

Edited by
PAOLA MERISI

Illustrations
ROBERTO PAVONI

Art Works
MARIO ZANONI, PIER GIOVANNI BUBANI, CLAUDIA DREI

Make-Up artist
CLAUDIO GRAZIANI

Location manager
MARIA GRAZIA DONATI

Costume designer
VERONICA BENASSI

Stage tailor
ALENA CHAP

Masks
BERAT ARTAN

Special Eﬀect
CAROLINE HUFNAGEL

Production Manager
ENZO CASELLA

Executive Producer
TOMMASO MARTINELLI

Full lenght movies

Holy War

Holy War (2022)

A woman falls down into a timeless place where her subconscious tries to process the trauma that crushes her. While a part of herself is stucked in a ghostly mansion and her double wanders in an ancestral place, the woman will reach a painful awareness.

Press book

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Directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Starring
EUGENIA COSTANTINI, EMMA QUARTULLO, EKATERINA BUSCEMI, SAMANTHA CASELLA, ISABELLA TEDESCO, MARIA GRAZIA CUCINOTTA, SIMONA LISI, CHIOMA UKWU, DIEGO PAGOTTO

Screenplay by
SAMANTHA CASELLA, ANTONIO MICCIULLI

Cinematographer
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Music and sound design
ENRICO MARIA PAOLILLO

Edited by
PAOLA MERISI

Production design
CLAUDIA DREI

Costume designer
GIOVANNA NALDI

Make-up artist
CLAUDIO GRAZIANI, CLAUDIA RIGHINI

Production Company
THE SHADOWS FACTORY

Produced by
CLAUDIA DREI & CRISTINA ASSISTENDE

Production manager
ENZO CASELLA

Art work
FEDERICO SEVERINO, GIOVANNI SCARDOVI, SERGIO MONARI, PIER GIOVANNI BUBANI, BACCO ARTOLINI, CLAUDIA DREI, FILIPPO ZOLI

Running time
78′

Short film

The Antithesis of Love

The Antithesis of Love (2022)

Inspired by the biblical work “The Song of Songs” by King Solomon; “Antithesis of Love” is consists of seven chapters who explore the emotional contrasts in the heart and mind of a woman while goes through seven feeling stages: waiting, research, purity, passion, pain, sense of belonging and eternity.

Watch on YouTube

Press book

Directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Starring
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Music by
PINO JODICE

Cinematographer
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Edited by
TREVOR BISHOP

Camera Operators
TOM SOUZA, TARYN ELLIOTT, VOVA KRASILNIKOV

Produced by
LAMBERTO FABBRI for IL CENACOLO DELLE ARTI

Short film

To a God Unknown

To a God unknown (2020)

“To a God Unknown” is a journey within some poetic verses by Sergey Esenin and Arthur Rimbaud intertwining with a novel by John Steinbeck. To join each other are primordial elements such as the water, blood, fire, love and God.

Press book

Produced by
THE WILD BUNCH

Written and directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Starring
BRIAN WITT (Jospeh)
SAMANTHA CASELLA (woman – donna)

Cinematography
FRANK HOFFMAN

Music & Sound Design by
MASSIMILIANO LAZZARETTI
TATIANA MELE

Edited by
TREVOR BISHOP

Special Effects
NASSIM FARIN
ARSENIY GUTOV
LARIO TUS
ANNA FRIGO

Voices Over
VIACHESLAV SYNGAEVSKIY
RICHARD LLOYD STEVENS
FRÉDERIC BERNARD

Production design and painting
CLAUDIA DREI

Year
2020

Running Time
9’

Awards

To A God Unknown has won over 200 international awards including:

Award of Merit Best Film Short e Women Filmakers at Accolade Global Film Competition (La Jolla, United States)

Best Short al International Independent Film Award (Los Angeles, United States)

Best International Short at Toronto Short Film Festival (Toronto, Canada)

Best Experimental Short at Metropolitan Film Festival (New York, United States)

Best Experimental Film and Best Director at Brazil International Film Festival (Rio de Janeiro, Brasile)

Best Experimental Film at Royal Society of Picture Award (Chennai / Los Angeles, India / United States)

Best Experimental Short Film and Best Director at International Motion Picture Critics Award (Los Angeles, United States)

Gold Award at Hollywood Gold Awards

Best Short at Venus Community Award

Best Inspirational Film at International World Photography Award

Honorable Mention at Japan International Film Festival

Full list

Short film

I am Banksy

I am Banksy (2019)

A ruthless journalist is willing to do anything to discover Banksy’s identity. Unaware of the signs of danger that emerged along the way, he will bump into an ambiguous reality where truth and lies are confused with each other.

Press book

Produced by
THE WILD BUNCH

Written and directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Starring
MARCO IANNITELLO (Journalist)
CATERINA SILVA (Anubi)
DIEGO VERDEGIGLIO (Antonio Cicala)
ROBERTO RIZZONI (Gallerist)
MIRKO CIORCIARI (Gary Mason)
MATTEO FIORI (Blind Man)

Cinematography
CHRISTIAN BALDUCCI

Music & Sound Design by
MASSIMILIANO LAZZARETTI

Live recording and Sound Editor
DANILO ORTELLI

Production Design and Costume Design
ALESSANDRO METTAN

Edited by
TREVOR BISHOP

Illustrations
PIKI

Make Up Artist
CLAUDIO GRAZIANI
CLAUDIA RIGHINI
NICOLETTA GUAGNELLI

Year
2019

Running time
15’ 36’’

Awards

Golden State Film Festival: Best International Short Film

Gulf of Naples Film Festival: Best Director

Silicon Beach Film Festival: Best Sound

Olympus Film Festival: Best Mystery Short

Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards: Best Foreign Short

Los Angeles Theatrical Release Competition & Award: Best International Short

Marina Del Rey Film Festival: Best International Short

Salerno International Film Festival: Special Mention

Berlin Underground Film Festival: Best Woman Director

Cinemagic Film Festival: Award of Excellence

Accolade Global Film Competition: Award of Excellence Best Woman Director

Vegas Movie Award: Award of Merit Best Director, Award of Best Originale Score

Short film

Ágape

Ágape (2010)

Since child, Jacopo is obsessed to a face of woman that, in the reality, he has never seen. For Jacopo, that face, is “Agape”, the pure love.

Produced, written, directed and editing by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Starring
GIOVANNI IZZO (Jacopo)
MARINA ROCCO (Ágape)
PAOLO STELLA (Joker / Bookseller)
RITA GALLEGATI (Jacopo’s Mother)
EMANUELE BERTINI (Jacopo Child)

Cinematography
CHRISTIAN BALDUCCI

Music
PAOLO PAGNANI

Production Design & Costume Design
STEVE ALMERIGHI

Paiting
CLAUDIA DREI

Year
2010

Running time
26’

Awards

Nettuno Film Festival: Audience Award

Short film

Dies irae

Dies irae (2009)

Confession of a man on the edge of the abyss.

Regia
Samantha Casella

Soggetto e sceneggiatura
Samantha Casella

Fotografia
Samantha Casella

Montaggio
Samantha Casella

Musiche
David Darling

Starring
Matteo Fiori

Anno
2009

Durata
5’ 30’’

Short film

L’opportunità

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The opportunity (2008)

Paolo is a waiter with a vocation for writing: he is in fact writing a diary centered on his platonic loveto Francesca. One evening Paolo saves Jacopo from a suicide attempt. This meeting will represent for Paolo the opportunity of his life.

Produced by
HAPPY DAYS EVENTI

Directed by
SAMANTHA CASELLA

Written by
SAMANTHA CASELLA & RAFFAELE SCALESE

Starring
ALBERTO TORDI (Paolo)
FRANCESCA CECI (Francesca)
PAOLO STELLA (Jacopo)
MARINA ROCCO (Woman)
GIOVANNI IZZO (Narrator)
GIACOMO GONNELLA (Gardener)

Cinematography
MAURO FALOMI

Music
FRANCESCO PERRI

Production Design & Costume Design
PATRIZIA CAMPANILE

Edited by
JUAN SEBASTIAN ALVAREZ

Year
2008

Running time:
15’

Awards

Nettuno Film Festival: Best Artistic Cast

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