Madonna Mia
A Cumming Of Age Story. Set in a small catholic town in Italy, 15-year-old Gaia tries to navigate her sexual fantasies while completing her confirmation.
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Valentina GarrettDirector
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Valentina GarrettWriter
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Maddie HartleyProducer
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Angelica Granato RenziKey Cast"Gaia"Marilena (2021), Il Migliore dei Mondi (2023)
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Beatrice ModicaKey Cast"Lena"Cortina Express (2024)
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Genres:Comedy, Romance
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Runtime:12 minutes 36 seconds
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Completion Date:January 1, 2025
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Production Budget:5,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Italy, United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:Italy
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Language:Italian
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:4:3
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes - University of the Arts London
Valentina Garrett is an Italian American writer-producer-director based in Los Angeles and Milan. Formerly a Creative Executive of Development, film festivals opened her up to pursue a Masters at University of the Arts London, where she concentrated in directing. Now she is currently the director's assistant to filmmakers the Daniels at their production company Playgrounds, and will be working on their upcoming film. As a director, she advocates for ethical film practices on and off set as well as stories that are character-driven, socially satirical, and challenge morality; often casting real people and drawing from neorealism.
Madonna Mia depicts the (absurd) self-shame women have exploring masturbation against the kitschy backdrop of Catholicism. My goal was to put LGBTQ characters at the forefront of the Catholic Church. This is still heavily taboo in Italy, in fact the Vatican banned us from filming in any church in Rome. Inspired heavily by Italian neorealism, I wanted to combine real people and real locations with trained principal actors to authentically depict the Italy I grew up in and love.