Team
Maxim Derevianko
Director / Writer / Cinematographer
An award-winning director/cinematographer, he is based in Rome. In 2021, Derevianko directed the feature documentaries LE CREATURE Di PROMETEO, which follows the fashion Maestro Roberto Capucci in his last creations for a show at the Spoleto Festival, and ORIGEN, about the return of some of the most important choreographers and dancers in Europe after the lockdown within the Origen Festival Cultural in Switzerland, including ballet companies such as the Paris Operà, The Staatsoper of Wien, the Zurich Ballet and NDT. For Sky Arte, he directed the docuseries “Ars Erotica”, a 5-episode series about Eros in the Arts. In 2018, Derevianko directed and produced the feature documentary, CELLOS & DRUMS for the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, following renowned cellist, Giovanni Sollima and his Ensemble in Rome and Amsterdam concerts. Since December 2015, he has been the official filmmaker of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, for which he made promotional videos, trailers and directed multicam streamings for all productions of both opera and ballet. Derevianko has worked with internationally renowned directors such as Sofia Coppola, Emma Dante, William Kentridge, and Damiano Michieletto for opera and choreography, and dancers such as Roberto Bolle, Eleonora Abbagnato, and Angelin Preljocaj. In his commercial work, Derevianko has created various works for Bulgari, Dior, Fiat among with other brands. Prior to this, he directed the sci-fi short film, BODYPIECES, which garnered numerous international festival awards including Best Actor from the New York City International Film Festival; Best Film Debut, Grenzland Filmtage, Selb, Germany; Best Audience Award, and Tolfa Short Film Festival 2013. The short was also an official selection at the 2014 Courtoujours Film Festival, Geneva, Switzerland, and the Rome International Film Festival 2013. Derevianko served as director of photography, second unit on the feature documentary, VIVA VERDI! about Casa Verdi, the home Giuseppe Verdi built for retired opera singers and musicians in Milan, set for release in 2024. Currently, he is serving as director, cinematographer, and co-writer on the feature documentary, AI WEIWEI’S TURANDOT, which follows the visionary artistic approach and iconoclastic activism of Chinese revolutionary artist, Ai Weiwei, during his operatic directorial debut of Puccini’s Turandot, at the Rome Opera House.
Michele Cogo
Co-writer
Based in Bologna, he is a screenwriter, author and PhD researcher. He has written series, films and documentaries including two seasons of The Red Door ( La porta rossa) for Rai2 in 2017 and 2019; Qualcosa di noi (Istituto Luce) by Wilma Labate, L’isola dell’angelo caduto (Kaos Film) by Carlo Lucarelli; Paura 3D (Medusa) by Manetti Bros. Cogo is an author and story-editor of TV formats (Il mio nome è leggenda, for Sky Arte, with Matilda De Angelis, Muse inquietanti and Inseparabili for Sky Arte, Profondo nero for Crime Investigation, hosted by Carlo Lucarelli). He has written works of fiction and non-fiction (Phenomenology of Umberto Eco, 101 bar stories, Traveling Without Going, Ten Years Without Squeezing Lemons), some of which have been translated and distributed globally.. He has published with Minimum Fax, Mondadori, Comix, and Baskerville. Cogo holds a Ph.D. in Visual Representation Studies, and has done research with leading Italian semiologists, including Umberto Eco, Paolo Fabbri, and Omar Calabrese. He has been teaching writing and screenwriting courses for the past 20 years in a variety of settings, from universities to elementary schools. He is the director of Fondazione Bottega Finzioni, the storytelling school he founded in Bologna in 2010, currently chaired by Ermanno Cavazzoni.
Emanuele Bonomi
Editor
Editor, director and screenwriter, originally from Pinzolo in the Italian Dolomites,
his most recent editing work includes The Meatseller, Into The Thicket, and We all just want to be Mad. Additional editing credits include the short film Self” La cassia nel vento and Rab.bit. He directed the short films, Croste di Polenta and Requiem for a Puppet. His work as a director and editor of music videos includes Cordyceps, Chicago The Musical, heartstrings, Woman, and Waitress the Musical.
his most recent editing work includes The Meatseller, Into The Thicket, and We all just want to be Mad. Additional editing credits include the short film Self” La cassia nel vento and Rab.bit. He directed the short films, Croste di Polenta and Requiem for a Puppet. His work as a director and editor of music videos includes Cordyceps, Chicago The Musical, heartstrings, Woman, and Waitress the Musical.
Marta Zaccaron
Producer
Producer, director and founder of Incipit Film, over the last fifteen years she has produced more than 15 documentaries and 3 feature films mostly in co-production with European partners, including the 2022 Oscar-nominated film, SANREMO, directed by Miroslav Mandić. Her films address issues relevant to the society we live in, with an international appeal. They have obtained international distribution in such prestigious film festivals including Tallinn Black Nights, Rome Film Festival, Visions du Réel, Shanghai International Film Festival, Prix Europa Berlin, with collaborations with esteemed European television such as RAI CINEMA, RTV SLOVENIA, Al Jazeera Balkans. She is based in Italy.
Christine La Monte
Producer
Producer/director/writer and former film marketing executive at Universal, Disney and Orion, she is the founder/president of La Monte Productions where current projects in postproduction include three Italian feature documentaries: AI WEIWEI’S TURANDOT, a co-production along with Italy’s Incipit Films and France’s Govayes Productions which follows Ai Weiwei as he makes his operatic directorial debut at the Rome Opera House, bringing his activist/artistic vision to Puccini’s Turandot; VIVA VERDI!, which she is producing/writing about Casa Verdi in Milan, the home for retired opera singers built by Giuseppe Verdi in 1896; ; and FIGLI DEL FIUME / CHILDREN OF THE RIVER, three men in search of meaning find their ancestral roots along Italy’s Po River. In various stages of development are THE OTHER SIDE OF 90, a feature documentary about women in their 90s, which she is directing/writing, and a feature film, JUSTICE DEFERRED, based on Len Williams’ critically acclaimed legal thriller. La Monte produced the Palm Spring International Film Festival audience award-winning short film, DANDELION DHARMA; the Gary Goldstein scripted play, “Three Grooms & A Bride,” and syndicated television talk show, “Marilu” starring Marilu Henner. Her directing credits include the Screen Actors Guild’s “A Heart United” with Sharon Lawrence and Jo Beth Williams, and “The Angina Monologues” with Brenda Strong and Eric Close. She spent over five years as Executive Vice President of the Motion Picture Division at Rogers & Cowan; and as an international strategic marketer worked at legendary Italian studio, CineCittà in Rome; and served as Marketing Executive at TV 3 New Zealand while living in Auckland. La Monte is a Contributing Editor of Musée Magazine, an avant-garde photography magazine. A long-time member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences where she serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Student Academy Awards, she is a member of the Academy of Television Arts, as well as the Alliance of Women Directors. A current member of PEN America’s Los Angeles Committee, La Monte is on the board of the University of Buffalo’s Dean’s Advisory Council, and is a past faculty member of New York’s School of Visual Arts where she initiated the Dusty Awards, an annual festival of student short films and awards ceremony. She is on the Advisory Board of LA-based SEEfest, the Southeast European Film Festival, and is a frequent guest speaker/panelist at independent filmmaking events, including USC, UCLA and New York Film Academy; she has been the Chair of the Humanitas Awards jury panel for the past two years. With US/Italian dual citizenship, she divides her time between Los Angeles and Rome with her author husband, Len Williams.