Los Angeles [US], February 13 : Renowned filmmaker Francesca Archibugi, best known for creating La Storia and The Hummingbird, has come on board to helm sex-trafficking drama "Illusion" toplining Jasmine Trinca.
As per Variety, the project will go on floors next month in central Italy on the roughly USD 8 million film that will reunite Archibugi with Trinca who played the lead in the director's feminist fascist-era saga "La Storia" that was Italy's biggest TV event of 2023. Italy's Fandango is co-producing "Illusion" with RAI Cinema and Belgium's Tarantula.
The rest of the "Illusion" cast comprises Michele Riondino ("Young Montalbano") as a psychologist; Angelina Andrei as Rosa Lazar; and Vittoria Puccini ("Elisa di Rivombrosa").
Archibugi wrote the screenplay with Italian scribe Francesco Piccolo ("My Brilliant Friend").
"It's the story of the desperate vitality of people who struggle to be in the world," Archibugi said in her director's statement. "Rosa's world is first of all Romania; reassuring but too miserable. Then there are Brussels and Strasbourg, providing the contrast between wealth and power and the toxic aspect of her life. And then Perugia: cold, windy, ancient, and, finally, enveloping and leading to salvation," the director was quoted by Variety.