Artistic Directors
Marcello Rossi
Science fiction enthusiast. Author of books, TV programs, documentaries and festivals.
Graduated in Computer Engineering, he has professionally dedicated himself to science fiction and fantasy genres. He published the Enciclopedia della fantascienza in TV for Fanucci Editore, winner of two Premio Italia. He worked for TV channel Jimmy (Sky), for which he produced the science fiction program Wonder Stories, which earned him the third Premio Italia. He supervised the home video edition of hundreds of titles, including the classics TV series The Twilight Zone, The Avengers, Mission Impossible, UFO and Space 1999. In 2004 he collaborated to the screenplays of the science fiction sitcom Italiani nello spazio produced for Fox International Channels Italy. He supervised the Italian dubbing of all the latest Star Trek series and movies. He had been a consultant for the Italian version of Syfy (formerly Sci-fi Channel), a global television channel specialized in the fantastic genre, from 2003 to 2012, for the entire period of the channel’s presence in Italy, creating, among other things, several programs. Since 2010 he has been first artistic coordinator and then director of Fantafestival, and since 2020 he has been on the editorial committee of the festival Heroes. For the thirtieth anniversary of the comic Dylan Dog, he wrote and directed with Luca Ruocco the documentary Dylan Dog – 30 anni di incubi, co-produced by Sergio Bonelli Editore and Studio Universal, the first official documentary dedicated to the character. He wrote and directed with Roberto Baldassari Trek IT!, a documentary dedicated to Star Trek fans in Italy, which has been broadcasted on Rai 4 and distributed in home video both in Italy and in the USA. He is the co-author of the books Fantasceneggiati, dedicated to all Rai’s fantastic productions, and Lost Trek, dedicated to the lost episodes and movies of the saga. In 2021 he wrote and produced the science fiction audio series Mario & Mario, distributed on Amazon Audible and Apple iTunes.
Luca Ruocco
He only watches monster movies. He writes, plays, scribbles.
In 1999, together with Ivan Talarico, he founded the theater company DoppioSenso Unico, with which he wrote and staged shows such as La variant E.K., gU.F.O. and Operamolla, the trilogy based on the story collection Niente di Nuovo Sotto il Suolo, published by pièdimosca Edizioni in 2024. He has collaborated with numerous paper and web publications: from Taxidrivers to Splatter. In 2010 he founded InGenereCinema.com, Gazzetta del Cinema e della Cultura Horror, del Fantastico, del Bizzarro e dello Straordinario, which he still directs. He has written screenplays for some short films, which have won awards in Italian and foreign festivals. Among these, Versipellis produced by Revok Film. He has signed essays dedicated to horror cinema published by Eus Edizioni, UniversItalia, Edizioni “Il Foglio” and Bakemono Lab. He has collaborated with Bugs Comics as a screenwriter and author of editorials for the comic magazines Monstri, Alieni and Gangster. In 2016 he wrote and directed the documentary Dylan Dog – 30 Years of Nightmares with Marcello Rossi, produced by Studio Universal in collaboration with Sergio Bonelli Editore. Since 2012 he has been part of the organizational staff of Fantafestival, the longest running Italian festival dedicated to fantastic cinema and since 2020 he has been part of the editorial committee of Heroes International Film Festival. Between 2019 and 2023 he created and scripted the episodic format Il Giro dell’’Horror, a docuseries dedicated to horror made in Italy distributed by Weird Book. In 2019 he taught a class on History of Contemporary Horror Cinema at IED – Scuola di Design, Moda, Arti Visive e Comunicazione in Rome. In 2022 he published his first horror novel for children, Denti da Latte – Una storia di Vampiri cattivi cattivi for Bakemono Lab, and in 2024 the second chapter of the saga, Solo Ossa.
Staff
Paolo Gaudio
Director, screenwriter and animator. For years he has been involved in experimenting with animation techniques such as stop motion, cut out animation and computer graphics. Fantasticherie di un passeggiatore solitario marks his feature film debut with 14 international awards. In 2018 he received the Nastro d’Argento LOONEY FOODZ! as best animated short film. In 2022 he produces and distributes the short THE BLACK reCAT, finding space in the line-ups of the major fantasy film festivals of the world, and winning 12 international awards. The film was also nominated for the Silver Méliès as best European fantasy short. He actively collaborates with the Rainbow Academy to train new professionals in the sector. Since 2014 he has been part of the editorial staff of InGenereCinema.com and he is the director of Il giro dell’horror, a docu-series dedicated to the Italian horror movie-makers, produced by InGenereCinema.com and distributed on homevideo by Weird Entertainment. In 2024 he was the director and screenwriter of the short film DAGON: a stop motion animation adaptation of the story of the same name by the cult writer H.P. Lovecraft, produced by Emma Film.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paologaudio/
Irene Scialanca
Screenwriter, playwright, story editor, Irene Scialanca (born 1992) graduated in Modern Literature at La Sapienza University of Rome; in 2016 she graduated from ANAD Silvio d’Amico in the first level Master in dramaturgy and screenplay and at the same time she attended a course in screenwriting and storytelling techniques in collaboration with the Holden School. She then concluded her studies by training as a Young Storyteller at ANAD Silvio d’Amico with an intensive course of workshops in English. She began her career in 2017 working for the production company Stand by me – Tv Production. She currently works in the film and television industry, dealing with both the creation and writing process and working on set as an assistant director. She has also held the role of story editor for some publishing houses and she is an editor for the online magazines Ingenerecinema.com and Nerdface.it. Since January 2023 she has been the creator of the format and content creator of the TikTok profile @Comesifaunfilm?, an information channel on the professionalism of cinema and the production path of a movie, from the birth of the idea to the theatrical release.
Gilda Signoretti
She obtained a specialist degree in Performing Arts and Techniques from University “Sapienza” of Rome , followed by a specialization in Archival and Librarian Heritage from SSAB – Specialization School for Archivists and Librarians, at the same University. She has conducted biblio-archival studies on theatrical censorship in the fascist and post-fascist era. In 2008 she collaborated in biblio-archival research with the Department of Performing Arts and Sciences of the University “Sapienza” of Rome for the creation of the first database in Italy of theatrical productions in the fascist era (1931-1944). Since 2010 she has been editor of the portal InGenereCinema.com. Since 2012 she has worked as a documentarian and project manager in the field of television documentation.
Selection Committee
Ivan Cenzi
Explorer of the uncanny and a collector of curiosities. Professor of Iconology of Death at the University of Padua, he is the author of several volumes on the relationships between the macabre and the marvelous, in particular in reference to the Italian cultural heritage. Since 2009 he has been the author of the blog Bizzarro Bazar, focused on everything that is “strange, macabre and marvelous”, and since 2019 he has been the author and host of the eponymous web series of historical-scientific themes. Alongside his editorial work, he is also an active speaker, and has been invited to hold lectures in international museums and universities.
Francesco Chello
Irreducible enthusiast of genre cinema. He trained in the field over many years spent between countless viewings, unbridled collecting and tireless writing. Content creator for pleasure, prolific on Instragram and Letterboxd where he shares thoughts, enthusiasms and disappointments. He has been collaborating with the portal Il Cineocchio since 2019 and occasionally with Darkside Cinema. In the past he was part of the editorial staff of HorrorMovie.it and wrote for the paper magazine Horror Show.
Vincenzo de Divitiis
Film critic and passionate about everything related to horror and fantasy in general, in his free time he loves reading weird novels and stories, watching horror and writing reviews of genre films. Editor of the site DarksideCinema.it and in the past of the historic portal HorrorMovie.it, he has a degree in Entertainment and Multimedia Production Sciences with a thesis on the cinema of Dario Argento, his authentic cinematic myth.
Riccardo Farina
Passionate about films, dinosaurs and monsters since early age, he grew up watching films that will forever mark his imagination, such as Jurassic Park, Jaws, Tremors and Nightmare. After a brief experience on YouTube in adolescence, thanks to which he also tried his hand at making amateur short movies, his studies led him to delve deeper into the world of communication and film publishing. He has collaborated with online websites such as Horror Moth and TaxiDrivers, co-manages the social pages of Jurassic Park Italia and in 2023 he participated to the selection and organization of the fifth edition of Oltre Lo Specchio Film Festival, in Milan. He currently works in a communications agency in his hometown and collaborates with the online magazine Darkside Cinema.
Roberto Giacomelli
Roberto Giacomelli (1983) is a film critic and scholar of fantastic imagery, he wrote numerous essays on genre cinema and he has collaborated with various publishers. Founder of the site DarksideCinema.it, he works as a programmer and selector of films and series for the Rai4 television channel.
Ludovico Lamarra
He is the bassist of the music group Il Muro del Canto, an independent cult group based in Rome with hundreds of concerts in Italy and abroad, and some trespassing into the audiovisual sector, as evidenced by “7 Vizi Capitale”, a song written with Piotta which became the main soundtrack of the first season of the Netflix series Suburra. But deep down he hides a second identity, as predicted by the best tradition of genre literature: the identity of an unrepentant nerd. In fact, he is one of the founders and current director of the Nerdface portal, a webzine which for over ten years has been accompanying thousands of readers to untangle themselves in the massive range of products of a culture that has now become pop, through news, reviews and insights, curated by an editorial team with offices in the capital and in Milan.
Francesca Pizzutilo
She is the youngest editor of Nerdface since its foundation and for the site she deals with cinema and TV series, with a particular predilection for horror and fantasy cinema.
Orsola Trevisan
She was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s with “Notte Horror” and Dylan Dog. Teacher by day and passionate about fantasy cinema by night, she loves getting lost among creatures of the dark and intriguing plot twists, wandering among genre film festivals such as Sitges, Ravenna Nightmare and Fantafestival. Already collaborator of the Fantafestival in the 2013-2017 editions.
Giorgia Vaccarelli
Passionate about cinema, literature and music, she has already published a book for La Mongolfiera Editrice, titled Rideremo delle farfalle dorate. Two of the comedies in the book, Il mondo delle anime leggere and Le nozze di Prospero, have also been staged. For Nerdface she deals with Film and TV series.
Honorary President
Luigi Cozzi
Luigi Cozzi, also known as Lewis Coates, is an Italian director, screenwriter, and writer, best known for his contributions to genre cinema, particularly in science fiction and horror films. Born on September 7, 1947, in Busto Arsizio, Italy, Cozzi began his career in the 1960s as an independent filmmaker with a passion for science fiction and fantasy cinema.
One of his early notable works was The Tunnel Under the World (1969), based on a science fiction short story by Frederik Pohl. His career breakthrough came with his collaboration with Dario Argento, leading him to work as an assistant director and screenwriter for some of Argento’s successful films. In the 1980s, Cozzi directed movies such as Starcrash (1978), which gained cult status thanks to its unique style and actors like Caroline Munro and Christopher Plummer.
Luigi Cozzi is also known for directing Hercules (1983), starring Lou Ferrigno, and its sequel, The Adventures of Hercules (1985), both of which blend mythology and science fiction elements. Over the years, he has continued working as a director, writer, and producer, specializing in genre films and becoming a beloved figure among fans of Italian fantastic cinema.
In addition to his film career, Luigi Cozzi managed the Profondo Rosso Store in Rome, dedicated to horror and thriller cinema, where he also curated a specialized bookshop. Luigi Cozzi is the co-founder, along with Alberto Ravaglioli, of Fantafestival.