ABOUT US

Paolo, Gabriele, Luigi and Nicola. Four creative guys on their way, who share a pure passion for cinema and who have embarked on new journey in the wide sea of distribution, abroad the Red Couch Pictures ship. A platform which is able to help other directors like them to navigate the vast sea of the new cinema.

Gabriele Nardis

Abruzzese d.o.p., like the saffron from L’Aquila. Director, screenwriter and co-founder of the film production company Nardis Production, alongside with my cousin Isabella. Nominated among the five finalists at the David di Donatello awards with the short film “Lao”, starring the legendary Aquilan actor Franco Villani and Lino Guanciale. I love well-written stories with a powerful insight and a strong visual impact. My cult director is Paul Thomas Anderson. I love watching martial arts movies, a discipline that I have been practicing for twenty years, and I grew up with Stephen King and a lot of horror movies. An avid reader of detective stories, thrillers and historical novels. Not to mention Dylan Dog and Silver Surfer. After every meal I drink a glass of genziana liquor or centerba liquor. In my free time I wander trough the mountains, on foot or by bike, contemplating his majesty: the Gran Sasso.

Abruzzese d.o.p., like the saffron from L’Aquila. Director, screenwriter and co-founder of the film production company Nardis Production, alongside with my cousin Isabella.

Nominated among the five finalists at the David di Donatello awards with the short film “Lao”, starring the legendary Aquilan actor Franco Villani and Lino Guanciale. I love well-written stories with a powerful insight and a strong visual impact. My cult director is Paul Thomas Anderson. I love watching martial arts movies, a discipline that I have been practicing for twenty years, and I grew up with Stephen King and a lot of horror movies. An avid reader of detective stories, thrillers and historical novels. Not to mention Dylan Dog and Silver Surfer. After every meal I drink a glass of genziana liquor or centerba liquor. In my free time I wander trough the mountains, on foot or by bike, contemplating his majesty: the Gran Sasso.

Luigi Cuomo

I have always had a passion for personal and life stories. Director, anthropologist as well as failed football promise. Born in Avellino, I lived in Torino, L’Aquila and Cape Town. Gratuated in Directing and Filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. I have been working with the Laceno d’oro International Film Festival for several years. Once week a year I hole up in the Cinema Partenio’s projection room in Avellino, playing digital films and short films surrounded by dusty analogical projectors and old reels lying on the floor. I like to find small but powerful film work to get to know unprecedented and unique views on the world around us and discover the deep heart of niche stories, people and places.

I have always had a passion for personal and life stories. Director, anthropologist as well as failed football promise. Born in Avellino, I lived in Torino, L’Aquila and Cape Town.

Gratuated in Directing and Filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. I have been working with the Laceno d’oro International Film Festival for several years. Once week a year I hole up in the Cinema Partenio’s projection room in Avellino, playing digital films and short films surrounded by dusty analogical projectors and old reels lying on the floor. I like to find small but powerful film work to get to know unprecedented and unique views on the world around us and discover the deep heart of niche stories, people and places.

Paolo Santamaria

Class 1990, passionate about cinema since childhood. Abruzzese by birth (and by choice) with a pinch of Albanian origins on my father’s side. I gratuated in Directing and Filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. I debuted on the big screen in 2019, with the documentary “Siamo come Genova”, and then I returned there in 2020 with “La piazza della mia città”, with the participation, among others, of Gianni Morandi and Matilda De Angelis. Victim of an irrepressible anxiety for freedom since ever. I loved basketball since the very first frame of Space Jam and I’ll have a never-ending debt with Spielberg, Nolan, Von Trier and all those great directors who are capable of making me dream like my grandma Rachele’s lasagne. I hope with all my heart to direct a Disney film so as not to ever grow old.

Nicola Nocella

Nicola Nocella, born in Terlizzi in 1981 and raised in Corato, is one of the most talented Italian actors of his generation. He gained recognition for his role in Il figlio più piccolo by Pupi Avati, which earned him the Nastro d’Argento award for Best New Actor. A graduate of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, he has acted in various TV series and films, collaborating with directors like Guido Chiesa, Leonardo Pieraccioni, and Checco Zalone. His recent works include Easy – Un viaggio facile facile, Tolo Tolo, Cosa sarà, Black Parthenope and L’orto americano.

For a chat with a good coffee or a virtual toast, here you can find our contacts. But remember, we are mountaineers a bit shy and often dealing with saffron prunings and high quote hikings, therefore, unless you’re looking for an Apennine adventure we suggest you to always use the appropriate application form to submit your film work.

OUR TEAM

“You’ve got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think you’re going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. You’re gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it you’re gonna do the same for him. That’s a team, gentlemen. And either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That’s football guys, that’s all it is.” – Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday” by Oliver Stone. We present you our team. That’s cinema guys, that’s all it is.

Antonio Ruscitti

Production manager

Valentina Traini

Festival Coordinator

Gianpaolo Calabrese

Graphic designer

Alessio De Stefano

Webmaster

Wanna collaborate?

Progetto finanziato nell’ambito del programma NextAppennino per il rilancio economico e sociale delle regioni del Centro Italia colpite dai terremoti del 2009 e del 2016