NOBLE EARTH a film by ursula grisham
INDEX synopsis director s statement crew cast gallery contact
SYNOPSIS Emma meets Tancredi in Florence, embarking on a love affair with the intoxicating cosmos he represents: endless days in the gauzy hills, the sun-blanched beaches. They become engaged. Soon, however, Emma becomes caught in family politics, learning what is expected of a woman in Florentine high society. The same beauty that intoxicated Emma reveals itself as superficial, and suffocates her. Noble Earth is a study of ennui and female repression within a world rarely seen onscreen Italy s hermetic nobility
director s statement I was drawn to this story because I believe there are very small and subtle ways in which women subjugate themselves, and that it is important to explore these details as a way to deconstruct the trope of woman as victim. Emma enters into a fantasy world and expects nothing sinister to lie beneath its polished veneer. Though rooted in a quest for identity, her motivations to stay in Italy are aesthetic. Ennui is thus the only logical outcome of her journey. I wanted to explore this feeling in all its texture. To capture the milieu of Florentine s dispossessed nobility as authentically as possible, the production cast real people and shot in real locations. Tancredi s family and friends are mostly played by real-life Florentine nobles who joined the project because this generation, too, seeks to understand the ennui that has come to define them.
Ursula Grisham / writer & Director Ursula is a British-American film director based in Germany. She received her BA with High Honors from Dartmouth College and went on to study Screenwriting at NYU and acting and directing at the Lee Strasberg Institute. Ursula has produced and directed several short films and music videos, most recently with Art + Vibes, a Milan-based collective that pioneers projects for Fondazione Prada, Miu Miu Women s Tales, Vanessa Beecroft and Marina Abramovic; and Loretta Caponi, a Florentine atelier for which she has most recently directed a fashion film installation in Palazzo Vecchio. Ursula is also the Head Curator of Filmatique, a New York-based collective focusing on the digital distribution of art-house and contemporary world cinema.
LORENZO FIUZZI / Producer Noble Earth marks Lorenzo s first feature film as a producer. Originally from Florence, he is an entrepreneur in spirit and devoted advocate of the arts. In addition to his producing work Lorenzo has been involved in the development of many innovative programs in New York, such as Filmatique and the Partnership Outreach Program at the Chelsea Film Festival. Recent credits include an immersive fashion video installation for Florentine atelier Loretta Caponi and theatrical distribution of art-house and independent world cinema films in Italy. MELINDA PRISCO / Producer Melinda is an Italian-Hungarian independent film producer based in New York. She was educated at the International College Spain. Feature film credits include Mom (Distrital Works in Progress), Summum Bonum (East End, Los Cabos 2014), and The Transcendents, an absurd comedy shot on 16mm that is currently in post-production. Melinda is an associate producer on Mike Ott s California Dreams which recently premiered at Berlin s Critics Week and SXSW.
Kasper Wind / Cinematographer Kasper is a Danish citizen raised in Herfoegle, south of Copenhagen. He studied cinematography at the Copenhagen Film and Photography School before taking up work in the Danish film industry in both camera and light departments. He pursued further studies in cinematography at The National Film and Television School in the UK, graduating in 2012. Since, Kasper has been involved in narrative projects and commercials for clients such as Coca Cola, Adidas, Peugeot, Sony and Netflix. A proud father of one, Kasper is based in Copenhagen. martin velez / composer Martin is a Colombian-Brazilian composer and music producer, educated in Bogotá, Milan and New York where he attended Pratt Institute of the Arts and New York University for his MFA in music technology. Martin is a co-founder of the Colombian music collective Son of a Son and in 2016 he released his debut EP Gemini I on his own fresh imprint Leave of Absence. Recent credits include tracks on Bad Lucky Goat (SXSW, Panama, Curaçao International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017)
carlos marques-marcet/ editor Carlos is the award-winning director of 10,000km (European Film Award Discovery of the Year Nominee, AFI Audience Award, SXSW Special Jury Award) and editor of several feature films and documentaries, including Eliza Hittman s It Felt Like Love. Born in Barcelona, Carlos received a La Caixa scholarship to attend UCLA s Master of Fine Arts Program. His short films include I ll Be Alone (Beijing International Film Festival) and Yellow Ribbon, which won many other awards including a DGA recognition. Carlos is currently finishing his second feature film as a director, As We Like It. nadia ben rachid/ editor Nadia is a French-Tunisian film editor. She started her editing career working with 35mm celluloid and has over thirty years of experience, including two decades working with Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. Nadia won the 2015 César for Best Editing on Sissako s latest film, Timbuktu (Cannes, London, Cairo, Abu Dhabi). Other credits include 2009 Cannes Official Selection My Neighbor My Killer; Tarr Béla, I Used To Be a Filmmaker; 2016 Cannes Semaine de la Critique prize-winning Tramontane; and 2017 Cannes Un Certain Regard entry Beauty and the Dogs. Nadia is based in Paris, France.
DAISY BEVAN / Emma Daisy made her screen debut in the 1998 Academy-Award winning production Elizabeth and has appeared in The Affair of the Necklace, One Crazy Thing, and The Two Faces of January (Berlin 2013) alongside starring turns in theatre, including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2015 Daisy made her professional stage debut in an adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Grey at the Riverside Studios in London and appeared in the acclaimed BBC mini-series The Outcast. Daisy s most recent work is on Paul Thomas Anderson s latest film, Phantom Thread. She is based in London.
CONTACT Lorenzo Fiuzzi / lorenzo@filmatique.com Melinda Prisco / melinda@filmatique.com