Abel Ferrara to Star in Angelica Gallo’s Gritty Film ‘The Night Burns’

Abel Ferrara is set to appear alongside emerging French actress Raika Hazanavicius (“Colors of Time”) and Italy’s Giovanni De Maria (“Robbing Mussolini”) in Italian director Angelica Gallo’s gritty Rome-set drama “The Night Burns.”

“Night Burns” depicts contemporary Rome youth through the tale of a group of friends who steal jewelry and other valuables at trap music concerts by using a substance similar to pepper spray. It is being produced by close Matteo Garrone collaborator Guendalina Folador.

Folador served as production manager for Garrone’s production company Archimede, shepherding Garrone titles including “Dogman,” “Pinocchio” and “Io Capitano.”

She is now producing “The Night Burns” through her own Askesis Film shingle in tandem with Masi Film — the expanding Rome company headed by Massimiliano Di Lodovico that recently produced Giuseppe Tornatore doc “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary” about Italy’s “King of Cashmere” Brunello Cucinelli — and with RAI Cinema.

“The Night Burns,” which is Gallo’s directorial debut and is currently shooting in Rome, mixes emerging talents Hazanavicius and De Maria — plus an ensemble of other young actors comprising Daniele Cartocci, Augusto Cerruti, Aboubakr Bensaihi, Francesca Ciofi and Engy Mileta — with established and internationally seen Italian actors Carolina Crescentini (“Mrs. Playmen”), Chiara Caselli (“Nina Roza”), Aniello Arena (“Reality,” “Dogman”) and, of course, Ferrara.

The film’s narrative follows Massimo (De Maria) and his friends, a group of 20-somethings “who drift through drugs, nightclubs and adrenaline-fueled robberies that spiral into violence,” says the synopsis. But at its core, the film also provides a perception that is meant to shift “from judgment to understanding, from distance to empathy,” it notes. “The Night Burns” is loosely by a real-life tragedy that took place in an Italian nightclub during a trap music concert in 2018.

“The Night Burns” project, which was first made as a short, was selected for both the Locarno Residency and the Berlin AiR program, and developed with the support of the Torino Film Lab.

Folador founded Askesis Film in 2023, looking to foster young talents. Her company is developing a slate of five to seven projects per year across both short and feature formats. Askesis recently made a splash in Italy’s indie distribution milieu with well-received doc “San Damiano,” directed by Gregorio Sassoli and Alejandro Cifuentes, about a young homeless Polish man with an indomitable spirit living with other homeless people near Rome’s central train station, that Folador co-produced with Red Sparrow.