Italy’s Groenlandia Launches Unit Dedicated to Films and Series Directed by Women

Italy’s expanding production company Groenlandia — the shingle behind ITV’s “Romulus” skein and recent Netflix Italian original film “The Incredible Story of Rose Island” — is launching a groundbreaking new unit dedicated to women directors and writers.

Called Lynn, the new female-driven label is a first for Italy. They have partnered on a feature film with Amazon Studios and on another movie with RAI Cinema. 

Projects in various stages in the Lynn pipeline comprise romantic comedy “Blackout Love” (pictured), toplining rising Italian star Anna Foglietta, who served as master of ceremonies at the 2020 Venice Film Festival.

In “Blackout Love,” which is being directed by first-timer Francesca Marino, Foglietta (“Perfect Strangers”) plays the coach of a female volleyball team whose love life is disrupted by the arrival of an old flame. Shooting started in December on the pic, which is being produced by Lynn with financing from Amazon Studios.

Lynn has teamed up with RAI Cinema on another feature, titled “September,” directed by first-timer Giulia Steigerwalt, a teen romancer that expands from her eponymous prizewinning short. “September” is now in post.

An animated TV series titled “YU” is also in production via the Lynn label, directed by Marta Bencich, who is a co-founder of Bologna’s Some Prefer Cake lesbian film fest.

Fabia Fleri, a former production exec at Italy’s prominent TV and film company Taodue, is in charge of the Lynn line-up. She is working under the supervision of Alessia Polli, a former drama exec at Domenico Procacci’s Fandango, who is now a project manager at Groenlandia, and Italian novelist Eleonora Marangoni.

Rome-based Groenlandia is headed by director-producer Matteo Rovere, whose directing credits include “Romulus” — both the film and the TV series — and Sydney Sibilia who most recently directed “The Incredible Story of Rose Island.”

Besides these titles, Groenlandia’s recent output includes Leonardo D’Agostini’s widely exported soccer comedy drama “The Champion,” starring Stefano Accorsi, and Ludovio De Martino’s actioner “The Beast,” co-produced with Warner Bros. and now streaming globally on Netflix.