First screened at the Rome Film Fest in October 2023, Ivana Gloria’s feature debut Chlorophyll (Clorofilla) was subsequently picked for the Proxima Competition (intended to spotlight new voices in world cinema) in Karlovy Vary, an international premiere that is likely to get more eyeballs on a quirky, intriguing project which could prove popular at events with youth-focused programs, given its subject matter and the pedigree of some of the people involved (screenwriter Marco Borromei, for example, also worked on the Italian remake of the hit Norwegian teen series Skam).
A fully independent production, put together by two companies that are just as youthful as the film’s protagonists (Albedo Production was founded in 2021, DO Consulting & Production in 2016), Chlorophyll thinks green from the very moment the title card flashes on the screen. It’s the story of Maia (Sarah Short), a girl with naturally green hair who is tired of city life: while everyone else thinks about partying, she decides to spend the summer picking oranges (a famously ominous fruit in the context of film).
This puts her in contact with Teo (Michele Ragno), who owns the farmhouse and takes particularly good care of plants and flowers, which he uses to create unique scents and perfumes. As he bonds with Maia, she also starts to blossom, literally: it is suggested throughout the film that her desire to connect with nature may be more than a simple wish to get away from city life, and appears to be tied to a mysterious event that took place in the woods when she was twelve years old. Also present is Teo’s older brother Arturo (Domenico De Meo), who is drawn to Maia but not quite sure how to deal with her less human characteristics.
Given Ivana Gloria’s background in animation, one can wonder if that medium might not have been a better choice for this fairytale-tinged coming-of-age story, which nonetheless boasts plenty of charm and is solidly assembled in live-action form. A tale of literal transformation, it finds its main strength in Gloria’s collaboration with cinematographer Giuseppe Chessa, whose approach to warm colors conveys the sweaty allure of summer and the preponderance of the color green in Maia’s life, sometimes to not-so-charming effect (in an early scene, intended to highlight the character’s disconnect from the teenage community she’s supposedly part of, even her vomit matches her hair).
In the midst of all that beauty and turmoil, the film’s main shortcoming is that it is, in fact, too short: at a brisk 75 minutes, some of the more evocative material is barely given time to breathe, and it’s time to part ways with Maia and Teo just as we were really getting to know them, with the performances of Short and Ragno creating an understated yet endearing bond that provides a charming human element against the somewhat fantastical backdrop and adds personality to a script that, while far from impersonal, is a recognizable genre spin on familiar teen tropes. The kind of spin that is just about hypnotic enough to set this project apart from its peers on the emerging end of the Italian scene.
Director: Ivana Gloria
Screenwriter: Marco Borromei
Cast: Sarah Short, Michele Ragno, Domenico De Meo, Angelo Zedda, Nina Viola Dessì, Greta Zedda, Laura Mura
Producer: Cinzia Salvioli
Cinematography: Giuseppe Chessa
Production design: Francesca Melis
Costume design: Antonella Mignogna
Music: SOHA
Sound: Silvia Orengo, Lorenzo Confetta
Production companies: Albedo Production, DO Consulting & Production
World sales: Albedo Production
Venue: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Proxima Competition)
In Italian
75 minutes
