Margherita Ferrari is a promising new filmmaker discovered through Paolo Sorrentino’s emerging filmmakers project. Föa – Once Upon a Future is based on her graduation film of the same name. In July 2001, when the G8 summit was held in Genoa, an 18-year-old girl, eight months pregnant, takes three protesters into her home. The protests, later regarded as a watershed moment in the anti-globalization movement, have already been documented in numerous films. Rather than plunging into the scene of state violence and human rights abuses, the film recreates the clashes and reconciliations in a private space between the witness of the future and young people reeking of tear gas. This assured debut - blending a retro aesthetic, sophisticated sensibility, and vivid archival footage - poses the era’s rallying cry, ‘Another World is Possible.’ anew to audiences today. With her sparkling gaze and confident screen presence, Gaia Ravina is a name to remember. She shows us that maturity can arrive in the span of a single day.
Born in Genoa in 1997. She studied Video Design and Filmmaking at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome, then majored in directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. After directing the miniseries Riders (2019), she wrote and directed the short films Emilia (2020), La fallacia del cecchino texano (2021), and Passeurs (2022). Her graduation film, the short FÖA (2023), was a finalist for the Student Academy Awards and won numerous festival prizes. Föa - Once Upon A Future is her first feature, co-produced by Paolo Sorrentino′s production company Numero 10, The Apartment, and PiperFilm.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
