Italian-Turkish Director Ferzan Ozpetek Shooting Gay Romance ‘Nuovo Olimpo,’ His First Netflix Film – Variety

Prolific Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek has started shooting “Nuovo Olimpo,” a Rome-set gay romance that marks his first collaboration with Netflix.

Ozpetek’s first Netflix Italian original film is the fourteenth feature from the popular helmer known for commercially successful pics such as “Ignorant Fairies” and “Loose Cannons.” He was celebrated during an AmfAR gala at the Venice Film Festival in September in recognition for how his movies bring to the fore characters within the LGBTQ community. Ozpetek’s works are also consistently among Italy’s most widely exported movies despite the fact they don’t always go to festivals.

Set in the late 1970s “Nuovo Olimpo” is about two 25-year-old men who meet by chance, fall madly in love, and are then separated due to an unexpected event. For the next thirty years they pursue the hope of finding each other again.

The pic’s protagonists are young actors Damiano Gavino and Andrea Di Luigi. The cast also includes Luisa Ranieri (“The Hand of God”), Greta Scarano, Aurora Giovinazzo, Alvise Rigo, Giancarlo Commare.

Director of photography on “Nuovo Olimpo” is Gian Filippo Corticelli, the editor is Pietro Morana, the production design by Giulia Busnengo and costumes are by Monica Gaetani.

Before working with Netflix Ozpetek collaborated with Disney+ on their first Italian original series “The Ignorant Angels,” a romantic drama spun-off from “Ignorant Fairies.”

“Nuovo Olimpo” is being produced by Ozpetek’s regular producers Tilde Corsi and Gianni Romoli and was written by the director with Romoli who is also his regular writing partner. The film is being shot entirely in Rome with plans to premiere on Netflix in 2023.