Calogero is an ordinary guy who has made an extraordinary decision. He is Sicilian and sells granites for a living; one day he witnesses a mafia murder and decides to bear testimony. Under the witness protection programme, he is hustled away to Sauris, a small village in Friuli, where people are friendly but hard to understand. In the meantime, the killer he was going to testify against has become an informer and, through an administrative error, he, too, is sent to the same village, under the same false name.

The main female role is played by Katarina Čas, who appeared with Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf in Wall Street, with Al Pacino in Danny Collins, and with Margot Robbie in Terminal. The film team includes two other Slovenian artists: Polonca Valentinčič as a costume designer and Niko Novak as a production designer.

"The film had its world premiere at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea and was also shown at the Torino Film Festival. Cinema release in Slovenia is scheduled for February 2021," Slovenian coproducer Branislav Srdić told FNE.

The 30-day shooting took place in Slovenia (Grosuplje, Piran) and Italy (Sauris) from August to November 2018.

Paradise was produced by Stefano Basso, Andrea Magnani and Gianpaolo Smiraglia through Italian Pilgrim Film in coproduction with Branislav Srdić through Slovenian A Atalanta. The project was supported by the MiBACT, FVG Fund, RAI, the Slovenian Film Center with 60,000 EUR and FS Viba Film. The budget was 1.1 m EUR.

Production Information:

Producer:
Pilgrim Film (Italy)

Coproducers:
A Atalanta (Slovenia)

Credits:
Director: Davide Del Degan
Scriptwriters: Davide Del Degan, Andrea Magnani
DoP: Debora Vrizzi
Production designer: Niko Novak
Costume designer: Polonca Valentinčič
Make-Up artist: Valentina Tomljanović
Cast: Vincenzo Nemolato, Giovanni Calcagno, Katarina Čas, Selene Caramazza, Andrea Pennacchi, Brane Završan