True Colours Takes Sales on Venice Horizons Opener Princess About African Sex Trade Vict

Italian sales company True Colours has taken international sales on Venice Horizons opener Princess, a gritty drama about a young African sex trade victim, directed by Italian auteur Roberto De Paolis.

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Italian sales company True Colours has taken international sales on Venice Horizons opener “Princess,” a gritty drama about a young African sex trade victim, directed by Italian auteur Roberto De Paolis.

De Paolis, whose 2017 debut “Pure Hearts” launched positively from Cannes, recently described the film to Variety as “the unfiltered story of a young Nigerian who prostitutes herself in Ostia, outside Rome, in a seaside pine forest.”

“Princess” (see first-look trailer above) features Glory Kevin, a real victim of the sex trade, in the title role plus other non-professional actors with similar backgrounds. Rounding out the cast are Lino Musella (“The Young Pope”), Salvatore Striano (“Caesar Must Die”) and Maurizio Lombardi (“The New Pope”).

De Paolis in his press notes calls “Princess” “the result of merging my points of view with those of the young Nigerian women I met over a long period of time whilst researching for the film.”

“The women are real victims of trafficking, who wrote the script with me and then played themselves freely,” the director adds, pointing out that “this created a new, flexible working space: together we experimented and found what I believe to be a more authentic path than other representations we are often used to when talking about migration, illegal immigrants and prostitution.”

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Furthermore, “The narrative is always poised between the true story of a degraded reality and the lyrical tale of wounded humanity,” De Paolis added. “The film is rather like a coming-of-age story because ‘Princess,’ before anything else, is a 19-year-old woman who, whilst clinging to her sense of self, is trying to resist the ferocity of the world.”

“Princess” is produced by De Paolis’ Young Films shingle and Indigo Film with support from RAI Cinema and will be released by Lucky Red in Italy. Pic will open Venice Horizons on Aug. 31.

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