"During the lockdown, in Rome, I came across a scene that was surreal. Two middle-aged men, alone in Piazza San Calisto in Trastevere, faced off in a duel using two bananas. One even provided the soundtrack from A Fistful of Dollars, on a speaker. Instinctively, I started filming in slow motion. Then I thought I'd keep at it, in slow motion like the time around us. The other characters magically popped up out of nowhere, ready to join in. Wordlessly, just with their faces, being there. These are people who don't usually come out of the woodwork. This is Trastwest: a duel between reason and folly; between the new Trastevere and the Old West." [Ivano De Matteo]
Ivano De Matteo got his start in 1990, with a diploma from the theater workshop Il Mulino di Fiora, directed by Perla Peragallo. An actor, director and documentarian constantly seeking a uniquely personal style, he ranges from the stage to the screen and the small screen. He founded the theater troupe Il Cantiere with Valentina Ferlan (author and screenwriter) in 1993. In 1995, he founded the small production company Utopia Film.
