cinematography
Monica Stambrini
editing
Paola Freddi
Elsa De Falco Bonomi
music
Elisa Abela
sound
Monica Stambrini

with
Isabella Ducrot
Nora Iosia
Gisela Capitain
Regina Fiorito
Sadie Coles
Veronica Dalla Porta
Eivind Furndesik
Karin Handlbauer
Paola Gaudagnino
Marco Altavilla

producer
Beatrice Bordone Bulgari
production
Eolo Films Productions

Italian press office
Lara Facco
lara@larafacco.com

When, at the age of fifty-five, Isabella Ducrot, whose real name was Antonia Mosca, decided to become a visual artist, no one, not even Ducrot herself, ever dreamed that today, at ninety, she would be the darling of art galleries the world over. The film Tenga duro signorina! Isabella Ducrot Unlimited follows her activity for two years, both her achievements internationally and her private sphere. It’s more than a portrait of an artist who rose to the top despite being self-taught and an outsider; it’s an in-depth look at a woman who traversed the 20th century and ultimately revealed that “a happy life begins at sixty!” Wonderstruck by what she says and does, we believe her.

2024 Tenga duro signorina!
Isabella Ducrot Unlimited (doc)
2023 Chutzpah, qualcosa sul pudore (doc)
2018 ISVN – Io sono Valentina Nappi
2017 Lady Oscar (doc)
2017 Virgilio Floriani (doc)
2016 Queen Kong (short)
2012 Sedia Elettrica (doc)
2010 Impromptu – A Portrait of Mario Bortolotto (doc)
2002 Benzina
2000 Made in Milan (doc)
1999 10 minutes with George Segal (doc)
1999 Out of The House – Gerard Richter (doc)
1998 Sshhh… (short)
1997 MoniquePublique (short)
1995 Animali domestici (short)
1994 Vorrei urlare (short)
1993 Amblyopia – punti di vista (short)

When I started to film Isabella Ducrot over two years ago, I knew there was a certain urgency. Isabella is a great artist who only won international recognition for her work late in her life, but for me she was a role model as a woman as well. So I had no qualms about tackling the project without “having my back covered”– it was just me and my camera. The idea was to spend as much time at her side as possible, with the privilege, at times, of providing an invisible gaze, while at others I could serve as a companion and fellow traveler over our two amazing years together. If I think about Isabella’s first steps in art at age fifty-five, me being fifty-four now, I understand how laughable all my agonizing over success and failure was. We live at a time when being a woman trying to achieve in her field is more and more accepted; the last taboo is still old age. And here Isabella surprises us once again, as she shows us what it means to be an artist and a woman, but also that there is nothing to fear about our golden years. Bottom line: hang in there, ladies!” (Monica Stambrini)

Monica L. Stambrini is a graduate of the Scuola Civica in Milan. In 1998, she directed Sshhh…, winning the award for best short film at the Torino Film Festival. Four years later, she was back at Turin with her first feature, Gasoline, based on the novel by the same name by Elena Stancanelli. That film was also selected for the Toronto and Annecy film festivals; at the latter, the two leads, Maya Sansa and Regina Orioli, shared the award for best actress. Stambrini’s 2012 documentary Sedia Elettrica (2012), on the making of Io&Te by Bernardo Bertolucci, premiered at Venice and Rotterdam. In 2014, she founded Le Ragazze del Porno, a collective project that allowed her to make the short film Queen Kong (2016), which made the rounds of numerous international festivals and earned accolades. In 2018, she directed and produced ISVN – io sono Valentina Nappi. Last year, Sambrini’s autobiographical documentary Chutzpah, qualcosa sul pudore bowed at the Biografilm Festival and DocLisboa.