Writing

Monica Zapelli

Born

1966-06-25 (60)

Place of birth

Pavia, Italy

Known for

Writing

Credits

36 titles

Known for

Red Like the Sky poster
7.7

A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.

Red Like the Sky

2006

One Hundred Steps poster
7.8

Peppino Impastato is a quick-witted lad growing up in 1970s Sicily. Despite hailing from a family with Mafia ties and living just one hundred steps from the house of local boss Tano Badalamenti, Peppino decides to expose the Mafia by using a pirate radio station to broadcast his political pronouncements in the form of ironic humour.

One Hundred Steps

2000

Land of Saints poster
5.6

Ambitious magistrate Vittoria (Valeria Solarino) makes the dramatic decision to relocate from the north to the south of Italy with one mission in mind – to defeat the Calabrian ‘‘Ndrangheta’ mafia. She is flabbergasted by the violence, the cruelty and the killings that Mafia men project – even youngsters are not spared. But instead of targeting the men, Vittoria tries a new approach; an appeal to the women involved in these circles. The bosses’ wives are as hard as nails; they will not talk and will not betray their powerful husbands, but could it be they have a soft spot for their own children?

Land of Saints

2015

The Demons of St. Petersburg poster
5.5

St. Petersburg, 1860. After a member of the imperial family is assassinated, Fyodor Dostoevsky meets one of the conspirators, who reveals that his comrades are planning another attack to the Tsar's life. Plagued by debts and struggling to finish his latest novel, Dostoevsky must act fast to call off the plot.

The Demons of St. Petersburg

2008

Memories of Anne Frank poster
7.2

The story of Anne Frank and her friend, Hanneli Goslar, their first meeting in Amsterdam, their daily lives, the German occupation, and their sudden separation when the Frank family went into hiding.

Memories of Anne Frank

2010

A Girl Returned poster
7.3

A 13 years old girl is forced to go living with another family for reasons unknown.

A Girl Returned

2021

Behind the camera

Red Like the Sky poster
7.7

A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.

Red Like the Sky

2006

Red Like the Sky poster
7.7

A nearly sightless boy is sent to a school for blind children, where he secretly discovers the possibilities of the recorded sound.

Red Like the Sky

2006

One Hundred Steps poster
7.8

Peppino Impastato is a quick-witted lad growing up in 1970s Sicily. Despite hailing from a family with Mafia ties and living just one hundred steps from the house of local boss Tano Badalamenti, Peppino decides to expose the Mafia by using a pirate radio station to broadcast his political pronouncements in the form of ironic humour.

One Hundred Steps

2000

Land of Saints poster
5.6

Ambitious magistrate Vittoria (Valeria Solarino) makes the dramatic decision to relocate from the north to the south of Italy with one mission in mind – to defeat the Calabrian ‘‘Ndrangheta’ mafia. She is flabbergasted by the violence, the cruelty and the killings that Mafia men project – even youngsters are not spared. But instead of targeting the men, Vittoria tries a new approach; an appeal to the women involved in these circles. The bosses’ wives are as hard as nails; they will not talk and will not betray their powerful husbands, but could it be they have a soft spot for their own children?

Land of Saints

2015

The Demons of St. Petersburg poster
5.5

St. Petersburg, 1860. After a member of the imperial family is assassinated, Fyodor Dostoevsky meets one of the conspirators, who reveals that his comrades are planning another attack to the Tsar's life. Plagued by debts and struggling to finish his latest novel, Dostoevsky must act fast to call off the plot.

The Demons of St. Petersburg

2008

Memories of Anne Frank poster
7.2

The story of Anne Frank and her friend, Hanneli Goslar, their first meeting in Amsterdam, their daily lives, the German occupation, and their sudden separation when the Frank family went into hiding.

Memories of Anne Frank

2010

A Girl Returned poster
7.3

A 13 years old girl is forced to go living with another family for reasons unknown.

A Girl Returned

2021

Karol: The Pope, The Man poster
6.3

This highly acclaimed feature film on Pope John Paul II was filmed on location in Italy and Poland. Focusing on the papacy of John Paul and the tremendous impact he had on the Church and the world, Karol: The Pope, The Man stars actor Piotr Adamczyk in a deeply moving portrayal of the beloved pontiff. It is the powerful true story of a charismatic spiritual leader who helped bring down Communism, renewed the life of the Church, greatly impacted youth worldwide with love for Christ, and a Pope who reached out to other religions and world leaders with a message of peace and love. Also stars Raoul Bova (Saint Francis), Michele Placido (Padre Pio: Between Heaven and Earth) and Adriana Asti as Mother Teresa. The beautiful film score is by legendary film composer Ennio Morricone.

Karol: The Pope, The Man

2006

Nour poster
6.0

After a shipwreck, a Syrian girl arrives alone on a Sicilian island. A doctor sets out to find her origins and her mother.

Nour

2020

Aspromonte: Land of The Forgotten poster
6.3

At the end of the 1950s in Africo, a small village in the southern valley of Aspromonte, a woman dies in childbirth because a doctor fails to arrive on time. No road connects Africo with the other villages. In the wake of this tragedy, all of Africo’s citizens -including children - abandon their usual occupations and unite to build their own road. Giulia, the new schoolteacher, comes from the North with a mission to teach standard Italian to help bring cultural cohesion with Africo and the rest of Italy. But she will have to contend with the local mafioso Don Totó, who is determined to ensure this the town remains cut off, and thus, under his power.

Aspromonte: Land of The Forgotten

2019

Aspromonte: Land of The Forgotten poster
6.3

At the end of the 1950s in Africo, a small village in the southern valley of Aspromonte, a woman dies in childbirth because a doctor fails to arrive on time. No road connects Africo with the other villages. In the wake of this tragedy, all of Africo’s citizens -including children - abandon their usual occupations and unite to build their own road. Giulia, the new schoolteacher, comes from the North with a mission to teach standard Italian to help bring cultural cohesion with Africo and the rest of Italy. But she will have to contend with the local mafioso Don Totó, who is determined to ensure this the town remains cut off, and thus, under his power.

Aspromonte: Land of The Forgotten

2019

Maria Montessori: una vita per i bambini poster
6.8

The story of Maria Montessori the most famous pedagogue of the world. She spent all her life to make her "metodo" (method) accepted in the archaic Italian school system, while the rest of the world immediately understand the importance of her theories. She was the first Italian Doctor, a famous feminist, a scientist. Her private life was hit by having an illegitimate son and by the Fascism that didn't want to accept completely her theories.

Maria Montessori: una vita per i bambini

2007

L'abbuffata poster
5.2

A pair of Italian filmmakers go to Rome to find a star for their first project.

L'abbuffata

2007

Il caso Enzo Tortora: Dove eravamo rimasti? poster
6.7

No synopsis available yet.

Il caso Enzo Tortora: Dove eravamo rimasti?

2012

Non è mai troppo tardi poster
7.5

Alberto Manzi is twenty years old and wants to be a teacher. He gets the job at a juvenile correctional facility, to then get transfered to a proper school, who he deems inadequate. At that time the public broadcasting network Rai decides to realize a program to educate millions of Italians.

Non è mai troppo tardi

2014

Per il mio bene poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

Per il mio bene

2024

Profeti poster
5.8

PROPHETS is the story of an encounter and a confrontation between Sara, an independent Italian journalist who was kidnapped in Syria by ISIS while she was working on a war news report in 2015, and Nur, the young foreign fighter, wife to a soldier of the Caliphate who holds Sara in custody in a building located in the middle of a training camp. Nur’s strong will to proselytize, together with the strict orders of the leader of the camp, will unfold into an attempt to convert Sara and make her join Islamic extremism.

Profeti

2023

Pulce non c'è poster
6.7

No synopsis available yet.

Pulce non c'è

2012

Pulce non c'è poster
6.7

No synopsis available yet.

Pulce non c'è

2012

Francesco poster
7.0

Depicts various periods in the life of Saint Francesco: Youth and the first conversion in 1206, the process that inflicts his father, the birth of the historical nucleus of Fraternitas and the departure for the Holy Land up to the writing of rules and death, addressing the problem of the legacy of his message in the different interpretation that Chiara and Elia will give it.

Francesco

2014

No artwork available
NR

Pietro is driving to Puglia with Jacopo, his autistic son, when their car suddenly breaks down. They are helped by Oliviero, a local mechanic, and are able to stay with Agata, who owns a bar that once rented out rooms. Gaia, who helps Agata run the bar, develops a close relationship with Pietro. The pace of life in the small village is very slow and monotonous, like a long wait for something to happen, until something distressing does, stopping Pietro and Jacopo from resuming their journey.

Drowning

2026

Tina Anselmi - Una vita per la democrazia poster
6.0

A partisan at 16, a trade unionist defending female workers, the first female minister, chair of the commission of inquiry into the P2 Masonic lodge. Tina Anselmi's life was the story of our democracy.

Tina Anselmi - Una vita per la democrazia

2023

A Woman of Courage poster
7.1

Felicia Impastato, mother of the brave Peppino Impastato, tries to keep the memory of his son alive after his murder.

A Woman of Courage

2016

Sons of 'Ndrangheta poster
6.3

A judge decides to dedicate his life to go after the members of the 'Ndrangheta-mafia, when he meets a young heir who longs for a life without criminality.

Sons of 'Ndrangheta

2019

Duisburg - Linea di sangue poster
6.0

After a brutal mafia-led massacre in the city of Duisburg, two detectives - one Italian, one Gernan - team up to investigate.Based on true events.

Duisburg - Linea di sangue

2019

Renata Fonte - Una donna contro tutti poster
8.8

No synopsis available yet.

Renata Fonte - Una donna contro tutti

2018

Gianni Versace – Emperor of Dreams poster
NR

The growth and success of Gianni Versace: his childhood and adolescence in Reggio Calabria in the 60s, his first steps in the world of fashion. The docufilm collects a series of interviews with friends and colleagues as well as archival images of fashion shows and interviews.

Gianni Versace – Emperor of Dreams

2023

One for All poster
4.4

The relationship between three lifelong friends is put to the test by a long-ago secret and a present-day crime committed by one of their children.

One for All

2015

L'assalto poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

L'assalto

2014

Rita Levi-Montalcini poster
6.5

In 1986, Rita Levi-Montalcini receives the Nobel Prize, but something is missing. After meeting a young violinist, the scientist faces a difficult choice: take refuge in fame or get back in the game.

Rita Levi-Montalcini

2020

La cattura - Caccia a Matteo Messina Denaro poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

La cattura - Caccia a Matteo Messina Denaro

2023

Romanzo radicale poster
NR

Romanzo Radicale is political and human adventure of Marco Pannella, portraying the most intimate moments, the political fights, his unique gestures that have made an era.

Romanzo radicale

2022

Enrico Mattei poster
4.5

Giorgio Capitani reconstructs in the Rai TV film the parable of the famous entrepreneur, in a product that in technical terms does not escape the logic of television, but still manages to offer an interesting picture of a key figure of postwar Italy.

Enrico Mattei

2009

Io ci sono poster
7.6

The tragic story of Lucia Annibali, told in a TV movie starring actress Cristiana Capotondi. Annibali, a 35-year-old lawyer at the time, was attacked with acid by two men. The instigator was her ex-boyfriend, who could not accept that she had left him.

Io ci sono

2016

Ora tocca a noi. Storia di Pio La Torre poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ora tocca a noi. Storia di Pio La Torre

2022

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Fuori

2015