Massimo D'Orzi

Directing

Massimo D'Orzi

Known for

Directing

Credits

10 titles

Massimo D'Orzi is an Italian film director, screenwriter, writer and producer. He made his documentary debut with Adisa o la storia dei mille anni (2004), filmed among Romani communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He later wrote and directed his first fiction feature, Sàmara, followed by the documentary Ombre di luce (2010) and Ribelli! (2011), co-directed with Paola Traverso. His long-standing interest in the Balkans continued with Bosnia Express (2021), a documentary exploring the legacy of the Bosnian War through memory, culture and contemporary life. D'Orzi is also a novelist and published his first novel, Tempo imperfetto, in 2016.

Known for

Rebels! poster
NR

Ribelli! is a chorus of faces and voices that brings together the stories of the men and women who helped rebuild Italy after the darkness of Fascism. Through the memories of partisans from Bologna, Florence, Venice, Parma, Rome, Viareggio and beyond, the film revisits resistance, rebellion, ideals and disillusionment, turning their experiences into a powerful warning for the present.

Rebels!

2011

Samara poster
8.0

Luis, a wandering street performer, crosses a forest in search of Sàmara, a legendary city where artists are welcomed and celebrated. Along the way he encounters a mysterious Persian poet, an ambiguous magician, the dancer Rosita and young Morito. As reality gives way to visions and apparitions, Luis discovers that the road to Sàmara may be an inner journey rather than a destination.

Samara

2012

Bosnia Express poster
3.0

The tension is extreme in this area of the planet. Diversities are many, pressure here has a destructive potential. But not always.Yet tension can be creative, it can be both destructive and creative. This is the reason why every writer who travels through this place is fascinated by the power of these lands and these peoples. The Author doesn't want to just get off the train and then on again, he wants to carry a memory and a hope. Not only a memory, and not only a hope. Maybe it is possible to coexist with a past without giving up one's visions. Maybe it is possible to harbor a hope without disconnecting from the past. A train passes slow across the heart of the Balcans. This is a train that has a lot to tell.

Bosnia Express

2021

Stories of Women, Men, and Communities poster
NR

The Teatro Povero of Monticchiello in the Sienese hills, a community in the Ligurian Alps, an agora reclaimed from decay in the heart of Genoa, a restored newsstand in Bologna, and new experiments in communal living across southern Italy. What connects these distant places? Women, men and communities driven by the same desire: to rebuild human bonds and imagine shared futures. Through conflicts, radical choices, solitude and hope, the film travels across Italy to give voice to those who refuse to wait for change and instead choose to make it possible.

Stories of Women, Men, and Communities

2026

Ombre di luce poster
NR

A university is seen from the inside through an experimental writing course that reveals the thoughts and images of a group of students. As the Onda protest movement shakes the institution, students and teachers develop a collective story about a missing woman, exploring knowledge, desire and the search for a new voice

Ombre di luce

2011

Adisa or a Thousand Years Story poster
NR

A journey through Romani communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where men, women and children reveal fragments of a culture shaped by centuries of migration, persecution and survival. Moving between documentary observation and poetic imagery, the film explores identity, memory and the enduring mystery of a people whose history reaches back a thousand years.

Adisa or a Thousand Years Story

2012

Behind the camera

Rebels! poster
NR

Ribelli! is a chorus of faces and voices that brings together the stories of the men and women who helped rebuild Italy after the darkness of Fascism. Through the memories of partisans from Bologna, Florence, Venice, Parma, Rome, Viareggio and beyond, the film revisits resistance, rebellion, ideals and disillusionment, turning their experiences into a powerful warning for the present.

Rebels!

2011

Samara poster
8.0

Luis, a wandering street performer, crosses a forest in search of Sàmara, a legendary city where artists are welcomed and celebrated. Along the way he encounters a mysterious Persian poet, an ambiguous magician, the dancer Rosita and young Morito. As reality gives way to visions and apparitions, Luis discovers that the road to Sàmara may be an inner journey rather than a destination.

Samara

2012

Samara poster
8.0

Luis, a wandering street performer, crosses a forest in search of Sàmara, a legendary city where artists are welcomed and celebrated. Along the way he encounters a mysterious Persian poet, an ambiguous magician, the dancer Rosita and young Morito. As reality gives way to visions and apparitions, Luis discovers that the road to Sàmara may be an inner journey rather than a destination.

Samara

2012

Samara poster
8.0

Luis, a wandering street performer, crosses a forest in search of Sàmara, a legendary city where artists are welcomed and celebrated. Along the way he encounters a mysterious Persian poet, an ambiguous magician, the dancer Rosita and young Morito. As reality gives way to visions and apparitions, Luis discovers that the road to Sàmara may be an inner journey rather than a destination.

Samara

2012

Bosnia Express poster
3.0

The tension is extreme in this area of the planet. Diversities are many, pressure here has a destructive potential. But not always.Yet tension can be creative, it can be both destructive and creative. This is the reason why every writer who travels through this place is fascinated by the power of these lands and these peoples. The Author doesn't want to just get off the train and then on again, he wants to carry a memory and a hope. Not only a memory, and not only a hope. Maybe it is possible to coexist with a past without giving up one's visions. Maybe it is possible to harbor a hope without disconnecting from the past. A train passes slow across the heart of the Balcans. This is a train that has a lot to tell.

Bosnia Express

2021

Bosnia Express poster
3.0

The tension is extreme in this area of the planet. Diversities are many, pressure here has a destructive potential. But not always.Yet tension can be creative, it can be both destructive and creative. This is the reason why every writer who travels through this place is fascinated by the power of these lands and these peoples. The Author doesn't want to just get off the train and then on again, he wants to carry a memory and a hope. Not only a memory, and not only a hope. Maybe it is possible to coexist with a past without giving up one's visions. Maybe it is possible to harbor a hope without disconnecting from the past. A train passes slow across the heart of the Balcans. This is a train that has a lot to tell.

Bosnia Express

2021

Stories of Women, Men, and Communities poster
NR

The Teatro Povero of Monticchiello in the Sienese hills, a community in the Ligurian Alps, an agora reclaimed from decay in the heart of Genoa, a restored newsstand in Bologna, and new experiments in communal living across southern Italy. What connects these distant places? Women, men and communities driven by the same desire: to rebuild human bonds and imagine shared futures. Through conflicts, radical choices, solitude and hope, the film travels across Italy to give voice to those who refuse to wait for change and instead choose to make it possible.

Stories of Women, Men, and Communities

2026

Ombre di luce poster
NR

A university is seen from the inside through an experimental writing course that reveals the thoughts and images of a group of students. As the Onda protest movement shakes the institution, students and teachers develop a collective story about a missing woman, exploring knowledge, desire and the search for a new voice

Ombre di luce

2011

Adisa or a Thousand Years Story poster
NR

A journey through Romani communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where men, women and children reveal fragments of a culture shaped by centuries of migration, persecution and survival. Moving between documentary observation and poetic imagery, the film explores identity, memory and the enduring mystery of a people whose history reaches back a thousand years.

Adisa or a Thousand Years Story

2012

Adisa or a Thousand Years Story poster
NR

A journey through Romani communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where men, women and children reveal fragments of a culture shaped by centuries of migration, persecution and survival. Moving between documentary observation and poetic imagery, the film explores identity, memory and the enduring mystery of a people whose history reaches back a thousand years.

Adisa or a Thousand Years Story

2012