Filmmaker Statement

Madonna Mia depicts the (absurd) self-shame women have exploring masturbation against the kitschy backdrop of Catholicism. My goal was to put LGBTQ characters at the forefront of the Catholic Church. This is still heavily taboo in Italy, in fact the Vatican banned us from filming in any church in Rome. Inspired heavily by Italian neorealism, I wanted to combine real people and real locations with trained principal actors to authentically depict the Italy I grew up in and love.