Alice stays at home

A screenwriter, director, writer and film critic, Manlio Castagna has also been involved in the artistic direction of the Giffoni Film Festival for more than 20 years. He made his debut in children’s fiction in 2018 with the bestselling Petrademone trilogy (Mondadori), which has been translated into several languages. Since then, he has explored many different genres: from historical fantasy with La notte delle malombre (The Night of the Malombre) and Draconis Chronicon, to horror with Goodwill and Le Belve (The Beasts), passing through the “story” of cinema with the manual 116 film da vedere prima dei 16 anni (116 Films To See Before You’re 16) and the novel Dedalo & Dharma, up to social noir with Barriera (all for the Mondadori group). La reincarnazione delle sorelle Klun (The Reincarnation of the Klun Sisters) and Prova a non dormire (Try Not to Sleep) are his adult fiction books. In 2022, he made his film debut as a director and screenwriter with “Il viaggio degli eroi”, produced by Rai Cinema and rewarded with record audience numbers on Rai1.

Marco Ponti is a writer, director and screenwriter. His films include the cult movie Santa Maradona (winner of two David di Donatello awards), the great successes with audiences Io che amo solo te and La cena di Natali based on the novels by Luca Bianchini, and La Bella Stagione (winner of a Nastro d’Argento), created with Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Mancini and the Sampdoria players who achieved the epic feat of winning the football championship in 1991 and remained lifelong friends. He has also published the novels Alice resta a casa (Alice Stays at Home) with Manlio Castagna, winner of the Watty 2020 for the best Young Adult story on Wattpad, R – Ribelli, revoluzione e rock ‘n’ roll (R – Rebels, Revolution and Rock ‘n’ Roll) with Christian Hill, and the ghost book series that began with Ombre che camminano and continues with La città delle streghe.