The director of L’Estranea, in cinemas from 8 October, meets RUFA Cinema students to discuss how to present a project and build a professional path in the film production industry.
How do you present a film project to a production company? How do you communicate an idea before it even becomes a film? And how important is it for a young filmmaker to learn how to present not only their project, but also their vision? Paolo Strippoli, one of the emerging voices of contemporary Italian cinema, joins RUFA for a meeting dedicated to students of the Bachelor of Arts in Cinema, curated by lecturers Alain Parroni and Raffaele Simongini. At the heart of the meeting is a crucial step for anyone who wants to work in the film industry: the ability to present their projects, engage with production companies and turn a creative idea into a proposal capable of finding the right professional partners. A direct exchange with a director who, in these very weeks, is experiencing a particularly significant moment in his professional career.
The meeting takes place just a few days before the theatrical release of L’Estranea, the new film directed by Paolo Strippoli, co-written with Salvatore De Chirico and distributed by 01 Distribution from 8 October 2026. Starring Jasmine Trinca, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Adriano Giannini and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, the film tells the story of a family marked by a mysterious pact made many years earlier, moving between horror, thriller and family drama. After being presented in Competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, L’Estranea continued its international journey at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was named First Runner-Up for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The film was also selected to represent Italy in the race for the 2027 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. This journey gives RUFA students the opportunity to engage not only with a director’s creative work, but also with everything that happens before and after a film is made: from developing and presenting a project to working with production companies, through to distribution and engagement with audiences.
The production journey of L’Estranea also features a significant contribution from the RUFA community. The film’s overall post-production supervision and coordination, as well as its backstage production, were handled by Jumping Flea, a studio founded through the shared experience of a group of professionals who trained at RUFA, some of whom are now also lecturers at the Academy. The professionals involved include: Manuel Grieco, Alessio Pascucci, Alessandro Lazzi, Lorenzo Squarcia, Simone Spampinato a Federico Lena. The story of Jumping Flea began during their years of study at the Academy: from the first collaborations between students, a professional group developed which, after completing their studies, chose to continue working together. The studio was officially established in 2018 and today works across film production, videomaking and post-production, creating corporate videos, advertising campaigns, music videos, short films, documentaries and original productions. A concrete example of how the skills, collaborations and relationships developed during an academic journey can evolve into professional organisations capable of contributing to film productions of national and international significance. The meeting with Paolo Strippoli therefore also becomes an opportunity to explore cinema in its fullest dimension: not only as a language and a form of artistic research, but as a collective process that requires the ability to develop an idea, communicate it, find the right partners and build a network of professionals capable of bringing it to the screen.
Paolo Strippoli at RUFA: From Project Development to Film Production
From project to screen: L’Estranea
RUFA excellence in the film with Jumping Flea
