Nicola Sornaga

Nicola Sornaga
Period: 2005-2006
Profession: Nicola Sornaga was born in Les Lilas in 1972. Of Italian origin, he spent his early childhood in Rome, before moving to Paris. In 1989, he founded the poetry magazine Le Boulafou, then, with Thierry Beauchamp, the magazine Johnny Weissmuller. By the age of 18, he was writing prose poems including Le Cinéma Végétarien, Prisonnier des semblables and l’Oural au coin du départ. In 1990-1991, he joined the circle of contributors to Colossus magazine. After a period of self-doubt, he wrote and directed several short films, including “Jéricho Déchaîné” (1995), “Quando Piove e c’è sole” (1997) and “Un accento perfetto” (1998), in which he directs himself. These films were selected and awarded at numerous Italian and French film festivals. His first feature film, “Le dernier des immobiles”, a burlesque mystification with Matthieu Messagier, was selected for the 60th Venice Film Festival (2003). “Le dernier des immobiles” received rave reviews in the press, and was awarded the Leo Scheer Prize at the 18th Belfort Festival, as well as the Special Jury Prize at the Valencia Cinemajove Festival (Spain 2004). A resident at Villa Mèdicis between 2005 and 2006, Nicola Sornaga worked on three feature-length fiction films: “Yiddish Eldorado”, “Le Fou Divin” and “La Liberté ou l’Amour! “and in 2008 presented her film “Monsieur Morimoto” at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.