Ginevra Elkann (born 24 September 1979) is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-born

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

. She is a member of the

Agnelli family The Agnelli family () is an Italian multi-industry business dynasty founded by Giovanni Agnelli, one of the original founders of the Fiat motor company which became Italy's largest automobile manufacturer. They are also primarily known for other ...

and granddaughter of Italian

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

Gianni Agnelli Giovanni "Gianni" Agnelli (; 12 March 192124 January 2003), nicknamed ("The Lawyer"), was an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat. As the head of Fiat, he controlled 4.4% of Italy's GDP, 3.1% of its industrial workforce a ...

Early life

Elkann was born in London,New York Times: "Portrait of a Lady" By Rob Haskell
February 14, 2014 the daughter of Margherita Agnelli and the French-Italian writer

Alain Elkann Alain Elkann (born March 23, 1950) is an Italian novelist, journalist. Currently, Elkann is the conductor of cultural programs on Italian television. He is president of the Scientific Committee of the Italy–USA Foundation. A recurring theme in ...

. Her father is Jewish and her mother is Catholic, and she was raised Catholic. Her maternal grandparents were princess and socialite

Marella Agnelli Marella Agnelli (; born Donna Marella Caracciolo dei Principi di Castagneto ; 4 May 1927 – 23 February 2019)''Almanach de Gotha''. Gotha: Justus Perthes. 1942. pp. 398–399. was an Italian noblewoman, art collector, socialite, style icon and ...

and the industrialist

. She is the great-grand-niece of

Ettore Ovazza Ettore Ovazza (21 March 1892, in Turin – 11 October 1943, in Intra) was an Italian Jewish banker. Believing that his privileged position would be restored after the war, Ovazza stayed on after the Germans marched into Italy. Together with his ...

. She has two older brothers

John Elkann John Philip Jacob Elkann (born 1 April 1976) is an Italian industrialist. In 1997, he became the chosen heir of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, following the death of Gianni's nephew Giovanni Alberto Agnelli and since 2004 has been leading the A ...

and

Lapo Elkann Lapo Edovard Elkann (born 7 October 1977) is an Italian businessman, philanthropist and grandson of Gianni Agnelli, the former controlling CEO and controlling shareholder of Fiat Automobiles. Background A member of the Agnelli family, Elkann was ...

. Her brother, the industrialist

, is Chairman of the

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

group of companies. Her parents divorced when she was young and she moved first to Rio de Janeiro and then to Paris with her mother and stepfather, Russian count Serge de Pahlen.

Career

Elkann worked as third assistant director on

Bernardo Bertolucci Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...

’s 1998 film '' L’assedio'', and was video assistant on Anthony Minghella’s ''The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999). Later she studied

filmmaking Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

at the

London Film School London Film School (LFS) is a film school in London and is situated in a converted brewery in Covent Garden, London, neighbouring Soho, a hub of the UK film industry. It is the oldest film school in the UK.

. In 2005, her LFS graduation film, the nine-minute ''Vado a messa'' ("I’m going to Mass"), was screened during a "Cinema Schools" special event at the

62nd Venice International Film Festival The 62nd annual Venice International Film Festival opened on 31 August 2005 with Tsui Hark's ''Seven Swords'' and closed on 10 September 2005 with a screening of Peter Ho-sun Chan's musical '' Perhaps Love''. The lineups were announced by the ...

. Asked whether she had any particular subjects in mind for a feature-length film, she mentioned two: a thriller set in the world of

synchronized swimming Synchronized swimming (in British English, synchronised swimming) or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by FINA (the ''Fédérati ...

, and an adaptation of her father’s story ''Piazza Carignano'', which concerns a

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

. It is inspired by the story of her father's side of the family, who were the influential Ovazza banking family (early allies and important financial patrons of

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

). In 2009 she founded production company Caspian Films, first producing ''Frontier Blues'', debut feature film by Iranian director and fellow London Film School graduate

Babak Jalali Babak Jalali ( fa, بابک جلالی) is an Iranian film director and producer, notably directing ''Radio Dreams'', for which he won the Hivos Tiger Award at the 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam. Early life Jalali was born in Iran an ...

. This film was developed with support from the

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

Cinéfondation La ''Cinéfondation'' is a foundation under the aegis of the Cannes Film Festival, created to inspire and support the next generation of international filmmakers. It was created in 1998 by Gilles Jacob. Since then it has developed complementary ...

and premiered in competition at the 62nd Locarno Film Festival. She then produced other independent feature films such as '' White Shadow'', directed by Noaz Deshe (2013), which won the ''Lion of the Future'' award at the

70th Venice International Film Festival The 70th annual Venice International Film Festival took place in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2013. American film director William Friedkin was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucc ...

, ''

Chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate betwee ...

'', directed by Lamberto Sanfelice (2015), which premiered at the

2015 Sundance Film Festival The 2015 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 22 to February 1, 2015. ''What Happened, Miss Simone?'', a biographical documentary film about American singer Nina Simone, opened the festival. Comedy-drama film ''Grandma'', directed by Pa ...

, and again with

on his third feature ''

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

'', which premiered in the Panorama section at the

68th Berlin International Film Festival The 68th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 15 to 25 February 2018. German filmmaker Tom Tykwer served as Jury President. American film director Wes Anderson's animated film ''Isle of Dogs'' opened the festival, becoming f ...

. In 2012 she founded production and distribution company Good Films, together with Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Luigi Musini and Lorenzo Mieli. In 2019, her debut feature film as a director ''Magari'' ("If Only") had its world premiere as the opening film at the

72nd Locarno Film Festival The 72nd annual Locarno Festival was held from 7 August to 17 August 2019. The debut feature by Italian director-producer Ginevra Elkann's ''Magari'' opened the festival, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's ''To the Ends of the Earth'' was screened as clos ...

Due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, theatrical distribution of the film could not go ahead as programmed, so the film was made available on

RaiPlay RaiPlay is the multimedia portal owned by the Italian national broadcaster RAI replacing Rai.tv since 12 September 2016. It is for watching popular Italian shows such as 'Inspector Montalbano', 'Don Matteo' and many more. Login and registration, ...

, the streaming platform of Italian

national broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

in May 2020.

Personal life

She married Count Giovanni Gaetani dell’Aquila d’Aragona (b. 1973) in a Roman Catholic ceremony in

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

(

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

) on 25 April 2009. She has two sons and a daughter with her husband: Giacomo (born 15 August 2009), Pietro (born 31 October 2012) and Marella (born 27 May 2014).

Filmography

Director

* ''Vado a messa'' - Short Film (2005) * ''Magari'' (2019)

Producer

* ''Frontier Blues'', directed by

(2009) * ''Noche'', directed by Leonardo Brzezicki (2013) * '' White Shadow'', directed by Noaz Deshe (2013) * ''

'', directed by Lamberto Sanfelice (2015) * '' Arianna'' , directed by Carlo Lavagna (2015) * ''Prova contraria'', directed by Chiara Agnello - documentary (2016) * '' Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno'', directed by

Abdellatif Kechiche Abdellatif Kechiche (; ar, عبد اللطيف كشيش, born 7 December 1960) is a Tunisian- French actor, film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with '' La Faute à Voltaire'', which he also wrote. Known for his ...

(2017) * ''

'', directed by

(2018)

Ancestry

References

2005 interview with Giovanni Bogani
*

External links

Vogue Italia: "Ginevra Elkann Interview"
May 13, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Elkann, Ginevra 1979 births Agnelli family Italian people of French-Jewish descent Italian film directors Italian women film directors Italian people of Jewish descent Living people Italian Roman Catholics Italian film producers Film directors from London Italian people of American descent Alumni of the London Film School