Thomas Torelli

Thomas Torelli is a Rome based director and producer of films and documentaries with particular emphasis on those related to political and social themes. After a long experience as an editor and executive producer, Thomas founded Xtend in 2001, a company operating in the field of production and post-production for film and television, and in 2003 Telemaco. He has collaborated with different roles at some of the most interesting titles of the independent Italian cinema of recent years, such 'CRAJ' by Davide Marengo awarded the Lino Miccichè Award for the Best Opera Prima at the Venice Film Festival 2005 (co-editor); 'Dall'altra parte della Luna', the first Italian "rockumentary", story in music and images of the group Negramaro, presented at the Venice Film Festival 2007 (director of post-production). In 2006 he served as executive producer and co-author on Franco Fracassi and Francesco Trento's feature documentary 'ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11' where revealing presentations by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo and American literary icon Gore Vidal explore the sequence of "contradictions, gaps, and omissions" in the official version of events surrounding the attacks. The film was presented at the International Film Festival of Rome 2007 and was winner of the Audience Award at the Festival Internacional de Cine Documental de la Ciudad de México in 2008. Distributed in more than 70 countries in five continents in theaters, on DVD and on television, the film has become the movie-symbol of the struggle for the truth about September 11th. As a producer, Thomas has made several documentaries, including Dario Baldi's 'Pablo - The poet's lives', a journey to the memory of a great Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, presented at the AFI Film Festival of Los Angeles 2005 and the Montreal Film Festival 2006. In 2007, Francesca Nava's 'L'altro Messico - Il ritorno del Subcomandante Marcos'. 50% of the profit of this film was donated to the Zapatista communities. Mario Balsamo's 'Sognavo le nuvole colorate', a documentary about the history of Edison Duraj, a nine-year old Albanian child who emigrated to Italy on a raft, alone without his parents. The film was presented at the 2008 Locarno Film Festival. In 2009 he produced and directed 'Sangue e Cemento', the first documentary about the earthquake in Abruzzo, released in theaters and nominated at the Nastri d'Argento for Best Documentary of the Year. In 2011, he co-edited and produced, with the contribution of the Piedmont Film Commission, 'The brat syndrome' by Alberto Coletta, a documentary about ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder and Hyperactivity Disorder) told through the story of Julia, a "hyperactive and inattentive" girl. In 2012-2013 he wrote and directed the documentary film 'Un altro mondo' (Another World), which is being co-produced by Bluma Lab and Lotus Production, with an aim to release the film in 2014. In other projects, Torelli is working on a new documentary - which he wrote and is directing - provisionally titled 'Serial Killers', which examines the real costs of the meat culture as far as environmental impact, human health concerns, world hunger, and animal abuse are concerned. The film features interviews with prominent figures such as T. Colin Campbell, Thomas M. Campbell, Franco Berrino,Carlo Petrini, Frances Moore Lappé, Vandana Shiva, Peter Singer, Noam Mohr and James Wildman. The film is currently in production and aiming for completion by the end of 2014 and is being co-produced by Bluma Lab and Lotus Production.