Remis is an Alpine village nestled in an isolated valley, and its inhabitants are all unusually upbeat. It would seem to be the perfect place to relocate for the new physical education teacher, Sergio Rossetti, tormented by a mysterious past. Thanks to his encounter with Michela, the young manager of the town’s bar, the teacher learns that this apparent beatitude conceals an unsettling ritual. One night a week, the locals all meet for a collective embrace – and they are hugging Matteo Corbin, a teenager known to be a healer, who absorbs other people’s pain. Sergio’s attempt to save the boy will awaken the darkest side of the kid everyone calls the “angel of Remis.”
screenplay
Jacopo Del Giudice
Paolo Strippoli
Milo Tissone
cinematography
Cristiano Di Nicola
editing
Federico Palmerini
music
Federico Bisozzi
Davide Tomat
production design
Marcello Di Carlo
costumes
Susanna Mastroianni
cast
Michele Riondino
(Sergio Rossetti)
Giulio Feltri
(Matteo Corbin)
Paolo Pierobon
(Mauro Corbin)
Romana Maggiora Vergano
(Michela)
Sergio Romano
(Pichler)
Anna Bellato
(Anna)
Sandra Toffolatti
(Elisabetta Gengo)
Gabriele Benedetti
(Franco)
Diego Nardini
(Lorenzo Berni)
Roberto Citran
(Don Attilio)
executive producers
Ivan Fiorini
Attilio Moro
producers
Domenico Procacci
Laura Paolucci
Ines Vasilevic
Stefano Sardo
co-producers
Jožko Rutar
Miha Černec
productions
Fandango
Vision Distribution
Nightswim with Spok
in collaboration with
Sky
world sales
Fandango Sales
www.fandango.it/sales
Italian distribution
Vision Distribution
info@visiondistribution.it
www.visiondistribution.it
Paolo Strippoli received a degree in directing from Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, after earning his first, in the performing arts, at Sapienza University. In 2019, he won the Franco Solinas Award for Best Original Story for the film L’angelo infelice, co-written with Jacopo del Giudice and Milo Tissone. In 2020, he co-directed, with Roberto De Feo, the Netflix original film A Classic Horror Story, winner of the Best Director Award at Taormina. Strippoli’s second feature came out in 2022: the psychological horror flick Flowing, which competed at the Sitges Film Festival, Austin Fantastic Fest, and Alice nella Città.
2025 La valle dei sorrisi
2022 Piove
2021 A Classic Horror Story
(directed with Roberto De Feo)
2019 Senza tenere premuto (short)
2018 Nessun dorma (short)
2018 Storia triste di un pugile scemo (short)
2017 Fine d’estate (short)
2016 Bassa stagione (short)
2015 Mio fratello (short)
2015 Fusa (short)
2015 Creme Aigre (short)
2015 Y Generation (short)
2014 Dimmi cosa senti (short)
2012 In un mondo violento (short)
