In The Making, Longlist - Fashion

Cruising

Valentino R. Sandoli

Trampoline

Inspired by films like “L’inconnu du lac” and “O Ornitólogo“, “Cruising” explores desire, erotism, and flesh, using an almost voyeuristic style that mixes together with oneiric images that provides a metaphysic tone to the story. “A man meets a group of young men while bathing in a lake at the end of summer, and he immediately falls for one of them, who seems to shine with his own light. He follows them into the woods, where he watches them as he finds them in different groups and sex scenes until he arrives to the one he fell for.”

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, raised in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and currently based in Madrid, Valentino R. Sandoli is half Canarian, half Italian. He graduated in Media Studies at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, where he wrote and directed “Paradigma” (2016) as his thesis film. It premiered at the Roze Filmdagen in Amsterdam and was selected in over 30 film festivals around the world, highlighting the London BFI Flare, the Toronto Inside Out and the LesGaiCineMad in Madrid. It’s included in Filmin’s short films catalogue. In 2020 he finishes a Master’s Degree in Film Directing from EFTI, writing and directing “Las grietas”(2020) during it, and it got selected to be a part of the regional catalogue Canarias en Corto 2020, funded by the Canary Islands Government. The film premiered at the 32nd Semana de Cine de Medina del Campo in its National Competition. The short is still travelling through film festivals, highlighting the Lanzarote International Film Festival, the Malta International Film Festival or the Madrid Film Festival (PNR) Also in 2020, he directs “Cruising”, a fashion film that premieres in exclusivity for Fucking Young! Magazine. It was shortlisted for the NEW GENERATION AWARD at the Berlin Commercial and shortlisted for the BEST FASHION FILM category at the Berlin Fashion Film Festival. He is currently developing his first feature film as well as other short film projects, while he continues with his commercial work in advertising, where he has worked for all kinds of brands, such as Mercedes, Ikea, Orange, KFC, Coca Cola, Nivea, Huaweii, Samsung… etc.