Zita Sempri is the directorial debut of Stefania Spampinato, who portrays Carina DeLuca on the ABC shows “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Station 19”. It premiered at the 68th edition of the Taormina Film Festival, which was opened by Francis Ford Coppola presenting his 50th anniversary of THE GODFATHER. It recently screened on opening night during the 19th edition of HollyShorts at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to raving reviews.
Stefania Spampinato was born in Catania, Sicily, and grew up in a small town at the base of the Etna Volcano. After graduating high school with honors, she moved to Milan where she got a BA in performing arts. This led to a very successful career in dance & theatre that lasted over 10 years traveling all over to locations like Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Mumbai, Berlin and included collaborations with Joaquin Cortez, Kylie Minogue, Leona Lewis, The Voice UK and X Factor US & UK. Since 2017 she is a recurring cast member of the record breaking ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy and one of the leads of Grey’s Anatomy spin off series Station19 where she also portrays Dr. Carina Deluca. Among other projects she's been cast in the Oscar winning James Mangold movie "Ford vs Ferrari" starring Matt Damon & Christian Bale. The short film Zita Sempri, which premiered in Italy at the 68th Taormina Film Festival and in the US during the 19th HollyShorts Opening Night, is Stefania's directorial debut.
Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti are an award-winning Italian writing and producing team. Most recently, Guaglianone & Menotti were the creators and head writers on the first Italian Amazon comedy series VITA DA CARLO, starring Italy’s biggest comedian Carlo Verdone, as well as the creators of their first Italian crime drama BANG BANG BABY with The Apartment Pictures. Prior to that, Guaglianone created Netflix’s first Italian original series ever, SUBURRA, while Menotti, a former comic book artist, created the Netflix superhero coming-of-age series ZERO. Overall, they have written 15 box office movies across all genres. Their breakout film, THEY CALL ME JEEG directed by Gabriele Marinetti, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and won seven David di Donatello Awards (Italy’s Oscar). Guaglianone’s film INDIVISIBLE won the 2017 David di Donatello Award for Best Original Screenplay, and his most recent film FREAKS OUT premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and was nominated for 16 David di Donatello Awards.
