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.
Menotti is an award-winning Italian writer and comic artist. Most recently, Menotti was the co-creator and head writer on the first Italian Amazon crime drama series BANG BANG BABY, as well as Amazon’s first comedy series VITA DA CARLO starring Italy’s biggest comedian, Carlo Verdone. Menotti also created the Netflix superhero coming-of-age series, ZERO, which has been praised for its groundbreaking representation of Black Italian youth, and co-created SUBURRA, Netflix’s first original show in the country. Menotti worked on breakout film, THEY CALL ME JEEG directed by Gabriele Mainetti, which was nominated for Best Screenplay and won seven Italian Golden Globes in 2016. He also wrote several box office movies including Blessed Madness, All You Need Is Crime, and The Legend of the Christmas Witch, starring Monica Bellucci. He is currently developing IPs for the US market.
