Nearly forty years old, Julio Cesar (Edoardo Pesce) still lives with his mother (Margarita Rosa de Francisco Baquero) in a house by the river in the seaside town of Fiumicino, near Rome. Through salsa dance nights and limited earnings working for a local drug dealer, the two struggle to maintain their love-filled yet oppressive lifestyle. But the arrival of Ines (Maria del Rosario Barreto), an attractive young Colombian drug mule, threatens to unsettle their tenuous stability.

The third feature from award-winning Italian writer/director Enrico Maria Artale, EL PARAISO had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it won the prizes for Best Actress and Best Screenplay.

“An intense, unconventional, dysfunctional love story, buoyed by two strong central performances.” –Screen Daily

DIRECTED BY ENRICO MARIA ARTALE
ITALY, SPAIN | 2023 | ITALIAN, SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES