The first film I ever fell in love with. I was ten, and I vividly remember feeling overwhelmed by emotions; joy, longing, tears, youthful desire and realising that moving others so powerfully through this storytelling must be the most beautiful thing in the world. As a Southern Italian, seeing people and streets that felt like mine on screen also struck a deep chord.

Discovering Kiarostami, and Iranian cinema, was an absolute revelation that changed my way of understanding the world, and this art form. Together with Taste of Cherry, Where Is the Friend’s House showed me the quiet power of simplicity and its deceptive ability to move so deeply, so subtly, creeping under your skin with such intelligence. Less can be infinitely more and nothing is more powerful than a simple story, told with care.

I’m a documentary director, and I remember this being the first documentary that I watched that tore me up into a million pieces. Its intimacy shook me and made me recognize the urgency of documentary, however it is shot, indeed the rawer the better. It made me think about the nuances of portraying your own community, the importance of getting the truth out beyond your borders, but most of all showed me that storytelling is resistance, that purpose is as vital as craft and we must not just observe, but actively take a stand. And the courage in this is breathtaking.

And then I came across Bombay Beach… genre-defying, raw and reckless, soft and heartbreaking. Alma Harel’s intimate approach, her relationship with the characters and loving gaze blew me away, and as a dancer, seeing the choreographed scenes were nothing short of poetry. I realised that even tender stories of communities that are often overlooked are able to reveal something so humane and restore some kind of faith… and after this I remember ‘The Act of Killing’ came out and that was it, I knew this was the kind of film I was meant to do.

Wong Kar Wai. What a genius. As soon as I saw the first scene which opens with a blue tinged waterfall and the music of Cucurrucucú Paloma, I was aching at my core! I first saw this and then Chunking Express, and his pairing with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, is unforgettable. They are masters of atmosphere, words lingering in the air, everything is so constructed but feels so painfully real! It made me realise that colour, angles, movement create emotion in film, and inspired me to keep playing, even in documentary, to this day. Uff my heart races just thinking about it! Masterpiece!

If there is one director whose work haunts me to this day like a fever dream it is Kalatozov, first in his ‘Cranes Are Flying’ (the scene playing the piano where the bombs are going off outside, the crushing pain and Samoilova’s steadfastness between it all…) then followed up by ‘I Am Cuba’ is pure perfection in its bold and wild expressionism, but so fiercely political. I know that’s two films, but for me they belong together!

The colours! This was the first Almodóvar film I watched, and it made me fall in love with melodrama. Unapologetic, emotional excess, femininity, theatricality, bold and with electric music scenes. I can’t get enough of this.

A film that brings together so many of the aspects that made me fall in love with this city and make it my home; this film beats with soul, the soundtrack is phenomenal, and breathes an air of myth and magic all taking place during the most spectacular time of all, carnaval. It’s a perfect, tragic postcard of this city.

There’s been a lot of incredible cinema coming out of Italy recently. Carpignano’s ‘A Ciambra’ among them, but Rohrwacher’s work took me completely by surprise. I remember ‘The Wonders’ seeping under my skin as I stared at the screen, convinced I was watching a documentary. It’s so rooted in neo-realism, yet entirely innovative. Aching nostalgia, whimsical mysticism woven into the everyday, the rawness of it all, the constant pull between the real and the magical and then, suddenly, a TV show hosted by Monica Bellucci, like an ancient goddess wandering through the ordinary world. It felt sun-soaked, wondrous, and quietly groundbreaking. Since then, Rohrwacher has only continued to elevate everything she touches and last year’s ‘La Chimera’ proved that. Simply sublime.