TORONTO – Dating back to the Paleolithic period, and established as the Roman town of “Matheola” in 251 BC, Matera is the third oldest city in the world behind Aleppo and Jericho. The ancient city, known for its cave dwellings – whose residents were relocated by the government in the 1950s – has since become one of Hollywood’s most exotic shooting locations. By now, the Lucani have seen everyone from Tinseltown’s Ben Hur, Wonder Woman and James Bond create classic cinema in a town that Pier Paolo Pasolini once depicted as Jerusalem, in The Gospel According to St Matthew (1964). 

Matera’s latest film shoot was Angelina Jolie’s Without Blood, which premiered at TIFF last September and is scheduled for a theatrical release in Italy on April 10th. Co-produced and directed by Jolie, the film is based on Alessandro Baricco’s book of the same name. The story is about a young girl in Latin America who witnesses the killing of her father and brother, while hiding underneath the family farmhouse floor. While Baricco’s book doesn’t specify the setting or time period, it’s assumed to be Mexico between the 1920s and 1970s.

The film is one of several productions that Jolie was slated to produce, direct or star in as per the multi-picture deal she struck with Fremantle (Media Company and Financier). The contract included a greenlight for Jolie’s productions spanning three years which began in March of 2022, and covered films, documentaries and television with an international focus. “I am excited to be working with such a passionate and forward-looking team…with the freedom to tell important stories and bring them to a global audience”, said Jolie upon securing the deal.

The genesis for the project traces back almost a decade, when the Actress/Director first read Baricco’s book in 2016. Shortly thereafter she met with the author and began writing the screenplay. It would take six years however before both Jolie and Baricco would find the right partners for the project – which included Fremantle Executives and Lorenzo Di Maio of De Maio Entertainment. “They loved the material…I couldn’t believe it because they don’t make a lot of films like this these days”, said Jolie in a Variety interview.

Without Blood, starring Salma Hayek as the grown Nina, will showcase Matera’s Sasso Caveoso area, piazza San Pietro Caveoso, and via Bruno Buozzi. Scenes for the film were also shot in the Apulian town of Martina Franca, whose set design and logistics required approximately 60 labourers to create the appearance of a Hispanic town. Other scenes were shot in an estate west of Rome, in Procoio – and in Cinecittà’s studios.

(Poster image courtesy of Freemantle; image of Angelina Jolie courtesy of Il Quotidiano del Sud)     

Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix