The indelible image of Anita Ekberg splashing in the Trevi Fountain! For most of us, it’s one of cinema’s most iconic moments. For Elsa (China Zorilla), it’s the dream of a lifetime. In her youth, she was a blonde bombshell herself, a Buenos Aires beauty who made the “ground shake” when she walked by. Now a grandmother, time is running out for her chance to travel to Rome and do her own Anita in the Trevi. When timid widower Fred (Manuel Alexandre) moves in next door, Elsa bursts into his life, determined to teach him how to live with zest and abandon in the time he has left. Fred surrenders to Elsa’s passion, and by poignantly helping her to reach her dreams, finds out what it means “to live a life without holding back.” Suddenly, just maybe, life can be more than yesterdays for Elsa & Fred…
China Zorilla (Elsa) Concepcion “China” Zorilla ranks at the top of Argentina’s most celebrated stage actresses, but she has also appeared in over thirty films, winning Best Actress at the 1984 Havana Int’l Film Festival for her role in Darse Cuenta and twenty years later took Best Actress at the 2004 Moscow Film Festival for Conversaciones con Mama. Zorilla received the Argentina government’s Order of May as well as the Gabriela Mistral Order from the Chilean government. She has starred in over eighty plays, and founded the City of Montevideo Theatre Company. The multi-talented actress is also a renowned acting teacher. China is currently starring on the Buenos Aires stage in the hit musical comedy version of Mark Twain’s The Diary of Adam and Eve. Last year she won rave reviews for her performance in Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca. In 2002 Zorilla received Argentina’s coveted Silver Condor Award for the many achievements in an impressive career and in addition, was named “Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires.”
Manuel Alexandre (Fred) Manuel recently celebrated 60 years in film! He made his feature film debut in Dos Cuentos para Dos (1947). His filmography includes over 300 titles, and he is widely considered to be one of the best actors in Spanish cinema and worked with many of its greatest directors. Alexandre has been featured in some of the most important Spanish plays of the past thirty years. He received the Pepe Isbert Award in 1993, followed by the Best Actor Award at the Gijon Int’l Film Festival in 1996, the Actor’s Guild Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award granted by the Spanish Film Academy in 2003 and the following year, Spain’s Gold Medal in recognition of his work as an actor.
Marcos Carnevale (Director/Co-writer) Marcos Carnevale is an acclaimed writer and director who made his film debut in 1996 with Noche de Ronda. In 2000, he wrote, directed and produced the hit Almejas y Mejillones and Tocar el Cielo in 2007. Carnevale’s screenplay credits include Papa es un Idolo and the animated feature Los Pintin al Rescate. His Spanish-language adaptation of Desperate Housewives has enjoyed success thorough out Spanish language countries. Carnevale became a correspondent with Federico Fellini and enjoyed his friendship until Fellini’s death in 1993. Marcos Carnevale found the fruition of his own dream by filming the climactic scene of Elsa & Fred in the Trevi Fountain with his own unique vision. “I was eleven years old when I first saw La Dolce Vita,” Carnevale recalls. “I saw it at the one movie theatre in my small town in the province of Córdoba, Spain. Like Totó in Cinema Paradiso, I ‘lived’ in the projection booth dreaming that one day I would make a film or, at least, that I would shoot a scene like the one with Anita and Marcello in the Trevi Fountain. Thirty years have passed since then and I have been able to confirm what they say…that if you pursue your dreams, they will eventually come true. Mine did: I was at the Trevi Fountain with my Anita and my Marcello shooting my Dolce Vita.”