Roschdy Zem Set for Psychodrama ‘Elisa — I Wanted to Kill Her’ Directed by Leonardo Di Costanzo (EXCLUSIVE)

French-Moroccan multi-hyphenate Roschdy Zem (“Days of Glory,” “The Innocent”) and Italy’s Barbara Ronchi (“Kidnapped”) are set to star in psychological drama “Elisa — Io la volevo uccidere” by Italian director Leonardo Di Costanzo (“The Inner Cage,” “The Intruder”).

Zem, who is one of France’s most bankable actors, will play a compassionate criminologist named Alaoui, whose life intersects with a young woman named Elisa, played by Ronchi. Elisa comes from a middle class family and has been in prison for 10 years for brutally killing her sister.

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Rounding off the cast is Diego Ribon (“Doc”), who plays Elisa’s father.

Shooting is set to start March 1 on “Elisa — Io la volevo uccidere,” which is the film’s Italian working title and translates as “Elisa — I Wanted to Kill Her.”

Carlo Cresto-Dina and Manuela Melissano are producing “Elisa” via Cresto-Dina’s Tempesta shingle with backing from Italy’s RAI Cinema. The film is being co-produced with Michela Pini and Amel Soudani of Switzerland’s Amka Films.

“At the heart of the film are conversations between a famous criminologist who visits this penitentiary where Elisa has been detained for 10 years. Elisa killed and burned her sister’s body and attempted to kill her mother,” said Cresto-Dina. She “thinks she doesn’t remember, but her confused memories become more clear when she encounters the criminologist,” according to the provided synopsis. “For Elisa the truth that emerges is shocking. It’s a deep pain that perhaps marks the beginning of her redemption,” it adds.

RAI Cinema Intl. Distribution is launching sales at Berlin’s EFM on “Elisa,” which marks the fourth feature by Di Costanzo. The Italian social dramas specialist crossed over from documentary to feature filmmaking first with “The Interval,” which in 2012 went to Venice, then with “The Intruder,” which in 2017 made a splash at Cannes, followed by “The Inner Cage,” which launched from Venice in 2021.

RAI’s 01 Distribution will release “Elisa — I Wanted to Kill Her” theatrically in Italy.

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