At MIA 2024, Business Doc Europe caught up with Vincenzo Filippo of Lupin Films, one of the producers involved in the making of Reborn – Perfect Love, helmed by Giovanni Conte and Francesco Pascucci, currently in development. Filippo is producing the feature, showcased in the Doc Co-Production Market Pitching Forum, alongside Lupin Film CEO Riccardo Neri, as well as Camilla Gazzola and Nicola Maiello of Amartia Film.
Reborn dolls are crafted with meticulous attention to detail. They have realistic weight, and the redness of the veins on their skin is very lifelike. Some even feature a breathing simulator and a ticking sound resembling a heartbeat. “If you’re unfamiliar with them and don’t pay close attention, you can’t tell them apart from a real child. They exist for one purpose: to allow the women who cradle them to fill a void that work, a husband, or children cannot fill. In their lowest moments, only the reborns are there for them,” reads the project’s pitch deck.
“The aim of this documentary is to depict the reality around us without passing judgment. Our curiosity initially drove us to explore what lies behind the phenomenon of reborn dolls, but after meeting our protagonists, our perspective shifted. In a world that’s increasingly connected, are we perhaps becoming lonelier and lonelier? MIA is the first market where the project is being presented, and we hope it will help us find the ideal partners to finalise our financial plan. The main production challenge we’re facing is the very limited number of national broadcasters willing to invest in documentary projects at the development stage, unlike countries such as France and Spain,” Filippo tells BDE.
The feature digs deep into this peculiar community by introducing three ‘reborn moms.’ The first is Marisa, who seeks her son’s understanding of the obsessive relationship she has with her dolls. Next is Simona, who attempts to leave them behind to sever ties with a troubled past. Finally, Marylù gathers hundreds of women in the square to collectively celebrate this form of impossible love.
Conte and Pascucci are both alumni of Italy’s National Film School, having studied advertising and film directing, respectively. Before embarking on this project, Conte directed commercials and two short films, Risorse Umane (2019) and Niente di Glamour (2021), while also participating in the production of several Italian and European series and features. After completing his studies in Rome, Pascucci worked on various sets in Italy and abroad, taking on multiple roles. He has written and directed six short films: Alla luce del sole (2017), Tie vai ieu resta (2018), Biancaneve (2018), Valori (2019), Des Fourchettes (2019), and Reduci (2020).
Explaining why they decided to work on this documentary, they say: “We don’t usually become passionate about things we don’t understand. And to this day, we still can’t fully grasp why so many women become emotional while holding silicone dolls. Clearly, when they hold a doll, they feel something we don’t. In the end, we accepted that. While we don’t have a particular interest in reborn dolls, the experiences of these women who love them resonate with us. These women are wounded, often alone. Yet, contrary to what one might think, they all have children. They are real mothers, not just ‘reborn moms.’”
“And since we, like many others, have experienced the difficulties, fragility, and suffering of our own mothers, we can’t help but ask ourselves: ‘How would I react if my mother started to become attached to a doll?’ As we got to know these women, we were surprised by how quickly they adopted a maternal attitude towards us, even though we had been strangers just minutes before—as if motherhood was their way of communicating with the world.”
Conte and Pascucci speak of “an ancestral, all-encompassing motherhood that finds its ideal form in the relationship with a doll.” They continue: “In the documentary, the dolls are the tool to enter the lives of our subjects, to discover how their children experience this passion, and to explore what these women are searching for in this impossible love that they haven’t found in human relationships.”
Currently, €150,000 of the film’s overall budget of €600,000 has been secured through private investment. At MIA, the team is seeking sales agents and international co-producers. The project is set to enter production in May/June next year, with a release slated for February 2026.
Founded in 2005, Lupin Film is based in Rome. Some of the company’s previous credits include Giulia Grandinetti’s short Tria (which premiered in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2022), Florenc Papas’ debut feature Open Door (Albania’s Oscars hopeful in 2021), Massimo Coglitore’s psychological thriller The Elevator (starring Caroline Goodall, Burt Young, and James Parks), and Roberto Orazi’s award-winning documentaries A Mão e a Luva – The Story of a Book Trafficker (2010) & H.O.T. Human Organ Traffic (2009).
Amartia Film is a young production outfit based in Rome and Naples, active since 2021. To date, it has produced four short films and co-produced a documentary feature.
