Ciao Bella (film): Difference between revisions

Ciao Bella is a 86-minute 2007 Swedish feature film by director Mani Masserat-Agah and the Iranian-Swedish director's debut long feature film.

Gothenburg is host for an international soccer tournament called the Gothia Cup where teams from Sweden and various other countries are competing. A 16-year-old Swedish teenager / soccer player, from an immigrant family of Iranian origin, Mustafa Moradi from Lerum (played by Poyan Karimi), is yearning for love, but he is just too "nerdy" and lacks self confidence to develop meaningful relationships and is downright intimidated by the girls who just want to have him as a "friend" but not as a lover.

Mustafa has entered with his team in the tournament where he meets a visiting team from Italy who happen to need an "extra". So he wears a #10 jersey as "Massimo" and begins practicing with them. Son he discovers a sudden surge in his popularity by just changing his name to something Italian. Encouraged by his initial success, he tries to conceal his Iranian identity and develop an Italian personna convinced this is his chance with the girls attending the Cup games.

He is "groomed" to "become an Italian" by one of the stylish Italian players called Enrico (played by Oliver Wahlgren-Ingrosso) who gladly volunteers. Mustafa and Enrico are clearly attracted to each other and a male bond develops between the two as Enrico's fascination for Mustafa grows.

Viewers see a gradual transformation of Mustafa into "Massimo", his new assumed name. And sooner than he knows, Linnea (played by Chanelle Lindell), a young but more mature woman, who longs for a young man with style, passion and courage, falls for "Massimo". But she has her own baggage. She is pregnant from a previous relationship and is disenchanted with her father and wants to escape with "Massimo" with whom the relationship has blossomed into a serious love affair to Italy.

The film, shot on a low budget and with many of the characters played by young aspiring novice actors of no previous film experience, was well-received by critics as Mani Maserrat-Agah's debut film finding it a witty romantic comedy. The film got a review of 4/5 by Moviezine,^[1] VeckoRevyn and Frida and 3/5 by Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet and Expressen.

The film premiered on August 3, 2007 with more than 30,000 attending in the first two weeks.already the first two weeks. The film contained some graphic sex scenes by the teenagers with demands to censor the film for certain ages and for foreign distribution.

• Poyan Karimi as Mustafa / Massimo
• Chanelle Lindell as Linnea
• Oliver Wahlgren-Ingrosso as Enrico
• Mina Azarian as Mustafa / Massimo's mother
• Jimmy Lindström as Linea's Father
• Arash Bolouri as Babak
• Maria Hedborg as Nurse
• Lotta Karlge as Johanna
• Adam Lundgren as Mattias
• Oscar Rydelius as Målbrottskillen

In 2009, director Mani Maserrat Agah was nominated to "New Voices/New Visions Grand Jury Prize" for Ciao Bella during the Palm Springs International Film Festival.