Asia Argento has signed on as executive producer of director Rosita Larocca’s feature-length documentary debut Jia – shadow of beautyabout the late American model Gia Carangi (1960-1986).
The documentary, a US-Italian co-production unveiled earlier this year, treats her “not as a pop culture icon, but rather as a young woman navigating desire, abandonment and visibility in 1980s New York.” With ongoing international funding, the project is being presented to potential partners at the Marché du Film in Cannes.
“Rejecting the conventions of celebrity biopics, the film is seen as a personal encounter rather than a linear reconstruction of Carangi’s life,” according to the film’s description, whose tagline is: “This is the story of a girl who just wanted to be seen.” “It reframes her meteoric rise and untimely death through the lens of an era — and an image-driven industry — ill-equipped to accommodate vulnerability, strangeness, and contradiction.”
The creative team doesn’t care much about nostalgia but feels there is a timely urgency behind revisiting the model’s life. “In an age dominated by self-performance, aesthetic improvement, and algorithmic clarity, Gia appears as both a warning and an embrace,” highlight press notes about the project. They describe her as “an outsider who rose before she even had a name, and whose struggles resonate with younger generations facing addiction, anxiety and pressures to define themselves prematurely.”
Actress and director Argento will provide “guidance and creative support” to the project. Italian actress and model based in Los Angeles, Marta Buzan (From scratch) will appear in the film as someone “searching for” Carangi in a “posthumous dialogue that combines testimonies, archival material, and dream-like visual reconstructions,” according to the creative team.
“The actress does not judge or explain Gia from the outside,” Larocca explains, indicating that the film will refuse to focus on scandal and sensationalism. “She searches for her. She talks to her. She listens to her — like a big sister walking in her shadow.” The creative team also highlights: This is not a biography, but a rebirth.
Carangi, often referred to as one of the world’s first supermodels, was widely known as Gia. She burst onto the scene in the late 1970s, traveling the world, posing for famous photographers and magazines, and leading advertising campaigns for the likes of Dior and Versace. Carangi died of AIDS at the age of 26 after struggling with heroin addiction. Portrayed by Angelina Jolie and Mila Kunis in the 1998 HBO film Jia.
Produced by the Italian company Artex, Doc Jia – shadow of beauty is an American executive produced by Lizzie Harris under her Pool Creative banner (First Monday of May). Composer Luca Tommasini will compose the film, with cinematography by Greek Italian Francesca Zonares (TRUE, naturala documentary series Young Berlusconi), while editor Walter Fasano, a long-time collaborator of Luca Guadagnino (suspense, Call me by your name), on board to “shape the narrative rhythm,” as the producers said.
