Biography
Born in Nuoro (Sardinia) and raised in Rome, Martha Capello is at the helm of the company Pegasus, the film and television production company she established in 2017 together with Ilaria dello Iacono. Pegasus already has four productions to its credit: American Night by Alessio Della Valle, Rido perché ti amo by Paolo Ruffini; Morrison by Federico Zampaglione and Greta e le favole vere by Berardo Carboni.
Capello has many years of experience in the film industry: after her university studies at the faculty of Electronic Engineering of the university La Sapienza in Rome and her first work experiences in the media industry writing for various newspapers and local broadcasters, in 2007 she established her first film production company, Martha Production. Apart from producing, Martha also writes the screenplays for various short films, which have all been awarded recognition by the Italian Ministry of Culture as being of “national cultural interest”, including Dentro di Me, Il grande Peter Tozzi, Dodici, Caccia via il buio, and she personally produces two of them, Nel ventre della Balena, directed by Giuseppe Petitto, which is shortlisted at various competitions (including the Giffoni Film Festival, 2009), and Dentro di me, directed by Edgardo Fiorini, which is awarded the Ministry’s contribution for the production.
Together with 45 other film production companies, in 2007 she founds the association of young film producers A.G.P.C. – Associazione Giovani Produttori Cinematografici, of which she will be the chairwoman for the following ten years. She promotes several educational and training initiatives and refresher events for the business operators, such as the series of meetings named “Sinergie” and the annual four-day event “MICI – Meeting Nazionale dei Produttori Cinematografici” (national meeting of film producers), organized to facilitate networking among producers and the major players of the industry.
In 2010 she extends the business range of the company by introducing the development of an investigative film by Giampiero Marrazzo, OP – Osservato Particolare. For the same author, she is in charge of promoting the book and film Sopra e sotto il tavolo – Cosa accadde quella notte nei cieli di Ustica.
In 2011 she produces the documentary African Women, a Journey for a Nobel Peace Prize, directed by Stefano Scialotti. The film is meant to support the world campaign of NOPPAW (www.noppaw.org), an initiative organized to help African women and to support their candidature for the Nobel Peace Prize on account of their commitment to the African continent. The documentary premiered at the Festival Internazionale del Cinema di Roma and won the award Premio Speciale Ambiente WWF “Urban City-Green Style”; it was also endorsed by singer Luciano Ligabue who accepted to record a second version of the video for the song “Le donne lo sanno” using only images from the film.
For the Italian Region Latium (in collaboration with the Unesco) she produces the web series Inside the stones, directed by Alessio della Valle, for promotion of the Unesco World Heritage in this region. In collaboration with the Italian Region Sardinia she is in charge of the short film I frutti sperati, directed by Ezio Maisto. Subsequently, on commission by Roma Capitale she produces a documentary on the world of art, specifically on the monumental statues taken by emperor Napoleon from Camillo Borghese, which have returned to Rome for an exhibition: the film Napoleone torna a Villa Borghese, director Alessio Della Valle, director of photography Fabio Zamarion, gets the attention of the Unesco, which organizes an event for the film in the Medici Palace in Florence.
In 2014 Martha is the producer of the theatrical feature-length film Lucy in the sky, directed by Giuseppe Petitto, a thriller featuring Antonia Liskova; for this film, she obtains MIC financing for production, support by the Region Alto Adige and Trentino, RAI Cinema presales and an Eurimages contribution. Moreover, the film is a trilateral coproduction among Slovenia, Switzerland and Italy.
In 2016 she is involved as coproducer in the comedy named Youtopia, director Berardo Carboni, with Alessandro Haber, Donatella Finocchiaro and Tea Falco. She also decides to purchase the rights to a screenplay that has won the “Sacher” and “Sonar Script” award for a feature-length film of international format entitled Asian Ex.
In 2019 she produced the Victor Garcia film An affair to die for.
In the years 2011 and 2012 she creates the two business units MARTHACOMMERCIAL and MARTHADISTRIBUTION. The first is used for advertising production business and viral videos for the Web. She produces a video entirely filmed in Switzerland (in the premises of the casino of Campione d’Italia) to promote the novel “Max Fortuna – l’uomo che ha sconfitto la roulette” by Fabrizio J. Fustinoni.
The business unit MARTHADISTRIBUTION is established to create catalogues of Italian independent films in view of the sale and promotion of “Made in Italy” in international markets. She also becomes a partner of Telecom Italia, on commission of which she creates – for the platform CuboVision – a new independent channel named Cameo; together with other partners, she decides the name, the main guidelines for content and communication. The new channel presents only original versions chosen among the most successful films of world art house cinema.
2021 is the year of the feature-length thriller ”American Night” by Alessio Della Valle, which hit Italian theatres on 19 May 2022.
The film was presented on 9 September 2021, as a world premiere, during the 78th Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica of the Venice Biennale on the Campari Boat In-Cinema.
The event was attended by the producers Martha Capello and Ilaria Dello Iacono, the director Alessio Della Valle, the actors Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emile Hirsch, Jeremy Piven, Alba Amira Ramadani, Fortunato Cerlino and US pop star Anastacia.
Della Valle’s film work has been considered eligible for the Oscar campaign as English language film, having access to all nominations. There have been over twenty screenings and events organized for the nomination of the film for the voting public, which were attended by the technical crew and cast members. The Academy has asked for the possibility to include a copy of the film’s screenplay in the “Core” Collection kept at the Cinema Museum of Los Angeles. The film has already been sold in 24 countries of the world.
In 2022, under Martha Capello’s leadership, Pegasus is included (together with 21 other Italian companies of excellence) in the prestigious association of businesses created by the Italian Stock Exchange and named “ELITE”: an international network of successful entrepreneurs, partners, brokers that focuses on helping the world’s best businesses transform their visions into strategic plans and concrete results.
