About | Controventofilms

Contro Vento means 'going against the wind'.
That's how we like to work. Outside the status quo.
We embrace an ethos of 'hyperrealism'
that has enabled us to produce films
that cut to the heart of truth.
Like a tightrope walker, we tread the wire:
Hyperrealism and Imagination
Courage and Vulnerability
Truth and Delusion
Head and Heart
Science and Magic
This World and The Next.

Raffaello Degruttola - Founder

Raffaello is a BIFA-nominated filmmaker and actor born and raised in London and New York by Italian parents. He attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in London. He has worked as a character actor in American films shot in Europe. In 2019 he appeared with Rebel Wilson in 'The Hustle'. His most recent television roles include playing Jamie's agent in 'Ted Lasso'.

Notable film acting credits include:

Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg)
Rush (Ron Howard)
Unlocked (Michael Apted)
The Hustle (Chris Addison)
In Love and War (Richard Attenborough)
Wit (Mike Nichols)

In 2010 he wrote and directed his first 30min drama The Other Side of My Sleep, inspired by the death of his father and grandmother. Following the film's success in opening the Boston Film Festival, Raffaello went on to shoot his first feature film Flim The Movie - shooting for one day a week over 18 months whilst constructing the story around improvisation to influence the next scene.

Flim The Movie was nominated for a Moet British Independent Film Award following its selection for the Raindance Film Festival and The NYC Independent Film Festival.

Heavily influenced by the Danish Dogme 95 rules of film making, Italian Neo Realism and NY cinema of the 70's & 80's, Raffaello went on to write and direct his second feature film, a psychological love story that tackles the corrosion of a relationship due to concealed and unresolved mental health issues.

Transference: A Love Story was selected for the Arizona and Buenos Aires International Film Festival. It won the Jury Award from the SRFF, NYC. The film received international attention after going viral on YouTube. It has now been viewed over 22M times.

His latest feature film 'To Love A Narcissist' is his second obsessive love story and stars Lyndsey Marshal alongside him.

Bill Bossert - Executive Producer

Bill entered the world of independent filmmaking starting with co-writing and producing the Canadian horror film, Terror of Dracula in 2011. Following that, he helped produce the popular and award-winning web-series, Girl/Girl Scene and became involved with indie rock bands Hunter Valentine and The Cliks.

Bill met Raff Degruttolla during the making of the feature, Seeking Dolly Parton and re-united with Raff in 2020 as creative/executive producer of Transference: A Love Story. It was during the filming of Transference that Bill was asked to join Contro Vento Films. Aside from Contro Vento, Bill has helped in the production of several short films in the last two years, among them Bobby Jaws, The Love You Want Exists, Notice to Quit, Type Till You Bleed and Swipe Right.

Sadie Kaye - Producer

Sadie has worked as a TV & radio host, writer, performer and producer in London, Paris, LA and Hong Kong. Her humour column series 'Sharp Pains' received nominations from the New York Festivals Radio Awards, On Air Fest and International Women's Podcast Awards. Her 'Bipolar Express' doc won an award from the Association for International Broadcasting and her 'Mental Ideas' podcast series was nominated for another. Her humour columns, rants and musings on mental health have been published in Hong Kong publications and anthologies.

Sadie met Raff when they were cast in a West End play together as siblings. This dynamic stuck and they have collaborated many times on film and TV projects, including 'Flim' and 'Transference'.

Christina Chong - Creative Consultant

Christina Chong is an international television and film actress who stars in the brand-new CBS series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds alongside Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn.

Christina is the proud daughter of a Chinese father who immigrated to the UK from Hong Kong and English mother. She began in the performing arts at three years old with dance and attended Italia Conti (the UK equivalent to world famous Juilliard) for high school.

Her TV credits include:

Black Mirror (Netflix)
Doctor Who (BBC)
24: Live Another Day (Fox)
Grace (ITV)

Film credits include:

Johnny English Reborn (Warner Brothers)
Tom & Jerry: The Movie (Warner Brothers)
W.E. (KEB)

Christina has spent the last decade and half, rediscovering who she is in Hollywood both personally and professionally, working with life coach Michael James.

She has joined the Contro Vento team as a Creative Consultant, having worked with Raffaello on two of his films: Transference and Tremor Cordis. They both share a common work ethos, love for cinema and hyperrealism.

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