2024 Richmond International Film Festival
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LAST STOP BEFORE CHOCOLATE MOUNTAIN
Saturday, September 28, 2024 2:15 PM EDT
Movieland Theater 2

Directed by Susanna Della Sala


Amid the harsh Californian desert and on the shores of a toxic lake lies a land that time forgot: Bombay Beach. This once-abandoned town is now home to a small eclectic community where art heals people in the most unexpected ways. A British matriarch, a retired bank robber, an evicted artist from LA and an Italian prince open the doors to a magical land, a living theater, perhaps a way to an alternative life.





The Last Stop Before Chocolate Mountain

Feature
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Documentary Feature
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About: In the midst of the harsh Californian desert and on the shores of a toxic lake lies a land that time forgot: Bombay Beach. This once abandoned town is now home to a small eclectic community where art heals people in the most unexpected ways. A British matriarch, a retired bank robber, an evicted artist from LA and an Italian prince open the doors to a magical land, a living theater, perhaps a way to an alternative life.


Directed by Susanna Della Sala





Italian-born Susanna della Sala is a director, author and visual artist. After graduating in Interior Design at Politecnico of Milan she was selected as one of the five students at the Italian national film school Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. She then gained experience working in the art department of many international film productions.


Last Stop Before Chocolate Mountain is her latest project —a documentary born from personal life experience that both tells the story and captures the spirit of Bombay Beach, a once abandoned town in the harsh California desert, situated on the shores of a toxic lake, that is now home to a small eclectic community where art heals people in the most unexpected ways. This film was selected to premiere at the renown Locarno Film Festival in 2022, it was the most awarded film at the 63 edition of Europe’s oldest documentary film festival “Festival dei Popoli” in Florence and it was also nominated for the Italian Academy Award David di Donatello in the Best Documentary category.


In 2021 she wrote, directed and performed in the feature film, Neolovismo, together with filmmaker Mike Bruce. The film premiered the 56th Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema in Pesaro and other international festivals.


She directed narrative, dance and animation short films. The shortfilm The Fish Doctor which stars Giorgio Cantarini from the Oscar winning film La Vita è Bella, won best foreign shortfilm at the Lady Filmmakers Festival in Los Angeles and participated in many international film festivals.


Director Statement

The documentary was born from a personal life experience and its creative process was four years in the making. “Last Stop before Chocolate Mountain” to me represents a universal and metaphorical land where we confront ourselves, awakening our creative impulses, in the mirage of individual liberation. The film embodies the collective longing, both desperate and joyful, for acceptance and a sense of belonging.


Press: Golden Globes News

Showings
Sat, Sep 28th, 2:15 PM @ Movieland Theater 2
  • Year:
    2023
  • Runtime:
    01:33:00
  • Language:
    English
  • Country:
    Italy
  • Director:
    Susanna Della Sala
  • Screenwriter:
    Susanna Della Sala
  • Producer:
    Marco Visalberghi, Sherin Salvetti
Movieland Theater 2
1301 N Arthur Ashe Blvd
September 28, 2024, 2:15 - 3:45 PM EDT