Franco Ceredi

Call Me Joe is a light and funny comedy about a cowboy from the Old West who is suddenly transported to modern-day Romagna, an Italian region known for its warm, outgoing people and as the birthplace of Federico Fellini. Instead of becoming a classic “spaghetti western”, the film turns into a playful “cappelletti western”: cappelletti are a traditional homemade stuffed pasta from Romagna, and here they humorously represent the local culture that overwhelms the cowboy with friendliness, energy and humanity. As two villains follow him through time to steal a mysterious object he carries, Joe realizes that in this land, kindness is stronger than those who try to do harm.

Call Me Joe is designed for a broad audience: children, families, adults and seniors alike. It's a light, funny and heartwarming comedy that celebrates kindness, community and the simple joy of seeing good triumph over bad. The film's playful tone and out-of-the-box premise make it accessible to viewers of all ages, similar in spirit to timeless, feel-good comedies led by iconic duos and ensemble casts, the kind of stories that never go out of style and always bring audiences together.

Call Me Joe is my third film and completes a creative journey in which I refined a type of comedy capable of engaging audiences through lightness, rhythm and the energy of a “timeless comedic duo,” reinterpreted in a modern way. The three films form a coherent body of work: each has a strong identity and has contributed to shaping a personal comedic language that is popular, accessible and appealing to viewers of all ages.

Throughout this process, I chose to work with non-professional actors to explore spontaneity, study its effect, and identify the style of performance that best enhances this kind of comedy. This approach allowed me to develop an authentic, immediate and deeply human tone.

All three films, including Call Me Joe, were entirely crafted by me, from writing, directing and cinematography to editing, sound design and storyboarding, as part of a long-term effort to refine a complete, independent filmmaking practice.

Call Me Joe also serves as a proof-of-concept for a much larger, industrial-scale project that I am currently developing, and for which I already have solid foundations in both concept and screenplay. My goal is to expand this narrative universe and collaborate with partners interested in bringing it to full-scale production.

Call Me Joe is fully completed and ready for distribution. As my third film, it represents the culmination of a creative cycle and serves as a proof-of-concept for a larger industrial-scale project currently in development. I am now seeking distribution opportunities, industry visibility and potential representation, while also exploring partnerships that can support the expansion of this narrative universe into a full-scale production.