A literary author, creator of various media projects and screenwriter for the Netflix series Zero (based on his own novel), Antonio Dikele Distefano will present his first film directorial debut, Autumn Beat, in a series of screenings at various universities in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego.
Autumn Beat (Beat (Amazon Original Studios & Indiana Production) is is an exciting and unprecedented story about Black culture in Italy, and the role of music as a means of redemption and search for identity. Two brothers, Tito and Paco have the same dream: to break into the rap music world. Paco is a born performer and Tito knows how to write like no other but ambition, life, and love for the same woman will test their bond.
Antonio Dikele Di Stefano will present the movie in a tour of several universities in Southern California:
WATCH THE TRAILER (In Italian)
ANTONIO DIKELE DISTEFANO
The 30-year-old multi-hyphenate creator hails from Angolan parents, was born and raised in the Northern Italian city of Ravenna, and now lives and works in Milan. Before connecting with Amazon Italy and Netftix Italia, Antonio had already become an inspiration to many Black Italians through publishing, television, and social media projects. He went on to write five novels for Mondadori between 2014 and 2019, with combined sales exceeding 500,000 copies sold. Along the way, he founded Esse Magazine in 2016 as an outlet for young Black artists to gain recognition and did video interviews with emerging performers. Today, Esse is the largest rap publication in Italy. In addition, he owns the communications agency Cantera. His first foray into screenplays netted the newly released “Zero” Netftix Italia mini-series, which launched him onto the world stage. Antonio, with his own production company is developing films that bring Black performers onto the world stage so they’re no longer invisible.