Tropea is not only the main location for B.A.E. – Before Anything Else, the film now in theaters directed by Alessio Hong and Paula Lingyi Sun, but it also acts as a kind of unmoving engine behind the action: without the crystal-clear sea, the golden beaches, the sunlit alleys, the breathtaking views of the Calabrian town, the meeting between the two protagonists wouldn’t perhaps have happened. Let’s discover together where this coming-of-age film produced by Andromeda Film and Flat Parioli was shot.
What it’s about
Romeo (Riccardo de Rinaldis Santorelli, an actor already seen on television in Doc – Nelle tue mani) decides to grant himself one final summer of complete carefree joy in Tropea together with his lifelong friends, before facing adult life and its responsibilities. It is while on vacation that he meets Giulia (Yile Yara Vianello): a local girl passionate about theatre who convinces him to take part in an amateur production of Romeo and Juliet.
While they interpret the young lovers, an overwhelming feeling inevitably grows between them. As in Shakespeare’s drama, however, someone is ready to obstruct the love: in this case it is Teo, Giulia’s older brother, protective toward her as much as distrustful of Romeo.
Where was the film shot
Tropea
Tropea then serves as the stage for the initial attraction between Giulia and Romeo, which soon evolves into something far deeper, and it is here that most of the film’s scenes were shot.
Of the “pearl of the Tyrrhenian” – as it is often called – crowned by the Telegraph among Italy’s most beautiful cities, the beaches are visible on screen, both the renowned ones frequented by tourists and the more hidden ones owned by locals, and the breathtaking panoramas such as the iconic Santa Maria dell’Isola Sanctuary perched on a cliff facing the sea.
Also the labyrinth of narrow alleys in the historic center, facing elegant 18th-century palaces, frames the story of Giulia, Romeo, and a group of friends who, basking in the dazzling beauty of the South and its slow rhythms, seem mainly to be trying to build comforting memories for when adult life knocks on their doors.
Other locations
The production materials indicate that among the locations for B.A.E. – Before Anything Else more generally lies the Costa degli Dei: that stretch of Tyrrhenian coast from Pizzo to Nicotera, dotted with bays, coves, and beaches among the most beautiful in Calabria, where Tropea itself lies, along with other seaside towns highly renowned both in Italy and abroad. No further details were provided about where the film was shot or any other locations beyond Tropea. A preview screening had already been organized at the beginning of the year in Spilinga to emphasize the film’s deep connection with the area — presented at that time at the Bif&st festival — to the territory.
Some online sources mention Rome among the places where B.A.E. – Before Anything Else was shot: likely for interior scenes and shoots conducted in a studio.
