Academy Award-nominated director Luca Guadagnino brings his unique cinematic style to television for the first time with We Are Who We Are.
The critically acclaimed eight-part HBO series premieres in Australia on Tuesday 3 November, airing weekly at 9.30pm on SBS VICELAND with a full season drop on SBS On Demand.
A story about two American kids who live on a U.S. military base in Italy, the series explores friendship, first-love, identity, and immerses the audience in all the messy exhilaration and anguish of being a teenager – a story which could happen anywhere in the world, but in this case, happens in this little slice of America in Italy. The series was an official selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight.
Luca Guadagnino is a director, screenwriter and producer known for his visually arresting style and his affecting psychological portraits. His credits include the Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA-nominated I Am Love, A Bigger Splash, the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated box office hit Call Me by Your Name and, most recently, the cult film Suspiria.
The cast of We Are Who We Are includes: Chloë Sevigny, Jack Dylan Grazer, Alice Braga, Jordan Kristine Seamón, Spence Moore II, Kid Cudi, Faith Alabi, Francesca Scorsese, Ben Taylor, Corey Knight, Tom Mercier and Sebastiano Pigazzi.
Jack Dylan Grazer stars as shy and introverted fourteen-year-old Fraser, who moves from New York to a military base in Veneto with his mothers, Sarah (Chloë Sevigny) and Maggie (Alice Braga), who are both in the U.S. Army. Tom Mercier (Jonathan) plays Sarah’s assistant.
Jordan Kristine Seamón stars as the seemingly bold and confident Caitlin, who has lived with her family on the base for several years and speaks Italian. Compared to her older brother Danny (Spence Moore II), Caitlin has the closer relationship with their father, Richard (Kid Cudi), and does not communicate well with her mother Jenny (Faith Alabi).
Caitlin is the lynchpin of her group of friends, who include Britney (Francesca Scorsese), an outspoken, witty, sexually uninhibited girl; the cheerful and good-natured Craig (Corey Knight), a soldier in his twenties; Sam (Ben Taylor), Caitlin’s possessive boyfriend, and Craig’s younger brother; Enrico (Sebastiano Pigazzi), a playful eighteen-year-old from Veneto, who has a weak spot for Britney; and Valentina (Beatrice Barichella), an Italian girl.
We Are Who We Are is a HBO-Sky 8 x 60 co-production acquired from Fremantle for the BBC by Sue Deeks, Head of Programme Acquisition, BBC. The showrunner Executive Producer, Writer, Director is Luca Guadagnino; the Executive Producer for The Apartment is Lorenzo Mieli and for Wildside is Mario Gianani, both Fremantle companies, with Small Forward. Other executive producers are Elena Recchia, Nick Hall, Sean Conway, and Francesco Melzi d’Eril. Paolo Giordano and Francesca Manieri write alongside Guadagnino. Fremantle is the international distributor for the series.
We Are Who We Are joins an array of programming coming to SBS On Demand this November. Starring Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Sex Education) and Jamie Dornan (Robin Hood, Marie Antoinette), seasons one-three of Irish crime drama The Fallwill drop on Sunday 1 November. Gillian Anderson plays Stella Gibson, a successful, highly driven homicide detective hunting the ruthless serial predator Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan).
In an Australian premiere, On Death Row: The Pablo Ibar Storyand the fourth season of Italian crime series Gomorrahwill be available from Thursday 12 November. Based on the true story of a 1994 murder in Miami, and the trial that followed, On Death Row is a timely tale of institutional racism in police and judicial institutions in the United States, and a 25-year fight for justice.
Season one of war-thriller Commandos will be available Thursday 19 November. Three years ago, a Dutch Special Forces team led by Commander John de Koning was sent to Northern Nigeria to rescue an important hostage. It was a covert mission that turned into a nightmare; many civilians were killed, and the liberated man turned out to be a monster Now, John is charged with protecting a Nigerian Minister, who turns out to be the man John’s team rescued three years ago in Nigeria, where he’s now an important politician.
The first season of Dutch drama series Amsterdam Vice will drop on SBS On Demand on Thursday 26 November. Based on the novels by A.C. Baantjer and set in the red light district of 1980s Amsterdam, Detective Judd Cox, alongside his new partner Montijn, are investigating a murder case that leads to plans of an attack on Princess Beatrix’s coronation day. The duo must do everything in their power to stop the attack.
Joining these dramas next month is season one of Swedish Scandi noir Box 21 (5 November), season one of South African drama The Agent (26 November) and season one of Danish thriller When the Dust Settles(19 November).
Additionally, SBS On Demand has partnered with the Korean Film Festival to present Korean Film Festival Selects. Curated byKorean Film Festival Chairwoman Sojeong Park, the movie collection features seven much-loved Korean feature films showcasing beloved past offerings from the Festival. From Oscar winning director Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece Mother and harrowing zombie horror-thriller Train to Busan to the epic period war flick The Great Battle the collection is a celebration of some of Korea’s most iconic titles.Audiences can binge the ‘Korean Film Festival Selects’ collection anytime, anywhere, for free, from 1 November on SBS On Demand.
