Alessandro Tonda to shoot Linea di difesa – Gaza, an action-thriller starring Sara Serraiocco, Stefano Accorsi and Vinicio Marchioni

27/05/2026 – Produced by Rai Cinema and MasiFilm with HBO Max, the film tells the story of an operation by Italian intelligence and special forces to evacuate wounded Palestinian children from a Gaza hospital

Linea di difesa – Gaza is the title of the new film by Alessandro Tonda, an action-thriller inspired by real events, drawing on an intelligence operation aimed at evacuating Palestinian children wounded by Israeli bombings from a hospital in the Gaza Strip. The new project by the director of The Negotiator (winner of two Italian Golden Globes, for Best Film and Best Actor for Claudio Santamaria, and of the 2025 Law and Order Nastro) is being produced by MasiFilm together with Rai Cinema, with the involvement of HBO Max. Shot in Italian, English and Arabic, the film will go into production over the summer.

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At the heart of the story is a mission carried out by an analyst from the Italian secret services and a special forces veteran, tasked with creating a humanitarian corridor to bring a group of children to safety, with the mediation of the Franciscan mission in the Holy Land, against a backdrop marked by the conflict and its human consequences. Sara Serraiocco (Salvo, Worldly Girl, Thou Shalt Not Hate, recently in Vermiglio) will play the intelligence analyst from the Polizia di Stato; Stefano Accorsi (two David di Donatello Awards for Best Actor, for Radiofreccia and Italian Race; recently seen in The Lesson) will play a former special forces operative who has moved to AISE as an undercover agent; and Vinicio Marchioni (recently seen in Il dio dell’amore, Tired of Killing, Andrea’s Island) will play Twist, the commander of the army’s 9th Attack Regiment.

According to Rai Cinema CEO Paolo Del Brocco, the project aims to convey the complexity of humanitarian operations and the work of those operating in crisis areas: “It is a project inspired by real events that places at its core the value of life and the courage of those who operate in extreme situations. We believe this film can speak to a wide audience, successfully building a story with a strong emotional and civic impact.”

Massimiliano Di Lodovico, producer at MasiFilm, describes it as “an Italian action-thriller with an international scope. […] We are taking on a very ambitious challenge to make a production […] capable of combining cinematic tension, operational authenticity and large-scale entertainment. We are working to build a contemporary, immersive and credible film that can speak to a global audience while maintaining a strong Italian identity.”

Linea di difesa – Gaza is being made in collaboration with Italy’s Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Department of Information for Security, External Intelligence and Security Agency (AISE), Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The Italian distribution will be handled by 01 Distribution, while its international sales will be overseen by Rai Cinema International Distribution.

(Translated from Italian)