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Finally, Dante's Inferno Documented, the first documentary ever on Dante's Inferno is in post-production. Check it out: and join the newly created Dante's Inferno Community.

3D Cinematographer

It has been quite a while since I've been watching carefully who may be the best cinematographer to film The Divine Comedy trilogy - Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso in 3D and digitally. Well, I'm very happy to announce that the search is over. After assisting at a NAB introduction to Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D, I approached cinematographer Chuck Schuman, who immediately said to me that he had read The Divine Comedy earlier in his life. We got hooked! After a few conversations over the phone, Mr. Schuman and I got together in Los Angeles along with director Armand Mastroianni. We decided on the spot that he was the right cinematographer for The Divine Comedy trilogy, not only for his great skills but also because of his great personality and team player approach.

So, I welcome Chuck Schuman to the real Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D, and beyond.

PS: It was not Jules Verne who first wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth, but Dante Alighieri over 600 years earlier. Furthermore, Dante's journey is the only one that really made it to the Center of the Earth, while Jules Verne never made it all the way.

Riabilitazione di Dante Alighieri - Read in English Below

Oggi e un giorno molto speciale per me dopo aver letto questa grande notizia in italiano.

E' anche un giorno molto speciale per i Fiorentini, per tutti gli italiani e per ogni cittadino del mondo.

La lettera che segue l'ho spedita lo scorso 15 Febbraio al Presidente della Provincia di Firenze, Sig. Matteo Renzi. Sembra che qualcuno abbia poi ascoltato le mie pretese di tanti anni fà:


From: Divine Project
Sent: 02/15/08 10:01 am
To: Presidente Renzi
Subject: Proposta - Perdono del Esilio di Dante Alighieri

Gentile Sig. Renzi,

Come lei sapra, sono in conttato con Raffaella Spadoni la quale ha dimostrato interesse sulla quattrologia dei documentari che sto producendo su L'Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso e Dante stesso.

Al di fuori di questi documentari, vorrei sapere se lei sarebbe disposto a considerare di dare il perdono ufficiale a Dante Alighieri dal esilio di Firenze. Questo fatto fara notizia mondiale che io saro disposto a filmare come un documentario independente a tutto quello che sto facendo. Anche se dovra considerare fare una festa enorme in tutta Firenze. Penso che il perdono del esilio di Dante Alighieri potra essere molto utile, per dopo fare la richiesta a Ravenna per ritornare a Firenze i resti del Vate....

Spero la sua risposta diretta su questa idea non piu tardi di lunedi 18 di febbraio, gia che partiro per l'europa martedi mattina e non sara faccile per me guardare la mia posta elettronica.

Grazie e a presto,

Boris Acosta
Produttore/Regista


Vorrei approfittare di questa opportunità per ringraziare pubblicamente il Presidente Renzi per aver ascoltato la richiesta che avevo piu' vicina al mio cuore. Desidero anche ringraziare i Signori Enrico Bosi e Massimo Pieri per aver presentato la mozione al Comune di Firenze per liberare Dante Alighieri dall'esilio permanente al quale fino adesso era stato costretto. Infine ringrazio tutti coloro che hanno avuto il coraggio e la comprensione di votare a favore della riabilitazione di Dante Alighieri. Grande la Firenze d'oggi!

Boris Acosta

Dante Alighieri's Pardon from Exile

Today, after reading the news, (click here), it has become one of the most important days of my life. The world will change forever, as it did 700 years ago with the writing of Inferno and the start of the Italian language, fathered by the great Dante Alighieri. Dante's exile was arranged by his political enemies during his lifetime because of his demand to the Pope of the time to step down from power. The society of separation of Church and Politics we live in today in the free world is thanks to Dante Alighieri, who forced the Popes to relinquish political power, through his denounce of ALL Popes in Inferno.

It's been quite a few years since I've been advocating the idea of Florence pardoning Dante Alighieri from his exile. Today the day has come! And I thank God for listening and for making this a memorable day in my life as well as all Florentines, Italians and citizens of the world.

The letter below was sent on 02/15/08 to President Renzi of Florence, Italy. It was original in Italian, which can be read in another post. Here is the Italian translation into English:

From: Divine Project

Sent: 02/15/08 10:01 am
To: Presidente Renzi
Subject: PROPOSAL - PARDON OF DANTE ALIGHIERI FROM EXILE

Dear Mr. Renzi,

As you know, I'm in touch with Raffaella Spadoni who has shown interest in the quattrologia documentaries Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise and Dante himself, which I'm producing.

Outside of these documentaries, let me know if you would be willing to consider giving official forgiveness to Dante Alighieri's exile from Florence. This fact will make news worldwide and I will be willing to film a special documentary independently of what I am doing now. Also, it should be consider making a huge festival in Florence. I think the forgiveness from exile of Dante Alighieri will be very useful, to make the request in Ravenna to return his remains to Florence ...

I hope your direct response on this idea not later of Monday, February 18,since I'll leave for Europe Tuesday morning and will not be easy for me to access my e-mails.

Thank you and I'll see you soon.

Boris Acosta
Producer/Director

I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Florence President Renzi for taking my request seriously, the one that I've had closest to my heart. I also wish to thank the distinguished politicians Enrico Bosi and Massimo Pieri for presenting the motion to the Florentine municipality to permanently liberate Dante Alighieri from exile. Lastly, I thank all the municipality politicians that had the courage and the understanding to vote in favor of Dante Alighieri's motion to free him from exile forever. I salute today's Florentines!

Boris Acosta

Dante's Inferno Documentary

The Dante's Inferno Documentary is the first slate of the trilogy, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradise, now in post-production.

The idea behind the documentaries is mainly about bringing awareness to the world about Dante's masterpiece, The Divine Comedy.

Inferno, as well as Purgatorio and Paradiso have been filmed, for its most part, concurrently, at least in Italy. For more information about this trilogy please visit Dante's Inferno Documentary official website

More to come soon...
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The Art Director

An Art Director is as important as having a great painter in front of a canvas. Dante's Inferno deserves the best, so I'm happy to announce Tamara Marini to take on this great and challenging task.

Ms. Marini did a fantastic job as Art Director in The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino, proving herself as an artist that does not fear the greatest challenges. So, after I had a very pleasant conversation with her, I decided that she was the right person for this privilege position in Dante's Inferno.

In addition, Ms. Marini is a native Italian born, so she grew up with Dante's Divine Comedy book at home and school. As anyone that reads Dante's own words in his late Italian language, you can feel Dante's intense feelings as he describes his experience in the afterlife.

The Production Designer

The Production Designer was another difficult position to fill in. Dante's Inferno, as well as its sequels, deserves the best and nothing less. So, I started investigating and I talked to a few of them until Lord of the Rings production manager Bridget Bourke kindly referred me to Dan Hennah. He had won an Oscar as production designer for Lord of the Rings. After I communicated with him, he said:

"I am delighted to be considered for the Production Design role on such an interesting film. It would certainly be an opportunity to practice all the skills accumulated in the past few years...and no doubt add a few more.

The rich imagery and depth of Dante's vision are a Production Designer's dream. They will provide a grand opportunity in today's world of high tech and low tech blend of film making which allows a convincing marriage of fantasy with reality. While it was many years ago that I read "The Divine Comedy", many images remain."

With these kind of words from an Oscar winner, there was no need to look for anywhere else!

The Editor

The Editor in a movie is crucial, as much as the director and cinematographer. My challenge was to be able to find a great editor that had read Dante's Inferno and Dante's whole masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. My understanding is that the largest number of editors do not have the time to read. So, I was facing a big dilemma. As on everything that happens in this project, God is totally behind. I talked to a few great editors until I run into Thom Noble, whom I was referred to as a well read editor. We had a great conversation from the start and both were excited to look into working together. He had read The Divine Comedy and I was excited to say the least, I had found my man. Mr. Noble won an Oscar for the feature film Witness and was also the editor on the widely successful fimls Thelma and Louise, Mask of Zorro and many other great movies. I could not get a better choice to edit Dante's Inferno and its sequels!

Inferno Movie Vision