Production Designer Period Film

While racing up Italy's wild coast to reclaim his stolen work, queer Renaissance painter Caravaggio realizes that leaving his beautiful lover behind, to chase glory in Rome, was a betrayal that will cost him his life. As his final moments unfurl like a fever dream, he glimpses the angel who has been guarding him all along - and understands that even in death, his art will burn on. 

 

For this indie period drama, the Production Designer played a pivotal role in evoking the visceral, shadowed world of 1610 Italy. Drawing deeply from extensive research from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the designer immersed herself in Caravaggio’s paintings and the museum’s collection of early 17th-century European art and artifacts. This hands-on study informed the film’s visual language, helping to determine the materials, lighting, props, and period-appropriate furnishings of the Baroque era despite the constraints of a modest budget and tight schedule. With great attention to detail, the Art Department transformed a bare modern location into Caravaggio's art studio pulsing with raw tension and historical authenticity. Deep, saturated colors—crimson red, dark wood, and inky shadows—dominated the palette, while tangled, lived-in set dressing echoed the artist’s turbulent final days. These layered visual choices created a tactile, emotionally charged atmosphere that grounded the film’s narrative in historical truth while enhancing its psychological intensity. The film interiors were shot in New York City, and the exteriors in the Hamptons, transforming landscapes and architectural elements to evoke the crumbling facades and narrow alleyways of the time and to reflect the artist's emotional descent. 

 

Caravaggio's Last Day proudly premiered at The Cannes Indie Short Awards, a competition within the larger Festival de Cannes.