Leonardo Wanted

A 90-minute documentary film that investigates Leonardo da Vinci’s personal life, upbringing, relationships, and inner world, revealing the man behind the universal genius through forensic and historical inquiry.

Logline:

Leonardo WANTED is a 90-minute documentary film that investigates Leonardo da Vinci as a human being rather than an untouchable icon.
Through forensic analysis, historical evidence, and expert testimony, the film reconstructs Leonardo’s personal life, relationships, identity, and creative process, asking who the man behind the universal genius truly was.

Concept:

For centuries, Leonardo da Vinci has been portrayed as an isolated genius, extraordinary, distant, almost inhuman.
Leonardo WANTED reverses this perspective. The film approaches Leonardo’s life as an open case, examining the traces he left behind not only in his work, but in documents, testimonies, symbols, and personal choices.
Rather than focusing solely on masterpieces, the film investigates Leonardo’s upbringing, family relationships, emotional life, identity, working methods, and the social and cultural forces that shaped him.
By placing his creativity in direct dialogue with his personal history, the documentary seeks to understand how Leonardo lived, thought, loved, and created.

Approach & Methodology:

The film adopts a forensic approach to biography, combining historical research with expert interpretation.
Masterpieces, letters, archival records, iconography, behavioural patterns, and symbolic elements within Leonardo’s work are examined as evidence rather than anecdotes.
Each hypothesis presented in the film is contextualised, debated, and supported by specialists, allowing the audience to follow the investigative process rather than being presented with fixed conclusions.

Experts & Contributors:

Dott. Carlo VecceLeonardo da Vinci scholar

Dott.ssa Margherita MelaniLeonardo da Vinci scholar

Dott.ssa Sara TaglialagambaLeonardo da Vinci scholar

Dott. Giovanni Federico Carlo VillaMuseum director and curator

Dott. Luigi SistoMuseum director

Dott.ssa Chantal MilaniForensic anthropologist

Dott. Alessandro AlbieroForensic psychologist

Dott. Luca CaricatoLeonardo da Vinci scholar

Dott. Giovanni Dall’OrtoHistorian of sexuality

Dott. Mario Gesù FantacciHistorian specialising in the history of Florence

Distribution

Leonardo WANTED is conceived as a feature-length documentary film intended for an initial theatrical release. Its cinematic language, investigative structure, and visual ambition are designed for art-house cinemas and cultural venues, particularly within Europe.

Following its theatrical release, the film will be positioned for television broadcast and platform distribution, allowing it to reach wider international audiences through subsequent release windows.

Budget

Leonardo WANTED combines historical investigation with carefully staged reconstructions and re-enactments, performed by actors and integrated into the documentary narrative.

The budget is structured to support expert interviews, archival research, and selected dramatic reconstructions, while maintaining a focused and sustainable production model that prioritises narrative clarity and cinematic quality.

Locations

Filming takes place across Italy, in locations directly connected to Leonardo da Vinci’s life and historical context. These include cities, architectural sites, and environments relevant to the film’s investigation.

Both documentary footage and re-enacted sequences are grounded in real locations, reinforcing the film’s commitment to historical authenticity and visual coherence.

Where the myth ends and the man begins.

Concept Demo

Logline:

Concept:

Approach & Methodology:

Experts & Contributors:

Why This Film, Now?

Project Overview