Asia Argento has signed on as executive producer on Rosita Larocca’s directorial debut feature documentary Gia – The Shadow of Beauty, about late U.S. supermodel Gia Carangi (1960–1986).

The doc, a U.S.-Italy co-production unveiled earlier this year, approaches her “not as a pop-cultural icon but as a young woman navigating desire, abandonment and visibility in 1980s New York.” With international financing still open, the project is being presented to potential partners at Cannes’ Marché du Film.

“Rejecting the conventions of the celebrity biopic, the film is conceived as a subjective encounter rather than a linear reconstruction of Carangi’s life,” according to a description of the film whose logline is: “This is the story of a girl who only wanted to be seen.” “It reframes her meteoric rise and early death through the lens of an era – and an image-driven industry – ill-equipped to accommodate vulnerability, queerness and contradiction.”

The creative team is not so much interested in nostalgia but feels there is a timely urgency behind revisiting the model’s life. “In an era dominated by self-performance, aesthetic optimization and algorithmic visibility, Gia emerges as both a warning and an embrace,” highlight press notes about the project. They describe her as “a queer figure who ‘shone before there was even a name for it,’ and whose struggle resonates with younger generations confronting addiction, anxiety and the pressure to define themselves prematurely.”

Actress and filmmaker Argento will bring “mentorship and creative support” to the project. L.A.-based Italian actress and model Marta Pozzan (From Scratch) will appear in the film as a presence who “seeks” Carangi in “a posthumous dialogue combining testimonies, archival material and dreamlike visual reconstructions,” according to the creative team.

“The actress doesn’t judge Gia or explain her from the outside,” explains Larocca, signaling that the doc will reject a focus on scandal and sensationalism. “She seeks her. Talks to her. Listens to her — like an older sister walking in her shadow.” The creative team also highlights: This is not a biography, but a rebirth.”

Carangi, often referred to as one of the world’s first supermodels, was widely known simply as Gia. She burst onto the scene in the late 1970s, traveled the world, posed for famous photographers and magazines, and led campaigns for the likes of Dior and Versace. Carangi died of AIDS at the age of 26 after battling a heroin addiction. Angelina Jolie and Mila Kunis portrayed her in the 1998 HBO film Gia.

Produced by Italy’s Artex, the doc Gia – The Shadow of Beauty is U.S. executive-produced by Lizzy Harris through her banner Pool Creative (The First Monday in May). Composer Luca Tomassini will score the film, with cinematography by Italian-Greek DOP Francesca Zonars (Real, Normal, docu-series The Young Berlusconi), while editor Walter Fasano, a long-time collaborator of Luca Guadagnino (Suspiria, Call Me by Your Name), is on board to “shape its narrative rhythm,” producers said.