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DJANGO BEGINS: ONCE UPON A TIME IN ALMERIA

  •  Based on a true story

THE APOCALYPSE SET: The Wild West meets the Cold War

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SPAIN, JANUARY 1966.

A mid-air collision during the U.S. Air Force’s Operation Chrome Dome tears the skies over Palomares apart, unleashing a radioactive apocalypse. Four hydrogen bombs—each seventy times more devastating than Hiroshima—slam into the southern Spanish coast, triggering the largest nuclear cleanup in history.

As Washington floods the region with troops to contain the silent catastrophe and recover the lost warheads, their top-secret mission stumbles upon the unthinkable: deep in the Almería desert lies a bustling Spaghetti Western set, blissfully unaware of the end of the world. The U.S. Army orders an immediate evacuation. Production grinds to a halt with only thirty pages left to shoot.

At the very heart of the fallout stands the star of the show: Anthony Steffen.

History recorded the bombs and the cleanup, yet it does not know the story of the man who stood alone at the epicenter of the disaster, breathing in plutonium-laced air: the legendary pistolero trapped between cinematic myth and the brutal reality of the Cold War.

The time has come to reveal a family secret.

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Manuel de Teffé

Writer & Director | A Western Legacy

Born in Rome, Manuel de Teffé stands at the crossroads of cinematic storytelling, fine arts, and social impact. As the son of Anthony Steffen (Antonio de Teffé) — the legendary actor who holds the world record for 27 lead roles in the Italian Western genre — he carries the authentic spirit of the frontier, bridging it with contemporary narrative depth.

His creative vision blends aesthetic rigor, forged in the Roman theater tradition, with a profound human-centered approach to storytelling. With a robust international career spanning different cinematic forms, Manuel has written and directed everything from high-impact commercials to expansive documentaries and global campaigns for international non-profits. He has held prestigious roles across the media landscape, from television production at Lux Vide to serving as artistic director for Média Participations, where his landmark project CECILIA resonated with an audience of over two million viewers.

Today, he balances his creative work with his commitment to film education as a university lecturer. Following the critical acclaim of his debut novel C’era una volta a Roma, he is collaborating with SAJE Distribution in Paris on two upcoming feature films.

With Django Begins – Once Upon A Time in Almeria, Manuel fulfills a deeply personal quest. He cross-references private archives with declassified Cold War files to bring to light a secret account entrusted to him by his father: the 1966 nuclear accident that brought the legendary Anthony Steffen’s film set in the Almería desert to a haunting, sudden halt. By blending this long-silenced event with a modern lens, the author returns to the primal roots of the Western genre and honors his family’s cinematic heritage while pushing it into new, uncharted territory.

The Acclaimed Debut: C’era una Volta a Roma

(Once Upon a Time in Rome)

Rome, 1965: As the La Dolce Vita era reaches its final act—and the first echoes of Vietnam War protests begin to stir—Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars ignites a global phenomenon, birthing the explosive Italian Western genre.

Amidst the city’s mounting cinematic fever, the ambitious Public Relations Manager of the Hilton is determined to involve her reluctant fiancé in this lucrative new frontier. C’era una volta a Roma follows an unlikely quartet banding together to claim their own creative legacy: a faded aristocratic Shakespearean actor, a radical Russian acting guru, a visionary Jewish documentarian, and an elderly breadstick entrepreneur with one final, desperate dream—to transform his secret manuscript into the film No Dollars for Django.

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Awards & Recognition

Manuel de Teffé’s cinematic and literary work has earned widespread international acclaim. His creative vision is recognized across Europe by London’s Bond Street Award(2023), Venice’s Donne d’Amore Award(2024), Florence’s La Ginestra Literary Award(2025), and the prestigious Sergio Leone Award(2025) alongside the Leone Matrice Award(2025). Most recently, his cross-border cultural impact was honored with the esteemed Italophony Award(2026) from the Dante Alighieri Society in Düsseldorf, cementing his reputation as a formidable voice in contemporary storytelling.

Editorial Reviews

Critics & Editorial Reviews

What leading publications say about the work and literary power of Manuel de Teffé.

A rare, life-altering masterpiece that now stands alongside Dostoevsky and Buzzati as one of the three books of my lifetime. Once Upon a Time in Rome is an organic, breathtaking tapestry of destiny—a manual on literary art and an acting masterclass wrapped in a profound journey of the human spirit. Manuel de Teffé captures the soul of an era, revealing that the true power of the hero—the lonely knight, the misunderstood icon—lies not in his colt, but in his unwavering pursuit of beauty. As the book perfectly states: 'We are cinema. We change reality by suggesting another.' This is a vital, essential read: a gift of freedom and a testament to the fact that, when armed with art and discipline, we can still fight the injustice that surrounds us. A work of immense emotional depth that belongs in every library."
Svetlana Svilenova Literary Professor
Manuel De Teffè delivers a compelling and fluid narrative that masterfully blurs the lines between reality and cinematic myth. The novel centers on the transformation of Antonio De Teffè into Anthony Steffen, an iconic figure of the Italian "spaghetti western" genre. At its core, the book is a profound exercise in meta-fiction; as the author, Steffen's son, literally and literarily recreates his father, he assumes the unique role of becoming "father to his father." Framed by a mysterious gift from boxing legend Rocky Marciano, the story serves as a captivating initiation into the art of acting and the vibrant legacy of Cinecittà. It is an enchanting read that invites the audience to abandon themselves to a story that feels like the ultimate product of imaginative narrative power.
GIUSEPPE MANFRIDI Writer / Playwright
A narrative work that brings back the flavors of a unique season: Rome in the mid-sixties, caught between the excitement of the 'Dolce Vita' and the new fever of the Italian Western." "Manuel de Teffé blends real and fictional characters into an inventive phantasmagoria, with the extraordinary ability to transfigure reality into a shared imaginary." "A singular coming-of-age novel of an already mature man, gifting us a vivid fresco of an era that deeply marked our country.
GIUSEPPE COSTIGLIOLA Journalist
The novel’s style is nothing short of surprising. It moves with a Calvino-esque lightness—shifting from warm, aching nostalgia to a playful irony that can turn razor-sharp when it’s time to settle the score with the villain of the hour. C’ERA UNA VOLTA A ROMA pulses with that same raw energy we remember from the films of the 60s and 70s—those wild, lethal adventures that took the world by storm. Manuel de Teffé is a revelation; he’s captured that old magic, and more than fifty years later, he’s poised to pull off the exact same masterpiece.
GIANNI GARKO Actor
Reading Once Upon a Time in Rome is like listening to an Ella Fitzgerald improvisation: rutilant, ever-changing, and deeply soulful. It brings back a vanished world, projecting it onto the walls of our present as if we were sitting in a village square on a summer night. This is not just a novel; it is the dimension of a dream—the kind that doesn't take you away from reality, but gives you the courage, and perhaps the madness, to change it.
CRISTINA CHINAGLIA Actress
The dusty myths of the Italian Western were not just celluloid illusions; they were a mirror of our own search for meaning. Like a modern-day Virgil, the author leads us through this intricate labyrinth of life—a Dantesque journey where every gunshot echoes with nostalgia, and every scene is a prayer in disguise.
MAURO GERMANI Writer, Essayist, Poet
One of the most beautiful books I have ever read. Unique. Manuel de Teffé’s writing is so immersive that the characters don’t just appear—they breathe; you can hear their voices, sense their thoughts, and fall in love with their very souls. At its heart is a legendary love story: a great Man, Antonio (Anthony Steffen), and his great Woman, Antonella. But what truly strikes the reader is the dignity the author grants to every single person in this world—from the protagonists to the smallest extras. It is a work that is surprising, funny, and deeply moving; it fills you with hope, reminding us that something grandiose can still happen in our own lives. I didn't want it to end. It is a masterpiece that, in my heart, stands on equal footing with Dostoevsky’s The Idiot and Paul Auster’s Moon Palace. This book should be read in every school to inspire the next generation to rediscover their own talent and believe in themselves.
Beatrice Fazi Actress
C’era una volta a roma is so much more than it promises: it is historical, educational, philosophical, and comedic—but above all, it is a beacon of hope for the future. Drawing from the context of the 60s—a period that feels undeniably relevant today—the book tells the story, the life, and the dreams not just of its characters, but of every single one of us. It acts as an interactive map to be completed, dismantled, and reassembled. And the author, like a modern Virgil, takes us by the hand—generous and never overbearing—guiding us through an intricate network of wadis. It unfolds into an introspective, Dantesque journey in search of beauty.
SARA CELESTE Media Expert

Once upon a time in Almeria…
Four hydrogen bombs. One empty desert. 72 hours to shoot the film that would haunt the Cold War.

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