Jan. 20 – Italy’s participation in the 65th edition of the Berlinale, scheduled for February 5-15, is led by Ermanno Olmi and his “Torneranno i prati”, invited to the Berlinale Special. The 83 year old director will be the godfather to “Vergine Giurata,” Laura Bispuri’s directoral debut starring Alba Rohrwacker, the only Italian film in the competition. The film, a co-production between Italy, France, Switzerland and Albania, is based on the book by Albanian writer Elvira Dones and was shot between Italy and Albania. It tells the story of Hana, an Albanian girl who first gives up her femininity to be free, then her honor to be a woman. The director, a 35 year-old Roman who won the David for the short film “Passing Time,” received the nomination with great excitement: “I’m really happy to go to Berlin with my first feature film – she said in an interview with Cinecittà News – I have struggled for long to make this film, driven by a great love for Hana and a sense of responsibility for the story I chose to tell, a metaphor for the relationship between women’s freedom and the world.” Alba Rohrwacker stars in the title role. “I immediately thought of Alba for the role of Hana – said the director – because she has a very unique physicality. She an actress who changes dramatically depending on the scene in which she is”.
