CENTREPIECE
TO CHIARA A CHIARA From multi award-winning writer/director Jonas Carpignano (A Ciambra, Meditteranea), To Chiara is a poignant drama about a teenage girl who learns some difficult truths about her close-knit family.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE DRAMA | ITALY, FRANCE 2021 | 121 MIN | M
Italian with English subtitles
Gioia Tuara, Southern Italy. The Guerrasio family and their friends gather to celebrate the 18th birthday of Guilia, the eldest daughter of Claudio and Carmela. There is a healthy rivalry between the birthday girl and her 15-year-old sister Chiara (extraordinary screen discovery Swamy Rotolo) - who’s clearly Dad’s favourite - though it’s a happy occasion. But Chiara gradually senses that something is very wrong, and then… her father disappears. Chaira’s mother exudes reassurances to her three daughters but offers no clear explanation, so the teenager begins her own investigations. The more Chiara learns, the more she is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself.
CAST
Swamy Rotolo, Claudio Rotolo, Carmela Fumo, Grecia Rotolo WINNER
Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival 2021 Best European Film OFFICIAL SELECTION
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2021 (Horizons) OFFICIAL SELECTION
New York Film Festival 2021
Ingeniously structured and building to a thrilling climax, Carpignano’s neo-realist tale upends the mafia genre with an emotional and urgent new perspective. Not screening IFF Perth. Screens in WA as part of the Perth Festival 2022
“Gripping and unpredictable.” Indiewire DIRECTOR: JONAS CARPIGNANO
Born in 1984, Jonas Carpignano grew up between Rome and New York. As a graduate student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, he began directing short films that would later bring him widespread critical acclaim. His first feature film Mediterranea debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015, and his second feature A Ciambra premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival - Director's Fortnight where it won the Europa Cinema Label prize for Best European film.
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