Donne Italiane The best films by and starring Italy’s leading ladies
Australian Premiere

Antonia

A sumptuous cinematic portrait of an under-appreciated artist, Antonia takes us to 1930s Fascist Italy, specifically Milan, and puts us in the shoes of poet Antonia Pozzi (1912–1938) – a woman at odds with the bourgeois world in which she lived. Despite her brilliance, she would not be published in her lifetime. 

From the affair with her former high school teacher to the passes made at her best female friend, this film introduces us to the people who touched or hurt her most. Her poems record her inability to adapt to social norms, as well as her desire to live fully, functioning as an escape from reality and her own complex soul.

Produced by Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love, A Bigger Splash), directed by Ferdinando Cito Filomarino and impressionistically shot by Palme D’Or winner Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Antonia is as lyrical and poetic as the tragic figure sharing its name.

Director:
Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
Cast:
Linda Caridi, Filippo Dini, Alessio Praticò, Perla Ambrosini, Maurizio Fanin, Federica Fracassi
ITALY, GREECE 2015 • 96 MIN • BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA
18+ (exemption)
A revealing and quite empathetic point of view… without falling into the strictures of a standardized biopic.
FIPRESCI
Director:
Ferdinando Cito Filomarino

Born in Milan, Ferdinando Cito Filomarino studied film history and theory at the University of Bologna. He then commenced his career as an assistant director, including for Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love. His award-winning short films are Diarchy (2010) and Deceit. Visconti’s Conversation Piece (2013). Antonia is his debut feature.

  • WINNER Special Mention, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015