La Pivellina

Patty, a 50-year-old circus performer, lives with her husband in a trailer on the outskirts of Rome. While out looking for her errant dog, she finds a two-year-old girl named Asia with a note from her mother saying that she’ll soon return. Aided by teenager Tairo, who moved into his grandmother’s neighboring trailer after his parents abandoned him when he was three, Patty takes the girl in and begins to look for her mother. She herself is surviving the best she can with her husband and her animals. Nevertheless, this world, with its wasted lives, its "gated community” behind a corrugated iron fence, and constant police patrols, represents a warm human family that Asia doesn’t want to give up.... The movie, about the intriguing world of the disinherited in contemporary Italy, picked up the Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 62nd Cannes IFF. The jury appreciated the film’s "big heart and its broadminded, unostentatious, and optimistic look at those living on the fringes of society,” as well as the veracity which the creators’ experience with documentaries allowed them. The performances, by actors using their real names, also contributed to the movie’s power.