Variety Critics’ Choice 2015 / Vergine giurata / Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Albania, Kosovo 2015
In a compelling tale, Alba Rohrwacher takes on the role of an Albanian countrywoman who, following a local tradition, opted to live as a man. But after 14 years she is determined, against convention, to take back her original identity. Giving up a man’s rights, however, is no easy task.
The rising profile of transgender issues could clear an arthouse path for Laura Bispuri’s sensitive, deliberate debut feature, though it’s not a film that actively advertises its own topicality. Set instead within a fascinating subset of Albanian society where female-to-male gender transition is a tradition as old as the snow-blasted Alpine hills, Bispuri’s film stars an effectively cast Alba Rohrwacher as a rural woman who, after living as a man for 14 years, embarks on an uncertain path to reclaim her original identity. Under the region’s code, known as the Kanun, a woman may forswear her female identity to live and pose as a man, taking a vow of lifelong chastity in the process. In exchange, she is exempt from the strictly servile role prescribed for women by the Kanun – an oath that essentially amounts to the exchange of one set of sexual liberties for another.
Guy Lodge
90 min / Color, DCP
Director Laura Bispuri
/ Screenplay Francesca Manieri, Laura Bispuri
/ Dir. of Photography Vladan Radovic
/ Music Nando Di Cosimo
/ Editor Carlotta Cristiani, Jacopo Quadri
/ Art Director Ilaria Sadun, Tim Pannen
/ Producer Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa
/ Production Vivo Film
/ Coproduction Colorado Film Productions, Bord Cadre, Match Factory Production, Era Film
/ Cast Alba Rohrwacher, Flonja Kodheli, Lars Eidinger
/ Sales The Match Factory
Laura Bispuri (b. 1977, Rome) grew up in a third-generation film family: her grandfather worked as a props master for great Italian filmmakers (Roberto Rossellini, Ettore Scola, Bernardo Bertolucci), and her father is an important film critic. She shot her first short film under amateur conditions during a year-long stay in Spain. In 2003 she was selected for the prestigious Fandango Lab Workshop, where she studied for two years under Paolo Sorrentino, Matteo Garrone, and Ken Loach. There she gained experience with other professions connected with filmmaking, and she began to work in short film production. In 2010 Passing Time won the David di Donatello for Best Short Film, and she followed this up with two other shorts, Salve regina (2010) and Blondie (Biondina, 2011). Sworn Virgin is her feature film debut.
The Match Factory
Domstrasse 60, 50668, Cologne
Germany
Phone: +49 221 539 7090
E-mail: [email protected]
Laura Bispuri
Thania Dimitrakopoulou
Sales Agent
Nadja Jumah
Sales Agent
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