It’s a midsummer’s Sunday, and the sirocco wind is blowing restlessly on Palermo. Two women face each other, holding tight the steering wheel of their cars. Samira is an old, stubborn Albanian woman who lives in that street, while Rosa was born in Palermo but now lives in Milan, and finds herself there by mistake. Neither Samira nor Rosa accept to step back. Samira is the mother-in-law of the man who is sitting beside her, Saro Calafiore. Saro is the progenitor of a loud family, a family that is built on reciprocal hate, opportunism and constriction. Rosa has soon cut her umbilical cord, leaving Sicily and her father, who didn’t accept a lesbian daughter. Around Samira and Rosa, a bunch of undisciplined, grotesque characters are moving. All of them are reluctant to leave the two women alone on that stage. While the asphalt is burning and the air gets white hot, the men of the Calafiore family organize a betting, so to take advantage of the challenge. But the result of that conspiracy will go against any expectation…

Trailer

Produced by

Vivo film, Wildside, ventura film, Slot Machine with Rai Cinema

in coproduction with RSI Radiotelevisione Svizzera, SRG SSR, with the support of Eurimages, MIBACT – Direzione generale cinema, Regione Sicilia – Assessorato Turismo Sport e Spettacolo, Sicilia Filmcommission, Sensi Cinema, DFI Ufficio Federale della Cultura UFC, in collaboration with Istituto Luce Cinecittà, in association with BNL Gruppo Paribas, Cofinova 9

Cast

Rosa: Emma Dante

Clara: Alba Rohrwacher

Samira: Elena Cotta

Saro Calafiore: Renato Malfatti

Nicolò: Dario Casarolo

Crew

Produced by: Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli, Elda Guidinetti, Andres Pfaeffli, Marianne Slot

Written by: Emma Dante, Giorgio Vasta in collaboration with Licia Eminenti

adapted from the novel Via Castellana Bandiera by Emma Dante (Rizzoli, 2009)

Cinematography: Gherardo Gossi

Editing: Benni Atria

Production design: Emita Frigato

Costume design: Italia Carroccio

Sound engineers: Paolo Benvenuti, Simone Paolo Olivero

Sound design: Benni Atria, François Musy

Cumu è sula la strata by: Fratelli Mancuso

Technical data

Year: 2013

Running time: 94 min

Country: Italy, Switzerland, France

Festivals and awards

70. Venice Film Festival – Coppa Volpi for Best Actress (Elena Cotta)

Tokyo International Film Festival 2013

BFI London Film Festival 2013

Tallin Black Nights Film Festival 2013

Goteborg Film Festival 2014 – Ingmar Bergman International Debut award

International Sales

Films Distribution

Italian Distribution

Istituto Luce Cinecittà