01 Aug ANNA by Marco Amenta
Venetian Nights 2023
ANNA
by Marco Amenta
Italy, France, 2023, 119′, colour
Screenplay: Anna Mittone, Niccolò Stazzi, Marco Amenta
As beautiful, wild, and magnetic as the pristine landscapes of her native Sardinia, Anna lives and breathes in time to her own land, a land that heals her wounds and nourishes her soul. Bowed but unbroken by the hardships she has endured, today Anna is a free agent, a woman who fears no more. In the remote corner of the island where she runs the small farm left by her father, time seems to stand still, and the presence of Anna, with all her erotic appeal and her courageous flouting of conventions, contains the power of a bomb ready to go off. That rugged landscape protects her right up to the day she’ll be the one protecting it – from the mechanical monsters ready to violate it. Safeguarding beauty and keeping her freedom become one in Anna’s battle cry, forcing her to make tough decisions and painful sacrifices, since self-respect and belief in one’s own convictions can’t be bought and sold.
Inspired by a true story that took place in Sardinia a few years ago, Anna is about rebelling against power: the ruthless power of capitalism poised to blindly destroy everything in its path, and amply reflected in the power of a sexist, abusive society. By fighting one, the main character fights the other as well. Her struggle for her own personal salvation becomes, despite herself, and shorn of any ideology, a battle to defend the environment and a fierce resistance to violence and sexism. Anna is a woman who will not abase herself or be crushed by her adversaries; she considers herself neither a victim or a heroine. It was important to me to show a real woman, with all her flaws and fragility, far from any and all stereotypes.». [Marco Amenta]
Born in Palermo, Marco Amenta started out as a photojournalist reporting on the Mafia and a war correspondent in Bosnia. His photos were published as “Photos of the Year” in Libération and Max. Amenta went on to obtain a film degree at Université Paris 8. He directed his first documentary, Diario di una siciliana ribelle, in 1997. The film won numerous international awards and was broadcast on roughly thirty television channels worldwide. He directed Il fantasma di Corleone in 2005 and four years later made his first narrative feature, La siciliana ribelle, which also won multiple awards around the world and received two David di Donatello nominations (one being Best Directorial Debut) along with Silver Ribbon nods. In 2014-2016, he directed two more documentaries, Silvio Mon Amour and Magic Island, the latter of which earned him another David nomination. His 2018 film The Lone Girl was selected for the Biografilm Festival. Amenta turned out his second narrative feature, Tra le onde, in 2021. It made the competition lineups at BIF&ST and RIFF.