It all started from a refusal: not wanting to suffer for her mother’s death. The protagonist, Anima in pena (“tormented soul”), is at odds with her father and with the places where she grew up. In this journey from Terracina to Rome, burdened by grief, she stops to talk to elderly people and teenagers. Attracted to their faces and their voices, she asks them questions. The two generations share in common the void and the suspense. As she gains access to their feelings, she also gets in touch with her own memories: should she repress or embrace them? She is like a tormented soul waiting for her mother’s permission to take a plunge in the sea. She is waiting to dive into life.
Biography
film director

Eleonora Danco
(Italy) Director, Playwright, Writer, Actress, and Performer. Her work embodies a visceral and physical theater, marked by impact and tension, where body and text merge into a single expression. Her writing navigates between prose and slang, drama and comedy. She debuted in 1996 with "Ragazze al muro", followed by "Nessuno ci guarda" in 2000, and several other works over the years, including "Me vojo sarvà", "Ero purissima", "Sabbia", "Scroscio", "Intrattenimento violento", "Donna numero 4", "dEVERSIVO", and "Benvenute Stelle".
As an actress, she has collaborated with renowned directors such as Nanni Moretti, Daniele Luchetti, Marco Bellocchio, Michele Placido, Gabriele Muccino, Pupi Avati, Ettore Scola, Vittorio Gassman, and Gigi Proietti.
Her first feature film, "N-CAPACE", received two special mentions at the 32nd Torino Film Festival in 2014, competing in the official selection. In 2022, she directed the short films "SubReal Urbe", "Ostia Ostia Ostia", and "Metro C".
She has published works with publishers Minimum fax and Skira. For Radio Rai3, she created the monologue "Non parlo di me" and the documentary "Il vuoto". She has been leading workshops designed for young actors and teenagers for over fifteen years.
FILMOGRAFIA
N-Capace (2014), SubReal Urbe (cm, 2022), Ostia Ostia Ostia (cm, 2022), Metro C (cm, 2022), N-Ego (2024).
Declaration
film director
“The lighting was inspired by De Chirico, Giotto, Buñuel, and Surrealism. The correlation with the images was a strong motivation. […] I am used to working in a theatre, with artificial lights. But for this film, I was shooting without lights and I wanted to avoid appearing naturalistic: the light had to have both realistic and abstract connotations. Which is why I decided to shoot without filters, capturing light as perceived directly by the eye, not filtered by the mind.”
Cast
& Credits
Eleonora Danco
fotografia/cinematography
Daria D’Antonio
montaggio/film editing
Desideria Rayner with the collaboration of Maria Fantastica Valmori
costumi/costume design
Alessandro Lai
musica/music
Markus Acher
suono/sound
Adriana Di Lorenzo, Maurizio Argentieri
produttore/producer
Angelo Barbagallo
produzione/production
Bibi Film