Country: UAE, Italy
Year: 2025
Duration: 91'
On a remote Italian island, Joanna, a woman in her early forties, abandoned her dreams of becoming an artist years ago when she married Oskar, a much older, now disabled geologist. Now, isolated in a crumbling villa overlooking the sea, her days have become quiet, her youth fading into routine and resignation. When Ada, a hardened caretaker in her sixties, arrives to assist Oskar, a charged dynamic develops between the two women. Ada’s caregiving shifts to obsession, while Joanna, craving companionship, unknowingly trades one form of captivity for another. Meanwhile, Joaquin, a young art teacher staying on the island, strikes up an affair with Joanna, offering her a brief escape. However, he soon discovers that Joanna has no access to her husband’s wealth.
Biography
film director
Nora Jaenicke
(Germany) grew up in Italy with German parents and studied Film at the European Institute of Design in Rome and Screenwriting at Vancouver Film School. Her feature length screenplays have been placed in Oscar Qualifying Competitions. Her short films have screened in numerous festivals. She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the Elba Film Festival and Nostos Screenwriting Retreat, a script development lab in Tuscany. In 2025 she directed Isola, her first feature film, which premiered at the Torino Film Festival.
FILMOGRAFIA
Between Seconds (cm, 2017), To Beauty (cm, 2017), Whales (cm, 2018), Joyce (cm, 2018), Proof (cm, 2019), The Reading (cm, 2020), Lea (cm, 2021), Paper Planes (cm, 2022), White Walls (cm, 2022), Isola (2025).
Declaration
film director
“This film explores how women across class, age, and background become both the architects and victims of control. It’s a story about intimacy turned invasive, love that masks possession, and the quiet war many women wage to reclaim themselves.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAY: Nora Jaenicke. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Valentina Caniglia. FILM EDITING: Elisabetta Abrami. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Paolo Ferruzzi. MUSIC: Jules Matton. SOUND: Matteo Bendinelli. CAST: Joanna Kulig, Fanny Ardant, Marco Rossetti. PRODUZIONE: Manish Mundra, Ariens Damsi, Nora Jaenicke for Drishyam Films International, Eliofilm.
CONTACT: Minerva Pictures info@minervapictures.com
