AUDREY LA MER

In occupied Rome in 1943, a young woman, Audrey La Mer, sings carefree songs to bring some relief to a world of cold, hunger and fear, while her son Mirò collects donations. Neither of them, however, is quite what they seem. Audrey was born Giuseppe Macaluso and performed on stages in her native Sicily dressed as a mermaid; the child, meanwhile, is actually called Elia and survived the roundup of the Jewish ghetto on October 16. Both are on the run and determined to help one another, each nurturing a dream: Audrey, who experiences femininity as a journey of self-discovery, dreams of making it into Cinecittà and becoming an actress; Elia longs to find his family. Fate will put their aspirations to the test: a sacrifice will be needed for Audrey to give the greatest performance of her life.

“I thought I was making a film about the past, but I soon realised I was telling a story about the present. I felt the need to portray two human beings who, in occupied Rome in 1943, find in imagination and mutual care a form of resistance. What begins as a necessity for survival gradually gives rise to a genuine and profound bond, capable of turning two lonely lives into a family. To tell this story, I realised I had to start with myself: with childhood memories, my relationship with my mother, the letters my gay great-uncle, who was sent into internal exile under Fascism, wrote to my grandmother, and my own experience as a transgender woman. This is not a period film, but a work that lays bare the present, exploring what endures over time and what, tragically, continues to repeat itself. Because discrimination, fear of the other and violence against those perceived as different do not belong solely to the past. And because, then as now, recognising our own humanity in that of another can become the most radical act of resistance.”

DIRECTOR: Levi Riso. SCREENPLAY: Levi Riso, Luca De Bei. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Piero Basso. EDITING: Giuseppe Trepiccione. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Vito Giuseppe Zito. COSTUMES: Andrea Cavalletto. MUSIC: Michele Braga. CAST: Dario Guidi, Gregorio Arcieri Di Rauso, Margherita Vicario, Sara Serraiocco, Max Krause, Federico Tocci, Massimo Ranieri. PRODUCTION: Benedetto Habib, Marco Cohen, Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli for Indiana Production; Attilio De Razza, Nicola Picone for Tramp Limited; Rai Cinema, with the support of Regione Lazio. CONTACT: Indiana Production info@indianaproduction.com