La Spezia-born director Sara Fgaier is set to make her debut at the 77th Locarno Film Festival with her first feature film, Weightless [+lire aussi :
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interview : Sara Fgaier
fiche film], which will be presented in a world premiere among the 17 titles selected for the International Competition.

Developed and financed by TorinoFimLab in 2022, an initiative which oversaw the finalisation of the film’s screenplay and which supported the project financially by way of a TFL Production Award worth €40,000, the movie is produced by Limen, Avventurosa, Dugong Films and RAI Cinema International. International sales are entrusted to RAI Cinema International Distribution while distribution in Italy falls to Luce Cinecittà.

Weightless follows Gian, an ethnomusicology teacher battling against the shadow cast by a sudden amnesia attack. In his apartment within an old building located in a city next to the sea, he experiences flashbacks and dreams which he can’t decipher and which linger in his mind. Overcome with anxiety, he tries to end it all with medicine he finds at home, but luckily his suicide attempt fails. Following this episode, his daughter Miriam, whom Gian no longer recognises, moves in with him and hands him an old diary which he wrote when he was twenty and which revolves around Leila, a girl who introduced him to love in the space of one night. Who is this woman who was so important in his life? Where has she become? How could he have forgotten her? Gian’s timeless present is slowly replaced by vivid images from his past. Will he manage to find himself again and experience a revelation? What is it exactly that awakens our memories?

The film stars Andrea Renzi (recently seen in La cura and Dry [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]), Sara Serraiocco (awarded a Golden Globe for Salvo [+lire aussi :
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interview : Fabio Grassadonia et Anton…
fiche film], and recently featuring in Casanova’s Return [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] and The First Day of My Life [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]), newcomer Emilio Scarpa, Lise Lomi (Love Affair(s) [+lire aussi :
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interview : Emmanuel Mouret
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Q&A : Marco Bellocchio
fiche film]), Stefano Rossi Giordani (Everything’s Gonna Be Alright [+lire aussi :
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fiche film]), Amira Chebli and Elyas Turki. Photography, meanwhile, falls to Alberto Fasulo (who directed Tir [+lire aussi :
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interview : Alberto Fasulo
fiche film] and Menocchio the Heretic [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], among other achievements).

Sara Fgaier graduated from the Fare Cinema Film School in Bobbio, Italy, mentored by Marco Bellocchio, and previously directed the short film Gli anni (2018), which won the EFA for Best European Short, as well as a Nastro d'Argento award, following its selection in the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti line-up. She has worked on various films as an editor and producer, including The Mouth of the Wolf [+lire aussi :
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interview : Pietro Marcello
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interview : Pietro Marcello ­
fiche film] by Pietro Marcello.