Idda is the title of Irene Dionisio’s new film, which has been selected for the Toronto International Film Festival’s competitive Platform section which, from this year onwards, automatically guarantees its winning film direct access to the Best International Film category at the Oscars. Dionisio is returning on set nine years on from her first fiction film, The Last Things, which was presented in a premiere in Venice’s International Critics’ Week, nominated at the David di Donatello and Italian Golden Globe awards and awarded the Nastro d’Argento for Best Screenplay.

"Idda" – “she” in the Sicilian dialect – is how people from Catania refer to Mount Etna, the woman-volcano capable of giving life and taking it away, akin to a mother’s womb. The film’s protagonists, Adele and Sofia, climb to the top of Etna in search of answers – of an existential, relational and generational nature – with their ascent turning into a sensorial pilgrimage towards Iddia’s ancestral breathing, which has the power to awaken memories. Childhood friends now in their thirties, Adele and Sofia reunite after a lengthy separation to fulfil their lifelong dream: scaling Etna’s heights. It’s said that, up there, you can imbibe the volcano’s “breath”, which helps you better understand your life. But during their climb to the top, the two friends discover the tensions which have built up over the course of their mutual absence, and long-hidden secrets are revealed. They go their separate ways, and in that very moment the volcano begins to shake. Adele carries on alone, tormented by the regret of not going back to climb the crater with Sofia or listening to Idda breathing together.

The two protagonists are played by Tecla Insolia (awarded the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress via The Art of Joy, Primavera) and Romana Maggiora Vergano (The Time It Takes, There Is Still Tomorrow), with Giuseppe De Domenico (Vermiglio, Euphoria) acting alongside them.

“Idda was a journey of co-creation, which was always porous to the life unfolding around it”, explained Irene Dionisio, who wrote the film’s screenplay with Marco Borromei. “The film was re-imagined in line with the two wonderful actresses’ sensitivities. The work we carried out together wasn’t only about preparing, it involved re-writing, adapting and rediscovering the ultimate meaning of every scene. The scenes we shot on Etna were as physically demanding as they were creatively stimulating. Etna wasn’t just a backdrop; it was a force which continually shaped Idda. Knowing that this film is competing in the Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section makes me feel proud, happy and grateful towards the entire team who made it happen”.

Idda was produced by Giovanni Pompili on behalf of Kino Produzioni in league with Rai Cinema, by Filippo Montalto and Francesco Montalto for Andromeda Film, and by Francesco Grisi and Giorgia Priolo for EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani, in collaboration with Antonio Miyakawa for Wise Pictures. The feature film enjoyed support from the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Film and Audiovisual Department and was developed with backing from the Film Commission Torino Piemonte – Piemonte Film TV Development Fund, IDM Film & Music Commission Südtirol and the Creative Europe MEDIA programme. World sales are entrusted to Rai Cinema International.