The movie
A Chiara
This film follows the story of 15-year-old Chiara whose close-knit family falls apart after her father abandons them in Calabria.
Length: 121 min
Country: Italië
Language spoken: Italiaans
Language subtitles: Nederlands
Cast: Claudio Rotolo, Swami Rotolo, Grecia Rotolo
Director: Jonas Carpignano
Release date: 2021
Description
Hailed as a master of Italian ‘neo-neorealism’, writer-director Jonas Carpignano elicits wonderful performances from non-professional actors—here he employs pretty much the whole Rotolo family—to capture the zeitgeist in Gioia Tauro, a port of 20,000 people in Calabria. Young Swamy Rotolo plays the happy title character, Chiara, who is first seen celebrating her 18th birthday with a wide selection of her relatives. Then her father’s (empty) parked car explodes, and he disappears. Chiara is forced to confront her beloved father’s complicity with the local Mafia-type crime organization, the dreaded ‘Ndrangheta…
‘In his Calabrian series that began with “Mediterranea”, about the North African refugee influx, and shifted to a Romani community in “A Ciambra”, writer-director Jonas Carpignano brought unvarnished naturalism to vivid snapshots of a place where poverty, racism and crime to a large extent shape the social fabric. He completes the trilogy with “A Chiara”, for the first time focusing on a young female protagonist and delivering what’s arguably his most accomplished and affecting film to date… This chronicle of a keen-eyed teen’s loss of innocence builds to a shattering climax.’—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
‘In his Calabrian series that began with “Mediterranea”, about the North African refugee influx, and shifted to a Romani community in “A Ciambra”, writer-director Jonas Carpignano brought unvarnished naturalism to vivid snapshots of a place where poverty, racism and crime to a large extent shape the social fabric. He completes the trilogy with “A Chiara”, for the first time focusing on a young female protagonist and delivering what’s arguably his most accomplished and affecting film to date… This chronicle of a keen-eyed teen’s loss of innocence builds to a shattering climax.’—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
