original title:
Dafne
directed by:
cast:
Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli, Stefania Casini, Gabriele Spinelli, Olga Durano, Orietta Notari, Francesca Rabbi, Ignacio Paurici, Betti Pedrazzi, Bruno Cariello, Robin Mugnaini, Silvano Carcaiso, Angela Magni
screenplay:
cinematography:
editing:
set design:
costume design:
music:
producer:
production:
Vivo Film, Rai Cinema, supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of Regione Toscana, Regione Lazio, Unicoop Firenze
distribution:
world sales:
country:
Italy
year:
2019
film run:
94'
format:
colour
release date:
21/03/2019
festivals & awards:
Dafne (Carolina Raspanti) is a witty young woman with Down syndrome, who is a spring of contagious energy. She is fiercely independent, but still lives with her parents, Luigi (Antonio Piovanelli) and Maria (Stefania Casini).
Suddenly Maria dies and the family’s balance is shattered. Luigi falls into depression, tormented by the future, by the moment when he will leave his daughter alone… Thanks to her job and her lifelong friends, Dafne instead deals with the loss with the thoughtlessness of a child and the bravery of a young woman, and tries to shake her father up. Until one day something unexpected happens: they decide to leave together for a hike in the mountains to the town where Maria was born. Along the walk, they will discover a lot about each other and they will learn together how to go beyond their limits.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES:
A few years ago, I saw an old father and his daughter with Down syndrome holding hands at a bus stop. Standing still among the coming and going cars and passersby, they seemed heroes, survivors.
Dafne was inspired by this image and the feeling accompanying it, it was the spark that pushed me to go deeper in the story. I entered with curiosity a world that I didn’t know before, until I had the chance to meet Carolina Raspanti, and become her friend. It was essential not only for the film but also for my life.