On 21 March 1956, Anna Magnani won the Oscar for Best Actress for The Rose Tattoo. She spent the night before waiting and walking through the streets and squares of Rome, among the people who loved her and the memories that dwelled in her heart. Next to her a young girl who would become her agent, Carol Levi. Dawn brought her victory, but it was a short-lived dawn. The unpredictable curve of fate pushed her to the margins when she was at the height of her splendour. Overshadowing everything and at the top of her mind was Roberto Rossellini.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
Anna is a powerful and intimate story that, set beside Magnani the icon, penetrates beyond the frozen image that has come down to us to capture her breath, her intimate story, to transform it into the universal tale of a human journey. Her walk through the streets of the city becomes an act of liberation that allows past sorrows, joys and betrayals to rise to the surface: the foundational seeds (perhaps) of her great performances. As in other works of mine, I proceed by free emotional associations. Film technique makes it possible to isolate and amplify her greatest sorrows. In film, they are associated with specific moments: reborn, reincarnated and transfigured into “artistic form”.
I do not seek to make a great film, I am not interested in dazzling with special effects. As a performer, I wish to embody her so that she might come back to life and allow us to feel what she has gone through.