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Sworn Virgin (first feature)

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Sworn Virgin (Vergine Giurata)

Sworn Virgin (Vergine Giurata)

Sworn Virgin (Vergine Giurata)

original title:

Vergine Giurata

directed by:

Laura Bispuri

cast:

Alba Rohrwacher, Lars Eidinger, Flonja Kodheli, Emily Ferratello, Luan Jaha, Bruno Shllaku, Ilire Vinca Celaj

screenplay:

Laura Bispuri, Francesca Manieri, from the novel by Elvira Dones with the same title

cinematography:

Vladan Radovic

editing:

Carlotta Cristiani, Jacopo Quadri

set design:

Ilaria Sadun

costume design:

Grazia Colombini

music:

Nando di Cosimo

producer:

Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Robert Budina, Sabina Kodra, Dan Wechsler, Michael Weber, Viola Fügen

production:

Vivo Film, Colorado Film, Rai Cinema, Erafilm Production, Bord Cadre films, Match Factory Productions, supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of MEDIA Programme, Eurimages, L'Atelier - Cannes 2013, IDM Film Commission Südtirol

distribution:

Luce Cinecittà [Italy], Polyfilm Verleih [Austria], Abc - Cinemien [Belgium], Pretty Pictures [France], Drei-freunde [Germany], Ama Films [Greece], Abc - Cinemien [Netherlands], Midas Filmes [Portugal], Mcf Megacom Film [Serbia], Cinémathèque Suisse [Switzerland], Bord Cadre films [Switzerland], MovieCloud [Taiwan], Strand Releasing [United States]

world sales:

The Match Factory [Germany]

country:

Italy/Switzerland/Germany/Albania/Kosovo

year:

2015

film run:

90'

format:

colour

release date:

19/03/2015

festivals & awards:

Hana Doda, still a girl, escapes from her destiny of being a wife and a servant, a future imposed on women in remote village life in Albania. With the help of her uncle’s guidance, Hana appeals to the old Kanun traditional law and takes an oath of eternal virginity for the chance to bear a rifle and live free as men. For the villagers, Hana becomes Mark, a “sworn virgin”.
But something restless stirs under these men’s clothes. Years later, the immense Albanian mountains and her choice now seem like a prison. Mark decides to set out on a journey, too long put off. He travels to Italy, crossing borders into many different worlds: Albania and Italy, past and present, masculine and feminine.
Slowly Mark begins to experience the vertigo of discovering his body, touching other bodies.
She finds caring, loving people life had taken away, and opens up to an unexpected chance of love, which the Kanun had denied her.
Mark rediscovers Hana, finally piecing back together the two souls that for years have lived inside her body. She is reborn as a new, free and complete person.