Italian Filmmaker Laura Samani Returns With Venice Orizzonti Title ‘A Year Of School’ — First Trailer 

EXCLUSIVE: Laura Samani will debut her second feature, A Year Of School, in the Orizzonti sidebar at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Check out the first trailer above. 

Based on Giani Stuparich’s novel of the same name, the film follows Fred, who, in September 2007, moves from her home in Sweden to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea with her father, who has taken a new management job in the Northeastern Italian city.

She enrolls in the local Technical High School for her Senior Year, finding herself as the only girl in an all-male class. She quickly becomes the center of attention, especially for three friends: the fascinating and reserved Antero, the outgoing womanizer Pasini, and the sweet and protective Mitis. The three have been a unit for as long as they can remember. Fred’s arrival disrupts their equilibrium and puts their longstanding friendship to the test. As each of the boys secretly desires Fred for himself, she yearns to be accepted into their circle and become one of them. But to truly belong, she is asked to sacrifice more and more. 

The film stars Stella Wendick, Giacomo Covi, Pietro Giustolisi, and Samuel Volturno. Samani wrote the screenplay with Elisa Dondi. The producers are Nefertiti Film with Rai Cinema, Tomsa Films, and Arte France Cinéma. Lucky Red will release the film in Italy.

“This film explores the challenges of growing up as a young woman in a male-dominated world, where women’s bodies and desires can be used against them,” Samani said of the film in her director’s statement. 

Samani was born in 1989 in Trieste. She studied Cinema and Communication at the University of Pisa and Film Directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Her graduation project, a short titled The Sleeping Saint, premiered at the Cinéfondation of the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Her first feature film, Small Body, screened in the Critics’ Week sidebar the Cannes Film Festival in 2021. It picked up the Best Debut award at the 2022 David di Donatellos and won the FIPRESCI Discovery Prix 2022 at the European Film Awards.

Check out the A Year Of School trailer above.