Screening Dates: Sunday, November 9, 2025, 2:00 p.m. / Wednesday, December 3, 2025, 8:00 p.m. / Tuesday, January 6, 2026, 8:00 p.m.

Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Screenplay: Alice Rohrwacher
Cast: Yile Yara Vianello, Salvatore Cantalupo, Pasqualina Scuncia

Italy / 2011 / 99 min. / Color / Italian / English and Turkish Subtitles

Alice Rohrwacher’s first feature film, Corpo Celeste, centers on the questions of belonging and faith faced by thirteen-year-old Martha, who is going through growing pains. When she returns to southern Italy from Switzerland with her mother and sister, her family sends her to a “confirmation class” at the Catholic church, but Martha cannot adapt. The oppressive and conservative teachings of the church, which has already lost its power, and the hypocritical structure she increasingly observes push her into an internal crisis and a search for another possibility.

Unable to connect with those around her, except for her mother, with whom she feels a compassionate bond, Martha is aware of the role imposed on her through gender and her own incompatibility. Neither child nor adult, Martha is a character who is “in between,”, “rootless,” like the main characters we see in the director’s other films.

With this coming-of-age story that drew criticism from the church, Rohrwacher also critiques the way faith has become part of the media world.

* We would like to thank the Italian Cultural Institute for their contribution to the program.

** The film will be screened within the framework of European Film Month.