NYFF 2011: DAY 1 ‘Corpo Celeste’

 Corpo Celeste

Directed by Alice Rohrwacher

Screenplay by Alice Rohrwacher

Italy, 2011

Wrapping up the first day of our excursion to the Lincoln Center is the Italian drama, Corpo Celeste, a story of thirteen year old Marta who is struggling to resettle in a Calabria Catholic school from her

native Switzerland. While undergoing her rite of confirmation, she soon finds hypocrisy of a status-hungry priest and confronts morality of the local parishioners. A small yet powerful portrayal of a coming-of-age tale about the recognition of life’s dishonesties, Corpo Celeste is sure to be a fine watch. Directed by Anna Maria Ortese and heading to the Munich International Film Festival, Corpo Celeste will be screening at the New York Film Festival Monday October 3rd. To find out more details, check out the official synopsis and trailer below, or visit the film’s page at the New York Film Festival’s website.

“Seeing the Spirit is like wearing really cool sunglasses, according to the instructor of 13-year old Marta’s (Yle Vianello) catechism class. Such observations introduce Marta to the religious climate in the small seaside Calabrian town to which she, her mother and older sister have just moved from Switzerland. Marta is sent to the local church to prepare for her Catholic confirmation and (hopefully) make some new friends. But the religion she finds there is mainly strange: the way it dominates people’s lives is unlike anything she’s ever experienced. Alice Rohrwacher’s extraordinarily impressive debut feature chronicles Marta’s private duel with the Church, carried out under the shadow of the physical changes coursing through her. Rohrwacher is not interested in pointing out heroes and villains, but instead in offering a perceptive look at how the once all-powerful Church has dealt with its waning influence. A Film Movement release.”

– Chris Clemente

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