Q&A with Federico Bondi

Dafne (Carolina Raspanti), a young woman with Down syndrome, leads a quiet family life that is upended by the sudden death of her mother. Both Dafne and her father, Luigi (Antonio Piovanelli), struggle to support each other as they differently process this loss: Luigi withdraws into depression, while Dafne gravitates toward greater responsibility at work and at home. Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize in this year’s Berlin Film Festival Panorama, Federico Bondi’s understated sophomore feature gently reorients their mourning into a tender story of perseverance, awash in rich everyday detail and anchored by a magnetic breakout performance by Raspanti.