Panorami italiani
The First Times
Le prime volte / Giulia Cosentino, Perla Sardella / Italy, Spain / 16’ / 2025
Emilia writes to Catherine about her desire; Catherine writes to Emilia long afterwards going back to the last time she saw her on her wedding day. Two imagined letters that were never sent recount, each from her own point of view, the two womenʼs shared childhood spent at a girlsʼ boarding school. The days flowed monotonously and the same, except at night, when, at the chimes of the boarding schoolʼs clock, Emilia and Catherine met, far from the gaze of their companions and the surrounding world that did not contemplate their desire to discover each other in each otherʼs bodies. The images and sounds of that secret time return, fueling the desire to tell each other the things they never said. The two women, now distant, question their own imagery, trying to reconcile with a farewell to that first love and those first times.
Directed by Giulia Cosentino, Perla Sardella
Written by Giulia Cosentino, Perla Sardella
Photography by Giulia Cosentino, Perla Sardella, Luciana Castellina, Valentini, De Abbondi
Editing by Ainhoa Andraka, Davide Minotti, Perla Sardella
Sound Marzia Cordò
Music by Sapore
Produced by Margot Mecca, Matteo Tortone
Production Malfé Film
Coproduction Ainhoa Andraka, Zuri Goikoetxea
Co-produced by Company Doxa producciones
with Emma Beonio Brocchieri, Sveva Romana Candelletta
June 1
11:00 am.
Cinema Intrastevere – Sala 1
Q&A with the authors
Giulia Cosentino
is a filmmaker, screenwriter and researcher born in Catania, Sicily. She holds degrees in film and visual arts from the University of Roma Tre, Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris, Nova in Lisbon and Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. She has collaborated on many films including Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden, Matteo Garrone’s Io capitano and Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour. In 2019 he directed his first short film He and I (premiere
Torino film festival), and in 2020 his second Why are you running away?, which is part of a collective film The Stories We Will Be produced by Ginko Film. In 2022 he won the Premio Solinas award for best feature film screenplay. She currently resides between Rome and Palermo, where she teaches directing in archive reuse at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia – Sede Sicilia and works as a screenwriter and director.
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Perla Sardella
Perla Sardella is an editor and documentary filmmaker, born in Jesi, Italy, in 1991. She graduated in Cinema and Multimedia Arts at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan. She works with still and moving images, and with different formats including linear audiovisual, photography and video installations. Comfort Zone (2015), his first short film, was presented at the Torino Film Festival in the Italiana.corti program. Prende la parola (2019) won first prize in the Perspectives category at the Filmmaker Festival in Milan. Le grand viveur (2020) is in competition in the medium and short film section of the Visions Du Réel festival. Some of her works have been exhibited in national and international art galleries (Wrong Biennale, Biennale Mulhouse de la jeune création, smART Foundation). She is co-founder of the association for the enhancement of family film heritage “Reframing Home Movies.” She lives and works in Genoa.